ClientHours

Calendar to Harvest CSV time import

In short: Export your calendar as .ics, drop it below, check the client table, enter your first and last name as they are in Harvest and a task, and click "Harvest import (CSV)". Then in Harvest go to Settings, Import/Export, Import time. Each calendar event becomes one time entry.

Calendar to Harvest CSV time import

.ics, .zip or Outlook CSV

An .ics file from Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook, Google's .zip of all calendars, or Outlook's calendar CSV. Several files at once are fine.

Your calendar stays on this device

The file is read and added up by this page, inside your browser. Nothing from it is uploaded. Your keyword table and rates are saved only in this browser.

No calendar export handy? or download the sample to look at it first.

The freelancer, clients and meetings in the sample are invented. It is read on this device, like your own file.

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How to do it

  1. Export your calendar: Google Calendar settings, Import & export; Outlook's File, Save Calendar; or File, Export in Calendar on a Mac.
  2. Drop the file below and pick the dates. Enter your own email address so meetings you declined are left out.
  3. Check the client table until "(no client)" holds only events you do not want in Harvest.
  4. Open "Settings for the Toggl Track, Harvest and Clockify import files". Enter the first and last name of the Harvest person, exactly as in Harvest, and a task name.
  5. Click "Harvest import (CSV)".
  6. In Harvest, as an administrator: Settings (top right), Import/Export in the left sidebar, then Import time. Drop the file and click Import timesheets.

What it does

  • Columns, in the order Harvest asks for: Date, Client, Project, Task, Notes, Hours, First name, Last name.
  • Date is YYYY-MM-DD, in the time zone you pick. Hours are decimal with two places, after rounding: 1.75, not 1:45.
  • Client is the client from your table. Project repeats the client, because a calendar has no projects. Harvest creates clients, projects and tasks it cannot find.
  • Notes is the event title. Repeating meetings give one row per meeting inside your dates.
  • Commas only, and fields that hold a comma are in double quotes, as Harvest asks. The other downloads are unchanged.

Sources

Export from Google Calendar

  1. Open Google Calendar on a computer (the phone app cannot export).
  2. For every calendar at once: click the gear icon, then Settings, then Import & export, then Export. A .zip downloads. Drop the .zip here as it is.
  3. For one calendar: under My calendars, point at the calendar, click the three dots, then Settings and sharing, then Export calendar. An .ics file downloads.

Work and school accounts can have export turned off by the admin. You need the "Make changes and manage sharing" permission on a calendar to export it.

Export steps for the other apps

Export from Outlook (.ics)

  1. In classic Outlook for Windows, open the calendar, then File, then Save Calendar.
  2. Click More Options. Set Date Range to the period you bill for, and Detail to Full details. "Availability only" leaves out the titles, so no client can be matched.
  3. Save. Drop the .ics file here.

The new Outlook and Outlook on the web do not always offer this. If yours does not, use the CSV export from classic Outlook, or publish the calendar and download its .ics link.

Export from Outlook (CSV)

  1. In classic Outlook for Windows: File, Open & Export, Import/Export.
  2. Choose Export to a file, then Comma Separated Values, then your Calendar folder.
  3. Outlook asks for a date range. Pick the period you bill for. Save, then drop the .csv here.

The CSV has no time zone, no declined status and no repeat rules. Each row is one meeting as it sat in your calendar. If repeating meetings look missing, export as .ics instead.

Export from Apple Calendar

  1. Open Calendar on your Mac. If the calendar list is hidden, choose View, then Show Calendar List.
  2. Click the calendar name in the list.
  3. Choose File, then Export, then Export. Save the .ics file and drop it here.

Apple exports one calendar at a time. The "Calendar Archive" (.icbu) option is a backup format this tool does not read. Drop several .ics files at once if your work sits in more than one calendar.

