1. Sign Up and Log In
Ensure you have signed up and logged into your tofu organization.
Choose the entity you want to integrate with your Xero organization.
2. Access Settings
Click on the entity you want to integrate.
Navigate to the 'Settings' section.
3. Select Integrations
In the settings menu, select 'Integrations'.
Click on 'Add New' in the integrations list.
4. Connect to Xero
Select 'Xero' from the list of integrations.
Click 'Connect' to initiate an authentication session.
5. Authenticate Your Xero Account
If already logged into Xero, it will automatically log you in.
Choose the Xero organization you want to connect to and click 'Allow Access'.
6. Select Organization in tofu
After authentication, return to the tofu app.
Select the correct Xero organization from the list to connect.
💡 Tip: You can connect the same accounting organization to more than one entity in your tofu organization. Only the Owner and Admin can set this up.
This is useful when you split one accounting file across several tofu entities, for example by branch or by document type. Each entity keeps its own extractions and settings, and extractions uploaded in one entity are not visible in the other.
7. Configure Your Xero Settings
In the Xero Configuration panel, open each extraction type tab and set:
Invoice status on publish: the status your transactions land in the moment they're published (Draft, Awaiting Approval, or Awaiting Payment). This applies to AP Bills, AR Invoices, and AP and AR Credit Notes (if enabled).
Allow tax amount override: turn this on if you want to adjust tax amounts manually in tofu.
Self-Prompt: turn this on so tofie can learn from your historical Xero transactions and apply your coding patterns automatically during review.
Other accounting software may show different settings. For example, QuickBooks Online only shows Self-Prompt. Check the setup article for your platform to see what's available.
Even if you skip these settings, tofu still reads your currencies, chart of accounts, tax rates, and suppliers from Xero. For more details, see How to Integrate Xero with tofu.
📌 Good to know: Bank statements can be published to Xero with Bank Feeds. Learn more: How to Send Bank Statements from tofu to Xero
8. Automate with Document Lifecycle
Once your integration is active, you can choose how much of the review flow tofu handles for you. Go to Entity Settings → Features → Extraction Types, select an extraction type, and open Document Lifecycle. You can turn on:
Auto-Ready: moves a clean Draft straight to Ready. Extractions with a validation error, a new contact, or a duplicate stay in Draft for your review.
Auto-Publish: publishes a Ready extraction to your accounting software right away. If you use Xero, it uses the status you chose in Invoice status on publish.
Auto-Done: marks an extraction Done once it's published.
Each toggle switches from Manual to Automatic when you turn it on, and you can set them separately for each extraction type.
💡 Tip: New to tofu? Start with Auto-Ready off so you can see how tofie is doing, and turn it on once you're confident in its accuracy.
Learn more: Understanding Extraction Lifecycle in tofu
9. Verify Integration
Once activated, the label will change to 'Connected'.
Check the accounting settings to ensure currencies, tax rates, accounts, and suppliers from Xero are present.
10. Who gets email alerts if your integration disconnects?
When a QuickBooks Online or Xero connection drops, tofu automatically emails the right people so it gets fixed quickly:
If your entity has at least one Entity Manager:
We email the Entity Manager(s) immediately when the integration disconnects.
If it's still disconnected, we send reminder emails after 12 hours and 36 hours
After 108 hours (4.5 days), we also email the organization owner and all admins.
If your entity does not have an Entity Manager assigned:
All four emails are sent to the organization owner and all admins.
While the integration is disconnected, tofu blocks extraction review for that entity and shows a reconnect prompt instead of the usual workspace. If you are an Entity Manager, you will see a Reconnect button that takes you straight to this Integrations settings page. If you are a Viewer or another role without access to reconnect, you will see a message asking you to contact a manager. Review resumes automatically once the integration is active again.
💡 Tip: Assign an Entity Manager for each entity so disconnection alerts go straight to the person who can fix them first.
11. Update Categories if Needed
If you need to update categories, do so in your Xero organization.
Force a refresh from tofu settings to sync changes immediately.
