Harvest automation starts with three built-in settings: weekly timesheet reminders, recurring invoices and automatic late invoice reminders. Harvest can also send reminders in Slack, copy invoices and payments to QuickBooks Online or Xero, and connect to other apps through Zapier. Where they stop: reminders nudge people but don't check the hours, invoices built from tracked time stay as drafts for someone to send, the accounting copy goes one way and misses edits, deletes and write-offs, and Zapier can't make an invoice at all. AI agents do the checking and the chasing in between.
What is Harvest automation, and what to automate
Harvest automation means letting Harvest, or another program, do the steps your team repeats each week and each month.
Most firms that bill by the hour lose time in Harvest the same few ways. Someone chases people on Friday for missing hours. Someone builds the same invoice for each retainer client each month. Someone emails clients whose invoices are late. And someone types the invoice into QuickBooks or Xero, then checks that the two still agree.
Those are the jobs worth automating first. Harvest has a setting for the first three, and a connection for the fourth. Each one does part of the job.
How to automate Harvest: six settings to turn on
Six steps, in our words. Each one links to Harvest's own help page for the full screens. Most of these need an Administrator.
- 1
Set a timesheet deadlineClick Settings in the top right, scroll to Preferences and click Edit preferences. Next to Timesheet deadline, set a day, like every Tuesday, or a date, like the 15th. Click Save preferences.
- 2Turn on weekly team reminders
In the same place, check Remind my team to enter time at the end of each week. Set how many hours before and after the deadline to send them, and who gets them: anyone under a share of their capacity, or anyone who hasn't submitted their timesheet.
- 3Send the reminders in Slack
Go to Harvest + Slack and click Add Harvest to Slack. An admin turns on Slack for deadline reminders in Company Settings, Preferences. Each person can check Message me on Slack in the Notifications tab of My profile.
- 4Set up recurring invoices
Go to Invoices, then Recurring, and click + New recurring invoice. A free form invoice has the same lines each time and can send itself. A Time & Materials invoice pulls in uninvoiced billable hours and expenses, and is saved as a draft for you to send.
- 5Turn on late invoice reminders
Go to Invoices, Configure, Messages and scroll to Reminder message. Check Automated reminder, set when it sends, like 3 days late and every 7 days after, and click Save messages.
- 6Copy invoices to QuickBooks Online or Xero
Click Settings, then Integrations, and Connect to QuickBooks or Xero. Set a default income account and whether payments copy to a deposit account. First, make your Harvest client names match your QuickBooks customer names exactly.
Harvest automation with Slack, QuickBooks, Xero and Zapier
Harvest's Slack app does more than reminders. People can start and stop a timer with /harvest start and /harvest stop, log hours with /harvest log, and see what a teammate is tracking with /harvest status. Admins and managers can pull a project's remaining budget with /harvest budget and share it to the channel. Harvest says one Harvest account links to one Slack workspace, and the budget command works only for projects with hourly budgets.
The QuickBooks Online and Xero connections copy Harvest invoices and, if you turn it on, the payments on them. They don't work on Harvest's free plan, and the QuickBooks one doesn't work with QuickBooks Desktop or Self-Employed.
For other apps, Harvest points to Zapier. Zapier lists Harvest triggers like New Time Entry, Invoice Sent and Invoice Paid, and Harvest actions like Create Project, Create Time Entry and Start Timer. Harvest says Zapier's own team supports that connection.
Where Harvest automation stops: what is still done by hand
Reminders nudge. They don't check. Harvest's weekly reminder goes to anyone under a share of their capacity, or anyone who hasn't submitted. It can't tell that eight hours went to the wrong client, or that billable work was logged as not billable. Someone still reads the timesheets before the invoice goes out.
Invoices built from tracked time don't send themselves. Harvest says a Time & Materials recurring invoice can only be saved as a draft. Recurring invoices can't pull in Fixed Fee projects or draw from retainers, and a new project for the same client isn't added to the template until someone edits it.
Late reminders have a catch. Harvest says turning on the default reminder only affects invoices sent after you turn it on. Older invoices need their reminder turned on one at a time.
The accounting copy goes one way, and only part of the way. Harvest's FAQ says only invoices and, if you want, payments copy to QuickBooks or Xero. Time and expenses don't. Editing an invoice that was already copied doesn't change it in QuickBooks or Xero unless you re-copy it. Deleting it in Harvest doesn't delete it there, write-offs don't copy, and marking an invoice as sent by hand doesn't copy it. If a client name doesn't match exactly, QuickBooks gets a second customer. Harvest also disconnects Xero after 60 days without use.
And Zapier can't finish the job. Its Harvest actions make clients, projects, tasks and time entries, but none makes or sends an invoice.
The agents that do whole Harvest jobs
Each agent does one job from start to finish: it reads your Harvest hours, budgets and invoices, does the checking, and sends what needs a person to the right one.
No more lost hours at month end.
- Flags missing timeevery Friday
- Adds up billable hours per clientper billing period
- Builds the invoicesame day
Hours get logged while people still remember them.
- Finds missing or short timesheetsevery day
- Reminds the person in Slackby 4 pm
- Tells the team lead who's still missingFriday afternoon
Know a project is over budget before the invoice.
- Checks hours and money spent per projectevery day
- Compares it to the budgetper project
- Warns the project lead at 80 percentright away
Questions
Is my customers' information safe?
Yes. Agents work only in your own Harvest and the programs you connect, and see only what their job needs. Customer details never go into public AI. Agents connect to AI through business-grade connections audited under SOC 2.
Can Harvest send invoices automatically?
Yes, for free form recurring invoices that have the same lines each time. An Administrator sets them to send on their own. Invoices that pull in tracked time and expenses are saved as drafts, so someone still sends them.
Does Harvest sync time entries to QuickBooks?
No. Harvest says time and expenses aren't copied to QuickBooks Online or Xero, except as line items on an invoice. Only invoices and, if you turn it on, invoice payments copy, and only from Harvest to the accounting program.
Can Harvest remind my team to track time?
Yes. An Administrator sets a timesheet deadline and turns on weekly reminders before and after it, by email or in Slack. Each person can also set daily reminders for themselves in Notifications.
What does it cost?
You get the price on the call, along with the hours it saves your team.
Sources
- support.getharvest.com: Timesheet reminders
- support.getharvest.com: Recurring invoices
- support.getharvest.com: Late invoice reminder messages
- support.getharvest.com: Slack
- support.getharvest.com: QuickBooks Online
- support.getharvest.com: Xero and QuickBooks Online FAQ
- support.getharvest.com: Zapier Connect Harvest to other apps
- zapier.com: integrations