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The German Tax authority (Finanzampt) wants all my receipts and invoices, physically printed out, in date order, along with a spread sheet breakdown, in matching order and are surprised my accountant and software can't provide this. They've recommended I switch accounting packages. After having manually having had to export over 600 digital receipts, I agree, one should not need to do this manually transaction by transaction.

Kelly Munro,

Can you at least add in the function that all files are attached to individual transactions be directed to your files library? It seems unusual that the files library is so restricted and these are not automatically populated there.

This seems like this should be a standard feature of Xero, not one we have to purchase from the Xero App Store. How does Xero control the security of these apps to download such sensitive information? One would think they would take this with more urgency to address.

Agree, should be basic feature

This feature should be available in Xero. I can't believe I have to download hundreds of images individually!

Hello and thanks for your response Kelly.
This is however a legal requirement and the need to be able to export documentation is a must have for an accounting software. From where I stand, it feels Xero is rather prompt at increasing its prices but I've seen little to no functional improvements in the last two years.
Oh and it's not just a batch to export receipts/documentation alongside transactions that we need. We also need to be able to attach receipts to expenses we add onto invoices (for the purpose of charging expenses to clients).

Thankyou Huyton. Your idea and experience with the product is very helpful. I will be sure to check this out.

I used xportmydata from Xero App Store cost £80 for a one off download including files. This worked really well. Not happy having to pay for something that should be standard in Xero but it saved me many hours individually downloading files.

This feature is urgently needed, as for our case, where we need to present our files also to a Foreign Tax Department, where the local backup off all bills and invoices is mandatory. It is not enough for us to presnt them the accounting files.
Please include this feature as soon as possible, as it critical for us to be able to use xero.

I get my clients to provide receipts/invoices for every transaction to be attached to the transaction in Xero. It seems absolutely pointless if these documents can't be exported. A client of mine is being investigated by HMRC and has hundreds, if not thousands of receipts that I've now got to download one by one! This feature should be definitely be on the road map!

It is absolutely apparent that Xero has been developed and continues to be developed for business owners that do not know what they are doing regarding finance and accounting. When professionals ask for the most basic and required functionalities expected of a financial system, we are given a watery, unknowledgeable and pathetic response. Get your basics right, Xero!

Without this feature, the expenses function is nearly useless.
If I can’t save all these files for the tax authority, I’m doing things twice. Exactly why I am investing in software, to not do things twice.
Paying a third party app/website to do this is not acceptable.

I totally agree this would be a very useful addition to Xero and would love to see Xero implement this soon

This feature is essential and I cannot believe this is not something that is considered standard in this kind of software. Not having this feature as we grow is going to result is us ultimately finding an alternative software that can provide this - as this is a key feature we require each month. To download invoices individually is cumbersome and time consuming!

Xero you really should consider implementing this feature ASAP.

I agree with a lot of the comments, this is an essential feature and that the "This isn't on our roadmap" reponse is very tiresome from Xero... I wonder if the senior management team are even aware that there's this level of gatekeeping in getting features and requests from users through to the Dev team.

The lack of this feature is one of the things thats making me look at other accounting solutions... Literally trapped in XERO because of the expense of migrating but its that or Spending 100s of manhours doing stupid repetitive tasks that could be solved if Xero implemented the features users were requesting.

this 3rd party app allows you to bulk export the attached files: https://www.backupmybooks.com/

The purple&pink software lets you access the files even if the subscription is suspended. (i.e. read only file)

This says a lot about Xero's approach to customer service and has completely changed my opinion on this company. I can only assume this is an intentional omission to ensure you are locked into their ecosystem. The harder it is to get your data and leave, the less they have to spend on maintaining and supporting their product. Xero disrupted the marketplace like no other, but now they have us they can go forward giving us the absolute bare minimum, knowing how difficult it is to get away. A real shame, I used to tell our clients how much better Xero was over Sage and actively encourage them to switch, but now I can tell people how they are all as bad as each other.

I don't know of any accounting softwares that offer this feature so I'm not that surprised Xero isn't going to make it happen. In case it's helpful to anyone, you CAN do bulk downloads from Hubdoc or Dext or BILL if you are using those for document collection.

Agree this is an essential feature.
How complicated is it to migrate to another platform such as Quicbooks?

Meanwhile Xero is gingerly increasing its prices...