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Modernize Advanced Templates: Full Support for Modern Word (.docx), Embedded Fonts & High-Res Branding

The Vision: Every business deserves to send invoices and quotes that look as professional as the services they provide. Currently, Xero’s "Advanced Template" engine is built on 20-year-old legacy standards that "obliterate" modern branding, fonts, and high-resolution graphics.

We are asking Xero to modernize the template parser to support the industry-standard OpenXML (.docx) used by modern versions of Microsoft Word (Office 2016/365).

Why this matters to your business:

Brand Fidelity: Stop your high-res logos from turning into blurry, low-res bitmaps.

Modern Typography: Use modern fonts (like Google Fonts/Montserrat) through proper font-embedding support.

Layout Stability: Fix the "broken" tables and distorted alignments that happen during the upload process.

Security: Eliminate the need for high-risk workarounds like using legacy Word 97-2003 (.doc) formats, which are often flagged as security violations in modern IT environments.

Technical Details (For Xero Engineering)

Parser Version Mismatch: The current engine uses OOXML AppVersion 12.0000 (Office 2007). Industry standard is AppVersion 16.0000.

Typography: The server-side renderer strips embedded fonts and reverts to the 1996 "Core Web" set (Arial/Times New Roman), ignoring modern XML-based font-embedding.

Vector Fidelity: SVG assets are flattened into low-fidelity PNGs, destroying brand clarity on high-DPI displays.

Security Risk: The platform currently suggests downgrading to binary .doc formats—a 41-year-old format that is a known vector for macro-vulnerabilities.

The Ask: Update the Advanced Template parser to the OOXML v16 standard on the 2026-2027 roadmap to ensure professional, secure, and high-fidelity document generation for all Xero users.

Reference Case: CX0018026778

39 votes

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Daniel Minnick shared this idea  ·   ·  Report…  ·  Admin →
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submitted  ·  System responded  · 

Thanks for submitting your idea on Xero Product Ideas. We appreciate you taking time to let us know how we could improve Xero for you.

Your feedback will soon be reviewed by our Community team, and in the meantime this can begin to build support with votes from other community members.

If you're interested to see recent releases or get a pulse on what's coming soon see The Long and Short of it. 🙂

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  • Daniel Minnick commented  ·   ·  Report

    @Jen Dainer - Didn't realize that converted from Word to the PDF. Just being honest with myself in the comments! Have to maintain our branding!

  • Jen Dainer commented  ·   ·  Report

    Lol! 'Font back to Montserrat once Xero get their life sorted out!' Perfect, Daniel! I agree.

  • Daniel Minnick commented  ·   ·  Report

    @Jen Dainer - you are welcome! Doing this for all of us! As I mentioned to The Brighton Studio below, I am a 25-year veteran of the Information Technology field and hold multiple Microsoft certifications and still burned through about a week of my spare time trying to get this right. There is no reason Xero should be using standards that predate the release of their platform! The attached is what I eventually got to, but it disregards a lot of our branding and gets chopped up a bit when loading to Xero.

  • Jen Dainer commented  ·   ·  Report

    Daniel, thank you. Honestly, Xero saves so much time in so many other ways, and just BURNS time in this particular area. Quotes, Invoicing, Receipts, etc - anything that touches my customer looks like absolute sh!te... This has been a problem since the very beginning. So, I really don't understand why it hasn't been fixed.

  • Daniel Minnick commented  ·   ·  Report

    @Phil Hunter - no promises, that is up to Xero, I just see so many ideas circling around the same concept, indicating that what we have is broken! We are asking Xero to add functionality into something that is built on 20+ year old standards. That is ancient in the technology world! Let's band together and ask for a newer model car and get all the modern features that come with it at the same time!

  • Phil Hunter commented  ·   ·  Report

    Yes. Please. If this is going to give me a 'quantity total' at the end of the invoice I'm all for it!

  • Daniel Minnick commented  ·   ·  Report

    The Brighton Studio - thank you! After burning down about a week of my spare time trying to get this right (I am a 25-year veteran of the Information Technology field and hold multiple Microsoft certifications), I am at my wits end. There is no reason Xero should be using multiple standards that literally predate the release of their platform almost 20 years ago!