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McTime Zapier integrationAutomate McTime with Zapier.

The McTime Zapier integration offers 5 triggers, 9 actions and 0 searches. It watches new clients, projects, organizations and time entries, and it can create those records, start or stop a clocking, or find a client by name. All five triggers poll on a timer.

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Overview

What the McTime Zapier integration does for you

The McTime Zapier integration connects McTime, a time tracking and payroll tool for teams, to the other apps your company uses. Zapier can react when a client, a project, an organization or a time entry appears in McTime, and it can write into McTime in return: new records, manual time entries, or a clocking started and stopped from another tool.

Three results worth building. A project for every new client. New Client spots the client, Create Project opens the matching project, and nobody has to remember the second step. A timesheet log outside McTime. New Time Entry hands each entry to a spreadsheet row, ready for whoever reviews hours. Clocking driven by another tool. An event elsewhere runs Start Clocking, and a later one runs Stop Clocking, so the time is tracked where your team already works.

Now what Zapier does not do for McTime. None of the five triggers is instant: Zapier checks McTime on a timer, so a new entry waits for the next check. There is no search step either: Find Client, Find Organization and Find Project are listed as actions, so the search settings you may read about elsewhere do not apply. No operation updates or deletes a record, and nothing in the list touches payroll. Whatever goes beyond creating, clocking and finding stays in McTime.

If you are still choosing a platform, open our Make vs Zapier comparison.

Vocabulary

The Zapier words behind this page

Eight terms, one line each, before you open the editor.

Zap
The automation you build on Zapier: one trigger, then one or more actions that run every time the trigger event happens.
Trigger
The event that starts a Zap. McTime offers five, such as a new client or a clocking that has started.
Action
What the Zap does once it has started: the step that writes something for you, such as a new project in McTime.
Task
The unit Zapier bills: one action your Zap completes successfully. The count on your plan is a count of those.
Polling vs instant
Polling: Zapier asks the app for new items on a timer. Instant: the app reports the event itself. All McTime triggers poll.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap continue only when what arrived meets the condition you set, and stops it otherwise.
Multi-step Zap
Any Zap beyond one trigger and one action. A second action or a filter makes it one, and it then needs a paid plan.
Connection
Your McTime account linked to Zapier once, then reused by every step of every Zap that uses McTime.
Cost

What a McTime Zap really costs

Watching McTime is free. You pay for the actions that go through.

  • Triggers5, all polling
  • Actions9
  • Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps
  • Reserved to paid plansNo

A trigger never costs a task, however often Zapier checks McTime. Each action that succeeds counts one task, and a failed one is not counted. In a Zap with several actions, every success counts on its own. The free plan gives 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps of two steps each, and McTime is not reserved to paid plans. A filter or a second action makes the Zap multi-step, which needs a paid plan. All five triggers poll, so the grid below applies to every one of them.

Connect

Connect McTime to Zapier in 3 steps

  1. 01

    Open Apps and add a connection

    In your Zapier account, open the Apps page and click + Add connection. You need an existing McTime account, with access to the organizations your Zaps will read or write.

  2. 02

    Pick McTime

    Search for McTime in the dialog, pick it and click Add connection. A tab opens on the McTime sign-in. The connection you save here is reused by every McTime step afterwards.

  3. 03

    Sign in and grant access

    Sign in to McTime in that tab and grant Zapier access to the account. For organizations or projects you do not own, ask for read or write access before you build.

First Zap

Your first Zap: hear about new time entries

GoalPost a chat message for each new McTime time entry that matches your rule.

  1. 01

    Build: pick New Time Entry

    Start a new Zap, choose McTime as the app that starts it and New Time Entry as the trigger. Pick the time entry types and organizations to watch: both are required.

  2. 02

    Test the trigger

    Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent time entries of the connected account, so pick a real one to map the next steps on.

  3. 03

    Add the filter

    From the plus icon, add a Filter and fill its three boxes: the field to look at, the rule, the value. A number rule only works on numbers, a text rule only on text.

  4. 04

    Add the chat message

    Add your team chat as the action app, choose its send-message event, then place the time entry details from McTime into the message.

