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I'd go further than Tom. The invoice history is broken, and needs fixed. Not adjusted. It's not fit for purpose.

When I go into a draft sales invoice and change to the current date, hit approve and then separately hit email to a customer, I end up with 6 entries in history if using the 'new invoicing' as shown in the attached screenshot from 2.03pm onwards on 9-Jan-2025.

In 'classic invoicing' this same set of actions only creates 3 entries as also attached.

I have also noticed that if I have to issue a copy sales invoice to a customer directly from Xero after it has been paid, it says in history that the invoice was 'updated' twice at the same time stamp, which isn't the case and could cause audit issues if it looks like invoices are being changed after they've been paid.

Please can invoicing history be adjusted to how it used to look in classic invoicing as it was much clearer and simpler in the old template.

The new invoicing looks like we stepped back to the 80s it’s horrible. Just looks like excel spreadsheet. What are you doing ? Don’t fix something that’s not broken. Please keep classic invoicing.

Please allow us the option of choosing between the new invoice or classic. THAT would solve ALL the problems! Thank you!

Well, I thought I was just being fussy wanting to keep Classic invoicing on Xero - I have only just looked at this thread and it appears many, many Xero users want to keep the Classic invoicing layout/function and not make the switch to New invoicing!
This does rather beg the question; why are Xero so intent on forcing the new invoicing onto it's users, rather than conceding that "no-one likes it"!?
From my point of view, I won't go into the history issues, etc, which have been thoroughly covered by many excellent contributors, but I would like to point out that even the way it looks on the screen is not ideal. There is no contrast and why does the invoice section have to fill the entire screen? My eyes cannot focus on the part of the screen I need to. Not very helpful Xero!
You have extended the time we were able to use Classic invoicing to the end of February - I would strongly suggest that you keep the two options, ie Classic and New Invoicing, and allow your (valued?) customers to choose the layout/function they prefer.

I agree with this. It's not great that we can't see when an invoice (and reminders) have been sent to a customer. It just shows 'edited' in the history, which could mean anything.

Please can you also look into the issue of the history not showing when you email a paid invoice out to a customer - currently it just shows 'edited' and 'INV-XXXX updated' - this is not an audit trail clearly showing when we have sent a paid invoice and to whom it has been sent - we need this tracked in the history, or we need access to an email log area where we could look for it ourselves!

Classic invoicing records when an invoice was emailed and who to, every time it is emailed including if an invoice is changed and re-sent, New Invoicing does not record this, it only says it was updated. This is of no use to me at all. In managing overdue payments it is critical that we see when a client was sent their invoice, as many times as it is sent, and who it was sent to. Please action this urgently before retiring Classic invoicing

The fact that the Invoice it was copied from is not available in the notes anymore, is a lost feature and should be treated as a DEFECT! Not a feature request.

Should we be charging Xero for the hours lost in productivity?

Dear Kelly Re history when emailing invoices. Please can you revert to the history on the classic invoicing? We have had a big problem recently with the non history on your upgraded version. We had to contact a solicitor for a non payment, there was no proof on history of who and when we emailed the invoices too. This is a problem as we couldn't create a history of dates and times and emails the invoices were emailed to prove we had sent them and proof of how long we have been chasing the customer for payment. Saying edited is not sufficient as no proof legally who the invoices are emailed to. It needs to be updated as proof to show everyone the invoice was sent too - we usually have to send to various emails. Regards Jenny

Hi Phil Plimmer - please report this as a fault, rather than via this system as we know not much happens from our comments in here, but when you report it as a fault, they have to look at it and come back to you.

Hi there, I am having trouble seeing specific invoice history information. When I send invoices to my boss for approval, it shows they have been sent to his email in the history. However when I sent to clients it is not showing that they have been sent to their emails. It simply says 'Inv-1576 was updated'. Can you please help?

It should be the same as it was and show all email addresses it's been sent to. They don't seem to grasp the fact that this history is used when chasing overdue invoices and shows where it has been sent in the past. I use this a lot especially when they claim they never got it but history shows that it has been sent and when and to who.
I'm starting to copy and paste email addresses into Notes/history for now so Xero better get their act together and sort this out as it's time consuming when you have to this just to make sure you can prove it's been sent.

The new invoicing is a nightmare and agree with Danny they need to admit they have stuffed it up completely and wouldn't be the first company to do that.
Their improvements are all backwards and the screen is still too big, it should be as compact as Classic is to look at.

The history doesn't show the email address when an invoice is re-sent later.

Xero - given your latest, additional "extension" to the classic format; AND the HUGE number of comments on here about how terrible the new system is.....surely it is time to admit defeat?

Its obvious that whoever was in charge, failed miserably to undertake proper consumer research and user testing.

Google "Classic Coke failure" and console yourselves that way bigger brands than Xero have royally messed up in the past. Then do yourselves a favour and give us back the classic system.

Thanks

New invoicing is terrible. After typing in customer, the tab function doesn't initially work. Can't over ride the invoice number. Creating job numbers is a long winded affair unlike in billing where it takes only a couple of steps. The whole process doesn't flow well. Approving to email is at top of window, then send email is at bottom of window. Wish I never moved to Xero, but was forced to by my account. Also, when paying bills, why can't I see how much is left in my bank account, rather than having to go back and check. MYOB was much more user friendly.

@Fiona - petition signed and shared.
@ Jim Morris & Martin Danger - I agree the history needs to be the same as in classic. I have used this to prove that an invoice/s have been sent when not only filing with a Debt Collection agency but also for clients to prove that an invoice has been sent and to who, when and the email address it was sent to when they have claimed they never received it.
It is an audit trail and especially important in the case of a dispute about something.
I find the reply about it to Martin absurd as it seems they can't be bothered to bring that over or else they the developers are too dumb to actually do it. According to Kelly's answer above we'll see all that. I also want to know who made changes to an invoice and when not just "edited" or whatever.
I don't want to have to copy and paste the email address/es I have sent the invoice to into history as a note just incase there is issues in the future.

So tired of these so called improvements that don't work. The new invoicing has supposedly been in the pipeline for 7 years yet it's just rubbish at the moment. If it's been this long coming then it should be as good as classic with improvements needed not going backwards. It also shouldn't be getting forced on us till it actually works properly.

https://www.change.org/p/petition-for-xero-to-stop-making-changes

Please sign and share this petition.

@Kelly Munro - Kelly, please see Martin Danger's post below.

Now, please go to your executives and tell them that, as a result of the response from their support staff, we the Xero customers, take it to mean Xero is happy to be held liable for fraudulently altering financial records (because it is "the intended behaviour of the system") and thus misrepresenting our intentions when the inevitable legal case comes up where a company's financial records will need to be submitted as evidence.

Furthermore, as a result, Xero will happily cover the legal costs incurred by said company, as it is acknowledged that it is well within Xero's power to ensure that the system works so that the records can indeed reflect an accurate history of those particular books—they just choose not to.

FYI I have already taken screenshots of this and it will be being made a point of when speaking to Consumer Affairs.

An update to my xero support case about this issue.
1. it's not a bug.
2. the system automatically unmarks the invoice as sent when a user approves them.
3. the invoice history creates an entry saying that the user manually unmarked the invoice as sent.
4. the invoice history entries are accurate.

Seriously, that's what I have been told, in the same conversation and in the same paragraph. The invoice history entries are accurate. The invoice history entry shows a manual action taken by a user. That entry was created because the system did something automatically, not the user.

Do the support staff comprehend the words that they say? All of those sentences can't be true at the same time. I feel like I am talking to a con-artist (or a politician). I feel like the truth is far less important to xero than our subscription fees.