The Xero Integration connects your Xero organisation to SwiftFox so you can map your core finance objects and generate Xero-branded invoices directly from SwiftFox. Invoices can be raised from a Contact (Person or Organisation), from a standard Form (such as a membership or subscription form), and from Events ticketing. Contact matching avoids creating duplicate Xero contacts, and invoice status updates flow back from Xero into SwiftFox.
What the integration does
- Connects a Xero organisation to your SwiftFox account. The organisation is then listed under Connected Organisations, with a tick beside its name once the connection is healthy. If the connection has lapsed, a warning icon and a Reconnect action appear beside it instead.
- Maps the core finance objects that invoices rely on — tax rates, accounts, items, and (optionally) tracking categories.
- Generates Xero invoices from a Contact's Financial tab, from standard Forms, and from Events ticketing.
- Matches the SwiftFox contact to an existing Xero contact (or creates a new Xero contact) when an invoice is sent.
- Syncs invoice status back into SwiftFox, so an invoice paid in Xero updates from Approved to Paid in SwiftFox.
- Uses Xero's default invoice branding and Xero to send the invoice email.
Where it lives in SwiftFox
- Settings → Integrations → Xero integration — connect the organisation and configure the mappings (tax rates, accounts, items, tracking categories).
- A Person or Organisation profile → Financial tab → Invoices — create and send invoices tied to that contact.
- Forms (standard) — enable invoicing through the Payment method block.
- Events (ticketed) — configure financial ticket settings and enable invoicing in the event's RSVP form Payment method block.
Core concepts
- Mappings — Xero invoices need SwiftFox to know which Xero tax rate, account, and item each line uses. You map these once in Settings → Integrations → Xero integration, by clicking Settings beside the connected organisation. Each area pairs a SwiftFox object with a Xero one. The Xero side must already exist in Xero — SwiftFox does not create records there — and you Sync to bring them across for mapping. The SwiftFox side is not subject to that: SwiftFox ships its own defaults (three tax rates) and each area offers Create in SwiftFox to add more.
- Tracking categories — optional reporting dimensions used to code invoices. There are two sides to them and they work together. SwiftFox tracking categories live at Settings → Finance & usage → Tracking categories, where your account adds its own and enables them; each enabled category appears as its own named column on invoice line items. Xero tracking categories are defined in Xero, which supports up to two. You link the two in Xero integration → Settings → Tracking Categories, which maps each SwiftFox category to its Xero counterpart. The categories in your account are whatever your organisation has set up — there are no built-in defaults.
- Contact matching — when an invoice is sent, SwiftFox matches the SwiftFox contact to a Xero contact on first name + last name + email. If no match is found, SwiftFox creates a new Xero contact.
- Irreversible per invoice — once an individual invoice has been integrated with Xero, that action cannot be undone. Edits can still be made in either system afterwards. Treat this as a best-practice checkpoint before integrating.
- Standard-form mappings are not self-serve — for non-event Forms, the account, item, tax and tracking mappings for that form's invoices are applied on the back end by your account manager. You enable invoicing in the form, then provide the mapping details to your account manager.
Prerequisites
- An active Xero organisation that you can log into and authorise.
- The items, accounts and tax rates you intend to invoice against already created in Xero (create them in Xero first, then sync into SwiftFox).
- Any tracking categories you want carried through to Xero already defined in Xero (Xero's limit is two). SwiftFox keeps its own list separately, under Settings → Finance & usage → Tracking categories.
Related User Guides in this feature
The rest of this guide is split across companion pages covering connecting an organisation, configuring mappings, contact matching, creating and sending invoices, status sync, standard-form invoicing, event ticketing, workflows, FAQs, and limitations and best practice.