Enter your idea

So we are continually being warned to back up and that there could be a large hacking event that could shut down the internet but Xero thinks it's unescessary to allow us to back up. Not good enough! 100% online models are doomed to fail. Our connectivity is becoming ever more intermittent and every time our connectivity stops so does our business because it is running on xero. Time to explore other options. We need to be able to back up who our customers are and how much they owe us daily. We also need to be able to work offline and then synchronise so that our business doesn't grind to a halt every time the internet slows due to increased use.

ah but guys, the programmers have been busy on developing the new reports that no-one was asking for and few people like!

I'd say quite a few senior managers would be saying the exact same thing after the breakdown of invoice and copy-to functionality two days ago. I wonder how many users spent enormous amounts of time recreating invoices only to have them drop out continually. Xero performed excruciatingly bad, not to mention the repeated data loss. It would have been a very big warning that Xero is not immune thinking it can run a serious application without built-in default user ability to back up automatically.

I also notice this product ideas area still doesn't recognise when a user is already logged into Xero. Is it worth mentioning this basic deficiency again to deaf ears? We're obviously wasting our time discussing anything of a higher order nature.

This should be a built in feature.

I fully agree with the comments below, I'd rather have the app provided or native to Xero or even recommended by Xero, than just have to search for one.

But, I still don't understand why Xero is not planning on adding this feature, it should already be happening. This is so critical and to palm this off is a bit ridiculous and slack on Xero's behalf.

What happens if Xero closes down, how do we get this backup that "aren't designed to be used by individual organisations" ??? Not to undo/reverse but to have in case we need it.

I fully support Colin's comments below, I'd rather have the app provided or native to Xero or even recommended by Xero, than just have to search for one.

A backup is a critical feature missing from XERO which would include all documents uploaded to support transactions such as invoices and receipts. For example if a company ceased trading for any reason the owner needs to retain all accounting records for 6 years and for this purpose a backup would be essential.

Nicholas, You make a very sound point. Xero will miss out on additional earnings when an account can't be recreated efficiently from a core backup. Probably many opportunities lost because I can also make the point that we are in the process of selling one of our company's divisions and likewise, if that division's operations can't be transferred easily, the other company will not consider using Xero but take on a different accounting app.

I must also say, in addition to the criticism Xero receives from users pointing out inaction for core requests over many years, it's hard to believe whether anyone in Xero ever joins in and gets emails responding to the Product ideas threads. Having to login here when you are already logged into Xero is frustrating and at odds with any sort of "beautiful" experience. Secondly, I can't count the number of years every forum email I receive has that blue Xero logo so large, so crude and ugly, it has never been coded correctly to show in a user's email client such as Outlook, correctly. That over-blown, pixilated logo is so beyond it's intended use, it's not only ugly, it pushes content so far down one becomes tired of even bothering to scroll down enough to read what might be written by new users or those of us who have been around for some years almost ready to quit. Goes to show that no-one, I mean NO ONE employed by Xero has ever come to these forums as a user and added comment, or they would have noticed that ugly Xero logo and done something about it - at least since 2018 when I joined!

This would be a good idea. I have requests from clients that would like to create an exact duplicate of a current Xero organisation to run parallel.

However, there is no such feature yet. Which means that I would have to export out thousands of invoices and supplier bills and reimport everything in if I would like to create an exact duplicate.

I also replied to the email received from Sukhinder - it appears we are unable to have open communication as advised... I received the following response to my email:

Beautiful accounting software

Hey there,

Looks like you’ve replied to one of our no-reply email addresses.

If you’ve got a question about how to use Xero, the best place to start is Xero Central.

Thanks,
The Xero Team

I Tweeted the following:
"Have you actually used Xero for running any of your businesses and if so, which businesses? Xero feature requests and fixes have been fobbed off or unattended to for many years totally frustrating users!"

Everyone send the new CEO a tweet about this feature request!
https://twitter.com/sukhindersingh?s=20

The new Xero CEO sprouts lots about running businesses prior to her appointment but not once did I read that she actually used Xero! Why would anyone be appointed to the CEO position if they have had no experience actually using Xero to run a business?!

Let's see how fast all the feature requests are implemented. Good starting point would be to implement cases first requested by Xero users a decade ago and continually asked for since. While she's at it, it would be nice to be auto logged into this product ideas interface when one is already logged into Xero!

Note the reply from the ceo@xero.com is

"Thanks for reaching out to ceo@xero.com - I love hearing from you and getting your feedback.

Emails to this inbox will be monitored by the Xero team and we’ll do our best to respond where possible.

If you have a support query, please continue to reach out via Xero Central. For all feature requests and product ideas, please go to Xero Product Ideas.

Best wishes,
Sukhinder and the Xero team"

So we can only hope that the Xero team will report back to her.

Like Dermot Smith, I've just sent my own email to Sukhinder, anyone else wanting this feature should do the same. Lets make this issue known to the CEO.

@Kirsty I hadn't spotted that! Have resent. Thank you

There was an email address in the email CEO@xero.com - I emailed referring to this page as a good starting point for her to look - although unfortunately it appears to just be a box which will be monitored by her team

Dear Dermot,

Why am I not surprised at all?! (deeply saddened though ..)

The new Xero CEO just emailed all customers to say how much she wants to hear our product ideas. I replied back:

"Dear Sukhinder,

Congratulations. If you are really interested in listening to customers, then perhaps you will put in place the daily backup regime that is missing from Xero. The lack of this protection is completely indefensible and prevents us from complying with basic cyber security practices demanded by our customers, shareholders and governments. We need to have a backup of our books, under our control, every day."

My message was bounced back to me with "this is a no reply email address". Not interested in hearing our ideas after all...

It's time this is provided. Downloading reports is way too time consuming.
At least provide a one stop shop report that downloads all legally required data in one hit and readable format.

Especially as your T&Cs make us, the user, responsible for backups.