← Learning Center · Payroll

Run a payroll period and export CSV

Review timesheets, fix missed punches, approve, lock the period, and export a CSV ready to import into Gusto, QuickBooks, ADP, Paychex, or any provider that accepts CSV.

The pay period lifecycle

Five states a pay period moves through:

1. Draft — Period created, time entries still accumulating
2. Pending approval — Period closed, timesheets need manager review
3. Approved — All entries reviewed and approved
4. Exported — CSV downloaded, sent to payroll provider
5. Locked — Period frozen; no further edits without explicit reopen

Every transition is audited. You can reopen a locked period if needed (with a reason), but the audit trail captures it.

Step 1 — Create the pay period

1. Go to Manage → Payroll
2. Click New pay period
3. Set the start date and end date (e.g. April 14 – April 27 for biweekly)
4. Optionally set the pay date (when staff actually get paid — used in the export filename)
5. Click Create

Most stores set up a recurring pattern (e.g. every other Sunday). You can clone a period to keep dates consistent.

Step 2 — Review timesheets

Open Manage → Timesheets. Set the date filter to match your pay period. Look for the warning column — entries with issues:

• Missed clock-out — Staff didn't clock out; auto-closed at the 16-hour mark
• Late clock-in — Started after the scheduled shift start (past the grace window)
• Early clock-out — Left before the scheduled shift end
• Long shift — Worked 12+ hours (overtime alert)
• Short shift — Worked under 1 hour (suspicious or accidental)
• Unscheduled shift — Worked but had no scheduled shift

Click any row to see the full audit history, then fix as needed:

• Edit clock-in/out time — Required reason logged on the audit trail
• Add a missed time card — For a paper sign-in
• Approve — Locks the entry as ready for payroll
• Reject — Sends back to the staff member for correction

Step 3 — Approve all entries

Once warnings are addressed, click Approve all on the timesheet list (filtered to the pay period). Or approve individually as you go through them.

An entry must be approved to be included in the payroll export. Open or pending entries are skipped — by design — so you don't accidentally pay for an in-progress shift.

Step 4 — Lock the pay period

Back in Manage → Payroll, open the pay period:

1. Click Recalculate — Pulls all approved time entries, commission earnings, and tips for the date range
2. Review the totals: regular hours, overtime, paid breaks, unpaid breaks, PTO, tips, commissions per staff
3. Click Approve period — Marks the period as ready to export
4. Click Lock — Freezes all entries; no further edits possible without explicit reopen

Step 5 — Export the CSV

1. Click Export CSV
2. Pick the format:
   • Generic CSV — Standard layout, works with any provider
   • Gusto — Pre-formatted for Gusto's import
   • QuickBooks — QuickBooks-compatible columns
   • ADP / Paychex — Provider-specific layouts
3. Choose scope:
   • All approved entries in this period (default)
   • Filtered subset — Useful if you handle salaried separately
   • Selected rows — Hand-pick entries
4. Click Download

The file lands as staff-hub-payroll-{period-start}.csv. Open in Excel/Sheets to verify, then upload to your provider.

Step 6 — Reopen a period (rare)

If you discover an error after locking — wrong rate, missed entry, retroactive pay change — you can reopen:

1. Open the locked period
2. Click Reopen
3. Enter a reason (logged in the audit trail)
4. Make the correction
5. Re-approve, re-lock, re-export

Some payroll providers don't accept "amended" runs — check theirs first. Often it's easier to add a one-line correction in the next pay period than amend the locked one.

Common issues

"Total hours look wrong"

Three usual causes: (1) entries not approved (only approved entries count), (2) timezone mismatch — confirm your Workforce settings → Timezone matches your store's, (3) break minutes missing from a few entries (check the warnings column).

"Provider rejected the CSV"

Most providers fail on missing fields. Open the CSV in a spreadsheet, find the row that failed, and check it has all required columns: staff ID, hours, rate, etc. Use the provider-specific format option rather than the generic CSV.

"Tips and commissions missing from export"

Tips export only for staff with tipEligible: true on their profile. Commissions only for commissionEligible: true. Check the staff member's Workforce settings.

"Pay period missing some staff"

They had no approved time entries in the date range. Could be: zero shifts (PTO entire period), all entries still pending, or termination date before the period started.