Approve, unapprove, and reject timesheets for QuickBooks Time

Learn how to approve, unapprove, or reject timesheets for QuickBooks Time and QuickBooks Online. 

If you have QuickBooks Online Essentials, Plus, Advanced, Accountant, or QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium or Elite, you can approve time there. 

In this article, you'll learn how to:

• Approve timesheets
• Unapprove or reject timesheets
• Add a timesheet using the approvals report
• Edit or delete a timesheet using the approvals report

Approve timesheets

Note: If you want to give your team members permission to submit their time for approval, set this up in QuickBooks Time. 

In QuickBooks Online 

1. Go to Time (Take me there) and select Time entries. 
2. If Display by is set to Date, select Approvals. Or, set Display by to Customer and select Approvals. 
3. Select the Date range, then in the Status dropdown, select Unapproved.
4. To review timesheets, select the team member’s name you want to review.
5. Make sure all the info is correct, then select Approve, and select Approve and lock time.

In QuickBooks Time

1. Go to Approvals.
   1. If you want to change the total hours worked format from decimal to HH:MM (hours and minutes), select HH:MM.
2. Select the report dates, team members, and select Run Report.
3. Select either Select all unapproved, or select individual team members.
4. Select Approve Selected.
5. Alternatively, select Approve next to the team member's name individually.

Note: Approving the displayed hours approves and locks all time data up to and including the chosen report dates.

Unapprove or reject timesheets

In QuickBooks Online

1. Go to Time (Take me there) and select Time entries. 
2. If Display by is set to Date, select Approvals. Or, set Display by to Customer and select Approvals. 
3. Select the Date range, then in the Status dropdown, select Approved.
4. Select Unapprove next to the team member’s time you want to unapprove. 
5. Select Unapprove and unlock time to confirm.

In QuickBooks Time

1. Go to Approvals.
2. Select the report dates, team members, and select Run Report.
3. To unapprove and unlock the team member's timesheet, select Unapprove.

Note: Unapproving the displayed hours unlocks all hours from the present back to and including the displayed report dates.

Add a timesheet using the approvals report

In QuickBooks Online

1. Go to Time (Take me there) and select Time entries. 
2. If Display by is set to Date, select Approvals. Or, set Display by to Customer, and select Approvals. 
3. Select the date range, then in the Status dropdown, select Unapproved.
4. Select the team member’s name you want to review and add time for.
5. Select Add time dropdown, select Single time entry and fill in the timesheet details, then Save.

In QuickBooks Time

1. Go to Approvals.
2. Select the report dates, team members, and select Run Report.
3. At the right under the hours, select view details.
4. On the left, select + Add timesheet.
5. In the Timesheet Editor, enter the information, and select Save.

Note: The date range must be in the "unapproved" state to add more time.

Edit or delete a timesheet using the approvals report

In QuickBooks Online

1. Go to Time (Take me there) and select Time entries. 
2. If Display by is set to Date, select Approvals. Or, set Display by to Customer, and select Approvals. 
3. Select the Date range, then in the Status dropdown, select Unapproved.
4. Select the team member’s name you want to edit or delete time for.
5. Next to the timesheet you want to edit or delete:
   1. To edit: Select Edit, make your changes, then select Save. 
   2. To delete: Select the dropdown ▼ from Action column, then select Delete, and select Yes to confirm.

In QuickBooks Time

1. Go to Approvals.
2. Select the report dates, team members, and select Run Report.
3. At the right, under the hours, select view details.
4. Do one of the following:
   1. To edit: Select Edit , make the changes, and then Save.
   2. To delete: Select Delete , then Delete again to confirm.

Note: A timesheet must be in the "unapproved" state to edit or delete the time.