  5. 05

    Test, then publish

    Test the action and read the message it posted. If it looks right, click Publish. With its filter, this Zap is multi-step and needs a paid plan.

Triggers

McTime triggers

5 events start a Zap when something happens in McTime. Zapier checks for them at the interval your plan allows.

1

New Client

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new client is created.”

Starts the Zap when someone creates a client in McTime. The client record becomes data that later steps can reuse, such as its name for a matching project.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
opening a project for each new client with Create Project, so time can be logged against it from day one.
Watch out
clients created before you publish the Zap are not picked up; only the ones added afterwards start it.
2

Clocking Started

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new clocking time entry was started.”

Fires when a new clocking time entry starts in McTime, in other words when someone begins tracking time live. You choose which report type and which organization to watch.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
letting a manager know who has started work on a given type of activity.
Watch out
Report type and Organization are both required, so the connected account must be able to see them before you can test.
3

New Organization

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new organization is created.”

Reacts to an organization created in McTime, filtered on the organization type you pick. Each new unit can then be copied, announced or recorded elsewhere.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
keeping a list of organizational units in a spreadsheet up to date without retyping.
Watch out
Organization Type is required, so one Zap only watches the type you select; another type needs another Zap.
4

New Project

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new project is created.”

Picks up each project created in McTime and passes it on to the next steps. It is the natural partner of a reporting sheet or a team announcement.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
telling the people who log hours that a new project now exists in McTime.
Watch out
if the same Zap also runs Create Project, it writes where its trigger watches and can set itself off again.
5

New Time Entry

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new time entry is added.”

Watches the time entries added in McTime and starts the Zap with each new one, for the time entry types and organizations you choose. This is the trigger for any timesheet flow.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one.
When to use it
copying every entry into a spreadsheet that someone reviews outside McTime.
Watch out
Time Entry Type and Organization are required; leave one out and the trigger cannot be tested.
Actions

McTime actions

McTime gives you 9 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Create Time Entry

Action

In Zapier“New time entry will be created”

Adds a manual time entry to McTime with a start, an end, an organization and a time entry type, all four required.

When to use it
logging hours that were recorded in another tool, a booking or a form, without typing them twice.
Watch out
both dates expect a full date and time with offset, like 2022-01-15T12:00:00+02:00; map them in that shape.
2

Create Organization

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new Organization”

Creates an organization in McTime under a parent group you select, with its name, type and country.

When to use it
setting up a new unit in McTime once it is approved somewhere else, so tracking can start.
Watch out
the parent group is required, so the connected account must see the unit you want to place it under.
3

Find Client

Action

In Zapier“Find a Client inside your company”

Looks up a client by name, or by part of a name, so the next steps can reuse what it finds.

When to use it
before Create Client or Create Time Entry, when another app only carries the client's name.
Watch out
it is an action, not a search step, so the search settings do not appear; check at test what it returns.
4

Find Organization

Action

In Zapier“Finds an Organization inside your company”

Finds an organization in your McTime company from its name, or part of it, and an organization type, both required.

When to use it
when another tool names a unit and the next McTime step needs that organization picked.
Watch out
with a partial name several units may match; test with real names before you publish.
5

Find Project

Action

In Zapier“Find a Project inside your company”

Retrieves a McTime project by its name or a fragment of it, so a later step can use it.

When to use it
another app carries a project name and you need the McTime project behind it.
Watch out
a short fragment can match more than one project; check at test which one comes back.
6

Create Client

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new Client”

Opens a client record in McTime from data another app carried, with a name, a country and a parent group.

When to use it
a client is added in another app and should exist in McTime before anyone logs time.
Watch out
it does not check for an existing client; Find Client placed before it shows what exists, but does not stop the creation on its own.
7

Create Project

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new Project”

Sets up a project in McTime, placed under the parent group you choose, with its name and country.

When to use it
right after New Client, so every client gets a project ready for time entries.
Watch out
paired with the New Project trigger in the same Zap, it can loop; keep those two apart.
8

Start Clocking

Action

In Zapier“Starts a new clocking time entry”

Starts a live clocking time entry in McTime for the organization and time entry type you set.

