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You can still view topics in the Xero Business Community to see all the useful knowledge that’s been shared there; and you can restart conversations you feel have been of huge value to you on Xero Central.
If you have brilliant ideas for innovations, you can keep on adding feature requests in the Xero Business Community, and voting on existing requests. There’s more in store, as we come up with the best way to take on your thoughts and share developments
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1. Our client base has now increased due to the fac that the entries put in bank reconcilations are now being showing as clients when they are just a description of a transaction.
2. We had clients in Groups and whilst the Group headings have stayed, there are no clients shown there.
3. Why aren't the invoices showing in the date they were raised, instead of showing when they were paid.
4. Why do we need to see two entries everytime an invoice is paid. It just clutters up teh page with irrelevant data.
5. Obviously these changes were not checked with a "normal" user. That should have been a priority before release. This is not something you learn for the future, it is just plan common sense.
6. Please restore the previous system.
Contacts - What have you done?
Started by Jacinda Mclean - in Using Xero
So Log into Xero this morning
Go to Look up a customer and Hello - The Contacts page has changed
Um do we not get advised of changes/updates anymore?
Anyway can now NOT click on the letter of the alphabet our contact starts with
Do we either hit the search button to find them and god knows what else will pop up
Or do we have scroll through each page of contacts to get to the one you want
Not sure so try it out
Search does Not Bring up all customers
Scrolling through each page - Um are you serious is this how its going to be now?
Ie if I'm looking for a Customer who starts with B
Enter B into the Search
It will not bring up my B Customers
So other option is to scroll through each page until I get to the B's
DONT WANT THIS UPDATE XERO
Take me back to the good ways
And Tell whoever is doing your latest updates to THINK MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go to Look up a customer and Hello - The Contacts page has changed
Um do we not get advised of changes/updates anymore?
Anyway can now NOT click on the letter of the alphabet our contact starts with
Do we either hit the search button to find them and god knows what else will pop up
Or do we have scroll through each page of contacts to get to the one you want
Not sure so try it out
Search does Not Bring up all customers
Scrolling through each page - Um are you serious is this how its going to be now?
Ie if I'm looking for a Customer who starts with B
Enter B into the Search
It will not bring up my B Customers
So other option is to scroll through each page until I get to the B's
DONT WANT THIS UPDATE XERO
Take me back to the good ways
And Tell whoever is doing your latest updates to THINK MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Official Xero Reply
Hi all
As some of you have already discovered we released the updates we've been promising over the last couple of weeks. This includes everything I described above (including but not limited to):
- ability to sort on fields beyond what is just in the grid header
- showing Skype details in search view
- Files support (showing attached Files in grid)
- new responsive layout (grid like at higher screen resolutions) with more information (invoice dates, references etc)
- outstanding activity moved up into a newly designed Contact summary view
- new Notes tab (available to all users)
- links no longer open in new tabs
- text selection in all grids (so you can select notes again)
- removing dollar signs from icons
It's a fairly big release, though most of changes are small. Obviously the big experience change is how we deal with outstanding invoices and bills - you can see we've moved this up the hierarchy to be the main focal point of the page.
And we've added in the Notes tab (as promised). This can be seen by all users. Notes will still show up in the activity feed for a contact - this tab essentially provides a filtered view.
We have some more work to do on the activity feed itself. We think there's a better way of showing the activity against a particular document (like the history of an invoice - when it was created, approved, sent, paid etc). We really want this to be the singular view of a contact (be they customer or supplier) so we're working hard on delivering to that vision.
Keep the feedback coming - it's been invaluable to this process.
As some of you have already discovered we released the updates we've been promising over the last couple of weeks. This includes everything I described above (including but not limited to):
- ability to sort on fields beyond what is just in the grid header
- showing Skype details in search view
- Files support (showing attached Files in grid)
- new responsive layout (grid like at higher screen resolutions) with more information (invoice dates, references etc)
- outstanding activity moved up into a newly designed Contact summary view
- new Notes tab (available to all users)
- links no longer open in new tabs
- text selection in all grids (so you can select notes again)
- removing dollar signs from icons
It's a fairly big release, though most of changes are small. Obviously the big experience change is how we deal with outstanding invoices and bills - you can see we've moved this up the hierarchy to be the main focal point of the page.
And we've added in the Notes tab (as promised). This can be seen by all users. Notes will still show up in the activity feed for a contact - this tab essentially provides a filtered view.
We have some more work to do on the activity feed itself. We think there's a better way of showing the activity against a particular document (like the history of an invoice - when it was created, approved, sent, paid etc). We really want this to be the singular view of a contact (be they customer or supplier) so we're working hard on delivering to that vision.
Keep the feedback coming - it's been invaluable to this process.
Merged: New Contact Page
I hate the new contact details page, it doesn't flow as well as the previous version and the borders are so faint its difficult to immediately see each box clearly. Please just go back to the old style.
I hate the new contact details page, it doesn't flow as well as the previous version and the borders are so faint its difficult to immediately see each box clearly. Please just go back to the old style.
Thanks for your thoughts, Alan. If you have any other specific feedback on the new page would love to hear it - cheers.
The look up feature is fine when the address is found. When it is not found, whatever I type gets deleted. I thought it was just for overseas addresses but now I have a contact in Auckland and can't enter their address as it appears on their invoice. HELP?!
I can't figure out to add an irregular address ie LPO Box, not PO Box. What I enter just gets deleted. Also I can't figure out how to enter an address with a Unit No.... again, just gets deleted. I liked the old contact screen better.
I do not like the new screen either, here is my 2 cents. (Using from the latest Firefox browser)
1. You have made the screen into 1 column, when almost all desktop monitors are now widescreen. I have fairly standard HD widescreen monitors and I have to scroll to see any more than the first half of the postal address. You had it right the first time with the side-by-side view, much more efficient for heavy use. Maybe have a desktop and tablet mode if you want to make it pretty for tablets.
2. You expanded the columns down, made everything nice and big and easy to read, but then reduce the address field to 2 visible lines?? I would probably speak for most users when saying phone, email and address are probably the most used fields for a sale invoice. I have to sub-scroll just to read the address now.
3. You also have Skype and website information clogging up the first section of the contact screen, I don't know about everyone else but how often do you Skype a customer? me.. never.. Put the most commonly used fields at the top and make them accessible without scrolling on a standard screen
4. The borders are feint and do not contrast well, barely visible on a tablet outside. And hard to see on a desktop. Are these not the boundaries of the field the users need to locate, select and type in? Make it well contrasted and defined and it will be faster and easier to use.
Please change it back or make it more usable.
1. You have made the screen into 1 column, when almost all desktop monitors are now widescreen. I have fairly standard HD widescreen monitors and I have to scroll to see any more than the first half of the postal address. You had it right the first time with the side-by-side view, much more efficient for heavy use. Maybe have a desktop and tablet mode if you want to make it pretty for tablets.
2. You expanded the columns down, made everything nice and big and easy to read, but then reduce the address field to 2 visible lines?? I would probably speak for most users when saying phone, email and address are probably the most used fields for a sale invoice. I have to sub-scroll just to read the address now.
3. You also have Skype and website information clogging up the first section of the contact screen, I don't know about everyone else but how often do you Skype a customer? me.. never.. Put the most commonly used fields at the top and make them accessible without scrolling on a standard screen
4. The borders are feint and do not contrast well, barely visible on a tablet outside. And hard to see on a desktop. Are these not the boundaries of the field the users need to locate, select and type in? Make it well contrasted and defined and it will be faster and easier to use.
Please change it back or make it more usable.
Jamie Curran
Oh and while I am thinking about the contact screen I really like the quick entry form in the invoice edit screen.. I would like to see the addition of the primary phone number in that form as well, I think most people would then not need to load the contact edit page to complete a basic invoice.
