1. Configure Your Xero Settings
Connect tofu to your Xero organization and set how AR invoices land in Xero when you publish them:
Go to Entity Settings → Integrations → Xero.
Open your Xero configuration panel.
Under AR Invoices, choose your preferred settings.
Click Activate to save.
💡 Recommended Settings for Xero
Invoice status on publish: choose the status AR invoices land in when they are published to Xero: Draft, Awaiting Approval, or Awaiting Payment, depending on your internal process. This is applied at publish, not when the invoice is marked Ready.
Allow Tax Amount Override: lets you manually adjust tax amounts in tofu.
Self-Prompt: tofie learns your patterns from Xero and applies your formatting rules automatically.
Note: If your Xero integration existed before AR Invoices, Self-Prompt may not appear here. To enable it: Go to Settings → Entity Knowledge Base → AR Invoices → Self-Prompt.
Want tofu to publish for you? Auto-Publish now lives in Document Lifecycle under Entity Settings → Features → Extraction Types. See section 4 below.
2. Upload an AR Invoice
AR Invoices is turned on by default, so you can start uploading right away. You can upload AR invoices automatically via a cloud integration or manually from your computer.
Go to your Source Document panel.
Click Upload document.
Select your AR invoice file.
💡 Recommended: Connect cloud storage, Email, or WhatsApp
For the easiest AR invoice workflow, we recommend integrating Google Drive, SharePoint, Email, or WhatsApp with tofu. Once connected, any invoices you add to your chosen folder, send by email, or share on WhatsApp will automatically come into tofu, so you don't have to upload documents manually every time.
3. Review the Extracted Data and Mark Ready
Once the AR invoice is extracted:
Review the extracted data, including:
Customer
Invoice Title
Invoice Number
Invoice Reference
Currency
Dates
Line Items (description, quantity, discount, tax)
💡 Tip on line item discounts
Discounts can be entered as either a flat amount (e.g., 50) or a percentage. To enter a percentage, make sure to include the % sign (e.g., 10%)
Before marking Ready, ensure the following fields meet requirements (common blockers):
Customer – Must be assigned to a valid customer in Xero.
Invoice Date – Cannot be blank.
Due Date – Must not be earlier than the Invoice Date.
Line Item Description – Required if no product/service is selected.
Currency - Cannot be blank.
If you see something incorrect, edit it directly in tofu. When everything looks correct, click Mark Ready.
If an invoice has a New contact label, a Duplicate label, or a validation error, it stays in Draft until you resolve it.
💡 Tips:
Account Type Visibility
To show Account Type automatically next to account names:
1. Go to Entity Settings → Features → Accounting
2. Enable Account Type
3. Return to review — Account Type will show automatically.
If this setting is disabled, click the "+" icon in the Account column to view Account Type.
Changed a synced AR Invoice to another extraction type?
Changing the extraction type creates a new transaction. The original one may still need cleanup in Xero. Learn more: What Happens When You Change an Extraction Type After Syncing to Your Accounting Software
4. Publishing AR Invoices to Xero
Once an invoice is Ready, you can publish it to Xero in one of these ways:
Click Publish to send the invoice to Xero.
On a Draft invoice, click Ready & Publish to mark it Ready and publish it in one step. You'll see this button when Auto-Publish is on.
Turn on Auto-Publish to publish Ready invoices automatically. Go to Entity Settings → Features → Extraction Types, select AR Invoices, and open Document Lifecycle. You can also turn on Auto-Ready and Auto-Done there.
After publishing, a link to the Xero invoice appears in tofu, and the invoice moves to Published. Click Mark Done once you've confirmed everything looks right, or turn on Auto-Done to skip this step.
💡 For more details, see Understanding Auto-Publish in tofu and Understanding Extraction Lifecycle in tofu.
5. Editing AR Invoices after publishing
If you need to make changes to a Published invoice, open it in tofu and click Edit. Since the invoice already exists in Xero, tofu first deletes it there, then returns the invoice to Draft so you can edit it.
Click Delete & edit to continue.
Make your edits and click Save Draft.
Mark the invoice Ready and publish it again. This creates a new transaction in Xero, not an update to the old one.
If the invoice has a payment attached in Xero, it can't be deleted there. You'll see options to Try again, Skip (updates the status in tofu only and leaves the Xero invoice untouched), or Close. Changes you make directly in Xero are not imported back into tofu.
💡 Tips & Tricks: Train tofie AI for Your Preferred AR Invoice Format
To keep your invoices clean and consistent, you can train tofie to automatically apply your formatting rules.
How to Set It Up
Click tofie at the upper-right corner of tofu.
In Extraction Type, select AR Invoices.
In the prompt box, enter the rules you want tofie to follow. For example:
"Put "2025-" before invoice number for AR invoices
Click Generate to teach tofie your instructions.
Click Save.
tofie will now automatically apply this rule to every AR invoice you upload moving forward.
All synced and stress-free!
With AR invoices flowing smoothly between tofu and Xero, you'll spend less time on manual data entry and more time supporting your customers—and growing your business. 🚀📘 Happy bookkeeping! 😄📊