Enter your idea

This is something which would go a long way to solving the problem of segregated access not being properly possible - i.e. the need for project managers to see data down to the gross profit level but no further is a real problem which we have not yet found a satisifactory solution to. I am looking at Syft but it cannot show sales or cost figure breakdowns and updates once a day rather than being live (you can update manually at any point but that does not work with emails being sent out automatically).

And Chat GPT says that Xero has got ahead of itself announcing functionality which does not yet exist. Some does. I cannot get the auto emailing of "classic" reports to work yet. Here are some troubleshooting steps I've not done yet.

1. Confirm you’re on a schedulable report

Go to Accounting → Reports

Open Profit & Loss (not Dashboard / Insights)

2. Save the report

Top-right → Save as

Give it a name
➡️ If it’s not saved, scheduling will not appear

3. Use Email (not “Schedule”)

Top-right → Email or Email report

Look inside the email panel for:

Repeat / Send automatically

4. Check permissions

You must be Standard or Adviser

Read-only users cannot schedule reports

5. Accept reality check

❌ Dashboards / Syft insights cannot be scheduled

❌ Some niche reports cannot be scheduled

6. If still missing

Try a different classic report (e.g. Balance Sheet)

Log out / log back in

Try a different browser

If it still isn’t there after step 3 on a saved Profit & Loss, it’s a UI / rollout issue, not something you’re doing wrong.

Chat GPT says this about it... let's test it folks....

---

**Syft** is a **reporting and narrative engine** that Xero bought and has now embedded into Xero.

In simple terms:

> **Xero can now automatically generate management-style reports (with commentary) and email them on a schedule, without you doing anything each time.**

You are **not** logging into Syft separately.
You are using **Syft-powered reports inside Xero**.

---

# What kind of reports this applies to

This is **not** for every Xero report.

It applies to:

* **Management / performance-style reports**, such as:

* Profit & Loss summaries
* Variance commentary
* Trend-based financial insights
* Reports where **words + charts** are useful, not just raw numbers

It does **not** replace:

* statutory accounts,
* detailed ledgers,
* invoice-level exports.

Think:

> “Board pack lite” rather than “accounting detail”.

---

# What Syft adds (the key difference)

Traditional Xero scheduled reports:

* Email a **static PDF**
* Just numbers
* No explanation

Syft-powered reports:

* Generate **plain-English commentary**, such as:

* “Revenue increased by 8% compared to last period”
* “Costs rose faster than revenue, reducing margins”
* Highlight:

* unusual movements,
* trends,
* exceptions
* Combine:

* charts,
* tables,
* narrative

This is the “Syft” part.

---

# How the emailing actually works (step by step)

## 1. You create or open a Syft-style report in Xero

Inside Xero:

* Go to **Reports**
* Choose a report that supports Syft insights (Xero labels these)
* Configure it:

* period (e.g. monthly),
* comparison (previous month, previous year),
* layout.

You preview it just like any normal report.

---

## 2. You turn on “Send automatically”

Within the report options, you’ll see something like:

* **Schedule**
* **Send automatically**
* **Email report**

You then choose:

* **Frequency**

* monthly / quarterly / etc.
* **Timing**

* e.g. 5 days after month-end
* **Recipients**

* internal users,
* external emails (e.g. directors, advisers)
* **Format**

* PDF (usually)
* sometimes inline summary + attachment

---

## 3. Xero generates the report at send time

On the scheduled date:

* Xero:

* pulls the latest data,
* generates the Syft commentary fresh,
* builds the report,
* emails it automatically.

No one needs to log in.

---

# What the recipient sees

Typically:

* An email with:

* a short explanatory intro,
* sometimes a headline insight,
* A **PDF attachment** containing:

* charts,
* numbers,
* written commentary.

Recipients **do not need Xero access** to read it.

---

# Important limitations (so expectations are right)

## 1. Commentary is generic, not bespoke

Syft commentary is:

* statistically driven,
* trend-based,
* sensible but generic.

It will not:

* understand business context,
* explain one-off decisions,
* replace human judgement.

It’s good for:

* “What changed?”
Not for:
* “Why did we choose to do this?”

---

## 2. It works per Xero organisation

Each company:

* has its own reports,
* its own schedules.

There is **no true group-level Syft report** across multiple Xero companies yet.

## 3. It’s not a Power BI replacement

Syft reports are:

* presentation-layer,
* management-friendly.

They are not:

* analytical,
* slice-and-dice,
* deeply custom.

Think of them as:

> “Regular financial pulse emails”.

---

# Cost

At present:

* **Included in Xero subscriptions** (tier-dependent, but no separate Syft licence)
* No per-email charge

So for you:

* **£0 extra**, assuming your plan includes the feature.

---

# When this is actually useful (realistically)

Syft email reports are good if:

* You want:

* a **monthly rhythm**,
* low-effort visibility,
* consistent messaging.
* Recipients:

* don’t log into Xero,
* don’t want raw spreadsheets.
* You want:

* something better than “numbers with no explanation”,
* but don’t want to write commentary every month.

---

# When it’s not the right tool

It’s not ideal if:

* You want:

* cross-company comparison,
* operational detail,
* invoice-level scrutiny.
* You already rely on:

* Power BI,
* bespoke reporting.

In that case, Syft emails are **supplementary**, not central.

