You likely started using Xero because you wanted to streamline your accounting processes. The software promises to help you spend less time in the books so you can get back to what you love, after all. But what happens when your accounting tool isn't talking to your other apps?
Copying and pasting invoice details or tracking down your teammates to pass on sales info effectively throws all your streamlining efforts out the window. Let Xero do its job by using automation to bridge that communication gap. With Zapier's automated workflows—we call them Zaps—you can easily connect your Xero with your business-critical tools.
Simplify your accounting even as your business grows with these automated workflows.
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To get started with a Zap template—what we call our pre-made workflows—just click on the button. It only takes a few minutes to set up. You can read more about setting up Zaps here.
Create invoices with details from other apps
No matter what you're selling, invoices are probably a critical part of your accounting workflows. But if you're generating a lot of sales—the dream!—building out those invoices can consume a significant portion of your day. Make it easier for your accounting team to scale their work along with your sales by automating it.
If you use a sales or eCommerce app to make sales—like Stripe, PayPal, or Shopify—or even if you use a humble spreadsheet, Zapier can help you automatically create invoices in Xero from payments, orders, and sales.
But what happens if an invoice needs adjusting? Sometimes, orders might change in other apps, like if there are added shipping fees or a customer requests a refund on a product. When that happens, you'll want to update your sales invoices accordingly so your records are up to date.
The moment an order gets updated in Shopify or WooCommerce, these Zaps will update its corresponding invoice in Xero:
Update Xero invoices when Shopify orders are updated
Update Xero invoices from WooCommerce order changes
Add credit notes to Xero invoices from Shopify updates
Track payments and invoices
A big part of accounting is accounting for your payments and sales. Adding your sales data to a spreadsheet or database app can make it easier to share data with other teams who may not have access to your accounting app.
By logging all invoices and payments into a spreadsheet, you can have all the relevant data you need in one place, formatted just the way you want. Set up your spreadsheet just the way you want it, and customize the data that goes into each column. It also makes a great backup, just in case.
Create Airtable records from new sales invoices in Xero
Learn more: 5 simple ways to automate your bookkeeping
Manage your customer and product information
While Xero is your first port of call for all your accounting needs, you still need a way to sync your contacts—and any new products you're selling—across your different tools.
You might need to add new Xero customers to your CRM, for example, so your sales and marketing teams can reach out accordingly. Or maybe you've just added a new product to your online store, and you want to reflect that new inventory in Xero. Whatever the case, these Zaps will do the heavy lifting for you:
Create Salesforce contacts when Xero contacts are created or updated
Find or create items in Xero when new WooCommerce products are created
Find or create items in Xero from Shopify products
Use webhooks with Xero
Zapier connects to thousands of apps, but there may be tools you use that don't have a Zapier integration. In that case, you'll want to use a webhook to push info from your apps to Xero.
For example, if you process sales through an eCommerce app that doesn't integrate directly with Xero or Zapier. Rather than manually adding the sales information in Xero, you can create a webhook that automatically looks for new sales and sends them over to Xero. Use these Zaps to get started.
Relay Webhook messages posted to a web server as new Xero invoices
Catch new webhooks and create or update contacts in Xero
Keep your team in the loop
Need to share accounting updates across teams? Keep everyone on the same page about payments and invoices by posting about them in Slack or sending them to the right inbox. That way, important information is shared right away so follow-up can happen more quickly—without you having to nag anyone.
Try one of these Zaps to automatically send Slack messages to a specific Slack channel or an email for every new Xero payment or invoice.
Send Slack channel messages for new payments in Xero
Send Gmail messages when new payments are received in Xero
Automate your accounting
Accounting is a critical part of running a business—and that business can't scale unless your accounting processes do, too. Automate your manual accounting tasks so you can focus on what matters most—your customers and clients.
New to Zapier? It's workflow automation software that lets you focus on what matters. Combine user interfaces, data tables, and logic with thousands of apps to build and automate anything you can imagine. Sign up for free to use this app, and thousands more, with Zapier.
This article was originally published in December 2022. It was most recently updated in June 2024.
