How do I know payroll is ready to export?

Readiness panel

The Payroll tab checks the period before allowing export and shows three counts — Approved, Needs approval, and Corrections — next to a blocker banner you can open to see each problem, including allocation issues. It reads Ready to export when approved time is clean, and each blocker lists a Fix in week grid link that opens the grid filtered to the problem. An hours mismatch you have already looked into can be cleared with Mark investigated.

Steps

1. Open Timesheets, clear Needs fixing days, and approve Ready to approve days. The bulk bar can approve all clean days at once.
2. Open the Payroll tab.
3. Confirm Period Start and Period End. They default from your pay period setting: Weekly, Biweekly, Semimonthly, or Monthly with an anchor date, under Timesheets Settings.
4. Filter by employee or worker type if needed and pick Summary or Detail.
5. Click Download CSV — the button names your payroll format, and the arrow beside it switches between Gusto, ADP, QuickBooks, Paychex, and Generic CSV. The button stays disabled until readiness is clear.
6. Use Close & Lock Period once the period is paid. Locking freezes the times while attribution stays correctable.

What the CSV includes

Generic CSV gives Regular, OT, 2x OT, PTO, and Total hours per employee, or per day with cost center in Detail; the Gusto, ADP, QuickBooks, and Paychex formats use each provider's own column layout. Overtime splits follow the Overtime Mode setting (Weekly, Daily + weekly, or Off), and approved paid time off flows into the PTO column automatically.

Export record

Every download is recorded under Recent Payroll Exports with file name, period, row count, total hours, and who exported it.