Basecamp organizes the work. Timesheet records how long it took. Connect the two and your Basecamp to-dos appear in Timesheet, ready to track against, with every change flowing back automatically.
Time tracking on any Basecamp plan
Basecamp sells time tracking as a paid Timesheets add-on. It is included on Pro Unlimited, costs extra on Plus, and is not available on Free at all.
Timesheet fills that gap. Your team tracks time against the same to-dos in Timesheet, with timers on iOS, Android, web, and the browser extension, plus the reporting, billing rates, and exports Basecamp does not offer. Nothing depends on the add-on.
If you do have the Basecamp Timesheets add-on, the integration writes your tracked hours into Basecamp as timesheet entries on the matching to-do, so both systems stay in agreement.
What syncs
Timesheet to Basecamp
- New todos appear as Basecamp to-dos in the mapped project
- Renames, descriptions, and due dates stay current
- Completing a todo checks off the Basecamp to-do
- Deleting a todo moves the Basecamp to-do to the trash
- Tracked time is written as a Basecamp timesheet entry when the add-on is active
Basecamp to Timesheet
- New to-dos appear as Timesheet todos you can track against
- Edits and completions flow back within seconds through webhooks
- Trashed to-dos are removed on the Timesheet side
- Time logged in Basecamp comes back as Timesheet entries
Before you start
- A Basecamp account, on any plan.
- A Timesheet Pro plan or above. See plans and pricing.
- Permission on the Basecamp projects you want to sync. Basecamp client users cannot manage webhooks, so those accounts fall back to scheduled sync.
Connect it
In the Timesheet web app, open Integrations, select Browse Marketplace, and install Basecamp. Select Connect, sign in with your 37signals account, and authorize access. The connection uses OAuth, so Timesheet never sees your Basecamp password.
Then map your projects. Pair each Timesheet project with a Basecamp project on the Mappings tab. Only mapped projects sync, so you can start with one team and expand later.
Choose your direction
Sync can run both ways or one way only:
- Both directions keeps the two systems mirrored. Best for teams who live in Basecamp and want tracked hours reflected there.
- Timesheet to Basecamp pushes your todos and tracked hours out, and ignores changes made in Basecamp.
- Basecamp to Timesheet pulls to-dos in to track against, without writing anything back. Useful when you want Basecamp untouched.
You can also turn off time writing entirely and keep only to-do sync.
Good to know
- Time entries reach Basecamp when the Timesheet entry is linked to a todo, since a Basecamp timesheet entry has to attach to a to-do.
- New to-dos are created in the project's first to-do list unless you name a different one in the settings.
- A scheduled sync runs daily and reconciles anything a webhook missed, so nothing is lost if Basecamp is briefly unreachable.
- Removing the integration clears the mappings in Timesheet. Anything already written to Basecamp stays there.
Full setup steps, trigger options, and troubleshooting are in the Basecamp documentation.
Key Features
- Two-way sync between Timesheet todos and Basecamp to-dos
- Time tracking for Basecamp on every plan, including Free
- Automatic sync when a to-do changes in either system
- Writes time into Basecamp timesheets when the add-on is active
- Project mapping, so only the projects you choose sync
- Scheduled reconciliation plus manual sync on demand