To set up time tracking in QuickBooks Online, open Time, pick basic timesheets or QuickBooks Time, then set timesheet fields in Account and settings. Add time-only users and mark client work billable.
That covers the switch. The part most guides skip is the fields. Customer, Billable, Rate and Service decide whether an hour logged on Tuesday ever appears on an invoice. This guide walks through each setting, shows a worked invoice example, and explains when built-in timesheets stop being enough.
Quick Answer
How do you set up time tracking in QuickBooks Online? Go to Time and choose basic time tracking or a QuickBooks Time trial. Then open Settings → Account and settings → Time and set the first day of the work week. Turn on the Customer, Billable and Rate per hour and Service timesheet fields. Finally, invite staff under Manage users with the Track time only role.
Menu names below follow Intuit’s US help article Turn on and set up time tracking in QuickBooks Online, checked on 17 October 2026. UK and other regional versions can label things differently.
Which QuickBooks Online plans include time tracking?
Intuit’s setup guide covers QuickBooks Online Essentials, Plus and Advanced. Each includes basic timesheets inside QuickBooks Online. You log hours by single activity or weekly timesheet, then bill them to customers.
There are two caveats in the same article. Basic time tracking isn’t available if you use QuickBooks Workforce Payroll. The weekly timesheet also won’t work properly if Payroll Core is attached to your subscription. Check both before you train the team.
What is the difference between QuickBooks Online timesheets and QuickBooks Time?
QuickBooks Time is Intuit’s separate time tracking product. It used to be called TSheets, and Intuit’s QuickBooks Time page confirms that “TSheets is now called QuickBooks Time.” So when people search for T Sheets or TSheets Intuit, they mean the same product.
QuickBooks Time adds mobile clock-in through the QuickBooks Workforce app, a Time Kiosk, scheduling and GPS while on the clock. Geofencing and project estimates versus actuals sit in the Elite tier only. Basic QuickBooks Online timesheets have none of these, but they cost nothing extra on a plan that includes them.
How do you turn on time tracking in QuickBooks Online?
Setup has two parts: choosing the tracking option, then setting preferences. Allow about 15 minutes for a small team.
- Open Time. Choose why you want to track hours.
- Pick the option. Choose basic time tracking in QuickBooks Online, or start a QuickBooks Time account. Either way, timesheets are reachable from QuickBooks Online.
- Finish the set-up tasks. Select Start or Edit on each item under SET UP TASKS.
- Open preferences. Go to Settings → Account and settings → Time. Older layouts show a Time tracking section under Advanced instead.
- Set the work week. Choose the first day of the work week. This controls how weekly timesheets look to staff.
- Edit timesheet fields. Turn on the fields covered in the next section, and clear any you don’t need.
The QuickBooks time tracking feature is now live. Hours entered from here on can carry customer, rate and service details.
Which timesheet fields should you turn on?
QuickBooks timesheets only become invoice lines when the right fields are filled in. Intuit lists six timesheet preferences. Here is what each one does for billing.
| Timesheet field | What it does | Turn it on if… |
|---|---|---|
| Customer | Links time to a customer or project | You bill clients or want profit by customer |
| Billable and Rate per hour | Marks time billable and sets the hourly rate | You invoice for hours worked |
| Service | Tags time with a service item | You want profit by service, or set rates per service |
| Class | Adds a custom category such as department | You already report by class |
| Notes | Free-text description of the work | Clients expect line-item detail |
| Manage kiosk | Sets up the QuickBooks Time kiosk | Staff clock in on a shared tablet |
Our rule of thumb: if you invoice for time, Customer, Billable, Service and Notes are not optional. Missing any one breaks the trail from timesheet to invoice. The next step is getting people into the system.
How do you add employees and contractors as time tracking users?
Staff who only log hours don’t need full accounting access. QuickBooks Online has a Track time only role for them.
- Go to Settings → Manage users.
- Select Add user and enter their details.
- Choose Track time only under Roles.
- Select Send invite.
The person gets an email and creates their own Intuit login. One limit is easy to miss: you can’t change a Track time only user to another role later. If someone needs wider access, delete the user and add them again with the new role.
How do team members log time?
Each person logs time as a single time activity or on a weekly timesheet. A single activity suits one block of work with start and end times. The weekly view suits people who fill in the whole week at once.
For billable work, they pick the customer, choose the service and tick Billable. Without the customer and billable tick, the hours will never surface on an invoice.
How does billable time get onto an invoice?
Billable time entries wait as suggested transactions on the customer. When you create or edit an invoice for that customer, you add them from the side panel.
- Create a new invoice, or open an existing one and select Edit.
- Open Suggested transactions. Older layouts call this Add to Invoice.
- Filter by date or type if the list is long.
- Select Add on each billable time entry.
- Save and send.
Intuit’s invoice from billable time guide shows the same flow, including the older Add to Invoice pane.
Worked example: one week of consulting time
Here is a small consultancy billing one client for a week. The rates are illustrative.
| Who | Service | Logged | Shows on invoice as | Rate | Line total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Priya | Strategy workshop | 3:30 | 3.50 hours | $180 | $630.00 |
| Priya | Report writing | 1:15 | 1.25 hours | $150 | $187.50 |
| Tom | Data analysis | 6:45 | 6.75 hours | $120 | $810.00 |
| Tom | Internal stand-up (not billable) | 0:30 | Not added | — | — |
| Total | 12:00 | 11.50 hours | $1,627.50 |
Two things to notice. First, QuickBooks shows hours as decimals in the invoice editor and as hours and minutes on the sent copy. Intuit’s example is 1.25 on the invoice and 1:15 on what the customer receives.
