Import from Harvest: bring your time, clients and invoices
If you're moving from Harvest, you don't have to start from an empty account. The import reads your Harvest account through Harvest's API and copies people, clients, projects, rates, time entries and issued invoices into your workspace. Nothing in Harvest changes. Below you'll find what comes over, what stays behind, what you need and each step. Checked on October 23, 2026.
Create a free account and import The import is free and works on every plan, including Free.
We make Clockaroo and are not affiliated with Harvest. Harvest is a trademark of its owner, and we name it only to describe the import. To weigh the switch first, compare Harvest and Clockaroo side by side.
What comes over
| From Harvest | In Clockaroo | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| People | Members of your workspace | Matched by email to people already in your workspace. Everyone else is added as a person without a login: they can't log in yet and cost nothing until they accept an invitation, and their time is already there. If an email belongs to a Clockaroo account outside your workspace, that person isn't added; invite them, then run the import again to bring in their time. |
| Clients | Clients | With the address and the name and email of the first contact. A client with the same name as one you already have is linked to it instead of copied. Inactive clients arrive archived. EUR, USD and GBP carry over; a client billed in another currency switches to your workspace currency, and the import asks you to check it. |
| Tasks | Tasks | Matched by name, with whether they're billable by default. Inactive tasks arrive archived. |
| Projects | Projects under their client | With code, notes and whether the project is billable. Inactive projects arrive archived. A project whose client couldn't be imported is skipped, with a note. |
| Hourly rates | Project rates and personal rates | A project that bills by project gets its project rate. A project that bills by person gets each person's rate. Task rates don't exist here: imported time keeps its Harvest rate, and new time uses the project rate. |
| Time entries | Time entries | Date, person, project, task, notes, billable or not, and the rate Harvest used. Harvest's decimal hours become whole minutes. An entry counts as billable only on a billable project. Hours on an issued Harvest invoice are marked “billed in Harvest” and never go on a new invoice; hours on a Harvest draft stay open. You can import all time or start from a date you choose. |
| Expenses | Expenses with their categories | Date, person, project, category, notes and amount, billable or not. Units of a unit-based category (miles, kilometres) go into the note. Expenses on an issued Harvest invoice are marked “Billed in Harvest” and never go on a new invoice. Receipts stay in Harvest: the import counts them and you can download them there. |
| Issued invoices | A read-only archive | Number, subject, dates, status, amounts and tax in the invoice's own currency, line items and payments. They stay as they were; nothing here issues or changes them. For now you find them in your data export (Settings, “Export all data”); the app has no screen for them yet. |
| Invoice numbers | Your invoice number series | If you haven't issued an invoice here yet and your latest Harvest invoice is from this year, numbering continues after it. The result screen shows your next invoice number. |
What stays in Harvest
The import reads only the parts listed above. These stay in Harvest:
- Draft invoices.
- Expense receipts (the expenses themselves come over).
- Estimates. Clockaroo has none.
- Task rates, as described above.
- Project budgets, invoice notes and attachments, recurring invoice schedules and retainers.
- Contacts after the first one of each client.
- People without an email address in Harvest, and their time.
- Time entries longer than 24 hours, and entries whose person, project or task couldn't be imported. The result screen counts them.
Clients billed in a currency other than EUR, USD or GBP come over in your workspace currency, so check those clients after the import.
What you need before you start
- A personal access token and your account ID from Harvest. Harvest's API documentation says: “The API can be accessed by creating a Personal Access Token from the Developers section of Harvest ID.” And: “After creating it you'll be provided with a random token and a list of your account IDs.” The Developers section is at id.getharvest.com/developers.
- The token of a Harvest Administrator. The import checks this first and stops otherwise, because only an Administrator's token can read all clients, projects, time and invoices.
- The owner role in your Clockaroo workspace. Only owners can start an import.
About the token: Harvest writes that “Personal Access Tokens have the all scope by default”, and that you can revoke them if necessary. The import only reads from Harvest. We store the token encrypted and delete it when the import ends. Once the import has finished, you can revoke the token in Harvest ID as well.
Step by step
- In Harvest ID, open the Developers section, create a personal access token, and copy the token and your account ID.
- In Clockaroo, open Settings and choose “Import from Harvest”.
- Paste the account ID and the token. To import only recent time, pick a date under “Import time from”; leave it empty to import all time.
- Start the import. The progress page names each step: Expenses, checking the account, people, clients, tasks, projects and rates, invoices, time entries and invoice numbers.
- Read the “Please check” list on the result screen. It names anything that didn't come over and why.
- Invite the people from Harvest when you're ready. Accepting the invitation gives them their own login, and their imported time is already there. Invitations need the Team plan, which new workspaces get free for 14 days.
How long it takes
We have no timed runs on real Harvest accounts yet, so we don't give a duration. What sets the pace: Harvest allows “100 requests per 15 seconds” for general API requests, the import fetches up to 2,000 records per request, and it waits whenever Harvest asks it to. Most of the time goes to time entries. The import runs on our server, so you can close the page and come back later.
If something goes wrong
If Harvest doesn't accept the token or the account ID, the import stops and tells you; check both and start again. For any other error the message reads: “Something went wrong while talking to Harvest. Nothing is lost: start the import again and it continues where it stopped.” Running the import again only adds what is missing and changes nothing you edited here. One import runs at a time per workspace.
After the import
- Hours billed in Harvest carry a “billed in Harvest” tag in your time list and stay off new invoices.
- Your issued Harvest invoices are kept as a read-only archive with their payments, included in your data export.
- If nothing was issued here yet, your next invoice number continues the Harvest sequence of this year.
- Imported people without a login cost nothing until they accept an invitation.
The import costs nothing and works on every plan, including Free. On Free one person tracks time; your team needs Team, with one price per person and no usage fees. If the move is about your Harvest bill, read what Harvest's 2026 pricing means for your bill.
Create a free account and import
Keep your own copy from Harvest too
Before you cancel Harvest, download your own export as well and keep it with your records. Harvest's help center describes exports for Administrators under Settings, Import/Export: all time as a CSV file and all invoices as a ZIP file of PDFs. Which exports you get may depend on your Harvest plan, so check yours.
Questions
Does the import change anything in Harvest?
No. It only reads from Harvest. You can keep using Harvest while you try Clockaroo.
Can I run the import twice?
Yes. A second run adds only what is missing and changes nothing you edited here, so you can import again after Harvest has new time.
What about people who left the company?
They come over as people without a login, with their time, as long as Harvest has an email address for them.
What does the import cost?
Nothing. It works on every plan, including Free.
Sources
- Harvest API v2: Authentication, read October 23, 2026
- Harvest API v2: General (rate limits), read October 23, 2026
- Harvest ID: Developers (sign-in required), referenced October 23, 2026
- Harvest help center: Exporting data, read as a search engine excerpt on October 23, 2026 (the page refused our direct request)
- What the import does: our own code, read October 23, 2026