I collect Contact Name, Email Address, Postal Address and Phone Number for my invoices which I have found to be the basic necessities for a modern invoice. To add a phone number I then need to select the contact, then choose edit contact, then save the information, then navigate back to the invoice.
If you added the primary phone number to that quick entry form you would probably reduce the amount of requests for the contact list, contact search and contact edit screens. Which is a win for both of us speed wise.
I should probably put this in a feature request..
Cheers, Jamie
I collect Contact Name, Email Address, Postal Address and Phone Number for my invoices which I have found to be the basic necessities for a modern invoice. To add a phone number I then need to select the contact, then choose edit contact, then save the information, then navigate back to the invoice.
If you added the primary phone number to that quick entry form you would probably reduce the amount of requests for the contact list, contact search and contact edit screens. Which is a win for both of us speed wise.
I should probably put this in a feature request..
Cheers, Jamie
Jamie Curran
I totally agree with Jamie's first post. I can understand dividing-up the contact information from accounting and reporting information but I've got fed-up with scrolling up and down on my widescreen laptop - a good idea poorly thought through and implemented.
I agree!
And how do you find the invoices for each contact - where did the 'Recent Invoices' tabs go??
And how do you find the invoices for each contact - where did the 'Recent Invoices' tabs go??
This is not a good move XERO - It might have benefits which is not obvious at first glance but I must say - changing a user interface that works is stupid. Finance departments are extremely busy this time of year and to expect your clients to teach themselves a new user interface when time is so precious is just not ethical. I've wasted most of my morning to try and get my head around this new interface which in turns means a late night to get everything done for the festive season. It brings up an irrelevant transaction list as first screen. Where do you go to find the list of invoices? Where did the alphabetical list disappear to?
This is very disappointing.
I've asked before for you to get the capability going to bulk deposit more than 50 invoices. Also to be able to export a DD file? Yet you use your time to rather put obstacles in front of your client. And that two days before most of us close for the festive season.
I am seriously considering moving away from XERO.
This is very disappointing.
I've asked before for you to get the capability going to bulk deposit more than 50 invoices. Also to be able to export a DD file? Yet you use your time to rather put obstacles in front of your client. And that two days before most of us close for the festive season.
I am seriously considering moving away from XERO.
Absolutely agree. We would like to be notice if there is a change like this happens in future. This contact change is time consuming and high risk of making a mistake.
I want to be able to sort customer by amount owing and send them the statement as I used to be able to do in the past, but with new contacts I have to go through by alphabetical order only. Even worser in the supplier contacts, which I used to be able to see right away who I have to pay first, but now I have 3 pages to go through, and this is unhelpful!! Is it possible to add the ability to sort by table heading e.g. contact name, you owe them, they owe you?
Also, this new contact pull up whoever does not suppose to be in the customers on to the customer lists, and I cannot achieve because some of them are my suppliers.
In addition, the ability to view how many days the customers usually paid is absence when those customers are also suppliers or merged account (as a little typing error could create multiple accounts in Xero).
I want to be able to sort customer by amount owing and send them the statement as I used to be able to do in the past, but with new contacts I have to go through by alphabetical order only. Even worser in the supplier contacts, which I used to be able to see right away who I have to pay first, but now I have 3 pages to go through, and this is unhelpful!! Is it possible to add the ability to sort by table heading e.g. contact name, you owe them, they owe you?
Also, this new contact pull up whoever does not suppose to be in the customers on to the customer lists, and I cannot achieve because some of them are my suppliers.
In addition, the ability to view how many days the customers usually paid is absence when those customers are also suppliers or merged account (as a little typing error could create multiple accounts in Xero).
Don't know what happens. But the old way of CONTACTS is back on my Xero after I click on PAYROLL - Employee, and then hit the CONTACTS - All contacts. You all can check out if it works on your Xero or not.
Additionally I am seeing payments to an invoice, but not the actual invoice!! From one particular customer I have looked at I am missing all September transactions. O lord, this looks like a real mess!! Xero support???
I really like the changes (except for 2 items), but doing this at year-end was not a smart move...
2 items I don't like:
- The A-Z selectors are gone... fine, but at least make the Search bar in the contacts page bring up the same info.
- Where is the list of transactions for a Contact?!?! why did you leave that out? Or at least roll these new reports out at the same time!
https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/67791
2 items I don't like:
- The A-Z selectors are gone... fine, but at least make the Search bar in the contacts page bring up the same info.
- Where is the list of transactions for a Contact?!?! why did you leave that out? Or at least roll these new reports out at the same time!
https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/67791
Can anyone confirm please.....When I am running statements from August onward, I can see September invoices on there, but these invoices are not showing when looking at the transactions under Contacts.
Hi everyone, please know we're looking into all of your feedback here - will come back with more info as it comes. If you believe that you're missing information, can you please email Support with screenshots - this is really helpful to us in working out if there's an issue.
The 'View Recent Invoices' report is still available, a few different ways to get to it as outlined here. Will look to get that Help Centre page updated too.
The 'View Recent Invoices' report is still available, a few different ways to get to it as outlined here. Will look to get that Help Centre page updated too.
It seems as if the Invoices Approved don't go back further than the current month. Before that it has no Invoices Approved transaction. Is that as it should be??
@Rene, it seems Invoices Approve are only those that have not been paid and they are in the "OUTSTANDING" section.
They got moved down to the next section "ALL" and the same transaction gets changed to Invoice Paid status.
They got moved down to the next section "ALL" and the same transaction gets changed to Invoice Paid status.
I would like to strongly suggest that XERO roll back to the previous interface until next year! THIS IS REALLY BAD TIMING.
If you run the accounts receivable or accounts payable report you get the old format. This is okay in the interim, if there are outstanding items for either the customer or supplier. Not good for easily looking at the contacts history.
Hopefully there will be an explanation soon of the rationale for the new format together with easy ways to navigate to information that was easy to get to before the change at such a crucial time of the year.
Hopefully there will be an explanation soon of the rationale for the new format together with easy ways to navigate to information that was easy to get to before the change at such a crucial time of the year.
Strongly agree with rolling back. This is a critical time of the year for our business. Retail/wholesale at Christmas an additional stress that is unnecessary!!!!!!!!
Thanks David W. But to give an example I can bring up an invoice generated on 1 Sept. That invoice was part paid in Nov and fully paid in Dec. The reference to the actual invoice (DATED 1 Sept) is neither in the Outstanding (logical since it is paid), but also not in the All section. Only the payment transactions are on there.....
It seems odd not having the transactions in chronological order, but having to click on the invoice number that comes up with the payment transaction to actually know what the date of the invoice was.
Wow. This is horrible! There is so much about this that is not user friendly at all. It almost makes me wish we had our horribly old and slow MYOB back.
Why can we not click into our contact info and see a list of transactions? The list on the homepage is terrible!! No issue dates shown along-side Invoices/credits. Over-payments are not shown as credits at the top with open invoices/credits. You need to search through all the transactions below to find and apply.
On the flip side, this does make seeing any notes written a lot easier, but that alone does not make this change worth it for me.
Why can we not click into our contact info and see a list of transactions? The list on the homepage is terrible!! No issue dates shown along-side Invoices/credits. Over-payments are not shown as credits at the top with open invoices/credits. You need to search through all the transactions below to find and apply.
On the flip side, this does make seeing any notes written a lot easier, but that alone does not make this change worth it for me.
Rene, I'm getting Support in touch with you shortly - they'll be of more help than we can on Community. Can you please invite them into your organisation too so they can investigate properly?
Have now done so, but it looks like Maxine H may have come to the same conclusion?
And now you can't search on account number. We have membership numbers which is what we identify a contact with - really annoying. Plus it looks so messy now. What was the rationale behind the change?
