Xero Integration FAQs

Here are some Xero integration-related questions our users have asked over Cin7 Core's lifetime – check here to see if your question has been asked before. Please don't hesitate to contact Cin7 Core Support with any problems or questions.

Q: We have a Shopify store that syncs with Cin7 Core, which in turn syncs with Xero. We are getting sync errors in Cin7 Core with invoices that have already synced with Xero previously. These orders were created and paid for in Shopify, and they did come through correctly to Xero as already paid. As far as I can tell by looking at the transaction history, no changes were made to these transactions in either Cin7 Core or Xero. Why are these transactions being uploaded to Xero again, and why are we getting sync errors?

A: Changes to authorized documents such as invoices prompt Cin7 Core to try and push the affected transactions again to Xero. Since these transactions have been synced with Xero before, the new sync will fail, thus the errors will arise. To proceed with the sync, you may skip the transactions with errors. The updated Audit Log functionality in Cin7 Core will soon allow you to know the specific changes on authorized documents. This will allow you to know the reasons for these sync issues moving forward.

Q: We have noticed that payments from customers being processed in Xero are not syncing to Cin7 Core and the invoices are still showing as unpaid in Cin7 Core. We suspect that this may be related to our period lock date setting in Cin7 Core. Can you confirm? Is there a way for us to fully sync payments between Cin7 Core and Xero since there are many invoices that are showing as unpaid?

A: Check on what dates payments were applied to the invoices since you have a period lock date set in Cin7 Core, which means that invoices dated prior to the period lock date will not be updated. If you want to sync these invoices, remove the period lock date temporarily, then use the Load Historical Data feature on the Xero Synchronisation history page to manually specify the starting date for the full synchronisation.

Q: After I run Sync, I click on '5 customers' (imported to Xero), but it just takes me to the entire list of Cin7 Core customers. So how do I find which customers were synced?

A: You can find the names of the customers on the Xero Synchronisation page, a link to which can be found on the Xero Integration page (see the screenshot below). Click on the link, and you will be taken to the customers' record in Cin7 Core. The Xero Synchronisation page keeps a log of all synchronised transactions between Cin7 Core and Xero.

Q: We send out invoices in Cin7 Core and also export attachments to Xero but, during sync, we get errors because some files are not supported. What can we do to prevent this from happening?

A: Not all attachments can be synced to Xero. Email is not synced to Xero. PDF files, on the other hand, can be synced. Those that can't be synced have the status set to Skipped to stop retrying sync as it won't work.

Q: There are products in our catalogue with status=Setup Required after syncing between Xero and Cin7 Core. Since we're not selling these products anymore, I changed them all to 'Deprecated' before deleting them. But they always come back, with the same Setup Required status. I've also tried merging them with other like products but to no avail. How do I get rid of these products?

A: You need to delete them first in Xero before you can delete them from Cin7 Core. This is to prevent them from being downloaded all over again when syncing between Xero and Cin7 Core.

Q: There has been a sales invoice raised in Cin7 Core that was synced to Xero with the wrong contact. Contact details in either Xero or Cin7 Core have not been changed recently. Does this problem lie with Cin7 Core or Xero?

A: Upon checking Cin7 Core logs, the correct customer details were forwarded to Xero. Thus, this is a problem on Xero's end. To determine why the invoice in Xero reflected the info different from what Cin7 Core uploaded onto Xero, you may need to get in touch with Xero customer support.

Q: The period lock date keeps reverting to 31.1.19, but there is no audit trail indicating who changed it. This has happened twice to me today, and I am really, really concerned that a period is open when it should be closed.

A: Lock dates are synced from Xero settings, so the period lock date in Cin7 Core should match the one set in Xero after each sync. You may have missed changing the period lock date in Xero. Check that Xero has the correct period lock date and try synchronising them again.

Q: To begin using Cin7 Core, should we pre-populate all customer information, supplier information, as well as products into Xero first, then integrate with Cin7 Core? We are a company that also assemble raw materials into a finished product, but since Xero does not deal with this, should we just manually enter them into Cin7 Core instead?

A: When using Cin7 Core, we recommend to run your accounts payable/receivable in Cin7 Core and export the data to Xero. This guarantees the most consistent result. Since our definition of 'product' requires more info than Xero, it makes sense to input (or import from CSV) a products list, as well as customer and supplier data in Cin7 Core.

Q: We're converting from MYOB to Xero & Cin7 Core. The MYOB conversion creates draft invoices in Xero for any open orders from MYOB. Do you know of a way to get the data from Xero into Cin7 Core in a draft order state?

A: Draft invoices can't be imported from Xero to Cin7 Core. You need to authorize an invoice in Xero in order to export it to Cin7 Core.

Q: Because we trade with international customers in USD, we also have a 'Foreign Currency Deposit (FCD)' account where we can accept USD without converting it into local currencies. In Xero, we can specify which account the income/expense will go into (if it's an FCD account, then the currency amount is preserved). Is this functionality supported in Cin7 Core, and how can I implement this?

A: This is supported in Cin7 Core. When we send data to Xero, we supply the account name and the amount in the original currency. Xero will know what to do with this info, depending on your settings in Xero.

Q: Under Payment Terms, some of our suppliers pay us according to the scheduled payment table (e.g. 25th of the following month, the date may shift by a few days if it lands on a weekend or on national holidays). How can we enter this into Cin7 Core? In Xero, we were able to specify the date it is due. Is it at all possible to do the same in Cin7 Core?

A: Cin7 Core has a Due date field available. You can enter anything you need on this field.

