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Xero Integration

Updated

Connect Insightly to Xero to view accounting records against your CRM data, link invoices and bills to opportunities and projects, and create invoice drafts without leaving Insightly.

On this page:

What the integration does

  • View records from Xero inside Insightly.
  • Copy and link data between the two systems.
  • Create invoice drafts from Insightly records.

Connecting adds a Xero subtab to contacts, organizations, opportunities, and projects.

Xero Tab Selected on Contact Record — A contact record for “Olga Knipper” is shown in Insightly CRM with the Xero integration tab actively selected, displaying her as a synced Xero customer. This illustrates how a linked Xero contact appears within Insightly, which is useful for understanding how the two platforms share customer data.

Xero Tab Selected on Contact Record

Connecting

Any Insightly administrator with a Xero login can connect their Insightly account to a Xero accounting organization. Once connected, the Xero integration displays high-level accounting totals and individual invoice/bill status to designated users, who can also create new invoice drafts directly from Insightly.

ℹ️ Australian users: Xero requires two-factor authentication with your SSO provider (Google or Microsoft 365), and your Insightly login must also be SSO-based. Email logins won’t work with the integration.

The connector supports one Xero account per Insightly account. If you need to integrate with additional Xero accounts, use AppConnect instead. If you manage more than one Insightly account, you can connect Xero to each, but you’ll need to click Reconnect each time you switch, since Xero can’t hold an active connection to multiple Insightly accounts at once.

  1. In Insightly, go to System Settings > Integrations and click Install on Xero.
Installing Xero Integration in Insightly CRM — The screenshot shows the Integrations section of Insightly CRM, listing Intuit QuickBooks and Xero as available integrations, each with an Install button. The Xero option is highlighted, with a cursor hovering over its Install button, indicating the step to connect Xero’s online accounting and bookkeeping software to Insightly.

Installing Xero Integration in Insightly CRM

  1. On the Xero Integration page, click Connect to Xero.
Xero Integration Setup Screen in Insightly — This screen shows the Xero integration page in Insightly CRM, where the integration is not yet installed and a “Connect to Xero” button is available to begin setup. It also displays permission settings that allow admins to control which users can access the Xero integration.

Xero Integration Setup Screen in Insightly

  1. Log in with Xero credentials that have at least Standard access. Insightly’s access mirrors whatever permissions that login has.
  2. Select the Xero organization to connect and click Authorize. Each Insightly account can only connect to one Xero organization.
Xero Authorization Prompt for InsightlyCRM — A Xero dialog box asking the user to authorize InsightlyCRM (QA) to access their Xero data, with a dropdown to select the organization and an Authorize button highlighted in green. This step is required to complete the integration between Insightly CRM and Xero, granting the app permission to sync financial data.

Xero Authorization Prompt for InsightlyCRM

  1. Back on the Insightly-Xero page, choose which users can view Xero financial data (Everyone, a specific team, or selected people) and click Save Permissions.
Xero Integration Settings and Permissions Panel — The screenshot shows the Xero integration configuration page in Insightly CRM, where the integration is confirmed as installed with a green checkmark. Users can manage visibility permissions by choosing between Everyone, a specific team, or individual people, then saving those settings.

Xero Integration Settings and Permissions Panel

Selected users can then link and view Xero information from the Xero subtab on contacts, organizations, opportunities, and projects.

Creating invoice drafts

From a contact or organization

  1. Click the Xero subtab on a contact or organization linked to a Xero contact.
  2. From the Actions menu, select Create Invoice (Draft).
Actions Menu for Creating Xero Invoice — A dropdown Actions menu is open on a contact record for Bayside Club, showing options including “Create Invoice (Draft)” which is highlighted, along with options to sync data between Insightly and Xero. This would matter to readers learning how to create invoices or manage Xero integration directly from a contact or organization record in Insightly.

Actions Menu for Creating Xero Invoice

  1. Enter the invoice information. Items must exist in Xero’s inventory to appear in the Item list, and Xero will show archived items too. Then click Create Invoice Draft.
Create New Invoice Draft in Xero — This dialog box shows the form for creating a new invoice draft in Xero directly from Insightly CRM, with fields for contact, invoice date, due date, currency, and line items. It demonstrates how users can generate a Xero invoice with multiple line items (in this case, three dress items at $10.00 each) without leaving the Insightly interface.

Create New Invoice Draft in Xero

The new invoice appears with a Draft status, updating in Insightly once approved in Xero. Click View to open it directly in Xero. Only users with a Xero login can access that view.

From an opportunity or project

  1. Click the Xero subtab on an opportunity or project linked to a Xero contact.
Xero Integration Tab on Opportunity Record — The screenshot shows an Insightly opportunity record for “Bayside Club | Pool cleaning | 2015 Q2” with a cursor hovering over the Xero integration button in the tab bar. This illustrates how users can access Xero accounting features directly from an opportunity, which is relevant for linking CRM deals to financial data.

Xero Integration Tab on Opportunity Record

  1. Click Create Invoice Draft.
  2. Enter the invoice information and click Create Invoice Draft again to confirm. If the right Xero contact isn’t in the Contact list, click Cancel and create it first using Create Xero Contact on the previous screen. As with contacts and organizations, items must exist in Xero’s inventory to appear in the Item list.

The invoice appears as Draft, updating once approved in Xero. Click View to open it there.

Linking invoices and bills

Existing Xero invoices and bills can be linked to Insightly opportunities and projects. Insightly then summarizes invoice, bill, and net totals for that record based on the linked items and their status in Xero.

Show Linked Invoices Dropdown Menu Selected — The screenshot displays an Invoices dropdown menu in Insightly CRM with the “Show Linked Invoices” option highlighted, revealing a list of two authorized USD invoices for Bayside Club that are overdue. This helps users understand how to filter and view invoices that have already been linked to a record, as opposed to searching for new invoices to link.

Show Linked Invoices Dropdown Menu Selected

Invoice List View with Link Options — This screenshot shows a filtered list of three invoices from Bayside Club dated July 2015, displaying details such as reference numbers, due dates, overdue status, totals, and payment status. Each invoice has “View” and “Link” buttons, illustrating how users can find and associate invoices within Insightly CRM.

Invoice List View with Link Options

Once linked, invoices show their payment status directly against the record. Useful for spotting unpaid or overdue items without switching to Xero.

Removing the integration

⚠️ Uninstalling removes all Xero visibility. The Xero subtab disappears from contacts, organizations, opportunities, and projects. Administrator access is required.

Xero Integration Installed in Insightly CRM — The Integrations settings panel shows two available accounting integrations—Intuit QuickBooks and Xero—where Xero has been successfully installed as indicated by the green “Installed” button. This helps users confirm what a completed Xero integration setup looks like compared to an uninstalled option like QuickBooks, which still shows an “Install” button.

Xero Integration Installed in Insightly CRM

Xero Integration Settings with Uninstall Option — This screenshot shows the Xero integration page in Insightly CRM, where the integration is currently installed and active. It displays options to uninstall the integration and set visibility permissions for the integration to Everyone, a specific team, or individual people.

Xero Integration Settings with Uninstall Option

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