Does work for me Steven S, but not sure if it is as quick as it previously was. Anyway, I got a call from a Xero representative. I appears they are getting what this is about and they are working on it. My view....what may have seem as a small change to them really is a massive change for daily users. All my co-workers here (and myself) are quite taken aback by this completely different layout and functionality, which doesn't work at all for us right now.
Agree
I basically do not like it as there are many useful features that used to be there but are no longer there:
- quick a-z link no longer there (was very useful used it all the time)
- ability to quickly click on notes to see the notes history only
- ability to click on transactions for a customer is a simple table format (for either sales or bills)
- ability to send statements on bulk from the contacts screen (I know you can do it from sales from from customers was the obvious place to do it from)
- the edit customer screen used to be on a simple (see all screen) now you need to scroll down and hunt for the fields to complete
Basically the new adaption means that we are using a whole lot more keystrokes to do what was before very simple.
I basically do not like it as there are many useful features that used to be there but are no longer there:
- quick a-z link no longer there (was very useful used it all the time)
- ability to quickly click on notes to see the notes history only
- ability to click on transactions for a customer is a simple table format (for either sales or bills)
- ability to send statements on bulk from the contacts screen (I know you can do it from sales from from customers was the obvious place to do it from)
- the edit customer screen used to be on a simple (see all screen) now you need to scroll down and hunt for the fields to complete
Basically the new adaption means that we are using a whole lot more keystrokes to do what was before very simple.
To be cynical I think this is a techo's tweak without consulting the users as in us the customers who pay to use the system. The feature is useless today relying on the accounts payable and accounts receivable reports to give me quick information that I used to get using contacts. This has limitations but okay for today. By Thursday I might be really cross with the inadequate upgrade so called features.
I agree also, doesn't work at all for us. We really need the quick see all invoices button that brings up all the invoices, that worked well for us and was nice and simple. Also dislike how we cant look up the contacts by clicking on A for all customers starting with A. Having to search for each customer is frustrating.
I agree this is a horrible change. There is no A-Z link which I used all the time. The new supplier summary screen is awful and hard to follow. I want it changed back to what it was.
Totally agree with you – a real time waster.
Don’t mind new features that make things easier and quicker but to change for the sake of change and leave really useful features out and create a whole lot more clicks and scrolls to do what use to be simple is just plain crazy.
Don’t mind new features that make things easier and quicker but to change for the sake of change and leave really useful features out and create a whole lot more clicks and scrolls to do what use to be simple is just plain crazy.
I totally agree. WHAT ARE YOU DOING XERO - and why don't you EVER advise when you make so called upgrades that seem to be more regressive than progressive! Why waste your time on silly updates when we are all waiting on more important changes that have been in the "pipeline" for years!!! Xero you really need to get your act together and listen to your customers
We are coming up to EOM & Christmas and you do this to us, this is horrendous to try & read!!! Please change it back & fix things that actually need fixing.
I am hoping future payments do not list in contact a line for each individual invoice paid when they were batched together. Right now i see the past ones have and I am hoping it was just to set it up to show payments. this is going to make a ridiculously long list in each supplier.
how about showing the invoice date along with the due date? and i really dont care about the graph at the beginning, just takes up way too much space.
And i agree with above, very poor timing and give us back our alphabetical listing!!
how about showing the invoice date along with the due date? and i really dont care about the graph at the beginning, just takes up way too much space.
And i agree with above, very poor timing and give us back our alphabetical listing!!
I agree with the feedback. The old layout and functionality was much more user friendly. The old recent invoice history report was great, the new screen report is confusing and difficult to follow. I can't even see when the invoice was issued without clicking into it.
I cannot believe that you have made such a major change at a time when we are all under the pump to get our invoices in and paid! Revert back to how it was - give us the a, b, c... search for customer function, the ability to 'view recent invoices' was essential for me, and now I am expected to run a report for each customer - ha what a joke! We don't have time to go and run reports for each enquiry - the previous way was so simple and easy to look up where each customer was at with their accounts. Now I can't even export all invoices straight from the customers page which I used to check off payments....aaaaaaarrrrrrr. I don't mind change but when you make major changes like this, at this time of year, I fail to understand why!!!!!
This is a really bad change made by IT people that do not work with the system. You may think you are making things better but without consultation with the people that use the system you have wasted everyone's time including your own.
How do I now send statements to all my customers with a tick against the customer?
How do I see my previous notes made against a customer?
Why do I have to search through all the customers to find the one I want when you used ot be able to just click on the letter (A-Z)?
How do I view recent invoices?
This new way just looks very messy and all over the place. Why fix something that isn't broken.
Big mistake Xero!!
How do I now send statements to all my customers with a tick against the customer?
How do I see my previous notes made against a customer?
Why do I have to search through all the customers to find the one I want when you used ot be able to just click on the letter (A-Z)?
How do I view recent invoices?
This new way just looks very messy and all over the place. Why fix something that isn't broken.
Big mistake Xero!!
Ruan - I'm not shocked - they never seem to respond to customers complains/wishes!!! Why should they with this one! But it is a disgrace. If we ran our businesses in the same fashion I'm sure that most of us would be out of business!
Yup - It's just crazy that they have absolutely no support to offer their clients. this "Online Community" is such an easy way out. I've wasted most of my day trying to get around this new layout and keeping an eye on the posts in the hope of a solution coming up. Their customer relations are shocking!!
If you go look at the discussion under "Feature Requests" called "Contacts - Display A to Z tabs" Their response is a simple
"Thanks for the feedback. At this stage we don't have any plans to add those tabs back, but will let you know of any updates"
It's absurd!!
And it's not easy to move away from them once you have signed up. You have no way of backing up your data and moving to another system.
Although, I'm seriously considering it!
If you go look at the discussion under "Feature Requests" called "Contacts - Display A to Z tabs" Their response is a simple
"Thanks for the feedback. At this stage we don't have any plans to add those tabs back, but will let you know of any updates"
It's absurd!!
And it's not easy to move away from them once you have signed up. You have no way of backing up your data and moving to another system.
Although, I'm seriously considering it!
"I agree with the feedback. The old layout and functionality was much more user friendly. The old recent invoice history report was great, the new screen report is confusing and difficult to follow. I can't even see when the invoice was issued without clicking into it."
I agree with the above. The old system gave you so much information in one snapshot. The new system looks (and works) like it was deisgned by someone who used to work on social media feeds rather than accounts. How can an invoice in that feed not even feature the date of the invoice??
It was one of the least helpful things that Xero could have done for people trying to get the last few days of work done before the break.
I am having to rely on the aged payables report, to achieve the same thing, but it is not a useful substitute if a new invoice hasn't been entered and the AgedP report doesn't feature your contact.
I agree with the above. The old system gave you so much information in one snapshot. The new system looks (and works) like it was deisgned by someone who used to work on social media feeds rather than accounts. How can an invoice in that feed not even feature the date of the invoice??
It was one of the least helpful things that Xero could have done for people trying to get the last few days of work done before the break.
I am having to rely on the aged payables report, to achieve the same thing, but it is not a useful substitute if a new invoice hasn't been entered and the AgedP report doesn't feature your contact.
Hi all
Thanks for your feedback. I'm obviously really disappointed that the new Contacts UI has not been well received but I can totally understand where you're all coming from. I'm looking through this thread and gathering ideas and working on an action plan.
The A-Z thing is really interesting: usage of that was extremely low - but obviously for those that do use it it's really important. Am going to look into how we bring that back - at least in some form.
The links to the reports are also interesting. The new activity feed shows you everything the old reports used to show, and a whole lot more. There's more information than ever in this screen. What am I missing from those reports that you want back? Or do you want a better way to filter the activity view? Is there now too much information?
We're definitely adding "account code" back into the Contacts search - that was a bad miss and I apologize for that.
I appreciate there is a lot of change here, but this all steps in the right direction with more functionality to come.
Keep the feedback coming!
