Export employees

Exporting employees downloads your employee records from Paysense as an Excel or CSV file. The file uses the same columns as the employee import, so an export is how you back up your list, review it in a spreadsheet, or produce a file to edit and re-import.

This tutorial walks through the export menu end-to-end for the FW DIGITAL PTY LTD business, which has six employees. By the end you'll have a dated spreadsheet of those employees saved to your computer.

What you'll need

Item	Required	Notes
A business with employees	Yes	Export downloads whichever employees the business already has. A brand-new business exports nothing until you add an employee.
The Employee.Read permission	Yes	The same permission needed to view the employees list. Without it the Export button is not available to you.

tip

Choose Blank template to download an empty file with just the header row. It's the quickest way to get a correctly-shaped file to fill in for Import employees.

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Step 1: Open the export menu

From the left-hand sidebar of your business, click Employees to land on the employees list at /business/{businessId}/employees. In the top-right, next to Import and Add, click Export.

The Export button opens a menu grouped by what the export covers, with a file format under each group.

note

The Export, Import, and Add buttons and the selected nav item take their colour from your partner's branding, so they will differ from the screenshots here.

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Step 2: Choose what to export and the format

Pick a group for which employees to include, then click the file format under it. The download starts straight away - there is no separate confirm step.

Option	What it exports
Current view	Only the employees matching the list's current search. Use this after filtering the list to export just those rows.
All employees	Every employee in the business, ignoring any search on the list.
Blank template	The header row only, with no employees - a starting file for Import employees.

Format	Notes
Excel (.xlsx)	A spreadsheet workbook that opens in Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets.
CSV	A plain-text, comma-separated file. Both formats carry the same columns.

For this walkthrough, click Excel (.xlsx) under All employees.

note

Current view carries whatever you've typed into the list's search box, so filter the list first if you want a subset. All employees and Blank template ignore the search.

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Step 3: Confirmation

Paysense gathers the employees, builds the file, and downloads it as employees-YYYYMMDD.xlsx (or .csv), named for today's date. It then shows an "Exported 6 employees." toast and returns you to the employees list.

Open the downloaded file to see one row per employee under the export columns. A Blank template export skips the count toast, since it carries no employees.

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What's next

Now that you can get your employees out as a file, the typical next steps are:

1. Edit and bring them back in - change the file and load it with Import employees.
2. Fill in a single employee's details - open any employee to complete their bank accounts and super funds.
3. Run your first pay run - once your team is set up, see Run your first pay run.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	What to do
No Export button on the employees list	Your account lacks the Employee.Read permission	Ask a team admin to grant it from Team → Members, or use an account that can view employees
Toast reads "There are no employees to export."	The chosen scope matched no employees - an empty business, or a Current view whose search excludes everyone	Clear the list's search and export All employees, or add an employee first
Blank template downloaded but showed no toast	Expected - a template carries no employees, so there is nothing to count	Open the file; it has the header row ready to fill in
Toast reads "Failed to export employees."	The export request to the server did not complete	Check your connection and try again; if it persists, check the Notifications panel for the error

If you hit a problem the table doesn't cover, check the Notifications panel on the business dashboard - it logs each export event with the underlying message.