How to Track Time for a Single Activity in QuickBooks

You may need to track time for an activity for a customer or job that is unrelated to employee time. You can track time using the Time/Enter Single Activity window to input total hours or periodic events that are either billable or non-billable. You can record time by entering the time or by using the timer. To track time for a single activity in QuickBooks, follow these nine steps.

Every relevant field in the Time/Enter Single Activity window must be completed. Notice that you can click Timesheet in the toolbar if you decide that timesheet entry should be used.

1. From the Home page, in the Employees section, click Enter Time and select Time/Enter Single Activity from the drop-down menu.The Time/Enter Single Activity window opens.
2. In the Date field, type or look up the date of the activity.
3. In the Name field, type or select the name of the employee, vendor, or other person/company.
4. In the Customer:Job field, select the customer or job the activity is for or is billable to. (To track time for overhead or an item that is not directly associated to an existing customer, you should create a name such as "Company Overhead" for the entry.)
5. In the Service Item field, select the item that describes the timed activity.
6. You can record the duration of the activity in one of two ways.
   • To directly input the time spent on the activity, type the time in the Duration field. Time can be entered as hours and minutes (e.g., 4:30) or as a decimal (e.g., 4.5). Alternatively, you can enter time as a start time and end time and QuickBooks will calculate the hours for you. For example, if you type 9–5 in this field, QuickBooks replaces it with 8:00.
   • To input time using the timer, click Start when the activity begins and Stop when it ends. If you take a break from the activity, you can click Pause to stop the timer temporarily. To resume timing, click Start again.
7. If the activity is billable, leave the Billable checkbox marked; otherwise, clear the checkbox to denote unbillable time.
8. In the Notes field, type any notes you want to appear on invoices or sales receipts that are created from billable timesheets. If classes are active in your system, a Class field is also visible on this form.
9. Click Save & Close.