Overview of importing timesheets into QuickBooks Desktop

In QuickBooks a timesheet is a time tracking transaction that records time worked for employees, vendors or other names to be used in payroll or billable time on invoices. You can import timesheets into QuickBooks, QuickBooks POS and QuickBooks Online from text and Excel files using Zed Axis software.

Steps to import time entries

Follow these steps:

Download and install Zed Axis software on your computer
Open your QuickBooks company file you want to import data into as Administrator and open Zed Axis
Select your text file or spreadsheet which contains the timesheets that you want to import.
Set up the a Mapping of the columns in your timesheet import file to the corresponding fields in QuickBooks, as shown below:

More help?

Sample Time Tracking.txt import text file
Sample TimeSheet_Template.xlsx Excel File

Watch a demonstration of how to import timesheets

Where the fields appear in QuickBooks

Detailed description of the fields

QuickBooks	Format	Description
Txn ID	ID	A reference number for the Time Entry, used if you wish to modify a time entry already in QuickBooks
Txn Date	DATE	The date of the time entry.
Entity Name	STR 209	MANDATORY FIELD - Employee name as it appears in QuickBooks, this is usually FirstName LastName, but can be reversed in preferences. If ZA cannot match the name it will create a new employee.
Customer	STR 209	CustomerRef refers to the full (ie ACME:Job 1) customer or customer job to which this time could be billed. If BillableStatus is set to Billable, CustomerRef is required.
Service Item	STR (159)	A service item refers to services that a business charges for or purchases. Examples include specialized labor, consulting hours, and professional fees. In a Time Entry message, ItemServiceRef refers to the type of work. If no CustomerRef is specified, then ItemServiceRef is not needed. If BillableStatus is set to Billable, then Time Entry must include both Item Service Item and Customer.
Payroll Item	STR (31)	Each payroll wage item describes and names a payment scheme, for example, Regular Pay or Overtime Pay. Within QuickBooks, a timesheet can specify a payroll wage item only if the following criteria are met: The name on the timesheet is on the QuickBooks Employee list, and The “Use time data to create paychecks” preference turned on in the Payroll Info window that gives information about that employee in QuickBooks.
Duration	TIME	MANDATORY FIELD - Time spent doing the work, this can be in the format hh:mm ie one and a half hours should appear as 1:30 or it can be entered as decimal hours ie 1.5 hours is the equivalent of one hour and 30 minutes. Axis automatically converts decimal hours to hh:mm format
Class	STR159	Classes can be used to separate transactions into meaningful categories. Must match what is in QB
Billable Status	Enum	The billing status of this item line. Accepted values are Billable, NotBillable, HasBeenBilled, if Billable then must include Customer and service item
Billable	BOOL	Retired in 2008 - If IsBillable is true, the tracked time is billable, and you must specify CustomerRef and ItemServiceRef so that an invoice can be created. If no invoice will be created, set IsBillable to false.
Notes	STR(4095)	Additional information.

By Steve Batten

Troubleshooting import errors

Unknown employee time status - Failed to save the Time Tracking transaction. The employee "fieldValue" provided in the TimeTrackingAdd request has the checkbox "Use time data to create paychecks" set to the Unknown state. - This is a problem in QuickBooks to resolve it go into QuickBooks and edit the employee record that you are importing the time for and select the checkbox that says Use time data to create paychecks check that on and then off and then retry the import.

There is a missing element: "EditSequence".- This error occurs when the modify option has been selected, but that TxnID field has not been mapped of the TxnID is not matched with a value in QuickBooks. To resolve this select the option to Duplicate or provide a TxnID that matches a existing time entry transaction in QuickBooks

Article ID: 51, Created: 10/21/2011 at 5:33 AM, Modified: 11/23/2022 at 1:11 AM

Feedback

what does this error message mean?
Error message in import:
There was an error when saving a TimeTracking.
QuickBooks error message: record needs to be locked before it can be modified.
Glenn Graves (2/21/2019 at 11:04 PM)

It means that the time entry you are importing is already open in QuickBooks
Steve (5/27/2020 at 5:13 AM)

Import timesheets into QuickBooks Desktop