Bank Rules - Ability to import and export
Allow users the ability to import and export bank rules.
This would save time having to manually create similar bank rules in Xero, and ease with new client organisation setup

Hi community, sometime on since my last post we wanted to provide an update for your all here and appreciate the continued attention this idea is receiving.
We want to be upfront that at this time focuses for the team are in other areas of bank reconciliation and we don't have any current plans for developing the ability to import and export bank rules from an organisation.
We understand and know this is important to everyone that has voted for the idea and will continue to review and pay close attention to the feedback and votes here. When there is more opportunity for the team to refocus efforts here we will keep you informed of any progress.
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Dave Spruit commented
At what point would this be considered. There are currently 512 Votes for this request.
At how many votes would Xero consider this, as it has been ongoing for quite a few years with constant comments saying how this would help?
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Aaron Glover commented
Hi,
We are a small software development company that uses Xero, and have been researching the creation of a tool to solve this problem. There are a couple of issues we discovered that we would love to get ideas/input on:
1. The official Xero API does not provide access to this data, but it is possible via the unofficial API that drives the Xero web application. The downside of using this mechanism is that access would require using your Xero credentials directly (i.e., username and password) instead of being granted controlled short-term access via Xero's OAuth 2.0 mechanism.
2. Because each rule can have a number of conditions or line items associated with it, CSV isn't an ideal format to store this data. JSON would work, but is not very human-readable or easily edited without specific tools. An alternative would be to use spreadsheets, which allows more flexibility in formatting so that the data is easier to understand. I have attached a screenshot of a possible layout for this data.
We would love some feedback on this topic, feel free to reply here or contact us directly via email on support@cloudcollab.nz
Thank you
Aaron Glover
cloudcollab.nz -
Nikolene Suter commented
Yes - absolutely crucial for productivity.
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Michael Chaffee commented
My understanding is that LedgerSync can create a rule for a Client Company e.g. contains "Staples" is categorized as 6720 Office Supplies.
Ok. No difference.
But THEN...while the accountant/bookkeeper is creating that rule for that one Client Company, the rule can be created for ANOTHER Client Company to which the accountant/bookkeeper has access. It's as easy as select next Client Company, a Chart of Accounts pops up. Select which account will be used to categorize the transaction in that Client Company's books. Continuing with the "Staples" example, select 7440 Office Expense for that Client Company. Then, go to the next Client Company, selecting the correct account to use for categorizing the transaction for EACH. It may take a bit of time to go through every Client Company, but it will be LESS time than creating the "Staples" bank rule from scratch in EACH company.
I'm not sure how it will work when adding a new Client Company. Maybe just an edit of all existing global bank rules? Check with LedgerSync.
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Kim Peters commented
Really? How many votes does it need for it to be taken seriously?
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Terry Lavelle commented
For me the ability to download and upload is a way to address the real problem, which is to be able to update in bulk.
That said, it would be good to be able to see a report that could be sorted and compared as well. And then load it back up with corrections if necessary. Some people ue a lot of bank rules and it's easy to get lost. -
Naomi Dunne commented
We have case where a partnership has ceased and started as sole trader. It would be handy to be able to export/import the bank rules to the new sole trader file from the old as the the business, suppliers and customers remain unchanged between the 2 files.
It would also be handy as we are in a rural area to have a master chart of rules for obvious drawings, bank fees, interest etc.
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Justin Gibbs commented
Judging by the many comments in wanting Bank Rules export as a basic feature it might be worth Xero Dev considering this feature as a priority. This is such a tedious task for any accounting firm or business.
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Leigh Weber commented
It would be very useful and time saving if we could import bank rules into xero. We find we are entering the same ones many times
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Stephanie Leito commented
@Paul, new invoicing really doesnt make any sense if recurring invoices stayed the same (with a change that now there are extra steps when adding new emails to the profile, just to make our lives harder) This is by far the most hated DOWN grade ever, i cant wait for management to decide to move away from this BS
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Paul Howlett commented
Cool beans.
Add to the pile something else that bookkeepers and accountants (i.e. Xero power users) would ACTUALLY find useful and time saving, but no Xero is too busy ruining basic functionality (*cough*new invoicing*cough*)...
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Barbara J. commented
Importing and Exporting Bank Rules is a needed feature. It saves time with new client set ups and transitions from QBO files.
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Barbara J. commented
Importing and Exporting Bank Rules is a necessary feature to help complete with QBO. I've been slowly clients to QBO, but the bank rule process is tedious to rebuild in Xero one by one. I also would like to have a way to bulk delete bank rules for client that disengage.
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Katherine Sullivan commented
Please set this up so we can just use same bank rules accross files, seems like this should be in place. Cant be too hard to do it. With more AI and automation this is an easy win.
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Jonathan VanHorn commented
I can see why this doesn't have plans to be developed - it'd be too unique and helpful for an accounting software in general.
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Edison Pardo commented
When do you expect to complete this project?
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Sasha Nicely commented
Import Bank Rules, to allow us to create the same rules across multiple client lists
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Jarrod Rogers commented
That would be a really helpful feature
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Blake Walsh commented
As always disappointed (but not unexpected) by Xero's lack of functionality on such an important day to day function. They should of had this working from day 1 to be frank. Wish we had more support from Xero on key accounting needs.
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Carol Dufour commented
I asked for this Tue, 21 Nov 2017!
Xero have kindly deleted all dates so you can't see how long they have been procrastinating!
Now, 7 years later, they kindly update us that they're still not going to do anythingGood ol' Xero
Nowadays a waste of space!