Running reports and exporting for payroll
Last reviewed: 2026-07-14
Team Shift has two different ways to get hours out of the system: the Reports page, and CSV export from the Timesheets dashboard. They're built for different purposes and include different data — worth knowing which one to reach for.
The Reports page
Reports is built for payroll-style totals, not day-to-day review — it only ever shows completed timesheets, never ones that are still in progress. Filter by date range (presets for last 7 days, last 30 days, this month, last month, or custom — defaulting to last 7 days), staff member, and location.
Columns: Staff Member, Staff ID, Shift Start, Location, Shift End, Break Hours, Hours Worked, Total Hours, plus a Totals row summing the hour columns.
"Hours Worked" and "Total Hours" mean different things here, and it's easy to read them backwards. "Hours Worked" is net time actually worked — clock-in to clock-out, minus every break. "Total Hours" is the gross span from clock-in to clock-out, including breaks. That means Total Hours will always be greater than or equal to Hours Worked on this page — the opposite of what "total" usually implies. If your numbers don't match what you expect, check which column you're reading.
Click Export CSV to download a file named shift-summary- followed by the date, with the same columns, rows, and totals row as the on-screen table — same completed-only scope, same gross-vs-net hour definitions.
The Timesheets export
The Export CSV button on the Timesheets dashboard is a separate export, built around the timesheet list rather than payroll totals. It downloads a file named timesheets- followed by the date, honoring whatever filters are currently set on the Timesheets dashboard (date range, staff, location, flagged-only).
Key differences from the Reports export:
- It includes both active and completed timesheets, not just completed ones.
- Columns are Date, Staff Name, Email, Location, Clock In, Clock Out, Total Hours, Break Duration, and Status (shown as Auto-closed, Active, or Completed).
- Early/late tags are intentionally left out of this export — if you need that information, review timesheets individually on their detail pages.
Which export to use
Use Reports when you're closing out a pay period and want completed, payroll-ready totals with a clear Total column. Use the Timesheets export when you want a fuller record of everything happening in a date range, including shifts still in progress, or when you need staff email addresses in the export.