Thanks for your feedback. I'm obviously really disappointed that the new Contacts UI has not been well received but I can totally understand where you're all coming from. I'm looking through this thread and gathering ideas and working on an action plan.
The A-Z thing is really interesting: usage of that was extremely low - but obviously for those that do use it it's really important. Am going to look into how we bring that back - at least in some form.
The links to the reports are also interesting. The new activity feed shows you everything the old reports used to show, and a whole lot more. There's more information than ever in this screen. What am I missing from those reports that you want back? Or do you want a better way to filter the activity view? Is there now too much information?
We're definitely adding "account code" back into the Contacts search - that was a bad miss and I apologize for that.
I appreciate there is a lot of change here, but this all steps in the right direction with more functionality to come.
Keep the feedback coming!
Thanks for your response Craig, but clearly from the comments, this change doesn't seem to be a step in the right direction. I don't care what the more functionality to come is. I'm sick of organisations changing programs to "make it easier". Listen to this thread and put it back the way it was.
Agree it must be possible to add future functionality but keep the really good look and feel (and usability) of the previous old excellent contact page.
Thanks for your response Craig.
I do however still fail to understand how you implement such a big change in UI in such a busy week. Tasks that should have taken only an hour or two this morning has taken exponentially longer and now means an extra day in the office for me - NOT FAIR XERO!!
Consult your users and don't abuse us - we are your bread and butter at the end of the day!
I do however still fail to understand how you implement such a big change in UI in such a busy week. Tasks that should have taken only an hour or two this morning has taken exponentially longer and now means an extra day in the office for me - NOT FAIR XERO!!
Consult your users and don't abuse us - we are your bread and butter at the end of the day!
Hi Craig. Useage of the A-Z thing really low?? That can't be so, or the majority of Xero users would have very small customer or supplier bases!
Could you elaborate what you mean with the "activity feed", are those the transactions on the customer main screen? These transactions definitely DO NOT show the same information as we used to be able to extract.
Users don't necessarily want whole lot more irrelevant information with the loss of useful features. Trust me, if you were using Xero daily as an accountant then this is certainly not the right direction to go and the backlash will likely be pretty phenominal. This is not a minor tweak, this is a complete overhaul of the basics of an accounting program and how it is used and what everybody is saying on this thread is that it makes no sense to do it this way. To have no date references to transactions is pretty unbelievable and needs to be addressed immediately.
If that can't be done quickly then I certainly would recommend an immediate rollback. In its current format Xero is extremely cumbersome for us, whereas it was working just fine.
Could you elaborate what you mean with the "activity feed", are those the transactions on the customer main screen? These transactions definitely DO NOT show the same information as we used to be able to extract.
Users don't necessarily want whole lot more irrelevant information with the loss of useful features. Trust me, if you were using Xero daily as an accountant then this is certainly not the right direction to go and the backlash will likely be pretty phenominal. This is not a minor tweak, this is a complete overhaul of the basics of an accounting program and how it is used and what everybody is saying on this thread is that it makes no sense to do it this way. To have no date references to transactions is pretty unbelievable and needs to be addressed immediately.
If that can't be done quickly then I certainly would recommend an immediate rollback. In its current format Xero is extremely cumbersome for us, whereas it was working just fine.
Craig,
You might want to consider keeping the old look and feel and adding on these functionalities as an option. I would like to see the basic look that we had before. Then perhaps on the "Invoice Listing" screen have an expand button which would expand all activity relating to invoices. Why in heaven's name would you want to mix up A/P and A/R on one social media type stream? Same on the Creditor side of things. Have the basic screen with all bills as before and an expand button at the top to expand and include all activity.
I realize that you guys as developers aim to improve functionality but you must take the user into consideration. Accounts is a busy and stressful environment to work in... add in a change like this on number 99 before a deadline and you create chaos.
Also - How many members of your team have spent substantial time working on an accounts package? And I'm not referring to testing and playing to get the feel of it. I mean - actually working on it day to day? I have worked on various packages and can easily say that Quickbooks are the most User friendly and efficient system out there for small - medium sized businesses.
You might want to consider keeping the old look and feel and adding on these functionalities as an option. I would like to see the basic look that we had before. Then perhaps on the "Invoice Listing" screen have an expand button which would expand all activity relating to invoices. Why in heaven's name would you want to mix up A/P and A/R on one social media type stream? Same on the Creditor side of things. Have the basic screen with all bills as before and an expand button at the top to expand and include all activity.
I realize that you guys as developers aim to improve functionality but you must take the user into consideration. Accounts is a busy and stressful environment to work in... add in a change like this on number 99 before a deadline and you create chaos.
Also - How many members of your team have spent substantial time working on an accounts package? And I'm not referring to testing and playing to get the feel of it. I mean - actually working on it day to day? I have worked on various packages and can easily say that Quickbooks are the most User friendly and efficient system out there for small - medium sized businesses.
Pls put back:
1. The recent invoice history report / transactions when clicking on a contact
2. A-Z contact list
Very uncool to loose simple functionality or involve more elaborate steps to achieve the same thing following a sotfware update.... And the timing is ridiculous....
1. The recent invoice history report / transactions when clicking on a contact
2. A-Z contact list
Very uncool to loose simple functionality or involve more elaborate steps to achieve the same thing following a sotfware update.... And the timing is ridiculous....
Please go back to the prior set-up - new screens are a mess. Do not have time to figure out how to obtain information that was previously easily obtained such as the simple invoice history per customer showing payments to xx date.
"The new activity feed shows you everything the old reports used to show, and a whole lot more. There's more information than ever in this screen. What am I missing from those reports that you want back? Or do you want a better way to filter the activity view? Is there now too much information?"
The previous contact screen allowed me to open up a contact, click on the amount owed and open a screen like the below. At a glance, I could see what date the invoices were entered to, which invoices were in there, which ones were paid - essentially where we were up to.
http://www.awesomescreenshot.com/image/852870/f6e1c58895f31180b7a98856918c90af
The new page is a feed of text, where the bill and payment lines can be many lines apart and there are no invoice dates displayed. There are due dates and paid dates, but it's like having to play a memory game to match them up.
http://www.awesomescreenshot.com/image/852872/49587b896816ff3ae2a3048c26524e8d
I'd be satisfied to have a click-through in the "Total you owe them" initial page or contact page. Because the original table shows the infomation much more elegantly, succinctly and usefully than the feed could ever do.
And in regards to the A-Z system. I hardly ever used it. But when I used it, it was because I was stuck. I was searching for a contact that I didn't have the full details for, or needed to compare two similarly named suppliers, or check if we had multiple companies entered. So it really was useful for the 1 in 300 times I needed it. Now I guess I get to stay stuck in those 1/300 moments.
The previous contact screen allowed me to open up a contact, click on the amount owed and open a screen like the below. At a glance, I could see what date the invoices were entered to, which invoices were in there, which ones were paid - essentially where we were up to.
http://www.awesomescreenshot.com/image/852870/f6e1c58895f31180b7a98856918c90af
The new page is a feed of text, where the bill and payment lines can be many lines apart and there are no invoice dates displayed. There are due dates and paid dates, but it's like having to play a memory game to match them up.
http://www.awesomescreenshot.com/image/852872/49587b896816ff3ae2a3048c26524e8d
I'd be satisfied to have a click-through in the "Total you owe them" initial page or contact page. Because the original table shows the infomation much more elegantly, succinctly and usefully than the feed could ever do.
And in regards to the A-Z system. I hardly ever used it. But when I used it, it was because I was stuck. I was searching for a contact that I didn't have the full details for, or needed to compare two similarly named suppliers, or check if we had multiple companies entered. So it really was useful for the 1 in 300 times I needed it. Now I guess I get to stay stuck in those 1/300 moments.
The activity feed looks like a total waste of time.
