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I second Michael Sim's comment! I need our (hundreds) of monthly service invoices to have a certain date, but I need them to be generated on an earlier date so I have time to check them and add incidental costs to some. In nine years of using Xero, the lack of a separate date field for 'generate on' in repeating invoices is my only complaint. I've been requesting this feature for NINE years and manually changing invoice dates every month. Please give the request more than zero Xero love! Please.

We've been using Xero for 6-7 years now and I have wanted this every single day since. We ship hundreds of orders on a Monday, which are prepared Thursday or Friday the week prior, with the invoices (dated on their dispatch date) attached to the package. Come on guys, this seems like an easy update and Repeating Invoices seems to have been given zero Xero love.

We need this so that we can use GoCardless automated payments. Currently we have to manually take every single direct debit when the repeating invoices are created, but generating the invoices earlier would make it easier to automate that process.

Liking Peter Bode's idea to provide a setting for the number of days advance when the repeating invoice will be generated. I'd revise to ask for a setting of e.g. "-5" means the repeating invoice will be generated 5 days earlier than the invoice date. Peter's idea is a smart way to add this feature without introducing an additional date to the input. I'd also revise Xero's stated purpose for this. I want more time to review/edit invoices before the invoice date. I want to generate repeating invoices earlier than the invoice date because we have a standard service that repeats but then there are incidental extra services to add. It is a huge challenge to go through and add those all on the same day the invoice generates and needs to be sent to clients when it's 100+ folks. I like the invoices to appear in the system at the beginning of the month so I have time to review and add any extras even though the invoice date is the end of the month (and the due date then 10 days even later). I currently have an incorrect invoice date in 'repeating invoices' so they'll generate when I want, then I manually change the invoice date EVERY MONTH. FOR YEARS. Someone offered a bandaid app but I started to sign up and realized it's sharing all my info with the creator and that weirded me out. I would really really like this feature to come from Xero. Quickbooks had it years ago already when I switched over and it never occurred to me to check first if it existed in Xero, it seemed so basic. I feel like the request keeps getting re-written and the voting re-started, too. Way more than 151 people want this. Please add it, Xero.

Good idea, except that already exists (generating the invoice earlier without changing the due date), it's not keeping the due date that's our issue, it's keeping invoice date the same, but having the invoice create itself before that invoice date 🙂

Liking Peter Bode's idea: "setting of "-5" means the repeating invoice will be generated 5 days earlier without changing the invoice due date."

Alternatively, or in addition, provide a setting for the number of days advance when the repeating invoice will be generated. e.g. a setting of "-5" means the repeating invoice will be generated 5 days earlier (without changing the invoice due date.

We have an educational institution so it is of utmost importance to be able to send out invoices post dated... eg, send on 23rd but date reflected 1st of the following month.

Our client's pay by Direct Debit and need their repeating invoices supplied prior to the payment being collected. We have these attached to a repeating bill but is becoming a problem not supplying these 14-days in advance!!

Yep, so many problems with repeating invoices. It looks so unprofessional sending out invoices at 2am.

I need a way to adjust the default time of day that recurring invoices are automatically sent to clients. Currently, they are going out around midnight local time, but I really need them to be sent during business hours. Please advise.

Please fix this Xero, it’s causing lots of problems for my business.

The xero recurring invoice creation at 12.32am, 12.34am is unprofessional. A client has asked why I am working at midnight as its noisy arrival into the inbox wakes them up. Ive explained its auto generated I cant change it, only xero can do that. I could change the setting from approved for sending to manually send instead, until xero add functionality to send in office hours.

Another purpose. Leases usually begin at the beginning of the month and are for that month. Currently we have to date an invoice the 20th of the month prior due 1st of the next month for that month lease so tenants receive the invoice before its due. Reports are incorrect showing the lease in e.g March when its for April lease. Yes could journal it out but when you have quite a few tenants it would get messy.

Need more time to gain a PO from client to recognise revenue, which needs a draft invoice to be sent

Xero just tell us if you aren't going to fix this and then we can stop waiting and move to a different accounting software.

Considering this was first shared with Xero's admin team in 2013, and I myself asked about it two years ago, I'm inclined to think this feature will never see the light of day. The workaround: open your repeating transaction template, change the next invoice date to today, and save it. It will generate a draft invoice or actual invoice depending on your settings. Then go back to the repeating transaction template, and change the next invoice date to the desired date of the next month/period, and hit Save again. It adds a couple of clicks which amount to an extra step, but it works, at least. Good luck.

Do any of the invoicing apps facilitate the ability to invoice prior to the invoice date? This seems like a simple update to have invoices sent earlier than the invoice date and is standard in Quickbooks

Edit - Purpose: To make the GoCardless automated payments for repeating invoices a usable feature

Hi Graeme, I've not heard any update that it has been...