Payroll Files

Open Settings, then choose Payroll Files to create a reusable file setup for your payroll provider.

Payroll Files are for providers that accept imported files. They are separate from the QuickBooks Online connection, which sends approved worked time directly to a QuickBooks company.

Creating payroll-file profiles

A profile chooses the payroll service, how Clockspot identifies each employee in the file, and the provider's pay code for each Clockspot pay category. Choose the service first: the rest of the form asks only for what that service needs, and a preview at the bottom shows the file it will produce. The profile is setup only. The actual file is downloaded from Payroll Summary for the pay period you are closing.

What a profile controls

• Payroll service - the file layout Clockspot will generate. Available services are Generic CSV, ADP RUN, Gusto (Smart Import), Paychex Flex (SPI), SurePayroll, and QuickBooks Desktop (IIF).
• Match employees by - the value Clockspot writes into the employee identifier column. ADP RUN, Paychex Flex, and SurePayroll match on their own employee number, so those profiles use each employee's Payroll ID. QuickBooks Desktop matches the employee name in the company file. Generic CSV and Gusto let you choose Employee email, Employee name, or Payroll ID.
• Pay codes - the provider's codes for regular hours, each overtime tier, and each paid time off type. These are usually earning codes, pay component codes, payroll items, or import column names in the payroll provider. The overtime tiers come from your Overtime settings and the time off types from your paid time off types, so there is nothing to invent inside the profile.

Clockspot allows you to save a profile before every pay code is mapped. That makes setup easier, but the export will warn and skip rows whose pay category has no mapped code or whose employee identifier is blank. A profile that matches by Payroll ID shows, before you save, which employees still need one.

Setting up a profile

1. Open Settings, then choose Payroll Files.
2. Press Add profile.
3. Choose the Payroll service. Clockspot fills in the profile name and any codes the service publishes; you can change them.
4. Adjust the Profile name if you keep more than one, such as "ADP weekly hourly" or "Gusto salaried".
5. Fill in the service's own details, such as the ADP company code or the QuickBooks company create time. Each field explains where to find the value.
6. Fill in the Pay codes for regular hours, each overtime tier, and each paid time off type that should be exported.
7. Check Match employees by. When the service matches on a payroll number, make sure every employee has a Payroll ID under Employees, the employee, then Employment details.
8. Compare the preview with what your provider expects, then press Add profile.

To change a profile later, use Edit profile from its menu. The profile list shows the provider format and employee-matching method for each setup.

Downloading a payroll file

Payroll files are downloaded from Payroll Summary, not from the setup page.

1. Open Reports > Payroll Summary.
2. Choose the workweek-aligned period and employee filters you want to export.
3. Review the report totals, approval coverage, and any Needs review rows before creating a file.
4. Press Download payroll file.
5. Choose a Payroll profile. Clockspot chooses it for you when there is only one.
6. Press Download file.

Clockspot downloads the file in the selected provider format. If the download says setup issues were found, the file still contains the rows Clockspot could export, but some rows were left out. Open Settings, choose Payroll Files, edit the selected profile, and fix missing pay-code mappings or employee identifiers before relying on the file for payroll.

Provider formats

Generic CSV

Generic CSV creates a simple tall file with one row per employee and pay code. The file includes Employee, Pay Code, and Hours. If Include pay amounts column is enabled, it also includes Amount.

Use this format when your provider accepts a flexible CSV, when you need a spreadsheet handoff, or when you are testing mappings before using a provider-specific import.

ADP RUN

ADP RUN creates a Time Sheet Import CSV. The profile asks for Company code, Pay frequency, Employee ID column, and Rate code. Each employee's Payroll ID is written to the Employee ID (File #) or Employee Time Clock ID column, whichever the profile chooses, so every employee in the file needs the number ADP knows them by.

ADP's import guide describes the time sheet columns as company code, pay frequency, period start date, period end date, employee identifier, earnings code, pay hours, dollars, separate check, worked-in department, and rate code. Clockspot writes hours and earning codes; ADP calculates payroll from the codes and setup in ADP.

Keep employee IDs as text. Do not open and resave the CSV in a spreadsheet app when IDs can have leading zeroes.

Gusto (Smart Import)

Gusto Smart Import creates a wide CSV with one row per employee and one column for each mapped pay code. Clockspot leaves cells blank when an employee has no hours for that pay code.

That blank-cell behavior is intentional. Gusto documents that zero values can override existing values during Smart Import, while blank cells have no impact.

Paychex Flex (SPI)

Paychex Flex (SPI) creates a tall CSV with Employee ID, Pay Component, and Hours. Each row represents one employee, one pay component, and the hours for that component.

Paychex SPI imports are often configured per account. The exact header labels and enabled import settings can depend on the SPI spec sheet for your Paychex Flex account. Treat the Clockspot file as the standard structure, then confirm the headers and SPI enablement with Paychex or your account's SPI setup before running live payroll.

SurePayroll

SurePayroll creates a tall CSV with Year, Month, Day, Employee Number, Earning Code, and Hours. Clockspot uses the Payroll Summary period end date for the date columns.

SurePayroll's public help identifies the date fields, employee number, earning code, and hours as the required time clock file fields. It does not publish a complete account-independent header contract. Confirm the exact header expectations for your SurePayroll account before relying on the file in production.

QuickBooks Desktop (IIF)

QuickBooks Desktop creates an IIF timer file for QuickBooks Desktop, not QuickBooks Online. The profile asks for Company name and Company create time because QuickBooks timer files include a company header. The form's How to find your company create time steps walk through exporting a Timer List from QuickBooks Desktop and copying the value.

Each exported row uses the employee's name as the QuickBooks employee name and the mapped pay code as the QuickBooks payroll item. Those values must already exist in QuickBooks. Durations are written as hours and minutes.

QuickBooks IIF imports are exact-format files. Intuit recommends using the sample files and exact format, and it warns that support for third-party IIF files is limited. Back up QuickBooks Desktop and test with a small file before using this export for live payroll.

What Clockspot does not do

Payroll-file profiles do not submit anything to a provider. They create a downloadable file that an Administrator reviews and imports.

Clockspot does not create provider employees, pay codes, earning codes, departments, or wage rules. Those records must already exist in the destination, and the Clockspot mappings must point to the intended records.

Payroll providers can change import requirements or configure imports differently per account. When a provider gives you an account-specific template or spec sheet, use that as the final source of truth.

External provider references

• Gusto: Run payroll with Smart Import
• ADP RUN: Time Sheet Import guide
• QuickBooks Desktop: IIF overview and sample files
• QuickBooks Desktop: Export, import, and edit IIF files
• SurePayroll: Time clock file format