The removal of the recent invoice history has frustrated me the most. Before I could quickly get an invoice listing for a contact between two dates. Via the Aged Payable/Receivable isn’t always going to be simple when the contact has nothing outstanding currently and is not showing on the report. Have to now go to sales/purchases, find the last invoice for the contact, go back to the aged report and adjust the date back to then to get the contact to show, and then be able to run the report. Is there a quicker way than this?
The removal of the recent invoice history has frustrated me the most. Before I could quickly get an invoice listing for a contact between two dates. Via the Aged Payable/Receivable isn’t always going to be simple when the contact has nothing outstanding currently and is not showing on the report. Have to now go to sales/purchases, find the last invoice for the contact, go back to the aged report and adjust the date back to then to get the contact to show, and then be able to run the report. Is there a quicker way than this?
A bit lost up in the discussion above, but the View Recent Invoices report is still available - there just isn't the direct link from within your Contact's page.
Go to: Reports > All Reports > Aged Payables/Receivables and then click on the Contact.
Go to: Reports > All Reports > Aged Payables/Receivables and then click on the Contact.
Hi Brittany,
See 'Paul S' above, The Aged Payables report is not useful if the Supplier is up to date, or the latest invoice hasn't been entered (so the Supplier appears to be up to date - but is not)
We used "View recent invoices" often before entering new invoices, or when trying to resolve an issue.
See 'Paul S' above, The Aged Payables report is not useful if the Supplier is up to date, or the latest invoice hasn't been entered (so the Supplier appears to be up to date - but is not)
We used "View recent invoices" often before entering new invoices, or when trying to resolve an issue.
This is exasperating Brittany! View recent invoices is the one of the most important features relating to customers and suppliers. With the changes you have made it is more cumbersome to find the contacts and you made it also more cumbersome to get to the info that previously was just one click on the contact's page.
It feels as if I am talking to a software designer who has no idea how the software gets used, especially in a high transaction volume environment.
And what about Paul G's comment when the aged payable/receivable reports don't show anything because of a nil account balance?
Why not just put the view recent invoices back on the contact page. The feed doesn't do it for me without transaction dates and it looks messy with lots of transactions or if the contact is a customer and a supplier at the same time.
Truly, I cannot understand how you can be lost in the discussion above, that is a real concern to me.....I have to work with Xero all day, in a practical sense.
It feels as if I am talking to a software designer who has no idea how the software gets used, especially in a high transaction volume environment.
And what about Paul G's comment when the aged payable/receivable reports don't show anything because of a nil account balance?
Why not just put the view recent invoices back on the contact page. The feed doesn't do it for me without transaction dates and it looks messy with lots of transactions or if the contact is a customer and a supplier at the same time.
Truly, I cannot understand how you can be lost in the discussion above, that is a real concern to me.....I have to work with Xero all day, in a practical sense.
I have to agree with Rene van Sint - The fact that Brittany seems to be lost in the discussion above just proves my earlier point that I do not think any of the XERO developers has actually ever worked on an accounting package. Just roll back tonight as we (your customers) have loads to get done before Christmas!
Wow 51 replies in a few hours!
@ Rene & Ruan - Brittany didn't say she was lost in the conversation. She said her comment was lost in the conversations. Please read her comment again
@ Rene & Ruan - Brittany didn't say she was lost in the conversation. She said her comment was lost in the conversations. Please read her comment again
@Paul G, @Rupe & @Rene - if you drill into the Contact from within the Aged Payables/Received report, it will take you to the View Recent Invoices report that you're referring to. I've created this screenshot that shows you the steps.
Thanks David :) To confirm, definitely not lost in the discussion. My previous comment explaining where the 'View Recent invoices' report is, has been a bit hidden among the other feedback here. Just want to make sure nothing's being missed.
Thanks David :) To confirm, definitely not lost in the discussion. My previous comment explaining where the 'View Recent invoices' report is, has been a bit hidden among the other feedback here. Just want to make sure nothing's being missed.
Craig
You might have to accept this was a bit of a stuff up and roll back to how it was. No one is against change as long as it makes our job as accountants, auditors, investigators etc easier. This upgrade may be fabulous behind the scenes but as per the thread above to the end user (the customer) it is a mess where it defies some of the basics with recording and looking for data e.g. the date of the invoice.
You might have to accept this was a bit of a stuff up and roll back to how it was. No one is against change as long as it makes our job as accountants, auditors, investigators etc easier. This upgrade may be fabulous behind the scenes but as per the thread above to the end user (the customer) it is a mess where it defies some of the basics with recording and looking for data e.g. the date of the invoice.
@David - Fair enough. apologies Brittany. But the fact that you think it is OK to have to get to such a simple report in such a round about way still leads me to believe that the programmers are not familiar with working on the program daily as an accountant/bookkeeper/finance manager/controller etc.
And the point is still that this suggested route to follow will still not give you the option to view a contact's invoices unless they have invoices outstanding. How do you view a contact's invoices if they have a nil balance?
And the point is still that this suggested route to follow will still not give you the option to view a contact's invoices unless they have invoices outstanding. How do you view a contact's invoices if they have a nil balance?
Yeah agreed Ruan.
@Brittany, how do you do that?
Why not release this at the same time as the new supplier/customer reports that are being worked on? I feel like that would solve the issues were are having.
@Brittany, how do you do that?
Why not release this at the same time as the new supplier/customer reports that are being worked on? I feel like that would solve the issues were are having.
Craig - Go back to 2012 Layout was fast,compact,simple not like now. Its like im entering 200 bytes of data scrolled across 200 pages just to add a contact. I dunno who is doing the UI but they have got no idea whats its like to use this for an actual accounting program.
We used to be able to get back from jobs for the day, do all of our invoices in 20-30minutes. Send them all out and move along with our day. Now you don't want to do your invoices because the Interface is made out to be used in a Math exam. Extremely unhappy. Give us the option to go back in UI versions!
We used to be able to get back from jobs for the day, do all of our invoices in 20-30minutes. Send them all out and move along with our day. Now you don't want to do your invoices because the Interface is made out to be used in a Math exam. Extremely unhappy. Give us the option to go back in UI versions!
Simple solution for everyone, just revert back to the old way of doing it through Contacts Payrun Employees, choose your Customers tab or Suppliers tab.. You have your A-Z back and the recent invoices option is also there.Can also send statements the old way, see your notes for your customers as well.
Xero please do not remove this option as the new way is just counter productive!!
Xero please do not remove this option as the new way is just counter productive!!
Thanks Jenny Whittman. That is useful to know that you can still get the old user interface through Payrun Employees. Just brightened my day. Xero don't change this.
My main issue is that I can't see all invoices now from/to a customer.
Is there any way around this? Why can't we have an option to view all invoices past and present?? Why take that away??
Is there any way around this? Why can't we have an option to view all invoices past and present?? Why take that away??
Hi Brittany and Xero,
The fact that the invoice report is not even accessible through the actual contact is really quite frustrating. Having to go through separate reports is very tedious, especially if comparing customers who are also suppliers.
I feel like there are a lot of complaints above about the new user interface and I don't understand why it wasn't brought out as an alternate "option" like the new reports are.
It is not a very easy and practical way of viewing the most important details such as what invoices (specifically) are owed and owing, rather than just a total sum.
I also didn't see any notification from Xero letting us know that this downgrade was on the way. It all feels a bit rushed and poorly thought out. Why take away functionality all of a sudden only to slowly bring things back??
The fact that the invoice report is not even accessible through the actual contact is really quite frustrating. Having to go through separate reports is very tedious, especially if comparing customers who are also suppliers.
I feel like there are a lot of complaints above about the new user interface and I don't understand why it wasn't brought out as an alternate "option" like the new reports are.
It is not a very easy and practical way of viewing the most important details such as what invoices (specifically) are owed and owing, rather than just a total sum.
