Exporting Time Logs

Time logs recorded in PMSuite often need to leave the system: payroll teams want a spreadsheet, clients want a breakdown of billed hours, and finance teams feed the numbers into external accounting tools. PMSuite stores each time log with its Project, Task, Employee, Start Date, Start Time, End Date, End Time and Memo, and auto-calculates the total hours from the start/end pair — so an export carries the same detail you see in the app.

This article covers getting time log data out of PMSuite: from the Timesheet list, from the time log reports, and — when you need a scheduled or programmatic feed — through the API.

Who can use it

• Company Admin — full access to time logs and reports across the workspace.
• Other roles — access depends on the Time Logs and Reports permissions granted to the role. PMSuite permission levels are None, Added (records the user personally added), Owns (records assigned to them) and All, applied per module for view/create/edit/delete. A role scoped to Owns will only ever see and export its own entries.
• Employees can only download data when the Employee can export data toggle is enabled in Settings → App Settings.

Prerequisites

• The Time Logs module must be enabled for your company in Settings → Module Settings.
• Time logs must already exist — recorded with the timer, entered manually, or filled in on a weekly timesheet.
• Your role needs view access to Time Logs (and to Reports, if you are exporting from a report page).
• If Timelog requires approval is switched on in Settings → Time Log Settings, decide before exporting whether you want approved entries only — see Time Log Approval.

How to Access

Step 1 — Narrow the data first

Export follows what is on screen, so filter before you download. Use the filters on the Timesheet list (or on the report page) to isolate the project, employee and date range you need, then confirm the rows shown are the ones you expect.

If you only need the hours on a single task, opening that task's Timesheet section is usually faster than filtering the global list.

Note that the list is paginated according to Datatable Row Limit in Settings → App Settings — what you see on the current page is not necessarily the whole result set.

Step 2 — Download the data

Use the Export action on the list toolbar to download the filtered records as a spreadsheet file, then open it in Excel, Google Sheets or any spreadsheet tool. Export actions appear across PMSuite list views (Clients, Employees, Attendance, Expenses, Tasks and more), so the pattern is the same wherever you are working.

The download reflects the columns and filters in effect on the page. If your company has added custom fields, each field has its own Allow export in table view toggle that controls whether it travels with the table.

Step 3 — Use the report views for summaries

For anything more than a raw dump, start from a report rather than the list:

• Time Log Report — hours grouped for analysis across projects and people.
• Weekly Timesheet Report — the Monday-to-Sunday grid, hours per task per day, matching the submission format employees use.

Both are useful starting points for payroll and client reporting because the totals already match PMSuite's own calculation.

Step 4 — Automate with the API (optional)

If you need a recurring feed rather than a manual download, generate a key on the API Keys page (/account/webhook-api-keys) with the scopes you need. The API base URL is https://[workspace].pmsuite.co/api/webhooks. The same page includes a Connect with Zapier button, which is the supported route for pushing time data into tools that PMSuite does not integrate with natively. You can also register a Webhook (/account/webhooks) to have PMSuite post JSON to a URL you control.

Effect on other features

• Invoicing — you do not have to export in order to bill. Create TimeLog Invoice builds an invoice whose line items are auto-populated from the hours logged against a project. See Creating Invoices.
• Payroll — the Add Timelogs to Salary toggle in the payroll run pulls logged time into pay calculations directly, so an export is only needed when your payroll happens outside PMSuite. See Running Payroll.
• Approval — exporting does not change approval state. Records keep whatever status they had.
• Permissions — because export reflects what the role can see, two people exporting the same filters can get different row counts if their permission scopes differ (Owns vs All).
• Reports — exports are a snapshot; the in-app reports stay live and continue to update as new time is logged.

Limitations

• No scheduled email of the raw export. PMSuite can send a Daily Timelog Report to selected roles (Settings → Time Log Settings), but that is a report, not an attached data file. Workaround: enable the Daily Timelog Report for routine visibility, and use the API Keys/Zapier route for an automated data feed.
• Employee-level export can be switched off company-wide. With Employee can export data disabled, employees cannot download data at all. Workaround: have a Company Admin run and share the export, or enable the toggle in App Settings if the policy allows.
• An export is a point-in-time file. Later edits, approvals or deletions in PMSuite are not reflected in an already-downloaded file. Workaround: re-export after the approval cycle closes, and date-stamp archived files.
• No native connector to external accounting/tax systems such as Xero or UK Making Tax Digital. Workaround: export the data and submit it through the API/Webhooks or a bridging tool, or connect via Zapier.
• Custom fields are excluded unless enabled. Workaround: switch on Allow export in table view for the field in Settings → Custom Fields.

Troubleshooting

The export is empty or missing rows. The active filters returned nothing, or your permission scope limits you to your own records. Widen the date range, clear the project/employee filters, and confirm rows are visible in the list before exporting. If you are on a role scoped to Owns or Added, ask a Company Admin to run the workspace-wide export.

There is no Export action on the page. Your role may lack the required module access, or Employee can export data may be disabled in App Settings. Ask a Company Admin to review the role in Roles & Permissions — and log out and back in afterwards, since permission changes do not always apply to an already-active session.

Exported totals do not match the on-screen total. Check that the same filters were applied when you exported, and that approved-only versus all-status views are not being compared. Hours are derived from the Start/End datetime pair, so an entry with a mistyped end time will inflate a total in both places — correct the entry and re-export.

Time logs are missing entirely for a project. Manual entries are only possible where Allow manual time logs is enabled on the project. If the team could not add entries, no data exists to export. Enable the toggle on the project and have the hours entered, or record them via the timer.

Custom field columns are absent. Enable Allow export in table view on that field in Settings → Custom Fields, then export again.

Related Articles

• Time Tracking Overview
• Manual Time Entry
• Weekly Timesheets
• Time Log Approval
• Time Log Report
• Weekly Timesheet Report
• Time Log Settings
• App Settings
• Custom Fields
• Running Payroll
• Creating Invoices