Welcome to the Community, @Karen Bartel.
I'm here to take care of you. Let me help you run a bi-monthly salary payroll for your employees.
Since QuickBooks Desktop has a Do it Yourself Payroll (Basic or Enhanced), we don't have an option to automatically create paychecks.
Here are the two types of payroll in QuickBooks Desktop:
Scheduled: Let's you pay your employees on a regular schedule such as weekly, biweekly, monthly.
Unscheduled: This option is used if you don't pay your employees regularly. Or if you pay them an off-cycle paycheck, bonus paycheck or commission paycheck that isn't integrated with their normal payroll.
However, you can create direct deposit paychecks. You can send paychecks up to 45 days in advance. The transactions are still considered Pending. Payroll is then offloaded at 5 pm PST, two banking days before the check date.
If you want to learn more in setting up direct deposit, visit this article: Set up direct deposit.
Once you've sent the direct deposit paychecks, Intuit will debit your bank account 1 banking day before check date. Then, funds are automatically deposited to your employee's account on the check date.
That information should get you back in order. I hope you have a successful surgery @Karen Bartel. If you have follow-up questions about payroll, please let me know. I'll be here and ready to help anytime. Have a good one.