Enter your idea

Reposting my idea that was attached to this one for visibility:

Transaction Tagging System.

Instead of the simplistic Tracking Categories which only allows a two categories to be applied to a transaction, Xero should have a tagging system, where custom tags can be applied to any transaction in any quantity.

This system could replace Tracking Categories by using a format like "Location:HQ", "Location:Branch", and have custom tags like
"SDE" (Shareholder Discretionary Earnings)
"PST:Reimburse" (for taxes that can be refunded from the government at the end of the year)
"Review Needed"
"Approval Needed"
"Accountant Review"
"Needs Receipt"
"Re-categorize"
"Submit to X Grant Program"
"Expense to Client Y"

Bonus points ff the tags can be applied to any object in Xero - Invoices, Transactions, Customers, Files, etc.

This system could also be used to kick-off automation in other systems through the API connection.

Apply a tag of "print in HQ", and a receipt for the transaction gets printed in an office.

"Invoice Client", and the transaction is added as an expense to the next invoice that gets sent to the client.

"Needs Approval" and an email fires to the approver with a link to the transaction

This would definitely improve our reporting. I require tracking for Areas, projects and would like to add the source of billing as we have multiple systems integrating/manually imported into Xero but I can't add another tracking with this restriction on two categories only. This will make reporting quicker and easier, when checking completeness of income from multiple data sources.

Please look to add additional tracking categories, this will help us to avoid an unnecessarily large General Ledger structure to deal with this and the need to track outside of Xero with excel spreadsheets.

Being able to have more than 2 tracking categories is vital to our client NFP organisation reporting under the new Tier 3 reporting requirements. They already track by cost centre & region, and are having to look at making major changes to their Chart of Accounts, to meet the requirements of the new standard as well continue to produce the normal reports the Board wants.

Xero Support / Admin, has there been any further review of this request regarding tracking categories? It is clear this is a really important flaw of Xero that requires resolution and based on my own dealings with support, it very much feels as though Xero is either not listening to its customers or, is choosing to ignore such a widely requested fix.
Many businesses across various industries are clearly in dire need of additional tracking categories for financial reporting. It is not unreasonable to expect that this is a relatively 'easy fix' as the work is already done with the availability of 4 tracking categories currently in place.
Could Xero or a Xero representative please provide a response other than 'here's a link to suggest your request on our community board'. Perhaps you could advise how many votes are needed for our request to be taken seriously so we can work together to advocate this requirement further.
Thank you.
Rebecca.

We would like to track location, channel and product category. Limitation of 2 means this is not possible. Would be great to increase to at least 4.

We track 30-40 jobs per year and then use P&L Reports to analyse profitability of each job. Now I've come to the maximum and can't add another category for 2026, nor can I even delete an older category so only the maximum of four remain. My only option now is to start adding all our 2026 jobs under 2025, creating much more work every time I do even weekly reports. It shouldn't be too big an ask to allow more categories or for the archived categories to be dormant and not included in the maximum number. This is critical to our business and I'm sure it would be for many others. Whether this gets actioned or not should not depend on a community vote! Most users would never find this page and even know they could vote. Even when I've asked your Xero Support people specifically about what I can to address this issue nothing was even mentioned about a vote. Measuring the level of interest behind a certain change by this voting system will guarantee a low level of participation and will give a very distorted (under reported) response. An email to all users asking for their feedback would give you a much more accurate response.

Hi Xero Team,

Is there any feedback on the requirements of addtional tracking criteria?
From the different comments it is clearly visible that this is a very critical feature that requires implement ASAP.

For us it is critical to run our business and if we don't know if this will soon be implemented, we have to change our accounting software, even if we love XERO for the rest.

Having enough tracking options is just too fundamental to run a business and to have visibility of what's going on.

Truly hope to get a feedback soon.
Thank you very much for your support.

Bruno

Our Group has at least 10 entities using Xero. But our report needs to split down to departments, type of expense billable/unbillable, Project code, Quote ID when tracking expenses. But the tracking categories just limits not more than 2 active custom fields. Could Xero can improve this ASAP?

PLEASE INCREASED MAXIMUM NUMBER OF TRACKING CATEGORIES AND TRACKING OPTIONS!!!

The current maximum number is not enough to fulfill company operation requirement.

Please enhance this feature as soon as possible.

Please kindly help to enhance this tracking categories

Please kindly help to enhance this tracking categories

Please kindly help to enhance this tracking categories

I woukld like to fully support this request and double down on what Priscila mentiones in her comment.
In Xero there are only 2 possible tracking options, which is already not enough. But now with e-invoicng in Malaysia in place, this is already using one tracker. So we have now only one criteria we can track.
Tracking Sales by category (country, region, type of product/service, sales manager, ....) is FUNDAMENTAL and VERY important to be able to analyse the business and take the right actions to grow it.

Any advanced AI tools to analyse the business are useless if we can not first sort out the basics which can then be used by AI anaysis to extract value.

There should be at least 10 different flag options.

If there are not more Tracking options avaiable soon, then this would be a reason for us to change the accounting software.

I believe it would be very easy to implement addtional tracking options as it is not a new feature. You only need to increase the amount of tracking options.

Hope you can look into this URGENTLY.

Thank you very much and kind regards

Bruno

In addition to my previously mentioned tagging suggestions, others that have come to mind include:
"Needs Receipt"
"Re-categorize"
"Submit to X Grant Program"
"Expense to Client Y"

PLEASE Increase maximum number of active tracking categories and tracking options.

In Malaysia, for E-invoice, the Invoici portal need tracking category for the XERO integration with LHDN portal.

I hope you will understand the urgency.

Please enable more than 2 active category.

We would find sub categories helpful for the likes of specific projects and events

For Community Housing providers, utility expenses such as water, gas, and electricity must be separated into usage and non-usage components. Non-usage items include supply charges, energy accounting, feed-in tariffs, sewage, parks, drainage, and the NFP rebate. This breakdown allows us to charge tenants only for the usage component which is Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) compliance requirement.

Having at least ten active tracking categories, rather than just two active categories with 500 options, would be a significant improvement and support accurate cost allocation. Could you please expedite this request as this Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) compliance requirement.

Increasing the maximum number of active tracking categories and options can significantly enhance business insights, especially when managing complex sales cycles. Currently, having only two fields limits the ability to track multiple key elements such as a referring business, partner account manager, salesperson, and client account manager simultaneously. Expanding these fields would allow more detailed calculations of revenue sources, performance metrics, and overall business efficiency. For instance, just as a comprehensive resource like Burger King Menu Prices Canada https://burgerkingmenupricescanada.com/ provides detailed information on various menu items in one place, more tracking categories would centralize and clarify all revenue and sales data for better decision-making.

Increasing the maximum number of active tracking categories and tracking options is essential for businesses that manage complex sales processes, as the current limit of only two category fields is insufficient for detailed performance analysis and reporting. Organizations often need to track multiple dimensions such as referring business, partner account manager, salesperson, and client account manager simultaneously, which cannot be done effectively with the existing restriction. Expanding category fields would allow better tracking of revenue generation, identification of high-performing sources, and more accurate decision-making, much like how structured categorization helps in understanding diverse social systems, for example as explained in this article on Pakistan’s national culture: https://www.howtests.com/articles/pakistans-national-culture-unity-amidst-diversity , where multiple factors are analyzed together to present a complete picture.