Connecting QuickBooks Online or Xero

Availability: all plans

Connecting links your ServiceVisit account to one QuickBooks Online company or one Xero organisation. You authorize the link in your accounting system, and ServiceVisit brings you back to the Integrations page. This guide covers the connection itself, how much history to copy, and disconnecting or reconnecting. Choosing accounts is a separate step, covered in the mapping guide.

Before you start

You need a role that includes Manage Integrations.
Sign in to your accounting system with a user who may authorize an app for the company you want.
Connect the company you actually use for this business. ServiceVisit shows the company or organisation name once connected, so you can check you chose the right one.
Decide whether you want past records copied. Most providers do not.

Steps

Open Settings, then Integrations.
If the page shows an Accounting system selector, choose QuickBooks Online or Xero.
Under History to copy (days), leave the default if you want exports to begin from today. The note under the field says "No historical records will be copied; exports begin when this connection is made." Enter a different whole number, within the range shown under the field, to have that many days of earlier records created in your accounting system. The page warns that it cannot detect records your accountant already migrated, so check with them first.
Select Connect QuickBooks Online or Connect Xero.
Sign in on the accounting system's own screen and approve the connection.
You return to the Integrations page with a message that the system connected successfully. The status badge reads Connected, and the page lists Connected organisation, the date connected and, where the system provides one, when the token expires.
Select Set up now (shown as "Deposit account not configured") to choose your accounts. Until that is done, the page asks you to choose the accounts the integration should use before exporting.

Tips

Xero technician time needs Projects access. A Xero connection made before that was requested may need to be reconnected to grant it.
The connected company's country matters. If it is not set up in the United States, the page warns that invoices, refunds and credit notes carrying sales tax will be refused, and only documents without tax export. A company's country cannot be changed after it is created, so connect a United States company if you charge sales tax.
Keep your accounting system's own tax calculation off for these documents. ServiceVisit sends the tax it already calculated.

Disconnecting and reconnecting

Select Disconnect followed by the system name, and confirm. Future syncs stop until you reconnect. If a connection stops being active, the page says syncing has stopped, shows the last error and the last time it synced, and offers Reconnect in place of Connect. Reconnecting restores syncing, and nothing already exported is affected.

If something goes wrong

"authorization failed. Please try again": the approval on the accounting system's screen did not complete. Run the steps again.
"History days must be a whole number": the history value was blank, not whole, or outside the range.
A message that your accounting system is set to work out sales tax itself: the connection was stored, but ServiceVisit will not send to a company that recalculates tax, because your books would disagree with what customers were charged. Turn that setting off in the accounting system, or connect a company that does not use it. Syncing then starts on its own.
The Integrations page is missing from Settings: your role does not include Manage Integrations.

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Manage integrations — ServiceVisit has an Integrations page under Settings where you connect ServiceVisit to other systems. It has two parts.