Set Up QuickBooks Time: Sign In & Troubleshooting Guide

Written by BooksMerge | Published: August 12, 2026

QuickBooks Time is a cloud-based time tracking and workforce management solution that helps businesses monitor employee hours, simplify scheduling, and streamline payroll. Whether you’re using it for the first time or need help accessing your account, understanding the QuickBooks Time login process is the first step toward managing your workforce more efficiently.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to set up QuickBooks Time, sign in to your account, configure essential settings, invite team members, and troubleshoot common login issues so you can get the most out of the software.

What is QuickBooks Time?

QuickBooks Time is a cloud-based time tracking and workforce management solution designed to help businesses monitor employee work hours, manage schedules, and simplify payroll. It allows employees to clock in and out from a web browser or the mobile app, while managers can review timesheets, approve hours, track breaks, and monitor job progress from a single dashboard.

When integrated with QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Payroll, QuickBooks Time automatically syncs employee time data, reducing manual entry and helping improve payroll accuracy. It also supports features like GPS time tracking, project tracking, overtime management, time-off requests, and team scheduling, making it a practical solution for businesses with office-based, remote, or field employees.

System Requirements for Set Up QuickBooks Time

QuickBooks Time is compatible with the latest versions of most popular web browsers, as well as the two previous releases. Using older browser versions may result in limited functionality or compatibility issues.

Note: Internet Explorer is no longer supported by QuickBooks Time.

• Google Chrome: version 78 or newer
• Mozilla Firefox: version 76 or newer

Note: If you’re using macOS, you’ll need to install the Firefox PDF plugin to preview and print forms.

• Microsoft Edge: version 79 or newer
• Safari: version 12 or newer (Mac only)
• Opera: version 68 or newer
• Samsung: version 10 or newer

Learn How to Set Up and Access Your QuickBooks Time Software

Before getting started, make sure you have signed up for QuickBooks Time and completed the QuickBooks Time Login. Once you’re logged in, you can access your account and configure the necessary settings before setting up time tracking for your team.

Launch your QuickBooks Time account

Open QuickBooks Time Tracking and click Find out more.

Select either QuickBooks Time Premium or QuickBooks Time Elite, then add the plan to your existing subscription or activate the 30-day free trial.

Note: QuickBooks Workforce Premium and QuickBooks Workforce Elite subscriptions already include access to QuickBooks Time.

If you haven’t subscribed to QuickBooks Time yet, follow the steps below to get started:

• Open QuickBooks Online, navigate to Time, and click Check out pricing.
• Review the available plans, then choose QuickBooks Time Premium or QuickBooks Time Elite. You can either add your preferred plan to your existing subscription or activate the 30-day free trial to explore its features before subscribing.

Then, you can begin the setup:

• Navigate to All apps.
• Select Time and then Overview.
• Select Go to Classic QuickBooks Time to continue.

QuickBooks Online automatically syncs your information with QuickBooks Time, leaving only a few settings that require manual setup.

Set up pay period

Note: If you’re using Intuit QuickBooks Workforce, configure your pay period settings there before proceeding. Otherwise, follow the steps below.

• Open QuickBooks Time and navigate to Company Settings.
• Select Payroll & Overtime, then click Pay Schedule.
• Choose your preferred Week Start and Pay Schedule options.
• Enter the most recent payroll closing date, then click Save.

Set up overtime settings

Before you configure overtime in QuickBooks Time, make sure overtime pay is enabled in each employee’s payroll profile. If it isn’t, any extra hours worked will be recorded as regular time instead of overtime.

• In QuickBooks Time, open Company Settings.
• Select Payroll & Overtime, then choose Overtime.
• Configure the overtime settings that apply to your business and click Save.
  • For more advanced overtime rules, select Use Pay Rate Engine to create custom overtime calculations.

Note: You can always return to Company Settings later to customize additional settings based on your business requirements.

Review payroll item and time mapping

Note: This feature is available only if you have an active QuickBooks Payroll subscription.

