New Invoicing - Reduce number of steps and clicks
New invoicing has introduced more clicks, taps, steps at almost every level.
Please remove the added friction as it increases processing time.
The "new invoicing" messages are full of comments regarding where these pressure points have been added.
We are paid subscribers, and beta testing/seeking feedback is wonderful, but being forced onto an inferior model is.. suboptimal.
Hi everyone, some time on since my last update I wanted to give you more of an idea of the work we have going on to help reduce the number of steps and actions in new invoicing. Along with the changes mentioned in my last update, we've since released a change to the view of an invoice to shift details back into their own columns (similar to classic), while a small change we know it's improved visibility for some of our customers.
We also have other work in development atm that’ll further help here like a new line item grid when editing your invoice - wrapped up in this we’ll be introducing changes you’ve been asking for like the ability to create a new tracking option or account code without having to navigate away from the invoice, we’re increasing the number of items that you can view from the drop down, and we’ll be bringing back the ability to view the number of stock on hand.
As mentioned in my last post, our team is developing shortcuts for the drop down actions like Approve and Save so you have more ease of selecting the option that's best for you.
We also have some updates coming to;
- The Contact card, so you’ll be able to add more details without having to go to the contact record, like more address lines, ability to look up addresses, and entering an Attention to all items we’ve heard lots of feedback on
- Issue and Due date picking where we’ll make it quicker to simply select a calendar date and we’ll be adding more keyboard shortcuts such as the ability to enter +0 for today’s date
- Ability to drag & drop files that we’re enhancing so you’ll be able to do this anywhere on the invoice rather than a specific area
Again, thank you all for sharing and continuing to let us know the improvements that make a difference for you when working with new invoicing. We'll update you as items I've mentioned above are released.
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Claudia Schenz commented
I 100% agree with Damon O'Keefe! Those constant pop-ups are distracting and annoying, I don't need a reminder each time I create an invoice that Stripe needs more information, for the invoice date I need to scroll down too far to pick my own date. But what bothers me most is that it is sooooo slow! We run on very good Wifi connection, but since I allowed the new invoicing system every process takes ages!
I also think it would be good to have a choice of default discount options. In 98% of cases I am using % as my preferred discount option, so instead of each time remember that I have to add the %, one should have a default option.So yes, please, work on those issues and once it is perfect get your paying customers back to the new system, for now I will switch back to the old one.
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Toni Godfrey commented
So pleased to see that classic invoicing is remaining for a while longer though feel that xero is being untrue when they explain why it has been extended - time to face it xero - many people are unimpressed with your 'New' system and want the much more user friendly version to remain. The negative comments online are increasing - wonder why?
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Melanie Self commented
I absolutely hate the "New Invoicing" as far as I am concerned there is nothing in it that actually improves it for us the users! The function for finding the address with the postcode / zip code is unavailable, meaning that the need to write out the full address is down to the user and this may seem trivial but it all takes extra time and it all adds up. Just leave it as it was, at least keep the option open for those who would rather stay with the classic, please!
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Caversham Physio commented
I'd like to be able to tab across to the date, and manually enter in the day / month, then tab across to the next box - like I can now. Rather than having to use the mouse to click through all the options to find the required date. New version is too slow, too many steps & clicks. I much prefer the old version. For ease and speed.
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Fiona Davidson commented
https://www.change.org/p/petition-for-xero-to-stop-making-changes
Please sign and share this petition.
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Michelle Waldren commented
Agree, I prefer the classic invoicing. I don't like the layout of the new invoicing and it isn't as user friendly. We pay for this subscription, we should have the option to stay with classic invoicing.
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Sonia Watson commented
I like the classic invoicing as everything is compact and easy to read. I do not like the layout of the new invoicing at all. Please leave classic invoicing as a permanent option.
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Martin Danger commented
@Claire Barning - sounds like Xero's support staff are using you (and me and other users) to work out what the problem is. Gone are the days when the person that came to fix something, knew how to fix it and didn't need nor want you in the way. Nowadays, us users are de facto Xero employees, unpaid though. Think about that.
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Carston Leishman commented
DISCOUNTS???
I used to be able to click the discount field per line item and the customers discount would populate automatically. Now, I have to remove the client, and re-add client for the discounts to automatically apply.
These discounts are at client level and do not show up anywhere on screen.
This is *** backward and a downgrade. -
Margaret Deneau commented
I agree with all these points
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George Pogostin commented
Adding a payment to an invoice inside that invoice is crucial, please bring that back... this is a downgrade on the new invoicing.
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Adam Suhan commented
The new invoice page is a step in the wrong direction for what Xero should be:
1) You cannot quickly enter a date, before you could type 2 9 and it would auto fill as 2 September of the current year, now you have to click the box to select it, click the left arrow to go back as many months as you need to and then select the date
2) You cannot quickly set a due date, before you could type +30 and it would auto fill as 30 days from the invoice date. Now you have a limited selection of prefilled dates or have to open up a calendar to select a date, if you have payment terms such as +20, you have to manually count 20 days from the calendar.