Q: Our company is trying to sync Cin7 Core invoices to Xero and print out the invoices on Xero. However, Xero does not recognise shipping addresses from Cin7 Core for our Compass Group, which includes multiple customers. Is it okay for us to put the site code and customers' names in brackets after 'Compass Group'? For example: Compass Group (site code Northshore Hospital). In that case, Xero will pick up the shipping address. But we will need to send multiple statements to Compass Group instead of one. Is that okay?

A: You can print invoices from Cin7 Core without any complications. If you opt to use Xero for this task, we don't see any issues with adding any info in brackets after the company name.

Q: I am trying to set up the integration for Cin7 Core and Xero. However, there is no option for Xero in the drop-down list of the integration tab. Could you please help me with Xero and Cin7 Core integration?

A: When you sign up for a trial, you need to use Xero as the accounting application to enable the integration.

Q: I want to amend the way that Cin7 Core is integrated with Xero, so that purchase invoices are transferred as drafts. This is so that when the bookkeeper gets the physical invoice, she can check it and then approve/amend it.

A: To change the status of invoices going into Xero, please go to Integrations > Xero and change the Xero Invoice status from Authorized to Draft.

Q: If I use the invoice online payment service from Xero, will Cin7 Core be able to pick up the payment information from Xero? We are thinking about changing the invoice template using the logo and the link for the payment from Xero.

A: We will definitely be able to pick up payments that are applied in Xero. We have a two-way sync for payments so you can apply payments in either system.

Q: If we change an existing invoice/bill in Cin7 Core that has already synced to Xero, will the syncing process amend Xero, or do we need to make the change in Cin7 Core, then manually make the change in Xero too?

A: If you make a change to an invoice in Cin7 Core, it will automatically update that invoice in Xero when you sync.However, you need to make sure that there is no payment applied to that invoice in Xero, because if there is a payment applied in Xero, then you will need to undo that transaction in Xero for the changes to sync over from Cin7 Core.

Q: Do you provide a Demo Company environment for your clients like Xero does? We have an account with you and have integrated with our Xero. There are some very substantial changes happening to the company, and we don't want to see any flow of data into Xero nor do we want any testing data or residual data in our Cin7 Core account before we go live with your system.

A: We do not have a demo account like the one Xero provides. However, you can disconnect your Cin7 Core account from Xero by going to Integrations > Xero > Disable Xero Integration on your Cin7 Core account, then reconnect to Xero later using the Xero Connect Wizard. When using the Xero Connect Wizard, you will be given the option to delete all Cin7 Core data before connecting.

Q: The client, on a number of occasions, does special jobs that require a mixture of inventory items. However, the client just wants to show a one-line description instead of multiple lines. I know about the Bill of Material process, which we use on regular assemblies. I'm thinking of creating an invoice in Cin7 Core with all the items listed – Sync it to XERO, delete all the lines, and put in a one-line description, and not changing the Customer, Inventory # or Amount. Is that OK?

A: Cin7 Core won't update an existing sale task from Xero. So it is safe to do these changes in Xero directly after sync.

Q: The 'Include in Email' field is not pushing data. Why?

A: The 'Include in Email' field for the default contact is redundant because the Default Contact Email is placed in the 'Email To' fields for all statements.
Non-default contacts with 'Include in Email' checkboxes will be added to the CC email fields and will receive an email too, but the 'Include in Email' field does not have any sense for the Default contact. When importing a primary contact from Xero, this checkbox is getting unchecked because the default contact doesn't need it.

Q: Can you tell me if there is any way that we can use an add-on to automatically import supplier invoices into Cin7 Core? For example, if we were just using Xero, then we could also use HubDoc or ReceiptBank to upload supplier invoices into Xero and avoid manual data entry.

A: Invoices from Xero and Cin7 Core will sync automatically between the applications seamlessly once integrated. However, if you need to integrate to HubDoc or ReceiptBank with Xero, you'd need to reach out to Xero support. Once that's set up, and any invoices in Xero sync to Cin7 Core, there will be matching records. If you need to connect the above-mentioned apps to Cin7 Core, you can use the Cin7 Core API. Please see the link below; however, you may need the expertise of a developer to get this to work.

API Link: https://dearinventory.docs.apiary.io/.

Q: Do I record overpayments in Cin7 Core or Xero? If I record overpayments in Cin7 Core, will Cin7 Core send them over to Xero?

A: Cin7 Core doesn't send overpayments over to Xero. Instead, sales with overpayments should be handled in Xero. Although Cin7 Core will download payments to invoices from Xero, it will not download overpayments. To ensure that sales overpayments are properly recorded in Xero, take the following steps:

Undo the payment in Xero.
Do not apply the payment in Cin7 Core. Instead, perform the sync with Xero without payments against the invoice.
In Xero, record the payments for the invoice, including the overpayment.

Q: Attached are a couple of invoices from Xero – one showing a 15% opening order discount using Xero's built-in discount fields, and another showing the same invoice after syncing with Cin7 Core. Note that the second invoice does not show the Discount column anymore. Why is this so?

A: In this case, Cin7 Core exports the discounted price to Xero, but does not export the discount percentage since it is applied differently in the two systems – Cin7 Core applies discounts to individual prices while Xero applies it to the total. Since the attached invoices are generated in Xero, you may want to get in touch with Xero customer support since Cin7 Core has no control over invoices printed from Xero.

Q: After renaming a contact in Xero and creating a sale for the same contact, Xero shows a sales invoice raised in Core that was synced to Xero with the wrong contact. Why?

Xero does not select manually whether a contact is a customer or a supplier, this is directly determined by whether the invoice is raised against accounts payable or accounts receivable. This is a limitation from the Xero side. We recommend merging the contacts in Xero to avoid sync issues.

Xero Integration FAQs

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