Time tracking with Quicken

Quicken Community

I'm self-employed and often bill out on an hourly basis. Is there a time-tracking app that I can use that'll upload my time into the Quicken Home & Business invoice software?

NotACPA

There's no  "time clock" function in QH&B itself.  Nor am I aware of any way to import such info into Q ... as there's no place to receive the data.

Quicken_Tyka

Hey there!

Unfortunately this feature isn't available in Quicken.

I'm going to change this post into an idea thread so other users can vote on this feature.

Thank you for your contribution to the community!

-Quicken Tyka

Unknown

Could you bring back the Quicken Time Tracker from 2004???

Quicken_Tyka

Could you bring back the Quicken Time Tracker from 2004???

Hey Lee,

I would create an Idea thread so other users can vote to have the feature added.

-Quicken Tyka

Bill Wimberley

A time tracker for Quicken would be excellent. I currently use both Quickbooks and Quicken Home, Business & Rental Property. The only reason I even use Quickbooks at all is for the ability to track and invoice for time. I use TSheets to record times and then import the data back into Quickbooks. A time recorder integrated into Quicken would be ideal and would allow me to drop Quickbooks altogether, assuming the timer were implemented properly. Quickbook's method of using a separate timer is workable but not ideal. Exporting customer data and then importing times is a bit cumbersome. I think Quicken could appeal to a much larger user base if a more robust time tracking and billing system were implemented.

Unknown

I really wish Quicken Business has time and labor tracking and billing. I currently now currently have to track it using various excel sheets to do the same.

LarryS103

Quicken is supposed to be for tracking rental expenses and property management. New IRS regulations allows a 20% deduction, only if a rental is "qualified business income" ,QBI. it allows a 20% for a deduction from income This can be huge. It requires that the taxpayer keep track of hours worked to proof it. Quicken should add a time tracking function, that is integrated with the posting of rental expenses. This is a critical, and valuable function to all rental users.

Jim_Harman

I am sure there are better applications for time tracking, but if you must use Quicken to track this, maybe you could set up an account, mark it as "Separate" and enter a deposit of $1.00 for each hour you work.

You could use the Tags for the rental properties to keep track of which one you were working on.

The Payee could be the person doing the work and maybe you could set up a QBI Category with subcategories to indicate the nature of the work. 

LarryS103

Right now I am posting my time to my iCalendar with a specific category for the rentals, color coded blue different from anything else. I post the hours by changing the calendar period of the day actually done, and entering a detail description of what was done that day in the description line. I bought an app TimeTable 3 that sucks out the calendar items by category and puts it into a spreadsheet by date. I can add and segment using spreadsheet functions. I believe this meets the QBI documentation. We shall see

Jimedh

I have a consulting Firm and need to track my time for different Projects Can QuickBooks timer be made to track time in Quicken?

Jim

Quicken_Tyka

Hello @Jimedh

Thank you for taking the time to visit the Community to post your question, although I apologize that this feature isn't currently offered.

Be sure to navigate to the top of this post and click the up arrow to add your vote!

Ideas are reviewed by our development team to see what people would like to be available in the future.

Thank you,

-Quicken Tyka

Byegone

Your vote button does not work.

NotACPA

You need to click the small triangle under the number of votes already received to record your vote.  Did that work?  It worked, just now, for me.

Boatnmaniac

Byegone said:

Your vote button does not work.

Did you try clicking on the vote button in @Quicken_Tyka 's post or did you try clicking on the vote button in the first post at the top of this idea thread? 

The vote button in @Quicken_Tyka 's post is just a picture to show what the button looks like.  It is not the actual vote button.  Go to the first post in this thread and try clicking on the button there.

cluksha

So when are you going to Actually create this needed feature?

NotACPA

cluksha said:

So when are you going to Actually create this needed feature?

Quicken NEVER pre-announces features until JUST BEFORE they're released.  And IF/WHEN such a feature is ever created, it will first be Beta Tested where all of the Beta testers have signed a Non-Disclosure agreement, and can't discuss such.

Also, the Q employees have, likewise, signed the NDA and can't answer your question either.

Ed Ablard

Just catching on that the Quicken versions I used to use had capability to bill by the hour to an invoice but that capability seems to have disappeared. There is a form to create an invoice. Would someone like to take a look and see what could be developed there? I will give it a try myself but not gifted and talented in this area.

Greg_the_Geek

Quicken hasn't lost the capability to bill by the hour. Just create an invoice item for labor.

Scooterlam

Building a Time Tracker Using Existing Quicken Functionality...

Was curious to build what @Jim_Harman described using snippets from an old consulting project and my associated Excel hours tracking/summary spreadsheet to see what it might look like in Quicken using existing functionality.    Of course, the billing milestone (hours to be invoiced), shown in image 1, would have to be manually carried over to the invoicing dialog @Greg_the_Geek showed.  Perhaps there is a clever way of forcing this transfer as well...

So...I built a tracker of sorts that mimicked a real-world project - Single consultant, one labor rate, 800 staff-hour, 5 months.   Perhaps on my next gig, I will try it real-time, with some refinements.  IMO, even though I showed time tracking for a project, I have no doubt one can repurpose for other relatively smallish efforts as well. 

I used "manual" checking account, with display properties set to "separate".  Then,  I repurposed most fields to align with my Excel spreadsheet that tracked daily billable hours against project phase and project activities within that phase.  Image 1.  Open in new tab to make bigger and much more legible.

Categories can be a good place to track structured phases and activities as well (image 2).

