New Invoicing - Select default for 'Approve' Button e.g not 'Approve & Email
Can there be a system setting which controls the default option on Invoices for the Approve button.
It is currently Approve & Email and we would like to have the default as just Approve.
If it was a system setting companies could chose best option for them.
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Hi everyone, thank you for your feedback on this here. Through testing we found that majority of our customers would Approve and email an invoice at once, which is why this was developed as the default in new invoicing. That said we appreciate others would like a different action as their primary option.
While we don't have direct plans for adding the ability to set a default for this action, we're listening to your feedback and looking into how we can improve efficiency and speed things up for you when using new invoicing through the use of keyboard shortcuts. We'll share more news when we've confirmed what this shortcut looks like and are closer to providing this to you all.
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Jan Whittle commented
Hi, I have been looking through the help information and finally found this.
The worry with Approve & Email, as the default, is that it could accidentally get emailed before being checked. And I like to email all the invoices at once, when they've been checked.
So Approved is the better default option.Also the arrow to select just Approved is close to the Approved & email option so again might accidentally hit the email option.
Approved was the default option in the Classic invoicing.
Please change this to Approved only or make it an option to change.
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Philip Brookes commented
We have 200+ invoices per month that need to be Approved and DEFINITELY not invoiced (they're already uploaded to the NDIS through another process, and it wreaks havocs when clients receive invoices they're not expecting). A default to approve only and only email if consciously selected is definitely the way to go. Another friend's business also don't like sending individual emails to a client who receives 10 invoices per month - instead, they download all the PDFs and attach them to a manually created email and send them through. Then, when the client pays one invoice but says "Oh I didn't receive that other invoice" they know it's not the case.
The key here is to give businesses control over our processes rather than forcing us to conform to your preferences. You don't know our business, you don't know what we want, and you absolutely should not be defaulting to an email option when so many business still don't want to/need to email out an invoice from Xero. -
Antony Wadie commented
@Kelly
The feedback clearly shows people use it differently.
The system should remember the option that the user used last and default to that selection, thus customising the user experience.
I strongly suspect that this notion has much wider application.
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Helen King commented
The default should be approve. Not sure who your testers are but a lot of the time I just want them approved for reconciliation purposes,I don't want to send them.
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Steve Robinson commented
Kelly - this is absured - you assume - wrongly that the majority of clinet want to auto email theor invoices. Yet again - blind arrogmace and poor assessment of clinets operational reality!
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Michelle Richardson commented
XERO don't seem to understand that their software is used by businesses other than sole traders. There are many issues that relate to this on the system. They should be developing a "Professional" version to serve us better.
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Sousana Tzimas commented
You should have the 2 options either just 'Approve' or 'Approve & Email' not every user needs the same thing.
Do better Xero!!
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Tropical Waste commented
I have 4 Ladies working in our office and complicated Invoicing requirements.
It will be so easy for them to accidently "Approve and Send" instead of leaving for the manager to check again (which is BEST PRACTICE) before sending to a large, inflexible customer whose system will not allow amendments after receipt.
This is "Book Keeping 101" Xero for heavens sake.Draft status - rolling Invoices as yet unfinished.
Approved - Completed but requires checking by Supervisor/manager prior to sending.
Sent - checked by Supervisor as correct and sent -
Rachael Webb commented
Really hoping the default button will revert to just 'approve' with the new invoicing. With so many invoices to enter on a daily basis, this will make it a lot more efficient for our business. Frustration arises when extra steps are unneccessarily added to what is a seamless process currently with the classic invoicing.
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Berkeley Vale Physiotherapy commented
That's lazy programming - as if they can't allow users to apply their own default settings - any IT expert worth their salt could add the relevant coding surely?
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Jim Morris commented
What happens if you find a mistake after you have approved, that you need to correct, but now the email has already been sent? Now you get to look like a moron in having to contact the customers, tell them to ignore the invoice and then correct and send another... all because Xero decided, via questionable arbitration, that it was a good idea to do 2 functions with the click of one button.
