How Do You Stop Re-Typing Timesheets into QuickBooks?#

Have hours entered once, on a phone, by the worker or the foreman, and let software send them to QuickBooks. If your pay is simple, QuickBooks Online's own weekly timesheets or QuickBooks Time will do it. If you need jobs, cost codes and union rates applied before payroll, use a field tool that pushes hours to QuickBooks Online as time activities with payroll items, such as Appello or Knowify. Either way, match your employees, jobs and pay types between the two systems first, and lock the week once payroll runs.

Where does the re-typing actually happen?#

Follow one week. Your foreman writes the crew's hours on a paper sheet Friday afternoon. It rides in the truck until Monday. The office checks it against the schedule, then types it into QuickBooks so payroll can run. Then someone types the same hours into the job cost spreadsheet, by job. When a foreman calls about a missed hour, it gets fixed in both places.

That's three touches for every hour, and each one is a chance to get it wrong. A tool that only moves hours into QuickBooks removes one of them. The goal is one touch: the hours entered once, in the field, and everything after that automatic.

What are your options?#

Prices and features come from each vendor's own pages, checked October 14, 2026. Links are in the sources at the end.

Option	Who enters the hours	What reaches QuickBooks	QuickBooks Desktop	Price (as published)
QuickBooks Online timesheets	Workers as "Time Tracking Only" users, or the office	Weekly or single time activities; payroll totals the hours	No (Online only)	Included with QuickBooks Online Essentials, Plus and Advanced (per Intuit's help articles)
QuickBooks Time (Intuit)	Workers on the phone, or a foreman clocking in the crew	Approved hours into QuickBooks Online timesheets and QuickBooks Payroll	Listed as working with Desktop	Time Premium US$20/month list + US$10 per user; included in QuickBooks Payroll Premium and Elite
Knowify	Crew time in Knowify, or QuickBooks Time	Time entries to QuickBooks Online	Timesheets pushed on the Enterprise plan	Core (1 user), Advanced (10 users), extra users US$29/month
Appello	Workers on the phone with geofenced clock-in, or the foreman for the whole crew	Time activities with payroll items, by employee and job	Payroll export file (IIF)	No user limit; price scales with users, the modules you use and a standard server fee; quoted
Procore	Crew time in Procore	Not synced: its QuickBooks connectors list timecards and timesheets as not synced	Not synced	Annual fee based on construction volume

Is QuickBooks' own timesheet enough?#

For a lot of small contractors, yes. Intuit's Canadian help article walks through it: add workers as "Time Tracking Only" users, have them fill in a weekly timesheet, and "when you run payroll, your employee's total pay hours are automatically calculated." No extra software. Intuit's Canadian article says this is available on Essentials and Plus; its US article adds Advanced. Neither mentions Simple Start.

The same article says Intuit recommends QuickBooks Time "for a fuller experience." QuickBooks Time adds a phone app, a foreman clocking in the whole crew, approval before payroll, and geofenced clock-in reminders on its Elite plan.

Both work when every hour is paid at the worker's one rate. Union weeks are where they run out, and that's the next section.

Why do union rates bring the re-typing back?#

Because the hours arrive, but the pay doesn't. Intuit's QuickBooks Time pages talk about hours, approvals, jobs and geofences. The Elite plan tracks mileage, but nothing on those pages mentions collective agreements, travel zones or board.

So on a union crew, someone in the office still takes Friday's hours and works out:

• which trade level the worker was at on each job,
• which agreement rate applies, straight time and overtime,
• the travel zone, board and parking for each day.

If that happens in a spreadsheet before QuickBooks, you haven't stopped re-typing. You've moved it. Ask any vendor to show you a worker who was a journeyperson on one job and a foreman on another in the same week, and what QuickBooks receives. Our union payroll primer covers why this gets complicated.

What has to match before hours can flow?#

Every tool that sends hours to QuickBooks needs three things lined up first. Do this before go-live, not after the first failed payroll.

1. People. Each worker in the field tool matches an employee in QuickBooks.
2. Jobs. Each job matches a QuickBooks customer, sub-customer or project. In Appello you choose whether jobs map to sub-customers or projects, and you can require a job to be mapped before its hours sync.
3. Pay types. Each rate in the field tool matches a QuickBooks payroll item (regular, overtime, travel and so on). Appello maps its wage-rate labels to QuickBooks payroll items one by one.

