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This would be super-helpful; as I wish to enter descriptor in the "reference" field, that let me see in the bank account transactions, what the money was spent on.

But don't get your hopes-up, this has been listed nearly 10 years ago! Mind you, the other day I got an email from a SAAS scheduling app that I last used to use 15 years ago, to announce (proudly) that they had just implemented a suggestion I made 16 years ago to them!

Is this going to implemented soon as it would save so much time!!

This seems like such an easy change to implement. Why is it taking so long to implement?

This request is nearly 10 years old. Such a shame it's not attracted enough attention in terms of upvotes to be considered.

Having this would save so much time.

Surely this would be so easy to set up - cant believe this is still open since 2015!

This is a fantastic idea and would be a complete game changer!! Please implement.

Basic requirement - please add!

Mind boggling that this isn't already an option

This is so simple, I really cannot understand why it's not an option already.

I came across this problem recently while importing over 350 small transactions from a credit card. The transactions fell under 5 rules. But I couldn't set the reference to anything worth using as the description from the credit card had nothing about the purchase. As I fool to myself I spent 2-3 hours editing while reconciling each and every transaction ! mind-numbingly boring and mundane.

Towards the end, I realized I wanted it displayed slightly differently and would have to re-do the whole lot, especially as 1/4 of the transactions had also come across as a bank feed as well as the imported transactions. So had loads of duplicates to go through.

Then decided to try another approach. I ended up "remove and redo" every reconciled transaction. Also deleted every single imported and bank-fed transaction so I was back to square-one.

I then opened my .XLS file in Excel using "find and replace", and tidied up all the descriptions so i could use the description as a reference later.

Imported the edit .XLS file into Xero. Change the rules so I could set the reference from the description and voila!

This only works when importing as you have the ability to change the bank description in Excel.

A little glimmer of hope but still doesn't fix this issue.

Just add a custom box for us to use! so much easier.

I really want this. At the very least you could add to the drop down menu to include 'Name of Rule'.

This will make things much easier when the information from the bank falls in different fields.
Not limited to a field that might be blank/

Why o why is it not an option to specify a customised text for the reference. the ones imported either change randomly or don't may sense. Would be great if the reference that appears in the transactions page was able to be made to suit and then easily searchable/visible.

I would like to have this - I have a number of rules set up for which the reference would always be the same and the interface is very time consuming to deal with if all you want to do is add this information. It's possible to have a static, custom description so why can't I have a static custom reference for a repeating transaction?

Any progress on this? It sounds so simple but would be so useful. Transactions with an empty "Reference" field just soak up time to update. Amazed that the facility wasn't there from the start.

This would be useful.

Need this ASAP. It's little things like this that make Xero frustrating to use.
I've tried setting a custom Reference by writing in the description field and choosing the option to set reference from the description however this did nothing and the reference was still left empty. Please create an option to add a custom reference.

The odd thing is that in the transaction list under the heading "Description" the Contact is posted from the bank rule. If the post put the description into the "Description" field then the reference could be set to the Reference to "from the payee" This would mean no editing was necessary as all the necessary information could be put into the bank rule description.

Totally agree .. I often want to put a specific reference, which in order to do currently, you have to apply the bank rule, then go back in to the transaction and manually - defeats the purpose of using a bank rule, when it's not just one click and done.