Be able to approve and send invoices via the API
Have optional parameters when creating invoices via the API to approve invoices and send then immediately to the contact email address
You can now approve invoices via the API . See our latest release notes for more details – http://blog.xero.com/developer/v2-release-notes/
At this stage the scope of this work is limited to allowing you to enter approved invoices and not trigger the sending of invoices via email. You can vote on that request here – http://xero.uservoice.com/forums/5528-xero-api/suggestions/1930769-be-able-to-email-approved-invoices-via-the-api
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Nathan Dunn commented
You can approve invoices but can't email them just yet.
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James commented
Is Mark Allison's comment correct? Approved invoices can be submitted via the API.
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Mark commented
It would be useful if this could also be applied to Credit Notes. Interestingly, the API allows the creation of approved (AUTHORISED) invocies, despite the documentation stating otherwise (http://blog.xero.com/developer/api/types/#InvoiceStatuses) - but the creation of approved Credit Notes is prohibited. Additionally, Payments can be created for invoices, but Cash Refunds cannot be created for Credit Notes. Reconciliation is also hampered by the fact that the reference for Payments created via the API is always set to "Paid via API".
Thanks
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david commented
Hi, I would also like to know if this has been addressed in the latest release, it doesn't seem so.
Thanks
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Dan commented
Good to see some progress re bulk emailing of invoices - that should cut down on our manual processing quite a bit. One more step toward automated invoicing!
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Graham commented
Thanks for the update on this Tony, good to at least know the status.
Is Xero going to give a commitment or at least an estimate as to when this will be available?
A lot of votes and comments on this.
Without this or being able to post journal entries (considering competitors can) through the api, it makes it very limiting.
Alternatively has anyone managed to workaround this? or is there a beta service we can try?
Thanks
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The ability to approve invoices via our API will not be in our December 2010 API release (due to be pushed live before 25 Dec).
What's in the Dec release ?
Improvements to the Invoices endpoint
- ability to apply a specific branding theme to draft invoices and credit notes via a new "BrandingThemeID". Also the abiity to GET BrandingThemes- add hyperlinks to draft invoices via a new "URL" element
A new Journals endpoint
- ability to GET Journals (equivalent to the data you can retrieve via our journal export in the app).We are still working on the ability to allow you to
- enter draft "ManualJournals"
- enter approved invoices or change the state of an invoiceBoth of these requests are amongst our top priorities - I'll update the status of these as soon as we have some more news for you
Regards,
Tony -
Simon Woodhead commented
Hi folks,
Just seconding the request for an update on API invoice sending please. It is no problem if it is a long way off, or tomorrow but it'd be helpful to know.
Thanks,
Simon -
David Yonan commented
Hey Guys, again, just hoping on an update for this. I understand you are busy, but if you can give us a realistic estimation around this it would be greatly appreciated.
Weeks? Months? Years?
Thanks.
David.
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Evan B commented
Any ETA on being able to approve and send invoices?
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Simon commented
Aaaand still no progress on this? Very keen to be able to raise, approve and email invoices through API.
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Dan commented
Thanks for the update. While allowing API-based approved invoice is a step forward, the lack of an API trigger to email the invoices is very disappointing as this costs us significantly in terms of human resources mailing hundreds of these things manually.
At least the ability to provide a static template email body for all clients would significantly improve the usability of the service for us. Can this be investigated as a possibility if there are significant impediments to getting API triggers in place?
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Thanks for the feedback. We are always juggling a lot of priorities and we admit progress on improvements to our API have been slow. We will be delivering draft manual journals first, followed by spend money, receive money and approving invoices. In two weeks time we'll be dedicating more Quality Assurance(QA) resource to our API to clear the backlog of these items. Our partner apps which are being beta tested with several partners at the moment will become available for general use as well. I can't give you a clear indication on the timing but can tell you that with the extra QA resource being committed you'll start to see regular updates to our API as you have come to expect with Xero Business.
Just to be clear on the scope of the functionality we'll be offering for the approving of invoices. You will be able to create new invoices via our API with an approved status provided they meet our standard validation requirements. Emailing these invoices via an API trigger is not within our initial scope. We know this have been a popular request as well so we'll be working hard to make this happen soon too. It's likely we'll offer downloads of the PDF generated invoice before we complete emailing invoices via an API trigger.
If you need more clarification - please don't hesitate to contact our Network team - network@xero.com
Keep the feedback coming - we are listening!
thanks
Tony Rule
Product Manager - Developer API -
David commented
Hi Guys, I am seconding Bens comments, hows about an update with when it is expected. We have been sweating on this since June also with no update.
I need to be able to manage expectations as I had to conviced the higher ups to make the switch to Xero based on the efficiencies this feature would have on our overall workflow.
Our app is currently in a state of limbo at the moment as we don't want to invest time and money into something only to have to re-do it in the (hopefully) near future.
Please let us know if it is something you are expecting soon or if we need to make other arrangements.
Cheers.
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Ben commented
As an intermediate measure could we not have an option whereby an organisation admin could choose to allow approved invoices to be created via the API, as suggested below? Isn't this a better way to stagger the different implementation tasks required to retain the required security?
I'm sure you don't need us to tell you how to tackle the problem as we don't grok the complexity of the system from a dev perspective, but please help us out! This is a major roadblock on the way to full integration.
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Ben commented
Hi guys, any update on timing? This feature will save our business soooo much time and money. We were considering moving to Freshbooks for this feature but chose not to under advice it would be up and running by June end. I appreciate some things take longer than expected but a revised timeframe would help us manage expectations with both clients and internal resources. Many thanks.
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Dan commented
Hi guys, has there been any update on this? It was originally promised by the end of June this year. Still hanging out for it.
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drewjoh commented
Hi Guys,
I'm new to Xero. We just started using it for our new business. I set down this weekend to build a new ordering system for us around Xero and your API, but discovered this little "bug". Any chance this will be happening "soon"? It looks like this request it about a year old.
As it stands... like Mat said; I'm going to be doing some *really* annoying workarounds; and it will involve us having to go to the web interface for every order before we can add a payment to the order. For people who checkout and pay online, the order and payment are created at the same time.
Thanks
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mat commented
This is an essential feature folks. I'm having to do some annoying work arounds in an application I'm designing because this feature is missing.
Isn't it a customer specific requirement? I can understand why some customers would not want automated systems to create invoices without them giving final approval - but I can think of many for which this is important. Why not just have a flag for the customer - 'allow real invoices to be created through the API'?
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David Windell commented
Would it be possible to mark invoices as 'Sent' also, our external system sends the invoices to our clients via PDF, we then send them to Xero via the API and would like to mark these as Sent.