One more thing to know: cost codes usually don't go to QuickBooks. QuickBooks receives the employee, job, payroll item and hours. The split by cost code stays in your field tool's job cost, which is where you'll read it anyway. Our post on job costing in QuickBooks covers what QuickBooks can and can't do with cost codes.

What if you're on QuickBooks Desktop, or payroll runs elsewhere?#

With Desktop, many field tools send hours as a file you import. Appello exports approved hours as an IIF file for QuickBooks Desktop. Intuit's construction page lists QuickBooks Time as working with Desktop, though its pricing page says a QuickBooks Online account is required, so confirm with Intuit. Knowify pushes timesheets to Desktop on its Enterprise plan.

Some subs keep QuickBooks for the books and run payroll in Sage 50 or with a payroll provider. In that case, the destination is your payroll system, not QuickBooks. Appello exports approved hours for Sage 50 Canada, Sage 50 US, Dayforce PowerPay or as a CSV. If Desktop is in your future plans at all, read about Intuit ending new Desktop subscriptions first.

How do you make the switch stick?#

• Run both for one pay period. Paper and phone side by side, then compare.
• Lock the week after payroll. Late edits are where the two systems drift apart. Appello locks the payroll week, and only an admin can reopen it.
• One person owns the mapping. When a new hire or a new job shows up, they're added in both places that day.
• Start with the foremen. Foremen entering the crew's hours is faster to roll out than 60 workers on 60 phones. Our guide to mobile timesheet implementation covers the rollout.

Where is Appello not the right fit?#

Appello is built for ICI trade contractors with field crews. It isn't built for:

• A one-person shop with no field crew. QuickBooks' own timesheets or QuickBooks Time will cover you.
• Residential builders and remodelers.
• General contractors who need document control and submittals for the whole building.

Where does Appello fit?#

Appello is for ICI trade contractors, often union, who want hours entered once and priced before they reach payroll.

• Workers clock in on the phone, with a geofence per job that flags any clock-in from outside it, and enter hours by job and cost code. Foremen can enter the whole crew at once.
• Each row is priced from the worker's trade level and the agreement, with overtime rule sets, travel, board and parking.
• Timesheets are approved at two levels, supervisor then admin, and the payroll week locks.
• Hours go to QuickBooks Online as time activities with payroll items, mapped to your QuickBooks employees and jobs. Approved hours also export as a file for QuickBooks Desktop, Sage 50 or Dayforce PowerPay.
• Approved hours land on the job cost by cost code the same day, so the third touch, the job cost spreadsheet, goes away too.
• Appello prices and approves the hours; your payroll provider or QuickBooks Payroll still pays people, so you don't change how payroll runs.

Brianne Ernewein, Accounting & HR Manager at Vanos Insulations: "Since adopting Appello, we have one person running payroll now, which frees up two other administrative people to continue on with day-to-day tasks."

See Timesheets and the QuickBooks Online integration.

FAQ#

Can field workers enter their own time in QuickBooks Online?
Yes. Add them as Time Tracking Only users and they can fill in their own weekly timesheet. QuickBooks Time adds a phone app and crew clock-in.

Does QuickBooks Time handle union rates?
Its construction and pricing pages mention mileage tracking on Elite but not collective agreements, travel zones or board. Test it with a real union week before you rely on it.

Do cost codes sync to QuickBooks?
Usually not as cost codes. QuickBooks gets the employee, job, payroll item and hours. Keep the cost-code split in your field tool's job cost.

Can I import timesheets into QuickBooks Desktop?
Yes, with an export file. Appello produces an IIF file of approved hours for QuickBooks Desktop.

Does Procore send timesheets to QuickBooks?
Procore's QuickBooks connectors list timecards and timesheets as not synced. Our QuickBooks software guide compares the options record by record.

Sources#

All accessed October 14, 2026.

• Intuit Canada, Timesheet setup: QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Time
• Intuit, Turn on and set up time tracking in QuickBooks Online
• Intuit, QuickBooks Time for construction and QuickBooks Time pricing
• Knowify, QuickBooks Online integration, QuickBooks Desktop integration and pricing
• Procore, QuickBooks Online connector and QuickBooks Desktop connector
• Appello, accounting connection and timesheet export

Related reading#

• What Construction Software Works with QuickBooks for Subcontractors?
• Mobile Timesheet Implementation for Construction Crews
• Understanding Union Payroll Complexity: A Primer for ICI Contractors
• QuickBooks Online for ICI Contractors: Capabilities and Limitations
• How to Supercharge QuickBooks Online for Construction