I also didn't see any notification from Xero letting us know that this downgrade was on the way. It all feels a bit rushed and poorly thought out. Why take away functionality all of a sudden only to slowly bring things back??
Hello Xero
WHAT A MESS you've made of something that worked just fine!
First of all what made you think making a significant change in how information is presented and removing functionality was a good idea in the middle of a Sunday afternoon UK time with no notice at all? One minute I'm checking transactions for a supplier and I get the view I'm used to, next supplier I go to look at I get a totally new view to the extent that I think maybe I've clicked the wrong thing. Not helpful.
You MUST give users notice so that they know changes are coming, you also need to do them at a time when users logged on is minimal. I don't think 4pm on a Sunday just before Christmas is a great time for the UK. You must be able to roll this out region by region? Or there could have been a warning when I logged in saying remember we are making changes today at X GMT. Your customers are small businesses and accountants they often work at weekends on admin especially in the run up to Christmas so you really should let them know that a change is happening and when.
(continued in a second comment because of your character limit on post!!)
WHAT A MESS you've made of something that worked just fine!
First of all what made you think making a significant change in how information is presented and removing functionality was a good idea in the middle of a Sunday afternoon UK time with no notice at all? One minute I'm checking transactions for a supplier and I get the view I'm used to, next supplier I go to look at I get a totally new view to the extent that I think maybe I've clicked the wrong thing. Not helpful.
You MUST give users notice so that they know changes are coming, you also need to do them at a time when users logged on is minimal. I don't think 4pm on a Sunday just before Christmas is a great time for the UK. You must be able to roll this out region by region? Or there could have been a warning when I logged in saying remember we are making changes today at X GMT. Your customers are small businesses and accountants they often work at weekends on admin especially in the run up to Christmas so you really should let them know that a change is happening and when.
(continued in a second comment because of your character limit on post!!)
(continuation post - due to character limit on posts!!)
Secondly the previous layout was good - it was simple to quickly check transactions for a contact to see if an invoice had been processed, credited or paid. If you needed more details on a particular transaction you could just click through. Now it seems impossible to see a simple transaction list to check to a supplier statement you've received and its not clear where you go to get that information. Before you could see maybe 20-30 transactions in date order (and you could sort easily too) now you can see about 10 because the graph uses lots of space and the each transaction takes more space and they are in no sensible order and you can't see the dates. For some of my clients a supplier can have a least an invoice a day so fewer transactions visible is not at all helpful. Them being in a weird order interspersed with the notes is just a mess to look at.
So basically you've made a key accounts payable task (checking supplier statements) really cumbersome (and in fact impossible from the screen you land on for a contact) and the information now isn't in the place you would expect it to be and I'm not quite sure where it now is. I imagine its equally awful for looking at customer transactions, I haven't looked yet.
Where are the A to Z tabs along that top, that was really useful to getting to the right supplier account quickly, searching is actually less useful - surely there cold be both?
The new look is so confusing I haven't explored whether it has any benefits
Like lots of the commenters I would like the old look back. The new look is a mess and unusable - I'm not sure who its been aimed at but its a mass on information in no sensible layout.
Bad move Xero.
Secondly the previous layout was good - it was simple to quickly check transactions for a contact to see if an invoice had been processed, credited or paid. If you needed more details on a particular transaction you could just click through. Now it seems impossible to see a simple transaction list to check to a supplier statement you've received and its not clear where you go to get that information. Before you could see maybe 20-30 transactions in date order (and you could sort easily too) now you can see about 10 because the graph uses lots of space and the each transaction takes more space and they are in no sensible order and you can't see the dates. For some of my clients a supplier can have a least an invoice a day so fewer transactions visible is not at all helpful. Them being in a weird order interspersed with the notes is just a mess to look at.
So basically you've made a key accounts payable task (checking supplier statements) really cumbersome (and in fact impossible from the screen you land on for a contact) and the information now isn't in the place you would expect it to be and I'm not quite sure where it now is. I imagine its equally awful for looking at customer transactions, I haven't looked yet.
Where are the A to Z tabs along that top, that was really useful to getting to the right supplier account quickly, searching is actually less useful - surely there cold be both?
The new look is so confusing I haven't explored whether it has any benefits
Like lots of the commenters I would like the old look back. The new look is a mess and unusable - I'm not sure who its been aimed at but its a mass on information in no sensible layout.
Bad move Xero.
Thanks for making changes to the contacts UI right at years end with little or no communication. You have over 600 community users that have been asking for custom fields for over 2 years yet you chose to do this instead.
Now, how do I export a list of transactions for a contact based on a date range like I could do?
Now, how do I export a list of transactions for a contact based on a date range like I could do?
Biggest pile of crap Xero has ever done! Here's a thought just role back the update and gives the old UI back this is so unusable
Of the the things to update this wasn't the area that needs any messing with!
Of the the things to update this wasn't the area that needs any messing with!
Hi Xero,
We run a customer focused business with over 4800 customers on our database. Our business has been operating for over 33 years. We changed to Xero 6 months ago. When we made the change to Xero we could see it wasn’t one size fits all. Our business like every other business has its little intricacies, we tried to adapt Xero’s software system to work with our business. Whenever we had a problem, I spent quite a bit of time researching the business community help centre. The first thing I noticed was Xero don’t listen to their clients. The developers don’t run businesses the clients do, but for some reason they go off on their little crusade’s not really listening to us the clients. This latest update is nothing short of appalling. Timing, you couldn’t have picked a worse time to drop this update on us. Our business cannot use this new format. Go back to the old format till you give us the users what we want. You had the basics they just needed enhancing.
We know what we need for our contact list. Listen to us!!!!!
Search: Name, Account number, phone number, address, Alpha.
Notes: Give us notes that are available with the click of a button, anywhere in Xero.
Contact Order: Let us choose the format that suits our business, including invoice due, overdue.
Xero where is your customer focus? Business is about people.
We run a customer focused business with over 4800 customers on our database. Our business has been operating for over 33 years. We changed to Xero 6 months ago. When we made the change to Xero we could see it wasn’t one size fits all. Our business like every other business has its little intricacies, we tried to adapt Xero’s software system to work with our business. Whenever we had a problem, I spent quite a bit of time researching the business community help centre. The first thing I noticed was Xero don’t listen to their clients. The developers don’t run businesses the clients do, but for some reason they go off on their little crusade’s not really listening to us the clients. This latest update is nothing short of appalling. Timing, you couldn’t have picked a worse time to drop this update on us. Our business cannot use this new format. Go back to the old format till you give us the users what we want. You had the basics they just needed enhancing.
We know what we need for our contact list. Listen to us!!!!!
Search: Name, Account number, phone number, address, Alpha.
Notes: Give us notes that are available with the click of a button, anywhere in Xero.
Contact Order: Let us choose the format that suits our business, including invoice due, overdue.
Xero where is your customer focus? Business is about people.
The New Contacts Page (21 Dec 2015) has just got worse - what is going on? Can you please roll it back to how it was?!
A useful improvement would be to link addresses so if 1 client's address changed all clients with the same address changed
Merged: Contacts - View Recent Invoices report missing
Hi,
I have just opened up xero to find that all the contacts formats have changed format and I cannot find the "view recent invoices" button that used to be there. I use this report daily for all of my customers so I need to find this urgently!!!
I do not want to see payments that customers have made or statements in the list.
Just the invoice date, invoice number, due date and value only.
Thanks
Hi,
I have just opened up xero to find that all the contacts formats have changed format and I cannot find the "view recent invoices" button that used to be there. I use this report daily for all of my customers so I need to find this urgently!!!
I do not want to see payments that customers have made or statements in the list.
Just the invoice date, invoice number, due date and value only.
Thanks
Have to agree with all the above! This is a shockingly bad, steaming pile of plop! What have you done!?!
The old version screens, reports and searches were PERFECT.
