Importing data¶

Bring your data across from Xero using a CSV export.

Go to Settings → Import Data to upload a CSV file exported from Xero.

What you can import¶

FairBooks can import these types from a Xero CSV export:

• Contacts: name, email, phone, address, and ABN, brought in as customers
• Invoices: invoice number, dates, line items, totals, and status
• Bills: the same details, brought in as money you owe. A bill that is already paid also records its expense, so it reaches your BAS and Profit and Loss.
• Quotes: quote number, dates, line items, and totals
• Credit notes: brought in as credit notes, on the customer or supplier side
• Products: name, description, price, and GST treatment
• Chart of accounts: code, name, account type, and tax treatment

FairBooks works out which type a file is from its column headers, so you do not need to choose. Import one type at a time.

Invoices, bills, quotes and credit notes share a format¶

Xero exports all four with the same columns and tells them apart only by the Type value on each row, so FairBooks reads that column and creates the right kind of document. An accounts payable export becomes bills and suppliers rather than invoices and customers.

Credit notes are the one case where Xero's CSV does not say which side of the ledger it belongs to. FairBooks works it out from the accounts the lines are coded to: a note becomes a supplier credit when every coded line points at an expense or cost of sales account, and a customer credit otherwise. If the file uses Xero's explicit ACCRECCREDIT or ACCPAYCREDIT types, those are used instead. Check the side on anything that came across with mixed or uncoded lines.

A credit note that Xero has already marked paid had its credit used up before you moved, so it imports with no credit remaining and no effect on any FairBooks BAS period. Voided and deleted notes are skipped, and the preview tells you which.

GST¶

Xero exports line amounts either including or excluding GST and does not always say which. FairBooks works it out per document by checking the line amounts against the document total, and uses Xero's own setting when the file states it. GST-free lines are brought in as GST-free rather than having GST added to them.

How to import¶

1. In Xero, export the data you want (Contacts, Invoices, Bills, Quotes, Credit Notes, Products, or Chart of Accounts) as a CSV file.
2. In FairBooks, go to Settings → Import Data and click Choose CSV File.
3. Review the preview. FairBooks detects the type and shows how many rows are ready to import, how many duplicates will be skipped, and any rows with errors.
4. Click Import to bring the records in.

When it finishes, you see a summary of what was created and how many duplicates were skipped. You can then import another file.