3) You cannot quickly mark something as paid, before you would go to the bottom and type in the date and bank account. Now you have to click a button to have a pop-up appear for the same options.
4) You cannot quickly add attachments, before you would just drag and drop anywhere on the invoice and it would attach itself. Now you have to click a button to open up the attachment box and then drag and drop it into the tiny area it opens with.
5) You cannot quickly change the address, before there was a "Edit address" option right on the invoice you could select to edit the address. Now you have to click on the contact and then select edit.
6) You cannot quickly open the contact so you can find their history, before you could middle click on a contact to open up their history in a new tab so you can see when you last billed them. Now you have to click the contact and then click it again to open it in the contact page
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Matt Brown commented
Uploading an attached file now needs a click before the upload, whereas before, we could simply drag and drop the file. Also, the new invoicing does not show the product quantity left in stock, when the quantity is edited. This was an important feature of the classic invoicing.
The look and layout of the new invoicing looks clunky, compared with the old and the rest of the Xero interface.
It says a lot about the new invoicing that I continually switch back to the old version. The new version is not better.
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Giles Ashbee commented
I see that Xero are letting us use 'classic' invoicing until February now. That's nice. Having just read a multiple of posts does anyone actually like the new layout/features? Please listen to your customers and just leave classic as a permanent option going forward.
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Jane Godfrey commented
Our invoice approval policy means that someone posts the invoice then moves it to awaiting approval. Then they are approved by the Head of Finance. To do this I used to go to the bottom button and go through the Approve drop down to click "Approve & View Next" at the bottom of the screen . On the new version I have to go back up to the top to approve the invoice and then back to the "awaiting Approval" to see the next invoice as there is no option to see the next invoice, please add this facility back in and move it to the bottom of the invoice so we don't have to scroll all the way back to the top of a long invoice.
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Genine North commented
The classic invoicing has the option for the default due date to be selected, can this feature be added to the new invoicing system.
The is really helpful when a client changes payment terms from our invoice terms, we need to change in the client financial then open every invoice to update the new terms. By selecting default it does it so much faster.
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Mirela Ovelar commented
Hi Team, I can only hope that you are listening to the users feedback, as this new invoicing release is the worst version so far. I haven't seen one user happy with the "improvements" you made. It has created nothing but a lot of frustration in the workplace. I used to be a software developer, and I can tell you there are ways to do a friendly user interface that can be configured, or at least allow the previous interface to coexist with the new one using a setting, and monitor how many users are actually using the new version. That will give you an idea of how useful your "improvements" are. I won't even mention the troubles the new invoicing has, as hundreds of posts are already mentioning them all. Get your act together, Xero developers and project managers, it is the 21st century and you can do a lot better. If you can't, allow people to use the existing version for as long as they desire.
Thank you. -
Jennifer Broadbent commented
Your New Invoicing is not user friendly for our business. It is our working system for all of our work - not just used for creating Invoices. We work with Drafts a lot while the work is in progress until it is completed - that can take several weeks to achieve so the old Font size was so much easier and we (approx 5 different employees) could look at and work on all our Drafts easily - 200+ per month. Only when job is completed is the Draft Approved and sent to Invoice so having to re-open it all the time instead of just saving makes it so much harder. Font size is way too large meaning I waste time naviagting around the invoice page. We never create an invoice then approve and send it immediately. Why is that the default? What happened to the blue Save button and Green Approve button. The mono-colour is not easy to work with.
The Chart of Accounts items do not come up correctly especially if they do not have $ values attached to them. We often need to put in lines that do not have $ values or quantities and do not want to see "1" in Quantity or 0.00 in the Amount column. We just want those blank unless we choose to put something in there. Classic Invoicing is so good and tidy. The time wasted on the New Invoicing means $$ wasted across 5+ employees. New Invoicing assumes we just want to make a simple invoice and send it immediately. This is useful for maybe a retail business selling online or something. Not for most businesses from what I can tell from the people commenting. Why can't you keep both going and customers can choose? -
Anna Conaghan commented
The new invoicing is causing so much extra work and so many extra clicks its frustrating!
Points of note: Why do we have to save the new contact details before proceeding, before we could just tab to the new field enter and save at the end.
Why is there not a "copy to delivery" field so we don't have to enter these details twice?!?!? Better yet, use the auto address system like you have in the contacts area so pick up the addresses.
There is no ATTN to in the invoicing area of creating a contact.
WHY have the save buttons been moved to the top? - they used to be at the top and the bottom - for the most part I have to keep scrolling up to the top to save things - it's the little things Xero!
Overall it's causing a lot of extra work and unnecessary steps.
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Freya Pieroz commented
The drag and drop spot in invoicing closes when autosaving. If you wait (forever!) until it's finished saving that you clicked somewhere before starting to attach documents, the drag and drop spot is more likely to stay open.