Files - Bulk export/print attached files
Ability to export and print files from Xero in bulk.
Purpose: To have backup files and audit purposes.
Thanks for your expressions and feedback in a bulk download or print facility for Files (either from the Files library or at an individual transaction level)
We know that bulk operations can be handy, however at this time we have no plans to develop this functionality. We know it might seem like a small feat, however often even small change is more tightly woven and intricate to solve beneath the surface.
While we understand this must be frustrating to hear, we’re currently focused on making improvements in other areas of Xero and are unable to prioritise a bulk download or print feature right now.
However, in situations like these there are often connected apps through the Xero App Store that may be able to assist. We appreciate and will revise solutions that could fulfil needs in this space, but want to be honest this isn’t something we have plans for right now.
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Richard Muller commented
I agree with a lot of the comments, this is an essential feature and that the "This isn't on our roadmap" reponse is very tiresome from Xero... I wonder if the senior management team are even aware that there's this level of gatekeeping in getting features and requests from users through to the Dev team.
The lack of this feature is one of the things thats making me look at other accounting solutions... Literally trapped in XERO because of the expense of migrating but its that or Spending 100s of manhours doing stupid repetitive tasks that could be solved if Xero implemented the features users were requesting.
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Amit Patel commented
this 3rd party app allows you to bulk export the attached files: https://www.backupmybooks.com/
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Gary Pickett commented
The purple&pink software lets you access the files even if the subscription is suspended. (i.e. read only file)
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James Crowe commented
This says a lot about Xero's approach to customer service and has completely changed my opinion on this company. I can only assume this is an intentional omission to ensure you are locked into their ecosystem. The harder it is to get your data and leave, the less they have to spend on maintaining and supporting their product. Xero disrupted the marketplace like no other, but now they have us they can go forward giving us the absolute bare minimum, knowing how difficult it is to get away. A real shame, I used to tell our clients how much better Xero was over Sage and actively encourage them to switch, but now I can tell people how they are all as bad as each other.
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Aileen Asche commented
I don't know of any accounting softwares that offer this feature so I'm not that surprised Xero isn't going to make it happen. In case it's helpful to anyone, you CAN do bulk downloads from Hubdoc or Dext or BILL if you are using those for document collection.
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Ludovic Leforestier commented
Agree this is an essential feature.
How complicated is it to migrate to another platform such as Quicbooks? -
Ludovic Leforestier commented
Meanwhile Xero is gingerly increasing its prices...
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Jacolyn Warner commented
Kelly, I disagree. This feature is not "handy", it is essential. On the basis of your response I certainly would not recommend Xero to anyone. I regret moving to Xero in the first place and also making the assumption that an essential accounting requirement would obviously be part of an accounting system - and finding it isn't - and then finding that Xero only consider this "handy". Luckily we use Hubdoc for some invoices, which has a PDF download, but for all Bills that go directly into Xero - and annoyingly, Xero subscription bills as well, there is no function to download these. This now means that EVERYTHING will have to go via Hubdoc, negating some of the selling points of using Xero in the first place! How disappointing.
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John van Vlaardingen commented
This is an important issue to me and not having a clear direction will probably lead to moving away from Xero
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Looks like we will be moving on, after spending ages printing off the files of course. Well done Xero put your customers last.
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Amit Patel commented
Thats a big issue!! - looks like we have to migrate to another provider then.
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Suzie Evans commented
We're glad to have contributed to the "accounting systems regulatory" discussion indeed triggered by our "certified fiduciary company" / "official Xero partner" (the reason why we took them). That Swiss advisory company greatly disappointed us by favoring the state against us hence the deeper look into the state of play in this software field which, as a matter of fact, "sucked". Since then, we have migrated to Gimbla with great satisfaction. If that fiduciary company ever dares to send a bill for a Xero subscription we have a counter-attack ready. It's good they get free travel & expenses paid out by Xero but their job is to focus on the PAYING customers. Schmuck The Bozos!
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Abby Bartlett commented
Kelly,
Thanks for responding to all the pleas on this subject. To be honest, this is a deal breaker for our company and also makes it impossible for me to ever recommend Xero to any other company in the future. I'm not sure what Xero exists for if not to solve basic issues that are this important to its customers. -
Sarah Hart commented
Sigh.
I guess it's just my bad luck that every single request to bring Xero into line with legal and audit requirements hangs around ignored by the developers for 10 years, and then Kelly Munro pops up to advise that no, despite all our years of investing in Xero, Xero isn't going to fix this major problem either.
Not a single idea I follow has been met with a "yes".
Doesn't breed confidence that Xero will be able to meet new requirements in the future, given it apparently doesn't have resources to "prioritise" requirements that are ten years old. -
I agree can’t be that difficult. I even looked at Zapier but the file says PDF exists but not visible, so it’s not just they haven’t done it they are hiding the files.
I think I’m just gonna move and download the files from my online accounts with suppliers and do the rest one by one.
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Caleb Chamberlain commented
Yeah, it's been ten years, and this can't be a hard feature to implement. Xero unfortunately isn't a company that can grow with your business.
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Alicia Mellors commented
Without this ability - there is no point using Xero. We still must maitain hard copy files with regards to APES310 complaince being an external accountant for mutiple clients
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Glen Johannes commented
I'm sorry, but after commenting and watching this thread for months, it's obvious that Xero doesn't give a f*ck about this essential feature because they know they may lose hundreds, if not more, of their customers instantly if this feature was introduced. This non-feature is purely Xero's stealth way of holding its clients *******.
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Suzanne Shaw commented
Hello, as a Xero Partner who processes invoices on behalf of clients, this feature is critical when offboarding clients as we must retain copies of bills paid during our service as part of APES 310 client money rules. We've been saving all bills in Xero and are now faced with the only option to download 1000's of invoices 1 at a time. This is not ok.
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Kevin Smith commented
In response to Kat, I doubt he reads the emails to ceo@xero.com but just in case he does I sent the following message:
"Good afternoon Sukhinder
Welcome to the role of CEO. I hope you enjoy the challenge and take Xero to new heights.
I'd like to bring something to your attention which appears to be an intentional design fault of Xero: Bulk File exports/downloads. Xero offers a very helpful feature where we can easily capture receipts and supporting data in Xero which is much appreciated. Unfortunately the same isn't true of our ability to extract this data which we are required to do for a number of reasons.
This makes it hard for us to recommend Xero to new clients. This relatively minor annoyance, and more importantly the lack of a solution, speaks volumes of the intention and culture which concerns myself and many other Xero users.
There is a thread pleading for this change since 2013 already: https://productideas.xero.com/forums/939198-for-small-businesses/suggestions/44960626-files-bulk-export-print-attached-files
I hope you engage with the Xero community and make this change as soon as possible."
It can't hurt for similar messages to be sent in since all the Xero staff I've tried to talk to have ignored this issue.