Needless to say, by using a checking account register, there is a rich selection of fields to repurpose for time tracking.   And, because you are using existing functionality and fields, there is a ton of standard and custom reporting available in reports center (Image 3).

Perhaps this will give @Quicken some ideas.  In the mean time, have a look and let your curiosity run.

Image 1 - Repurposed Checking Register

Image 2 - Categories tracking phase and activities

Image 3 - Reports Center

q_lurker

@Scooterlam Thanks for the development effort. 

Curious -- Are you suggesting that this time-tracking be in a separate Quicken file or in your regular financial based file?  I could see with a breadth of special categories, a separate file might be more manageable.  Within a financial file, I could see a single category (Time-Track) with all the associated time related categories as subs under that.  That might ease some of the report customization.   

Scooterlam

As a future, fully developed time-tracking feature, my early thoughts are that it should be in the financial file, under business tools as "Time Tracker" and integrated into Quicken's Business features - Estimates, Invoicing, Payments, Reports et al.   I guess I am less concerned of where it sits and more concerned that it integrates well with existing features and that the business process flow is understandable and intuitive for the end user.  Given a wide ranges of use cases, this might prove to be quite a challenge, especially determining what level of detail and complexity estimates should be...

Quicken's "Estimates" feature would be a good place to start the cycle.   "Estimates" and "Invoices" are designed similarly to expedite turning these estimates into invoices in Quicken.  Now, insert "Time-Tracker" between these two business processes with a similar goal of facilitating flow of information:  That is,  "Estimate" hours and associated activities >>> turn into "Time-Tracker" planned hours v actual hours and associated activities  >>> turn into "Invoicing" actual and billable hours >>> turn into "Payment" receipts.  

For sure lots to consider...


As a workaround using existing register functionality, there are a number of ways to structure - probably most flexible but can be wrought with user frustration. 

While I indicated (or inferred in above post, image 1) that one account register might accommodate time tracking for multiple clients, I think that this is not scalable in a number of ways.   So...I could see a business with many rental units, many clients, many projects (complex or simple) or some combination, needing or wanting to keep their client time-tracking in separate account registers and in a separate qdata file from financials.



I spit-balled this in my production file because I wanted to further explore possible "integration" to current estimate and invoice functionally.  That is, can I tie the three together without too much complication for the user and in-line with the expected, existing process flow >> Estimate (current feature) > Time Tracker > Invoicing (current feature)???  That is, how can I move those billing milestone hours (above post, image 1) to invoicing dialog using existing functionality.   

I can see now I need to probably convert the categories to revenue v. expense and assign a tax line such as Gross Receipts.   This might help get some visibility with standard business reporting as well - schedule c and PL reports.   TBD!

About the category field, I did use this field to build my activity structure - a project work breakdown if you will.   This is so that I can leverage current standard reporting to see detail time tracking for activities to rollup summaries for phase and project along with any associated billing milestones.   As an example, image 1/2 in my above post, is shown below using a standard category report, customized for account and categories that I used. Not too bad out of the box but wish I could select all of the fields used in above post, image 1.  Perhaps though there are better reports.  A planned v. actual hours report by activity, by phase, by project would be a nice addition....For sure, I beleive this level of category detail, for small projects, would be a more complex structure v. simpler activity tracking.



@q_lurker,  not sure if my rambling answered your questions.....for sure lots to consider.  I had heard that Quicken, at one point had a time tracker....could that be true? If so, might be easier to bring that back and modernize it! Or, just use Excel! Or... 

q_lurker

My take on your prior post was that you were suggesting user 'repurpose' various fields to effect a time tracking methodology within the current Quicken.  I now see you were looking well beyond the current package. 

I had heard that Quicken, at one point had a time tracker....could that be true? 

Not that I recall, but I did not closely monitor all the 'business' features.

I would think something in Excel would be much more effective, but I am also never sure how many 'home business" users are competent enough with spreadsheets and the full strength of such packages.  Of course, that approach does nothing to feed into invoicing, etc. within Quicken.  

NotACPA

The Home and Business versions have had, since the beginning, the ability to invoice for time spent.

BUT, the user needed to create invoice line items for each hourly rate (e.g., Time100, Time 150, etc) and track the actual hours externally. 

THEN those external records could be manually input into an invoice.

I've never, in using H&B for 20 or so years, seen an ability in Q to track the hours themselves.

Caroline W. Sherman

The business time tracking I need covers multiple pre-defined tasks over a single day, switching between them on the go. I would like a Quicken app (or module or whateever, desktop or mobile or both) that I can run in the background that allows me to switch between tasks, pause, resume, etc, all the while tabulating my hours spent on those tasks for that day. And I should be able to enter notes as I go for each task that day, to help me and my client understand the details of what I actually did. All this could then be rolled up into an invoice and emailed from Quicken. Right now, I have to use a separate app for the time tracking (I use Time Clock Connect) and manually enter the data into my Quicken invoicing.

Rondas

I was a former Quickbooks user. They did have an easy timer where job work time could be added to invoices. Please add that to Quicken!!!

[Merged Post]

JoelC

@Rondas I agree that this would be helpful but there are a number of tools to use to track time, a workaround should be available.

Please, do not get me wrong I think this to be important but my focus is on getting the myriad of things that are broken fixed before adding new features.

[Merged Post]

Quicken Kristina

Hello @Rondas,

Thank you for coming to the Quicken Community to share your feedback! I merged your Idea with the existing Idea requesting this feature be added to Quicken.

Thank you!