When to use it
starting the clock from an event in another tool, such as a job marked as begun.
Watch out
Time zone is required along with organization and type; the field asks for your current time zone, so check the entry at test.
9

Stop Clocking

Action

In Zapier“Stops an existing clocking time entry”

Ends an existing clocking time entry in McTime. Only the time zone is required.

When to use it
closing the clock from the event that marks the end of the work, in the same tool that started it.
Watch out
run a test with a clocking already running and check in McTime which entry it stopped.
When it breaks

When a McTime Zap breaks

Zapier attaches no help article to McTime and no app-specific limit is on record. What breaks comes from required fields and from how Zapier works in general.

  • Empty organization lists

    Clocking Started, New Time Entry, Create Time Entry and Start Clocking require an organization. Check at test that the connected account can see the one you need before you rely on the step.

  • Dates in the wrong shape

    Create Time Entry expects both dates as a full date and time with offset. A date mapped in another shape is the first thing to check when the action fails.

  • No backlog

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after it is switched on. Clients, projects or time entries created before that are not picked up; moving them is a separate job.

  • Loops

    As a general precaution, a Zap that writes where its own trigger watches, such as New Project with Create Project, can set itself off again and burn tasks.

  • Bulk imports held back

    If McTime suddenly returns a huge batch, after a bulk import or a migration, Zapier's flood protection can hold it back.

  • Seen once, used once

    On a polling trigger Zapier keeps track of what it has already seen, so the same client or time entry does not start the Zap twice.
Need help

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FAQ

McTime Zapier integration: FAQ

01Is the McTime Zapier integration free?
Yes. McTime is not one of the apps Zapier reserves to paid plans, so it works on the free plan. That plan allows an unlimited number of Zaps of two steps each, one trigger and one action, with 100 tasks a month. New Client followed by Create Project fits that shape. Once you add a filter, a lookup with Find Client or a second action, the Zap becomes multi-step and needs a paid plan.
02How many tasks does a McTime Zap use?
One per action that succeeds. A Zap that creates a project for each of 40 new clients uses 40 tasks. The trigger costs nothing, and neither do the checks Zapier runs on McTime, however often it runs them. An action that fails is not counted. In a Zap with several actions, each success counts separately, so Find Client followed by Create Time Entry uses two tasks per run. A Zap with one action costs half of that.
03Does McTime work in real time with Zapier?
No. All five McTime triggers are polling triggers: Zapier asks McTime for its latest items at a fixed interval and keeps only what it has not seen. On the free plan the check runs every 15 minutes, on Professional every 2 minutes, and every minute on Team and Enterprise. On paid plans you can change how often it checks, and you can run a check by hand from the editor while you build.
04What does connecting McTime to Zapier require?
A McTime account, plus read or write access to the organizations, clients and projects you do not own and want the Zap to touch. In Zapier, open the Apps page, click + Add connection, search for McTime, pick it and click Add connection. Sign in to McTime in the tab that opens and grant access. The connection is saved once and every McTime step reuses it afterwards. Check the organizations are visible to that account first, since many steps require one.
05Which date format does Create Time Entry expect?
A full date and time with its offset, in the shape 2022-01-15T12:00:00+02:00, for both the start and the end. Both dates are required, together with an organization and a time entry type. If the app that starts the Zap stores dates differently, check at test what reaches McTime before you publish, because a date in the wrong shape is the first suspect when the entry does not appear. Map the date fields one by one rather than guessing.
06What if the McTime operation you need is not listed?
Then Zapier does not offer it for McTime. The list holds five triggers and nine actions: creating time entries, organizations, clients and projects, starting and stopping a clocking, and finding a client, an organization or a project. Nothing updates or deletes a record, and nothing covers payroll. Check the McTime page on Zapier before you design a flow, since the list can change between versions, and keep the remaining work in McTime.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for McTime?
Decide by criteria, not by a ranking. On Zapier, McTime is available on the free plan, with nine actions and five triggers that all poll, so the interval of your plan sets the pace. For Make or n8n, the first question is whether McTime has a module or node there at all, which this page does not cover. Then weigh how many steps your flow needs against the two-step limit of the Zapier free plan.
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