---

# How I’d suggest you use it (practically)

For your setup:

* Use **Syft scheduled emails** for:

* monthly P&L commentary **per company**,
* light-touch oversight.
* Use:

* Xero HQ for approvals,
* Power BI / deeper tools for analysis,
* Xero itself for detail.

That way:

* nothing overlaps badly,
* nothing is overworked.

If you don’t want to pay your coders to write the code, use AI and then tweak.

Please can this be actioned and implemented. My current EPOS has this facility and it’s over 25 years old, and hasn’t not been significantly rewritten and updated. I have multiple reports setup for end of month emailing. Saves me time, hassle and money!

What needs to happen for you to listen to your customers. If it wasn’t for the fact my book keeper has never used anything else, I’d switch to another program.

With multiple companies consolidated via Joiin we spend about £6k per year with Xero but have to use Joiin to do the reporting. This disenfranchises the company managers who have to rely on head office to set up their Joiin reporting. We're not going to buy Syft as we've invested a lot in getting Joiin up work

At 733 votes as of today, this request appears to have more votes than any other idea on the forum (second highest is in the 500s), yet you still can't make it a core function. That is a strong indication that you don't care what your users want.

So I finally jumped in to look at the $yft platform.

Point 1 - I wanted 3 regular reports to export from Xero. Syft has none of these:

- An up to date invoices list with status of payments
- A list of invoices in draft status but unsent
- A list of creditors with late payments.

Funnily enough Xero has all 3 of these reports available already. But you don't let me generate a .pdf and email it on a schedule.

You don't let me generate a .csv or .xls and email it on a schedule.

So I have a manual task which is the complete opposite to what Xero promises in its marketing and its own mission/vision delusion.

So Xero has the functionality to generate a .pdf and the functionality to export a .csv (A) - we see it in invoicing and reports modules.

And you have email functionality to attach a .pdf to an email and send it (B - in invoicing module). I would like to think that your amazing coding team can make the jump and do the same for a .csv (C).

SYFT is NOT solving this problem. Even If I pay more for it (at least from what I can see from the existing platform)

XERO is NOT solving this problem. (i'm going to say that the coding team says yes they can, that the customer experience team says yes we should, but the customer revenue team says - lets leave a few pieces of functionality out that is sufficiently annoying that it drives customers to pay more at some time in the future). If $yft was that moment then you just crashed and burned.

Please Put A + B + C together, INSIDE XERO. I am sure your summer interns can put the code together in maybe a couple of days and you could release it to us by Christmas.

Or maybe I just transition my US entity across to QBO - like the rest of the business is running and the experiment on XERO can be closed.

Xero has told us this feature is “valuable in the long run” but “not currently on [the] development roadmap”. Then in 2024 Xero buys Syft, and suddenly an admin posts: “You can now automate report scheduling with Syft Analytics! This is the stand alone product that Xero bought in late 2024. It’s incredible.” So a basic workflow we have begged for in core Xero is only “incredible” once we pay for an extra product Xero now owns.

From an investor slide, Xero even boasts that it has “added Syft Analytics features … to different business plans to drive improved mix”... meaning using Syft to push customers up the pricing ladder instead of giving long requested functionality to the people already paying.

That is exactly why this feels so wrong. Xero, if you want to prove this forum is not just a lead generator for upsells, ship automated report generation and emailing as a free, native feature in Xero, not as a paywalled Syft add on.

"It's incredible" as the Xero rep pushes Syft... but it is a minimum of £250 a year to do something that is a basic requirement and should be free.. beggars belief in this day and age. I see in the IT news today that Xero are also going to start charging for API access so suspect integrations will start to raise in price as well. Have told our accountant Sage looks a better package although not holding out much hope we will change.

Re Peejay Moody comment, I would argue it is not even 3rd party software any more as, per the post below, Xero own it.

I do not see Syft as a 'win' for this issue. Increasingly, users are forced to pay for 3rd party software to access processes that should be included as core Xero functionality. Apps should be used for advanced capability, not as a crutch for Xero's failures.

You can now automate report scheduling with Syft Analytics! This is the stand alone product that Xero bought in late 2024. It's incredible.

https://www.syftanalytics.com/

Come on Xero, this feature should be a high priority on your development roadmap! All business users need this feature URGENTLY....

I would love to be able to email myself and clients an automated monthly report

This would be a brilliant feature to add

Just to add that similar to the concept of scheduling a report to be emailed, scheduling the report to be run and saved to a cloud file location would be welcome functionality for modern, timely reporting. As well as making regular reporting more efficient, this would overcome many of the problems associated with Xero's limited permissions.

This isn't something that is "valuable in the long run". This feature will be extremely valuable right now. I have to send out multiple reports a week to different stakeholders, aswell as manually update different sheets that are automatically connected to other programs. Xero is the only weak link here. This change could have a significant impact on my use and views on Xero.

in this day and age, such a common feature.

It is literally nearly insane that such a basic feature needs to be consistently requested. Just do it and move on.

I just want to add my support to those already asking for automated, date-driven reports in Xero.

Being able to set up reports once and have them auto-generate and email out would save so much admin time, reduce errors, and make the platform even more powerful.

It’s not just a convenience — it’s a feature that would help businesses of every size run smarter and make faster decisions.

Really hope Xero takes this on board — the demand is clearly here.