Second, the stand-up never reaches the invoice because nobody ticked Billable. That’s correct here. But if Tom forgets to tick it on real client work, those hours quietly drop out. Our guide on how to calculate billable hours covers how to spot that gap before month end.
How do you create an invoice in QuickBooks from a timesheet import?
Hours tracked outside QuickBooks need to arrive as time activity records first. That can happen through QuickBooks Time or a connected time tracking app. Once the records carry a customer and the Billable flag, they appear in Suggested transactions like any other entry.
The import is rarely the problem. The usual failures are an unmapped employee, a missing customer, or time that arrived without the billable flag. Fix those at the source, and invoicing takes minutes.
Can QuickBooks Pro determine what my billable rate is?
No. QuickBooks doesn’t work out what you should charge. It applies a rate you have already set, either on the service item or on the time entry.
QuickBooks Desktop has billing rate levels, which fill in a different rate per employee or vendor automatically. Intuit’s custom rates article says the feature is only in the Contractor, Professional Services and Accountant editions. In QuickBooks Online, you set the rate per hour on the timesheet or on the service item.
Setting the right rate is a pricing decision. Base it on cost, utilisation and margin rather than habit. Our project profitability guide shows how to check whether a rate covers delivery cost.
When is QuickBooks Online time tracking not enough?
Built-in timesheets work well for a few people billing a handful of customers. They get harder to manage as the team grows. Here is how the three common set-ups compare.
| Need | QuickBooks Online timesheets | QuickBooks Time | Keito synced to QuickBooks Online |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extra cost | Included on Essentials, Plus, Advanced | Base fee plus $8–$10 per worker per month | Keito subscription; QuickBooks sync on Business plan |
| Mobile clock-in, kiosk, GPS | No | Yes | No: web timers, week view and a Chrome extension |
| Manager approval before billing | No: billable time goes straight to suggestions | Timesheet approvals | Submitted timesheets approved before sync |
| Project and client billing review | Basic | Elite adds estimates vs actuals | Budgets, approvals and invoice review |
| Best fit | Small teams, simple billing | Field and hourly crews | Client services teams billing by project |
Intuit’s QuickBooks Time page listed $8 per worker per month on Premium or $10 on Elite, plus a base fee, on 17 October 2026. It is included with QuickBooks Workforce Premium and Elite.
The gap that matters most for client work is review. A timesheet in QuickBooks goes straight to suggested transactions. Nobody checks whether the description makes sense to the client or whether the hours fit the budget. For payroll-led teams, our guide to payroll time tracking integration covers the same handoff from the pay side.
How does Keito connect time tracking to QuickBooks Online?
Keito keeps time tracking, approval and invoicing upstream, and QuickBooks stays the accounting system. The QuickBooks Online integration works at workspace level and is set up by a Keito admin.
Once connected, Keito can:
- Map team members to QuickBooks employees and tasks to products and services
- Sync approved time entries into QuickBooks as time activity records
- Copy finalised Keito invoices into QuickBooks with Product/Service, Class and tax code
- Pull payment status back from QuickBooks to the Keito invoice
That means only reviewed hours reach the books. See how the pieces fit on the QuickBooks-compatible time tracking page, or the QuickBooks Online time tracking workflow. Practices with payroll-heavy rotas can compare the approach in our dental practice QuickBooks guide. Teams leaving TSheets can read the TSheets alternative comparison.
Key Takeaway
QuickBooks Online time tracking only feeds invoices when Customer, Billable, Rate and Service are filled in. Set those fields first, then add users.
Get reviewed hours into QuickBooks without the clean-up
Keito tracks time by client and project, adds an approval step, and syncs approved entries to QuickBooks Online. Your accountant gets clean records, and your invoices match the work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does QuickBooks Online have built-in time tracking?
Yes. QuickBooks Online Essentials, Plus and Advanced include basic timesheets for single activities and weekly time. For mobile clock-in, kiosks and GPS, Intuit offers QuickBooks Time as a separate product.
How do I turn on time tracking in QuickBooks Online?
Open Time and choose basic time tracking or a QuickBooks Time trial, then finish the set-up tasks. Next, go to Settings, Account and settings, Time, and set the work week and timesheet fields. Older layouts keep these under Advanced.
How do I create an invoice in QuickBooks from imported timesheets?
Make sure the imported hours exist as time activity records with a customer and the Billable flag. Then create or edit the customer’s invoice, open Suggested transactions and select Add on each time entry.
Can QuickBooks Pro determine what my billable rate is?
No. QuickBooks applies the rate you set on the service item or time entry; it doesn’t calculate one. Automatic per-employee billing rate levels are only in the Contractor, Professional Services and Accountant editions of QuickBooks Desktop.
Is TSheets the same as QuickBooks Time?
Yes. TSheets is now called QuickBooks Time. It is Intuit’s standalone time tracking product and connects to QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Online Payroll and QuickBooks Desktop.
Is QuickBooks time tracking free?
Basic timesheets cost nothing extra on QuickBooks Online Essentials, Plus and Advanced. QuickBooks Time is paid: a base fee plus $8 or $10 per worker per month, with a 30-day free trial for new customers.