Enter Time in QuickBooks Online – Instructions

How to Enter Time in QuickBooks Online: Video Lesson

            This video lesson, titled “How to Manually Record Time in QuickBooks Online,” shows how to manually enter time in QuickBooks Online Plus when used with a subscription to Payroll Core and it also shows how to do this when used with a subscription to Payroll Premium and/or QuickBooks Time. This video on how to enter time in QuickBooks Time is from our complete QuickBooks Online tutorial, titled “Mastering QuickBooks Online Made Easy.”

Enter Time in QuickBooks Online: Instructions

            This lesson shows you how to manually record time in QuickBooks Online Plus when used with a subscription to Payroll Core and how to do this when used with a subscription to Payroll Premium and/or QuickBooks Time. The process for recording time in QuickBooks Online varies greatly, depending on the related subscription. Alternatively, to see how to manually record time in QuickBooks Online without a payroll subscription, please review the lesson titled “Basic Time Tracking in QuickBooks Online,” instead.

How to Manually Record Time if Using QuickBooks Online with a Payroll Core Subscription

            To manually record time if using QuickBooks Online with a Payroll Core subscription, use either the “Weekly timesheet” window or the “Single time activity” window. To make multiple time entries for a person at once, use the “Weekly timesheet” window. Alternatively, to enter detailed notes for one time activity, use the “Single time activity” window, instead. Either way, the time information you record in one window displays in the other window. They are simply two different views of the same time information. So, don’t enter the same data into both windows, as doing that duplicates the time data!

How to Enter Time in the Weekly Timesheet Window in QuickBooks Online

            To use the weekly timesheet, click the “+ New” button in the Navigation Bar and then select the “Weekly timesheet” choice under the “Team” heading. In the “Weekly Timesheet” window, use the “Name” drop-down in the upper-left corner to select the person for whom to record time. To change the week shown in the window, select any week from the drop-down to the right. The days of the selected week for the selected person then appear in the window.

            To enter the work details for the selected person, use the drop-downs in the next blank row in the weekly timesheet to select the customer or project, service item, service description, pay item, and optional class and location. To mark the time as billable, check the “Billable (per hour) checkbox. Then enter the billing rate into the adjacent field and, if needed, check the “Taxable” checkbox to mark it as taxable. Then enter the duration of hours the selected person did that type of work into the adjacent fields for the respective days. Repeat this, as needed, for the rows to enter all the required work variations for the person to record their hours.

            To copy any hours for the selected person from the previous week forward to the currently selected week, click the “Copy last timesheet” button at the bottom of this window. To save the entries, click the “Save” button at the bottom of the window. Alternatively, to save the entries and open a new window or close the window, use the “Save and new / Save and close” drop-down button, instead.

A picture showing how to manually enter time in QuickBooks Online with a Payroll Core subscription by using the Weekly timesheet window.

How to Enter Time in the Single Time Activity Window in QuickBooks Online

            Alternatively, to use the “Single time activity” window, click the “+ New” button in the Navigation Bar and then select the “Single time activity” choice under the “Team” heading. In the “Single day entry” window that opens, select the time activity date from the “Start date” calendar selector. Use the “Name” drop-down to select the person whose time you are entering. Then use the “Customers,” “Service,” and “Pay type” drop-downs to select the customer or project for whom the work was performed, the service performed, and their pay type. To enter a cost rate per hour for project costing, enter their cost rate into the “Cost rate (per hour)” field.

            To mark the time as billable, check the “Billable (per hour)” checkbox and enter the billable rate into the adjacent field that then appears, if needed. If it is also taxable, check the “Taxable” checkbox. If classes and locations are enabled, use the “Class” and “Location: drop-down to select values, as needed. To enter a description, type it into the “Description” field.

