Integration Guide

How to Import Time Entries into Actionstep — Complete Guide

March 2026 · 8 min read

Actionstep is one of the most widely used practice management platforms among Australian mid-size law firms. Its time recording and billing modules are powerful, but there are many situations where you need to import time entries from an external source — whether from a spreadsheet, an AI billing tool, a secondment timesheet, or a legacy system migration.

This guide walks through the complete process of importing time entries into Actionstep, including the correct CSV format, field mapping, date and time conventions, common errors, and how to automate the process with tools like LexUnits.

Actionstep Time Entry Fields

Before preparing your import file, you need to understand the fields that Actionstep expects for each time entry. The core fields are:

Field	Required	Format	Notes
Date	Yes	DD/MM/YYYY	The date the work was performed. Must use Australian date format.
Action / Matter	Yes	Number (e.g., 6230)	The Actionstep action (matter) number. Must match an existing action in the system.
Description	Yes	Text	The billing narrative. Should be professional and specific.
Duration	Yes	Decimal hours (e.g., 0.5)	Time in 0.1-hour increments. 0.1 = 6 min, 0.5 = 30 min, 1.0 = 60 min.
Timekeeper	Recommended	Name or ID	The lawyer or staff member who performed the work.
Rate	Optional	Number (e.g., 450)	Hourly rate in AUD. If omitted, Actionstep uses the default rate for the timekeeper.
Activity Code	Optional	Code	Actionstep activity code, if your firm uses them for categorisation.
Billable	Optional	Yes/No	Whether the entry is billable. Defaults to Yes if omitted.

Preparing Your CSV File

Here is an example of a correctly formatted CSV file for Actionstep import:

Date,Matter,Description,Duration,Timekeeper,Rate
20/03/2026,6230,"Reviewing contract for sale of commercial property; preparing requisitions on title",0.8,Sarah Mitchell,550
20/03/2026,6230,"Telephone attendance on purchaser's solicitor regarding settlement date extension",0.2,Sarah Mitchell,550
20/03/2026,6281,"Drafting affidavit in support of interlocutory application",1.5,James Chen,450
19/03/2026,6165,"Attending conference with client regarding proposed parenting orders; taking detailed instructions",1.2,Sarah Mitchell,550

Key formatting rules

Dates must be DD/MM/YYYY — this is the Australian convention. Using MM/DD/YYYY (US format) will cause dates to import incorrectly or be rejected. "20/03/2026" is correct; "03/20/2026" is wrong.
Durations must be decimal hours — use 0.1 (6 min), 0.5 (30 min), 1.0 (60 min). Do not use minutes (e.g., "30" instead of "0.5") or time format ("0:30").
Descriptions with commas must be quoted — wrap any description containing a comma in double quotes. Most spreadsheet software does this automatically when exporting to CSV.
Matter numbers must exist — the action number in your CSV must correspond to an existing action (matter) in Actionstep. Entries with unrecognised action numbers will fail to import.
UTF-8 encoding — save your CSV as UTF-8 to preserve any special characters in descriptions (e.g., section symbols §, paragraph references, or client names with accented characters).

Importing via Actionstep's Data Import Tool

Actionstep provides a built-in data import facility for bulk operations. The exact steps may vary slightly depending on your Actionstep version and configuration, but the general process is:

Navigate to Admin > Data Import (or search for "Import" in the Actionstep navigation)
Select Time Entries as the import type
Upload your prepared CSV file
Map each CSV column to the corresponding Actionstep field using the dropdown menus
Preview the first few entries to verify formatting is correct
Click Import to process the entries
Review the import log for any errors or skipped entries

Tip: Always do a test import with 2–3 entries first. This lets you verify the field mapping and formatting before importing a large batch. Actionstep's import tool will usually show a preview, but it is good practice to confirm in the actual time entry screen afterwards.

Importing via the Actionstep REST API

For automated workflows (such as integrating directly from an AI billing tool), Actionstep provides a REST API for creating time records programmatically. The endpoint for time entries is:

POST /api/rest/timerecords

The API uses OAuth 2.0 authentication and accepts JSON payloads. A typical time record creation request looks like:

{
  "timerecords": {
    "date": "2026-03-20",
    "description": "Reviewing contract for sale; preparing requisitions",
    "quantity": 0.8,
    "action_id": 6230,
    "participant_id": 12345
  }
}

Note that the API uses ISO date format (YYYY-MM-DD), which differs from the DD/MM/YYYY convention used in the CSV import tool. The participant_id refers to the Actionstep user ID for the timekeeper.

If your firm is interested in a direct API integration between an external billing tool and Actionstep, speak to your Actionstep administrator about enabling API access and obtaining OAuth credentials.

Common Import Errors and How to Fix Them

Error	Cause	Fix
Invalid date format	Using MM/DD/YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD in CSV	Use DD/MM/YYYY for CSV imports
Action not found	Matter number doesn't exist in Actionstep	Check the action number matches an active matter
Invalid duration	Using minutes instead of decimal hours, or non-numeric value	Convert to decimal: 30 min = 0.5, 45 min = 0.8 (rounded)
Duplicate entries	Same entry imported twice	Check for duplicates before import; Actionstep does not auto-deduplicate
Encoding errors	Special characters corrupted (e.g., "§" becomes garbled text)	Save CSV as UTF-8 encoding
Empty required fields	Missing date, matter, description, or duration	Ensure every row has all required fields populated
Timekeeper not found	Name doesn't match any Actionstep participant	Use exact name as it appears in Actionstep user settings

Generating Actionstep-Ready Entries with LexUnits

If you are generating time entries from meeting recordings, transcripts, emails, or documents, LexUnits can export them directly in Actionstep-compatible format — saving you the manual formatting step entirely.

Here is the workflow:

Upload your source material — an audio recording of a client meeting, a transcript, an email chain, or a document
Set your matter context — enter the Actionstep matter number and any relevant session context (client name, case details)
Generate entries — LexUnits uses AI to identify billable work and generate structured time entries with professional descriptions
Review and edit — check each entry for accuracy, adjust times or descriptions as needed
Export as Actionstep CSV — select "Actionstep" as the export format, and LexUnits generates a CSV file with the correct column headers, DD/MM/YYYY dates, decimal hours, and matter number pre-filled
Import into Actionstep — upload the CSV using the data import tool as described above

This approach is particularly useful for:

Long client meetings or mediations where detailed time recording during the session is impractical
Phone calls and conferences that need to be broken down into separate billable items
Email-heavy matters where correspondence needs to be converted into time entries
End-of-month billing catch-up where source documents can help reconstruct forgotten work

Generate Actionstep-Ready Time Entries in Seconds

Upload a recording, transcript, or document — LexUnits generates billing entries formatted for direct import into Actionstep.

Try Free — 10 Credits

Tips for Smooth Imports

Test with a small batch first — always import 2–3 test entries before processing a large file. Delete the test entries afterwards.
Keep a mapping reference — maintain a spreadsheet that maps your team members' names to their exact Actionstep participant names. Name mismatches are the most common cause of partial import failures.
Validate matter numbers — before importing, cross-check that all matter numbers in your CSV correspond to active actions in Actionstep.
Archive your import files — keep a copy of every CSV you import, with the date of import. This is useful for troubleshooting and audit trails.
Use consistent rate handling — if your firm's Actionstep configuration uses default rates per timekeeper, you can omit the rate column and let Actionstep apply the correct rate automatically.

Related Guides

Last updated: March 2026. Actionstep's import interface may change with updates. Refer to Actionstep's official documentation for the latest steps.