This guide explores how to configure your Xero invoice options
Autotask to Xero -> Configuration -> Xero Options
Xero Options (Basic)
Invoices should import into Xero as
There are three options available: draft (recommended), approved, and approved with the invoice set as sent.
Please note if you use the option Invoice and set as sent it will not actually physically send the invoice to the customer via Xero.
Xero Invoice Numbers
This is the number scheme used within your Xero invoices these numbers will also be sent back to your Autotask so that the numbers match in both platforms.
Options:
- Use Xero Invoice Numbers
- Xero will generate these numbers and they are guaranteed to always be unique
- Use Autotask Id Number
- Xero invoice numbers will be generated the format INV:{AutotaskId}
- Use Autotask Invoice Numbers
- This option will use Autotask invoice number generated by Autotask
- This option will use Autotask invoice number generated by Autotask
We do not recommend using this option:
The reason we don’t recommend this option is because the Autotask platform can generate invoice numbers that can conflict with your own invoice number schemes and cause sync issues.
If you choose to utilize this option, it is highly recommended to apply a unique numbering prefix (INV-XXX / AT-XXX) different from Xero's. This precaution ensures that if an invoice with the same number is generated in Xero, any conflicts can be avoided as long as the prefixes differ.
Invoice Due Date
Please note: If you use the Autotask invoice date option it must appear on the original Autotask invoice. Please see this KB for more information.
It is possible to use the Xero due date option on the Xero customer card, please see advanced options below.
How many days back should invoices be synced from
This option limits how many days back (from now) the sync can look for invoices to sync over to Xero. It’s recommended that once you are up and running that its set to at least 14 days so that if any disruption happens to your sync (such as Xero disconnection) the sync will be able to backfill.
Xero Options (Advanced Options)
Don't show descriptions of Service Contracts (Only shows Service Contract Name)
By selecting this option, the descriptions on service contracts will not be displayed when syncing invoices to Xero. This can help streamline the appearance of your invoices and prevent unnecessary clutter from detailed service contract descriptions.
Autotask to Xero Contact Matching Options
By default, our sync will match customers to Autotask based on the name of the Autotask customer and Xero customer, the names between the platforms is case sensitive. If a customer is not found within Xero it will automatically be created by our sync service. If you select “Update Xero Contacts..” the Xero customer will always be updated during sync time with the applicable data from Autotask, this is only triggered when a new Autotask invoice is generated.
Turn off contact name case sensitivity between Autotask and Xero
If you encounter issues with the matching of customer names between Autotask and Xero due to case sensitivity, you have the option to enable this feature. By turning off the case sensitivity setting, you can ensure that customer names are matched accurately regardless of differences in capitalization. This can help prevent errors in syncing data between the two platforms and streamline the process of creating and updating contacts. We now recommend this option to be turned on.
Note: The Autotask contact UDF will be a requirement for syncing by Q4 2024, please setup today if you haven’t done so already.
Send Xero Payment dates back into Autotask
Applying a payment or credit to a Xero invoice will write the payment date back to Autotask. A partial payment or credit will trigger this event (this can be toggled to paid in full events only, please contact our support to turn that on for you).
Show Resource on Invoices
This option applies to tickets and will display the techs name on the description within the invoice.
Round to 4 decimal places on Xero line items
By default Xero and Autotask rounds to 2 decimal places, this can sometimes cause rounding differences between the two platforms. Turning this option on will allow our tool to sync invoices with support for up to 4 decimal places on unit amounts. Please note 4 decimal place rounding also needs to be turned on within Autotask. For more information about rounding, please see this KB.
Show date in the description for ticket items
This feature allows you to include the ticket date at the beginning of the description for each line item in Xero (if the billing item is a ticket). The date will be displayed in the format of day-month-year for easy reference.
Override Xero invoice Due Date with Xero Customer Card Invoice Due rules (if applicable)
This option allows for the invoice to use the due date rules within the Xero customer card. If your rule is not setup within Xero it will default back to using the Invoice Due Date option.
(Screenshot from Xero)
Further cosmetic changes to the billing line-items.
The Autotask API displays data differently than the Autotask web-console. We have put in significant effort to align Xero invoices as closely as possible to the original format. While there may be slight variations in some cases, our support team can assist with advanced options to further customize the appearance. Feel free to reach out to us for additional guidance.