Preparing the Timer for Activities in QuickBooks

Did you know that QuickBooks offers a free Time Tracking tool? It is called QuickBooks Timer, you can find the program to install from a QuickBooks CD, or from the QuickBooks Help website: www.quickbooks.com/support search for QuickBooks Timer.

Before timekeepers can track their time, you need to import the QuickBooks Timer Lists. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Launch the QuickBooks Timer. If you recently installed the timer, you can launch it by clicking the Start button in Windows, All Programs, QuickBooks Timer, QuickBooks Pro Timer.
2. The No Timer File Is Open dialog box opens. Click Create New Timer File and click OK.
3. Type a name for the file (I use the QuickBooks company name) and select the proposed location for the file, or browse to a location of your choice. Click Save.
4. Click Yes, after reading the message about importing lists from QuickBooks.
5. The QuickBooks Timer help instructions display. Read the information or click the X in the topright corner to close.
6. From your open QuickBooks file, select File, Utilities, Export, Timer Lists from the menu bar.
7. The Export Lists for Timer displays. Click OK.
8. QuickBooks opens a default location for the Timer Lists to be stored. This file will need to be updated as new customers, jobs, timekeepers, and so on are added to the file.
9. Provide a name for the file. Click Save. Click OK to the message that the data was exported successfully.
10. Launch the QuickBooks Timer as instructed in step 1.
11. From the File menu in QuickBooks Timer, select Import QuickBooks Lists.
12. Click Continue. Select the .IIF file to import, or browse to the location where you stored the file in step 9. Click Open.
13. Click OK to close the Data Imported Successfully message.

You are now ready to begin tracking time with the QuickBooks Timer!

From Laura Madeira’s QuickBooks 2013 In Depth