            To enter a duration, type it into the “Duration” field. Alternatively, to enter start and end times to calculate the duration, click the “Set clock in and out” toggle switch to set it to the “On” position. Then use the “Start time” and “End time” drop-downs to select the start time and end time, respectively. To enter a break duration for the time, click the “Add break” button and then enter it into the “Break” field. The total duration then appears next to the “Summary” field under the “Description.”

            To save the entry, click the “Save” button at the bottom of the window. Alternatively, to save the entry and open a new window or close the window, use the “Save and new / Save and close” drop-down button, instead.

A picture showing how to manually enter time in QuickBooks Online with a Payroll Core subscription by using the Single time activity window.

How to Manually Record Time if Using QuickBooks Online with QuickBooks Time via a Payroll Premium Subscription or a Stand-alone Subscription

            Alternatively, you use a different process to manually record time if using QuickBooks Time via a Payroll Premium subscription or as a stand-alone QuickBooks Time subscription. While QuickBooks Time isn’t the focus of this lesson, it helps to know how to manually create time entries, if needed. QuickBooks Time has many robust time tracking features that let users enter their own time, and many other features. QuickBooks Time and QuickBooks Online should automatically sync information, so the employees you enter in QuickBooks Online should automatically appear within QuickBooks Time.

            To open QuickBooks Time if you have a subscription through QuickBooks Online, click the “Time” link in the Navigation Bar. Then click the “Go to classic QuickBooks Time” link in the upper-right corner of the “Overview” page that appears to open a new browser tab for the QuickBooks Time application. If needed, to manually force a sync in QuickBooks Time, click the “QuickBooks” or “QuickBooks Payroll” button in the toolbar at the top of the QuickBooks Time window to show a drop-down menu of commands.

            Then click the “Import” command in the drop-down menu to manually sync. When finished, to view the sync log, click the “QuickBooks” or “QuickBooks Payroll” button in the toolbar at the top of the QuickBooks Time window to show a drop-down menu of commands. Then click the “View Sync Log” command in the drop-down menu to show the sync logs. You can click the “X” button in the upper-right corner of the sync report window to close it, when finished.

How to Manually Add a Time Entry in QuickBooks Time

            To manually add time for an employee, click the “Time Entries” link in the Navigation Bar at the left side of the QuickBooks Time window. Then click the “+ Add Time” button at the top of the “Timesheets” tab to open the “Timesheet Editor” window. To select the employee for whom to record time, delete your name from the “Team Member” field and then start typing the employee’s name. Then select it from the drop-down menu that appears after you start typing to select them.

            To select whether to record in/out times or a duration, select either the “Time In/Out” or “Duration” option button for the “Type” setting. If you select “Time In/Out,” then use the three fields to the right of the “Time In” and Time Out” settings to select a date, enter a time value, and select either “am” or “pm” for the time value. The total hours then appear to the right. Alternatively, if you select “Duration,” then select the date from the “Date” calendar selector and enter the desired duration into the “Total Hours” field.

            To assign the time to a customer or project, click the “Customer” field and then select them from the “Select Customer” window that then opens. The selected entry then appears in the “Customer” field and the “Select Customer” window closes. To select a service item, select a choice from the “Service” drop-down. To indicate whether this time is billable, select either “Yes” or “No” from the “Billable” drop-down. If needed, to enter a billable rate, type it into the “Billable rate” field. If enabled, select the class from the “Class” drop-down and/or the location from the “Location” drop-down. To enter any notes, type them into the “Notes” field. To change the time zone, if needed, select a choice from the “Time Zone” drop-down.

            To keep the time editor open after saving the entry to continue entering time entries without closing and reopening the window, check the “Keep editor open after save” checkbox. To close it, instead, uncheck the checkbox. To save the time entry, then click the “Save” button. Alternatively, to cancel the time entry, click the “Cancel” button. To create additional entries, simply repeat the process.

A picture showing how to manually enter time in QuickBooks Time when you have a QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium subscription or a stand-alone QuickBooks Time subscription.