What the Harvest import needs that a calendar does not have

  • A person. First name and Last name must match a person already in your Harvest account. Harvest does not create people.
  • A task. A calendar has no tasks, so you type one for the whole file. Harvest's page does not say whether a blank task imports.
  • A project. Project is filled with the client name. Edit the column first if your Harvest projects have other names.
  • Start and end times. Harvest imports durations only, even in accounts that track start and end times.
  • Rows with no client have an empty Client and Project.
  • Hours have two decimals. Under exact time some rows are adjusted by 0.01 so the file adds up to the timesheet total: three 20-minute calls are 0.33, 0.34 and 0.33, which make 1.00. Each row stays within 0.01 of its own time. With 6, 15 or 30-minute rounding no row is adjusted.
  • Importing the same file twice gives duplicate entries, because Harvest cannot update entries by import. Harvest can revert an import from the last 30 days.
  • Harvest's time import has no billable column, so the file has none.
  • If your account requires notes, every row needs one. An event with no title has "(no title)".
  • Harvest's page names no file size limit, row limit or encoding. The file is UTF-8.
  • A title that starts with =, +, - or @ gets a leading apostrophe, as in the other downloads, so a spreadsheet does not run it as a formula.
  • Not tested by importing into a real Harvest account. The columns and formats come from Harvest's help page listed under Sources.

Limits

  • An event counts on the day it starts, in the time zone you pick. An event that runs past midnight is not split across two days.
  • All-day events are left out unless you set hours per all-day event. Then an event over several days gives one row per day, for the days inside your date range.
  • Declined meetings are left out only when you enter your own email address, and only for .ics files. The Outlook CSV has no declined, tentative or free status, so those tick boxes do nothing for it.
  • Client keywords match whole words, so "art" does not match "Party". A keyword with @ or a dot, like @acme.com, matches inside email addresses.
  • The "events shown as free" box leaves out events marked TRANSP:TRANSPARENT in the file. That this is what Google writes for events set to Free is not confirmed against a real Google export.
  • Repeat rules by the hour or minute, by week number, or by hour of the day are not expanded. Those series are listed as not counted. Calendar apps rarely write them.
  • A repeat that lands on a time skipped by a clock change (for example 2:30 on the night clocks go forward) is skipped, as the iCalendar standard says. Some calendar apps show it an hour later instead. The page names those dates.
  • "This and all later" changes written as RANGE=THISANDFUTURE are applied to the one meeting only, with a warning.
  • The Outlook CSV must have English column names. A CSV from a German, French or other localized Outlook is refused.
  • The Outlook CSV has no time zone. Its times are read as the wall-clock times of the computer that exported them.
  • Not tested against real exports of timed, repeating and declined events from Google, Apple or Outlook. The test files are built from the iCalendar standard and the vendors' help pages. Check the first timesheet against your calendar.
  • The Toggl Track, Harvest and Clockify import files follow those vendors' help pages and were not tested by importing into a real account.

Questions

Can Harvest import time entries from a CSV?
Yes. Harvest's "Importing data" page asks for 8 columns in this order: Date, Client, Project, Task, Notes, Hours, First name, Last name. Only administrators can import. Dates may be YYYY-MM-DD or M/D/YYYY, and hours must be decimal.
Why decimal hours and not 1:45?
Harvest's page asks for hours "in decimal format, without any stray characters", for example 7.5. The file writes 1.75 for an hour and three quarters.
Do my clients and projects have to exist in Harvest first?
No. Harvest creates any client, project or task it cannot find. It does not create people, so the first and last name must match a person in your account exactly.
Is my calendar uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read by this page inside your browser. Nothing from it is sent to a server. You can disconnect from the internet after the page loads and it still works.
How is the client picked for each event?
From a keyword table you can edit. The first row whose keyword appears as a whole word in the event title, categories, location, or a guest's name sets the client; a keyword with @ or a dot, like @acme.com, matches inside email addresses. Suggestions come from guest email domains, categories and titles like "Acme: review". Your own domain is never suggested, and the table is filled in only once your email address is known. It is saved in your browser.
How are hours rounded?
Per event and always up: exact, to 6 minutes (0.1 hour), to 15 minutes, or to 30 minutes. With exact rounding each event counts in whole minutes and is shown as hours:minutes (0:20), and totals add the minutes before giving decimal hours, so three 20-minute calls are 1:00 = 1.00 hours. With 6, 15 or 30 minutes every row is already a whole number of hundredths, so the decimals add up.

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