The new versions have taken away everything that I NEED and given me loads of junk that I DON'T need!
I LIKED the old layouts
I NEED to see invoices listed in date-raised order only
I NEED to see the "view recent invoices" on the contact
I NEED the A-Z search
I HATE the new layouts
I DO NOT WANT the graphs - these are useless to me
I DO NOT WANT invoices listed in "status" order
I DO NOT WANT to see payments listed in the crappy new newsfeed style thing
I DO NOT WANT to see when I sent statements listed in the crappy new newsfeed style thing
I DO NOT WANT to see when I edited the customer address details listed in the crappy new newsfeed style thing
Please please please please please change it back ASAP! This has completely stuffed up everything that I do and is causing me nothing but problems.
I can only call this a downgrade, not an upgrade :-(
The old version screens, reports and searches were PERFECT.
The new versions have taken away everything that I NEED and given me loads of junk that I DON'T need!
I LIKED the old layouts
I NEED to see invoices listed in date-raised order only
I NEED to see the "view recent invoices" on the contact
I NEED the A-Z search
I HATE the new layouts
I DO NOT WANT the graphs - these are useless to me
I DO NOT WANT invoices listed in "status" order
I DO NOT WANT to see payments listed in the crappy new newsfeed style thing
I DO NOT WANT to see when I sent statements listed in the crappy new newsfeed style thing
I DO NOT WANT to see when I edited the customer address details listed in the crappy new newsfeed style thing
Please please please please please change it back ASAP! This has completely stuffed up everything that I do and is causing me nothing but problems.
I can only call this a downgrade, not an upgrade :-(
You can't fault Bianca's view point hits the nail on head!
This needs changing back ASAP!
This needs changing back ASAP!
XERO Stop fixing things that aren't broken - seemingly we cannot do our work this morning because the contact activity report has disappeared to be replaced by a better looking but seemingly useless contacts screen. Not for the first time things have been changed for the worse. I may stand corrected when It is pointed out to me where the customer activity report has been added but not being able to see the invoice date isn't helpful Xero please fix this asap.
Will, I just found a huge discussion about this. I added some comments here. Perhaps you would add yours there too?
http://https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/13386841/#answer
http://https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/13386841/#answer
XERO Stop fixing things that aren't broken - seemingly we cannot do our work this morning because the contact activity report has disappeared to be replaced by a better looking but seemingly useless contacts screen. Not for the first time things have been changed for the worse. I may stand corrected when It is pointed out to me where the customer activity report has been added but not being able to see the invoice date isn't helpful Xero please fix this asap.
I haven't read this entire thread but I gather many feel as I do.
I haven't read this entire thread but I gather many feel as I do.
"A bit lost up in the discussion above, but the View Recent Invoices report is still available - there just isn't the direct link from within your Contact's page.”
So you have made it harder to find a crucial report not easier. I don't think Xero necessarily understand how people are using these reports on a daily basis.
So you have made it harder to find a crucial report not easier. I don't think Xero necessarily understand how people are using these reports on a daily basis.
Real-time problem number 1 just encountered :
A customer has just called me and said "I want to make a repeat of my last order"
I go to their contact page..... the invoices are not in order so I cant figure out which is their most recent order.
So I go to Aged Receivables report... the customer is not on the list!!!!! I assume because they have zero balance?
What do I do now???????? I'm stuck!
I have to call the customer back this morning so I need this ASAP.
A customer has just called me and said "I want to make a repeat of my last order"
I go to their contact page..... the invoices are not in order so I cant figure out which is their most recent order.
So I go to Aged Receivables report... the customer is not on the list!!!!! I assume because they have zero balance?
What do I do now???????? I'm stuck!
I have to call the customer back this morning so I need this ASAP.
The removal of "View recent invoices" in it's previous format is a disaster for the way our business uses Xero. I use that feature all the time, as the information was all there line by line, so quick and easy to read/use.
The new layout for viewing invoices is absolutely terrible. We don't need little icons, we just invoice number, in date order, line by line, as it was. I am very concerned with this new layout I will make a mistake or miss something as it's so hard to see what is actually going on without drilling down into individual invoices. And the solution of running a report to bring it up is just not feasible for people who use that feature all the time.
I used to go on to people about how good and easy to use Xero was and why they should switch to Xero - I would not recommend it to anyone based on the latest change. Sorry Xero, it's a shocker. And to just logon and find it all changed is more than uncool.
Also, the "Contacts" A-Z etc was, in my opinion, far better previously.
As others have said, these things worked well as they were, why, why have you changed it, and please please change it back - soon!!
The new layout for viewing invoices is absolutely terrible. We don't need little icons, we just invoice number, in date order, line by line, as it was. I am very concerned with this new layout I will make a mistake or miss something as it's so hard to see what is actually going on without drilling down into individual invoices. And the solution of running a report to bring it up is just not feasible for people who use that feature all the time.
I used to go on to people about how good and easy to use Xero was and why they should switch to Xero - I would not recommend it to anyone based on the latest change. Sorry Xero, it's a shocker. And to just logon and find it all changed is more than uncool.
Also, the "Contacts" A-Z etc was, in my opinion, far better previously.
As others have said, these things worked well as they were, why, why have you changed it, and please please change it back - soon!!
Craig "The links to the reports are also interesting. The new activity feed shows you everything the old reports used to show, and a whole lot more. "
Where is the Invoice Date? Where is the Due date once it has been paid?
There’s a simple fix here put the link back to the view customer activity
Also surely mixing up customer and supplier invoices in one list is just a mess
Why not roll these things out in beta first - get feedback and then make the changes???
Where is the Invoice Date? Where is the Due date once it has been paid?
There’s a simple fix here put the link back to the view customer activity
Also surely mixing up customer and supplier invoices in one list is just a mess
Why not roll these things out in beta first - get feedback and then make the changes???
I would like to agree that I need the recent invoices report back.
This new 'update' is so illogical and unworkable.
The merging of the Customer and Supplier Invoices is unnecessarily confusing.
Please don't make changes which make things worse!
This new 'update' is so illogical and unworkable.
The merging of the Customer and Supplier Invoices is unnecessarily confusing.
Please don't make changes which make things worse!
Please bring back the A-Z feature. We have over 500 contacts/customers and it is a real pain to scroll down to "M" from "A"!
Please don't make these changes without a "beta" version for people to test for 6 months before switching.
Your "new reports" area is a good example of the way to introduce stuff without messing up what we already use. Try that for other functionality changes and get feedback from real users before make such huge changes.
Please don't make these changes without a "beta" version for people to test for 6 months before switching.
Your "new reports" area is a good example of the way to introduce stuff without messing up what we already use. Try that for other functionality changes and get feedback from real users before make such huge changes.
I'd like to add another voice to the "We need recent invoices link back" please.
The report was clearer and concice before and showed the full view of invoices paid and outstanding where as the new system is confusing.
"The new activity feed shows you everything the old reports used to show, and a whole lot more. There's more information than ever in this screen. What am I missing from those reports that you want back? Or do you want a better way to filter the activity view? Is there now too much information?"
For example:
-Missing the issue date of the invoice
-Payments are mixed in to the list and are confusing.
-Missing a clear snapshot of the customer history which was very visible with the old recent invoices report.
I'm getting so much push back here from people that they are even discussing the logistics of moving back to Sage.
If you want happy customers and users - please resolve this asap.
The report was clearer and concice before and showed the full view of invoices paid and outstanding where as the new system is confusing.
"The new activity feed shows you everything the old reports used to show, and a whole lot more. There's more information than ever in this screen. What am I missing from those reports that you want back? Or do you want a better way to filter the activity view? Is there now too much information?"
For example:
-Missing the issue date of the invoice
-Payments are mixed in to the list and are confusing.
-Missing a clear snapshot of the customer history which was very visible with the old recent invoices report.
