Import timesheets from a spreadsheet or another app

To bring in past shifts, such as the weeks before you switched to Shift Amp, import them from a file instead of adding entries one at a time. Nothing is created until you've checked what every row will become, and you can undo the whole import. Organization owners, operations administrators and location managers can import timesheets, location managers only at the locations they manage. Assistant managers can't. Importing is part of Pro and the free trial.

Starting from scratch? Make your own copy of the Google Sheets template. Shift Amp recognizes its columns, so there's nothing to match.

Before you start

• Everyone in your file needs to be on your team already. An import adds time, never people. To add many people at once, see Import your team from a spreadsheet.
• Each person needs the location and position they worked. If someone's missing one, the import links you to their record to add it.
• Only finished shifts come in. Every row needs a clock-in, and a clock-out that has already happened.
• An approved week can't take new entries, so reopen it first. See Review and approve timesheets.
• One import holds up to 5,000 rows. Split a bigger file by date.

Fill in the template

Make your own copy of the Google Sheets template, or download the CSV template from the import page. Both have the same columns. Put one shift on each row.

• Employee name (required): as it appears in Shift Amp.
• Email (required): the email the person has in Shift Amp. It's the surest way to match them.
• Employee ID: optional. Your own code or payroll ID.
• Date (required): the day the shift started, like 2026-11-03 or 11/03/2026.
• Clock in and Clock out (required): like 09:00 or 9:00 AM. A clock-out earlier than the clock-in means the shift ended the next day.
• Location and Position: needed when someone works at more than one location or holds more than one position. Use the names they have in Shift Amp.
• Unpaid break (minutes) and Paid break (minutes): the shift's total break time, when you don't have break times.
• Break 1 start, Break 1 end and Break 1 paid: a break with times, up to three per shift. Put Yes or No under Break 1 paid. Left blank, the break follows your break setting.
• Note: optional. It becomes a note on the entry that only managers can see.

Use break times or break minutes on a row, not both, and delete the two example rows. Then download the sheet (File, then Download, then Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) or Comma-separated values (.csv)), or copy the rows with their header row to paste on the import page.

Use an export from another app

The export you want has one row per shift, with each clock-in and clock-out. A file of each person's total hours, or one with a row for every punch, can't be imported, and the import page says which export to use instead. Choose your old app under Coming from another app? on the import page to see where its export is:

• Deputy: Timesheets, then Export Timesheets, then CSV/Excel - All Fields, or a file made from Deputy's bulk timesheet template. Meal breaks come in unpaid and rest breaks paid.
• When I Work: Attendance, then Timesheets, then Export, as a custom export of up to three months. A tab for each schedule can come in as one import.
• Homebase: Timesheets, then Download, using the detailed timesheet rather than the payroll summary. A meal break recorded as a clock-out and back in comes in as two entries.
• 7shifts: Time Clocking, then choose the pay period, then Excel or CSV, once the period's timesheets are closed.
• Sling: Reports, then Payroll, then CSV or XLS, with the clock-in and clock-out columns included. Leave out the scheduled start and end.
• Connecteam: Time Clock, then Timesheets, then Export, then Shift report (Excel), not Payroll totals.

Shift Amp recognizes its own template, its own timesheet export and Deputy's bulk template by their columns. For other files, it matches what it can from the column names, and you check the rest.

Import your file

1. In the left menu, select Time, then Timesheets.
2. Select Import timesheets, next to Export.
3. Under 1. Choose your timesheets, choose your file in Timesheet file. To paste rows instead, open Paste rows from Excel or Google Sheets instead, paste them with their header row, and select Read pasted rows. Nothing is saved yet.
4. If your workbook has several tabs, choose one under Which tab holds the timesheets?, or bring in every tab that has the same columns.
5. Under 2. Match the columns, check that each field names the right column from your file, and change any that don't. The template's columns are matched for you. Anything under Won't be imported is ignored.
6. If A few things the file doesn't say appears, answer its questions, such as whether 03/04/2026 is March 4 or April 3. Each is asked once for the whole file.
7. Under 3. Match people and places, check who each person in the file is in Shift Amp. Each says how they were matched, for example Matched by email. To fix one, select Change, then choose the right person or Skip their rows. Check Locations and Positions the same way.
8. If Access to give appears, your file puts someone at a location or in a position they don't have. Select Give access to for that person, give them access in the tab that opens, then select Check again. Giving access also lets you schedule them there. Or leave those rows out.
9. Under 4. Check what will happen, read each row's Outcome. Rows marked Ready will be imported. A row that needs attention says why and is left out. To include it, fix your file and choose it again.
10. If your old system already paid these hours, select These hours were already paid outside Shift Amp (see below).
11. Select the import button, for example Import 4 entries, then select it again to confirm. Keep the page open until it finishes.

Import finished says how many entries came in. Open each week under Review the weeks it added to to check it, then approve it as usual.

Rows that didn't come in are under Not imported, each with its reason. Download rows to fix gives you just those rows, in your columns, with a Problem column. Fix them and import that file. Rows already imported aren't added twice.

Imported entries

• They count like any other entry: on timecards, in reports and, once their week is approved, in payroll exports.
• Their punches show as Imported. A note from your file shows as Imported note, which only managers see, even when it was an employee's comment in your old app.
• They aren't flagged as unscheduled, so a week of imported time is ready to approve once you've checked it.
• Breaks keep the paid or unpaid mark from your file, and break minutes without times stay as minutes. To change a mark, open the entry and use Break 1 paid or unpaid. Unmarked breaks follow your break setting. See Choose how breaks count.
• Importing never changes time that's already recorded, and nobody is notified.

If the hours were already paid

Select These hours were already paid outside Shift Amp for a period your old system already paid. The entries stay on timesheets and in reports, but payroll exports leave them out, so nobody is paid twice. A payroll export's preview says how many entries it left out, and points out any other imported entries in its dates. See Create a payroll export.

Undo an import

If you imported the wrong file or the wrong dates, undo the import. Undo removes every entry it created, with their breaks and notes, and changes nothing else.

1. On the result, under Wrong file?, select Undo this import. To undo one later, open the import page: Recent imports lists your organization's last 10.
2. Select Undo import to confirm.

Undo works only while every entry is as the import left it. If any has since been corrected, given a note, flagged for review, approved or reopened, or reported or rated by the employee, nothing is undone, and the page lists those entries. Owners and operations administrators can undo any import. A location manager can undo one when they manage every location in it.

If a row can't be imported

Each row that needs attention says why. The most common reasons:

• Nobody on your team matches: the person isn't on your team yet, or your file has a different email or name for them. Add them, or choose who they are under Match people and places.
• Overlaps an entry already recorded: the person already has time then, often from an earlier import. It's also why importing the same file twice adds nothing.
• In a week already approved: reopen that week, then import the file again.
• The employee doesn't work at this location or doesn't hold this position: give them access, as in step 8, or leave the row out.
• Isn't one of your locations: location managers can import only at the locations they manage.