Import your data
Bring your time entries, clients, and projects into ProjectPacer from a CSV export or a spreadsheet — confirm the columns, preview what will be created, and undo any time.
Already tracking time somewhere else? You don't have to start from scratch. Import brings your time entries, clients, projects, and tasks into ProjectPacer from a CSV file — an export from another tool, or a spreadsheet you keep by hand. Nothing is saved until you've seen exactly what will be created, and every import can be undone.
Importing is available to workspace owners and admins (anyone who can manage clients). It's also offered right in the welcome flow when you first create a workspace — choose Start from import on the "first work" step.
Where to start
Go to Settings → Workspace → General and, under Import data, choose Import from a file. The importer opens and walks you through four steps: upload, confirm your columns, review, and import.
Step by step
Pick a .csv — an export from your current tool, or your own spreadsheet. Column order never matters; ProjectPacer reads by column name, so a reordered file works fine.
ProjectPacer reads the file and guesses which column is which — Project, Date, Duration, and so on — showing an example value under each so you can tell at a glance. Fix anything that's off with the dropdowns. Pick whether the file holds time entries or tasks, and set the duration and date formats if the guesses need a nudge. (You'll see the parsed result on the next screen, so a wrong guess is easy to catch.)
Time-entry files can also map a Task type column. Its values become your workspace's task types — matched to ones you already have (by name) or created for you — and each imported entry is tagged with its type, so type-based reporting and rates work on your history from day one.
This is a true preview — nothing has been written yet. You'll see the first few entries as ProjectPacer read them (date, project, description, duration), and a summary of what will be created vs. matched: clients, projects, tasks, task types, and entries. Clients, projects, and task types are matched to existing ones by name, so an import never duplicates something you already have.
This step also shows a "Times in your file are in" timezone, defaulting to your browser's. Most exports (Clockify, Toggl, and the like) list times in your own local zone, so the default is usually right — but if the file came from someone in another zone, set it here. It's used to place each entry at the correct time and to spot ones already in ProjectPacer; changing it re-checks instantly.
Click Import. Your data lands, and a success summary shows what was created — with a one-click Undo if it's not what you expected.
Whose time is it?
If your file has a person column, the Review step asks who each entry belongs to. For each person you can:
- attribute the time to yourself (the default for anyone we can't match),
- map them to an existing member, or
- create a new member for them, with a role.
Creating a member sets up their account and attributes their time, but doesn't email them — they show up on the People page with an Unclaimed badge. When you're ready, use Invite there to send them a link (or copy one) to set a password and sign in. Setting that password is when they agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy — the same as anyone signing up, so no one uses ProjectPacer without accepting them. A person needs an email in your file to be created; anyone name-only is attributed to you.
Avoiding duplicates
If some of this time is already in ProjectPacer — because you tracked it here too, or a live integration synced it — the Review step detects the overlap and offers to skip it (on by default). A file entry counts as already-here when it's for the same person at the same start time, for about the same length (small differences in length are tolerated, since the same session is often a few minutes off between two tools). Leave the box checked so you don't end up with two of everything. Re-importing the same file is always safe, too: matching rows are updated, never duplicated.
Two things commonly throw off the match:
- Timezone — if the file's times are read in the wrong zone they won't line up with the entries already here. Set the right one on the Review step (it re-checks instantly).
- Rounding in your export — if your other tool rounds time in its reports (Clockify, Toggl, and others can, often up to the nearest 15 minutes), export with rounding off. Rounded durations no longer match what's here, so real duplicates slip through. A raw, to-the-second export matches best.
There's also an "also push these entries to a connected integration" toggle, which is off by default. Leave it off when the entries came from that same tool — otherwise you'd create duplicates back in it.
Undoing an import
Under Import data, expand Recent imports to see what you've brought in. Each import can be undone for 30 days — undo removes exactly what that import created (clients, projects, tasks, and entries it added), and leaves anything it merely matched untouched. If you've since added your own data under an imported project, ProjectPacer warns you before it removes anything.
Preparing a spreadsheet
No export handy? Keep it in a spreadsheet and import that. The only columns you truly need are a Project and a Date, plus either a Duration or a Start and End time. Everything else — Client, Task, Description, Person — is optional and enriches the entry.
A ready-made starting point: download the import template, fill in your rows, and import it. Save it as CSV from any spreadsheet app.
Imported time for teammates? Get them into the workspace and set their roles.