How To Integrate Expensify With Playroll

What the Expensify + Playroll Integration Does

Connecting Expensify to Playroll means approved employee expenses flow directly into Playroll for processing – without manual exports, copy-pasting, or reconciliation needed.

Once set up, any expense your team submits and gets approved in Expensify will automatically sync into Playroll, ready to be included in payroll runs.

A few things worth knowing upfront:

• This is a one-way integration: expenses move from Expensify to Playroll only
• Changes made in either system after syncing won't update the other
• Only approved expenses sync – drafts and pending reports won't appear in Playroll

Requirements Before You Start

Before you touch any settings, confirm the following:

• You have Workspace Admin or Owner access in Expensify
• You're logged into the Expensify account that owns or administers the workspace
• You have access to Playroll with permission to manage integrations
• You can access Expensify Classic (some required settings live there only)

Important: If you don't have Admin or Owner-level access in Expensify, you won't be able to complete the connection. Check your role under Workspaces → Members before you start.

How To Connect Expensify To Playroll

The setup happens in two parts: first, you configure a few things in Expensify, then you connect to Playroll and map your expense categories.

📹 Prefer a walkthrough? Watch this short Loom video for a full run-through of the setup before you start: Watch the Expensify + Playroll Setup Video

Part 1: Required Configuration in Expensify

These steps need to be completed in Expensify before you go to Playroll. Skipping them is the most common reason the integration doesn't work.

Step 1: Switch to Expensify Classic

Some of the settings you need are only available in the older Expensify interface.

1. Log in to Expensify (new interface)
2. Click your account logo in the top corner
3. Select Troubleshoot
4. Click Switch to Expensify Classic

Step 2: Enable Public Receipt Visibility

Playroll needs to be able to read receipts to process expenses. If this setting isn't turned on, expenses won't sync – even if everything else is configured correctly.

1. In Expensify Classic, go to Settings → Workspaces
2. Select the workspace you want to sync with Playroll
3. Navigate to Rules
4. Enable Public Receipt Visibility

Watch out for this: Public Receipt Visibility is off by default on most workspaces. It's easy to miss - and if it's not enabled, no expenses will appear in Playroll, regardless of other settings.

Step 3: Set "Receipt Required Amount" to Zero

This ensures every expense requires a receipt before it can sync.

1. In the same Rules section, find Receipt Required Amount
2. Set the value to 0
3. Save your changes

Why does this matter? If the required amount is set to, say, 100, any expense below that threshold won't need a receipt and won't sync to Playroll.

Step 4: Confirm Your Workspace Permissions

Double-check that the person setting up the integration is either a Workspace Admin or the Workspace Owner. You can verify this under Workspaces → Members.

If you don't have the right access level, contact whoever manages your Expensify account before continuing.

Setup Checklist

Before considering the integration complete, confirm all of the following:

• Public Receipt Visibility is enabled in Expensify
• Receipt Required Amount is set to 0
• Your Expensify workspace permissions are confirmed (Admin or Owner)
• Expensify is successfully connected to Playroll (status shows Active)
• Expense categories are mapped and saved
• Employee emails match between Expensify and Playroll

Part 2: Connecting Expensify to Playroll

Once Expensify is configured, move to Playroll to complete the connection.

Step 5: Navigate to the Expensify Integration

1. Log in to Playroll
2. Go to your Dashboard
3. Click Tools → Integrations
4. Select Expensify
5. Open the Configuration tab

Step 6: Connect Your Expensify Account

1. Click Connect (top-right of the page)
2. You'll be prompted to enter two credentials:
   • Partner User ID
   • Partner User Secret

To find these, click "Find our Partner ID" in the Playroll pop-up while logged in to Expensify. Copy both values and paste them into Playroll, then click Submit.

Once the connection is successful, the integration status will update to Active.

Part 3: Mapping Expense Categories

The final step is making sure Expensify's expense categories match up with Playroll's. Without this mapping, expenses may not be categorized correctly when they arrive in Playroll.

Step 7: Map Expensify Categories to Playroll Categories

1. On the Expensify integration page, go to Expense Categories
2. Click Map Categories
3. You'll see Expensify categories on the left, Playroll categories on the right
4. For each Expensify category, select the corresponding Playroll category:
   • Expensify "Car" → Playroll "Car Rental"
   • Expensify "Equipment" → Playroll "Equipment."
5. Click Save

Practical Tip: Make sure your employees' email addresses in Expensify match their Personal Emails in Playroll. If they don't match, expenses won't be attributed to the correct employee.

Optional Integration Settings

Depending on your team's setup, you may also want to configure:

• Field mapping – customise how expense fields translate between systems
• Time-based sync – control when approved expenses are pulled into Playroll
• Feature-specific toggles – available for some workspace types

If your integration doesn't have advanced config options, you can skip this section.