QuickBooks automatically matches your payroll items with the corresponding time types in QuickBooks Time. For instance, the Regular Pay payroll item is linked to the Regular time type by default.

Review these mappings to ensure they’re accurate. If needed, update them so employee hours are transferred to payroll using the correct pay rates.

• In QuickBooks Time, select Intuit QuickBooks Workforce or QuickBooks Desktop Payroll, then click Preferences.
• Open the Payroll Item Mapping Tool.
• Go to the Map Employees tab and choose the employee you want to review.
• Assign the appropriate QuickBooks pay type for each time type. Your changes are saved automatically.

Note: For more advanced setup, you can map payroll items to specific service items or class types as needed.

Add your team and time tracking options

You can configure break tracking and time-off options in QuickBooks Online so your team can record breaks accurately and submit time-off entries whenever required.

Note: Any data that syncs from QuickBooks Online or Intuit QuickBooks Workforce, such as employees, contractors, customers, payroll items, service items, billable items, classes, and locations, must be managed from those platforms.

If your employees need to track their time by service items, billable status, or classes, follow the steps below to enable these tracking options.

Add team members to track time

Whenever you add a new employee or contractor in QuickBooks Online, they’ll automatically appear in the My Team section of QuickBooks Time.

• Go to All apps > Time > Time Team.
• To add an employee, click Add employee
  • Enter the required information, then select Add employee.
• To add a contractor, click Add contractor.
  • On the Expenses page, select Add your first contractor or Add a contractor.
  • Complete the required fields, then click Add contractor.

Add other tracking options in QuickBooks Time

• In QuickBooks Time, open the QuickBooks menu and select Preferences.
• Enable the tracking options you want to use:
  • Customers & Sub-customers: Require employees to select a customer when filling out timesheets. You can assign customers later if needed.
    Note: You can create or update customers in either QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Time, and the changes will automatically sync between both platforms.
• Service Items: Require employees to choose a service item on their timesheets. Service items can be assigned later.
• Billable Yes/No: Allow employees to mark time entries as billable or non-billable. Billable hours can be added to customer invoices in QuickBooks.
• Require Billable Yes/No: Make the billable selection mandatory before employees can clock out.
• Class: Require a class to be selected when submitting timesheets.

Your preferences are saved automatically. Depending on the options you enable, the related data will sync from QuickBooks Online to QuickBooks Time automatically.

Invite team members to track time

• Navigate to All apps > Time > Time Team.
• Click Invite team members.
• Select the employees or contractors you want to invite, then choose whether to send the invitation by text message or email.
• Click Invite (#) Team Members or Send Invitations to complete the process.

How to Log In to QuickBooks Time in QuickBooks Online

Once you’ve set up your QuickBooks Time account, signing in is straightforward. If your QuickBooks Time subscription is connected to QuickBooks Online, you can access it directly from your QuickBooks dashboard without needing a separate login.

Follow these steps to access QuickBooks Time:

• Sign in to your QuickBooks Online account using your Intuit credentials.
• From the left navigation menu, select Time.
• Click Go to Classic QuickBooks Time (if prompted).
• QuickBooks Time will open automatically, allowing you to access your dashboard, timesheets, schedules, and team management tools.

If You Already Have a QuickBooks Time Account

If you’re an existing user, you can sign in using the same Intuit Account associated with your QuickBooks Time subscription. After logging in, you’ll be taken directly to your QuickBooks Time workspace, where you can clock in, review timesheets, manage schedules, or approve employee hours.

Note: If you’re unable to access QuickBooks Time, make sure you’re signing in with the correct Intuit account linked to your subscription. Using a different email address may prevent you from accessing your company data.

Summing Up

Finally, we have reached the end of this blog. Setting up QuickBooks Time is a straightforward process once you know the right steps to follow. From choosing a subscription and configuring payroll settings to adding team members and accessing your QuickBooks Time login, everything works together to help you track employee time more efficiently and simplify payroll management.

We hope this guide has made the setup process easier and answered your questions along the way. However, if you still run into login, setup, or syncing issues, contact BooksMerge +1-866-513-4656 is here to help.