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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Lloyd Preston commented
Lots of comments and I agree with most of them - Classic works fine so why try to fix it - however, Classic has been built on an old platform and Xero needs to move to a new platform, hence the reason for the new invoicing layout - however again, they should have taken the classic and mirrored on the new platform and then added any enhancements to improve classic rather than developers trying to re-invent the wheel and making a big botch of it. So my suggestion to Xero - listen to your customers/users, deploy classic on the new platform and then add any enhance that would make classic even better - this way you won't annoy the heck out of your customers nor lose customers or get bad publicity - this whole development of new invoicing is a nightmare - and I don't know of any software provider that has or would make this kind of PR and development mistake.
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Debbie Jeffrey commented
There is no need to make changes to invoicing, the Classic Version is perfect as it is.
The new version has too many steps which takes longer to invoice. Time is money, and my time is wasted on all these extra steps.
Let users make the choice if they want to stay with Classic Version or not.
I have a lot of the same invoices daily for my clients and the Copy button is
a fantastic feature, the new version does not bring the client details forward,
so that is a waste of my time.
The Classic Version is not broke so why are you trying to fix it. -
Lana Marshall commented
Please just let it be our choice if we want to remain on the Classic version or switch to the new version. And the problem will be solved.
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Jackie Townsend commented
Please just let it be our choice if we want to remain on the Classic version or switch to the new version. Problem solved. I used to highly recommend Xero because of the "user friendliness" of the accounting software... this new invoicing version is NOT user friendly ~ it does not flow, too may clicks, Approvals are at top versus bottom, it's ridiculous! Another pet peeve - I use "copy" a lot as we have a lot of the same invoices monthly... now it does not bring forward the same vendor name like it used to, so there is one more additional step we have to take! Again, you are adding to our workflow not making it better.
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Paul Rosser commented
Have you any interest in returning your product to one that can be used by your paying customers' accounts team over what their customers might want to see?
Why do we have to go through more clicks to see the functionality of classic invoicing via the edit button, which uses another click more...
To see the box 'not planned' against the previous Comments requesting this is something that needs to be remedied. If you can provide it on the edit page means you can have the option to give it as a default for showing the initial view, as you make it doubly hard for those of us who take advantage of being able to use the 2 tracking categories, therefore have more information to check.
Will you get the hint from the 2 attached screenshots?
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Karen Webster commented
So many more steps, even adding a file needs extra work. Picking a date is extra work. They have not discussed this with users and it is the most terrible update which does not work. so many changes that were not required. Classic was 100% better. You should be improving not making things worse.
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Adrian Keeling commented
It defeats me why you are changing the invoicing screen at all..? The classic invoicing is fast to use and works very well. When I try to use the "New" invoicing it literally takes twice as long to use this clunky system which has at least twice as many mouse clicks and is far less intuitive. I am not against change, but why not simply develop the existing invoicing rather than trashing it and starting again? It smacks of change for changes sake driven by technical people who dont need to use the system to run their business. Why?
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Tanya Spence commented
I am a fairly basic user in our organisation Xero file and I have had yet another attempt at the new invoicing:
Firstly the positives
- When you select 'approve and next' it flags that there is a credit for the client
- it shows the credit in the awaiting approval stage - this has been there for a while but it's still a plus as it wasn't in classic
- when the invoice is emailed it now shows the date/time and email address (the main reason I went back to classic)The negatives:
- please please please reduce the white space. I have had to reduce the resolution on the screen to make it in anyway usable
- If I approve and next, then realise there is a credit, I apply that credit and then can't email the invoice unless I go back. very clunky. If I approve so that I can apply the credit, then email the paid invoice, I have to get right out to go back to the invoices to approve. This is similar to classic but something that I was hoping would work smoother, particularly when we are triggered to apply credit on "apply and next"all in all, sorry Xero, it is still an absolute dogs breakfast and I hope to see it flow better soon.
- this layout is so flippin ugly, lines the line doesn't show on the description column, it is ridiculously hard to read and follow
- the email (from the invoice) is not in an obvious spot and too man clicks to get there. -
Michelle Larkin commented
Hi there,
I have just been in to try the new and improved version of the new invoicing product for the 4th time and there have been many improvements but in the new Invoice when you go back to the contact via the contact name from the invoice it creates a new tab to do so instead of just going back to the original contact page as in the classic version. Creating more tabs everytime you go into an invoice is a waste of time. Can this be fixed?
Thanks Michelle
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Glen Nairn commented
Hi Team,
Can I ask why copying a previous invoice (which I do nearly every time) now in the new invoicing forgets the Client name, and so you have to select/enter it? We have multiple clients associated with the same company, which introduces mistakes.
Plus the old fault of forgetting the Account Codes used with the original invoice is lost and uses defaults code which if you are in a hurry you may not notice.
Plus, why does the total column become only partially visible as it is rolled over?
The worst feature is that the History now does not list the full date and time when an Invoice has been emailed. This is extremely important when trying to tell a client where to look in their inbox for the Invoice.The upgrade is not helping us to become faster and more accurate. I would prefer the classic version.
Glen N
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De-Anne Sills commented
I agree, the new invoicing is not an improvement, too much space on the page, lots more clicking and scrolling making entering extremely time consuming!
Switching is not an improvement
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Admin Coates commented
Seems to have removed the "add last items" tab which is critical when doing long complicated bills that involve variable gst amount.
Also, the invoicing doesnt seem to remember email addresses that went together when sending them out. Often when emailing invoices these will go to a head office as well as a certain person.
At this point old invoicing is still far superior to new invoicing and I hope they keep extending it out until everyone is happy. OR leave the classic invoicing in place please.
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Andrew Syme commented
@Rae Stanton. Can you please explain how this is a bug ? It behaves as I would expect. Once a Contact has been entered, the Invoice is auto saved and the Invoice number control is progressed by 1. Until a Contact is entered, the invoice cannot be saved, therefore the invoice number control is NOT updated.
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Sharon Buchanan commented
It is ridiculous that you have to add a contact before uploading a file. We don't know the contact until it's been uploaded. This seriously has to change, as it was in the old version.
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Rae Stanton commented
You still haven't fixed the bug where when I delete an incorrect invoice number, it doesn't then update to the next sequential invoice number, it just puts the one I deleted back in. This is an absolute dealbreaker!! When will it be fixed?? We're getting too close to this becoming a real problem for me, and I presume others!
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Maria Evison commented
All of the above Too many clicks
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Caroline Ryan commented
New invoicing looks ok but today sent over an invoice-approve and email: came up new email on side-not sure really that's needed as you can preview before sending. Please see attached.
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Morgaine Trine commented
The feature where you click on the contact name from the invoice and it automatically creates a new tab is a horror show! It creates so much noise and friction in the process. I love how all the other links in Xero takes you directly to the link in the same tab. If I need another tab, I can right click. But the automatic new tab makes a mess of things.
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Belinda Johnson commented
@Kathy Skinner , it's because we only air our grievances within these hidden threads.
I've suggested a number of times that each of us needs to bombard their social media posts with our complaints.Whenever I have posted on their Facebook posts I'm generally the only person to comment.
THE ONLY PERSON out of thousands of subscribers with complaints.Xero is so focused on attracting new customers to generate even more revenue, that might actually action our requests if they are out there for the world to see.... and judge before signing up and becoming trapped like we are now.
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Lloyd Preston commented
Might be time to go to NZ Hearld and get them to investigate and write in the paper - so that the shareholders know how the developers are destroying the share value of the company - not to mention very likely to lose customers.