Sorry, but this is a dumb decision.
Default should be Approve.
Better yet, let us select our own defaults and not be dictated to by a majority of a minority of selected beta tester users.
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Olga O'Keefe commented
We do prefer the ‘Approve’ button as a default.
I experimented with ‘Approve & Email’. When you click it, it gives you an option to cancel it. The invoice is approved, but not emailed. It is not ideal, as it requires two clicks instead of one. But who knows when Xero can fix this issue? Meanwhile, we can use these two clicks to approve invoices without using the dropdown menu.
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Kathy Skinner commented
No doubt the majority is what Xero thinks it is. Maybe suitable for ones who invoice on the go and don't have to worry about other issues and can send straight away.
This should never have been set as the default, once again Xero decide how we use things. If they can change it to this then they should be able to easily set up how it was originally or allow the user to set their own default. I don't even approve and send invoices straight away and I imagine this is going to cause a lot of issues for one of my clients when its forced on them, as they are in the Travel Industry so need to double check invoices before they are even sent out as sometimes there are changes needed to the invoice after it's generated.XERO AREN'T LISTENEING TO THEIR USERS - MAYBE IT WORKS FOR THEM BUT NOT EVERYONE OPERATES THE SAME WAY SO STOP FORCING THINGS ON YOUR USERS THAT AREN'T PRACTICAL.
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Julia Berry commented
I would like to query what sort of test group the "majority" of your customers actually came from ?
Whilst this feature might be slightly more convenient for those who invoice directly in Xero there would no doubt be a significant proportion of users who integrate third party platforms and stock control systems to generate invoices and use Xero for accounting only.We cannot have customers re-sent an invoice every time we approve it !! Having to choose from a drop down to prevent this is adding yet more needless time to process through invoices.
If a default cannot be chosen by the user why not simply provide two separate buttons to be clicked, one to Approve, one to Email ? I don't think the UX would be considerably impacted by this. Please re-consider this decision.
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Claire Cotten commented
Absolutely businesses should be given the option to set their default preference for such a thing— it affects workflow so much! At the bare minimum, it should be a standard approve button with options to change action as it has been. If Xero wanted ultimately happy users, though, they’d let them be able to pick what works best for themselves with an option in the organization settings. I personally have always wanted “Approve and Add Another” as default, but I’ve never assumed every other user would want it that way. Let us pick our defaults, please
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Kym James commented
Just how many is 'majority'?
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Abby Stewart commented
I was just told by support that they will not be changing the button to "Approve". Why not make it an option for users to save their own default setting? I have not read one comment on any Xero forum where the user prefers the "Approve & Email" button.
This is going to create a lot of headaches for me and my staff.
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Abby Stewart commented
Approve and email should NOT be the default. This is going to create so many errors for my small business. Patients will get invoices that says they need to pay even though they have paid at the time. Users are consistently complaining about this and it needs to be fixed.
I submitted a support ticket and was told "Approve" would be the default due to so much backlash. There are only 2 weeks until the new invoicing is defaulted, and this has not been fixed.
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Kathy Skinner commented
I also never approve and email straight away as sometimes these get sent to another person first for review so SHOULD NOT BE THE DEFAULT. Stupid that they set that option as the default when it wasn't the option in classic.
They don't care what their users are saying judging by Kelly's comment above. They should have migrated everything from classic across then looked at adding options to that not change everything when moving over.
It is horrible to use and I dread having to use it when classic is no longer available.
So many requests have been put forward over the years and they ignore those and just do what they want because maybe there haven't been enough votes for a suggestion, or they turn off the ability to vote. Gone down hill and continuing to go downhill from what I see yet put their prices up but offer big discounts to new users and never mind long term users. Seems we're paying to cover the difference. -
Paul Wilson commented
I agree with many of the comments below - I never email invoices and having a default of just "approve" used to be possible and having to go to the drop down list every time is really irritating! Surely a value could be added to the invoice settings panel to allow users to select what is the default action of this button?