I'm getting so much push back here from people that they are even discussing the logistics of moving back to Sage.
If you want happy customers and users - please resolve this asap.
Not sure if anyone else has realised, but Xero have also removed the "Add Note" link for user roles who were on Invoice Only.
Your new updates have instantly changed the way we operate our whole business on a day to day basis. Not only do we have to change the process for all of our staff without prior warning from Xero we are now opening up sensitive financial information to all of the people in our business because we have to change their user role for a simple task such as adding a note to the customer contact file. This is unacceptable and we need a solution ASAP that will allow us to utilise the notes system for each customer in an easy to access way without exposing our financial information. More flexibility to choose permissions is required.
Our business works closely with respiratory physicians and we are required to make notes on every interacts with patients before a sale is even made. It a crucial tool in our business which has been limited by Xero.
Your new updates have instantly changed the way we operate our whole business on a day to day basis. Not only do we have to change the process for all of our staff without prior warning from Xero we are now opening up sensitive financial information to all of the people in our business because we have to change their user role for a simple task such as adding a note to the customer contact file. This is unacceptable and we need a solution ASAP that will allow us to utilise the notes system for each customer in an easy to access way without exposing our financial information. More flexibility to choose permissions is required.
Our business works closely with respiratory physicians and we are required to make notes on every interacts with patients before a sale is even made. It a crucial tool in our business which has been limited by Xero.
I agree, its awful, with the new contacts page as well causing problems I'm no longer looking forward to your updates.
If you feel the need to change things why not give us the opportunity to flip back to the old ways if we want to.
Xero is about entering data quickly and accurately not making it pretty
If you feel the need to change things why not give us the opportunity to flip back to the old ways if we want to.
Xero is about entering data quickly and accurately not making it pretty
Merged: customer / supplier display
I know nothing will come of this as I guess changes are as a result of long and exhaustive consultation (at least I hope they are!) but the new customer / supplier interface is a massive backwards step - what happened to the nice little alphabet at the top of the screen? Click on a letter representing the first letter of the customer / supplier name > displays list > click on required contact. Nice!
Now a horrible list of records alphabetically and search by record name > much less slick, much more confusing > all round bad
Sad and annoyed of London
I know nothing will come of this as I guess changes are as a result of long and exhaustive consultation (at least I hope they are!) but the new customer / supplier interface is a massive backwards step - what happened to the nice little alphabet at the top of the screen? Click on a letter representing the first letter of the customer / supplier name > displays list > click on required contact. Nice!
Now a horrible list of records alphabetically and search by record name > much less slick, much more confusing > all round bad
Sad and annoyed of London
I am going to add my voice to this and agree with everything said so far.
The timing of this change is just awful! There seem to have been a lot of changes to the contacts area recently, none have which have improved the user experience at all. It's time to concentrate on new functionality as requested many times by the users, you know, the guys and gals who pay for this thing!
The timing of this change is just awful! There seem to have been a lot of changes to the contacts area recently, none have which have improved the user experience at all. It's time to concentrate on new functionality as requested many times by the users, you know, the guys and gals who pay for this thing!
What an absolute mess. If it isn't broken don't fix it. The activity feed is the biggest pile of steaming garbage I have come across in a long time. I can't make any sense of it at all. There was nothing wrong with listing the invoices by date as the previous version did. Perfectly sensible and you can immediately see what was happening with the customer or supplier. Now I can't make any sense.
Please bring back an option to change back to the old format. Or at least add some filters. Why do you think we want to see our customer activity like a twitter feed? Most disappointing move from Xero ever.
Please bring back an option to change back to the old format. Or at least add some filters. Why do you think we want to see our customer activity like a twitter feed? Most disappointing move from Xero ever.
@Brittany I just googled Xero 2012 contacts and it was not easy to find a HD QUALITY screenshot of but boy, when you compare now to then wow old is amazing "bring back Xero"
I am dreading using this tomorrow.
I am dreading using this tomorrow.
I don't entirely agree Alan – to me Xero is about making things look pretty but also making things incredibly user friendly. I feel an issue for Xero has been balancing the needs of its diverse client base. Xero has managed to help me get business owners interested in their accounts but also has the buy in from finance professionals. These are two very different types of users with different needs. My clients want the ability to run reports, look at the graphs and raise the occasional invoice whilst we run the back office functionality. I feel sometimes Xero forget that whole finance departments and teams are relying on features that may not seem important to them. God only knows why this change wasn't rolled out in Beta as DJ Dean suggested. We need an immediate response now please!
Its nice to have a pretty output , to that end if you need to keep the developers busy why not produce a choice of different invoices etc so save us the trouble of trying to design our own.
What is funny, all these changes to the contacts screen yet I still have to go into edit mode to view additional contacts! Crazy
I also feel that there is some Key functionally missing which I am told this will be resolved in the future - for example batch bacs file output format is incompatible with LLoyds bacs payment system. I know this is a specific problem but it is causing problems for many of my clients. Surely fixing some of the core items should be higher on the agenda than fixing something that isn't broken.
O yes, just have a look at Using Xero topics and this has been really badly received in New Zealand and the rest of the world is just waking up to it. Xero will need to do some damage control.
I completely agreed with Martin - and contact screen where invoices previously used to be displayed are now a useless mix of bills and payments. It does not make sense whatsoever.
Can we please undo this "upgrade" asap, our PL is reasonably large with high volume of invoices for the same suppliers. Current view is unworkable so we will have to depart from Xero if it is not changed back.
Can we please undo this "upgrade" asap, our PL is reasonably large with high volume of invoices for the same suppliers. Current view is unworkable so we will have to depart from Xero if it is not changed back.
So re-assuring to know I'm not just a lone voice!
The more I have delved in this morning the more confused / enraged I have become. There's a real sense that this has been rushed out for some reason - possible panic about competition? - definitely not thought through from a UX perspective
The more I have delved in this morning the more confused / enraged I have become. There's a real sense that this has been rushed out for some reason - possible panic about competition? - definitely not thought through from a UX perspective
I think I have found a temporary work-around for the missing "view recent invoices" report.
If you go into the customer's contact, then
1) click on "options"
2) click on send statements
3) change statement type to "activity"
4) change the date range to have a start date of the year 2000
5) click on update
This brings up a version of the old report. It's totally the scenic route (and this report is still littered with payments), but at least you can see ALL of the invoices in date order in the old style format (not just the unpaid ones)! And you can copy/paste it into excel to remove those.
It's not a great fix, but it might help people out in the meantime whilst xero pull their fingers out. I hope this helps! :-)
If you go into the customer's contact, then
1) click on "options"
2) click on send statements
3) change statement type to "activity"
4) change the date range to have a start date of the year 2000
5) click on update
This brings up a version of the old report. It's totally the scenic route (and this report is still littered with payments), but at least you can see ALL of the invoices in date order in the old style format (not just the unpaid ones)! And you can copy/paste it into excel to remove those.
It's not a great fix, but it might help people out in the meantime whilst xero pull their fingers out. I hope this helps! :-)
CONTACTS PAGE CHANGES
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its Horrible!!!!!!!!
cOME BACK OLD SCREEN - ALL IS FORGIVEN!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its Horrible!!!!!!!!
cOME BACK OLD SCREEN - ALL IS FORGIVEN!!!
John Mason
Going to add another voice to this, and broadly agree with most of the above.
I accept that the information is still there (either through the aged payables/receivables listing or the actual sales/purchases screen itself if the customer or supplier has a nil balance), but I struggle to see in what way the new activity screen on a customer/supplier is more useful to anyone?
It looks like essentially you get two lines telling you the same thing - The Bill has been Paid on x date, and a payment was made to a bill on x date. (look at inv-0607 on the screenshot posted earlier http://www.awesomescreenshot.com/image/852872/49587b896816ff3ae2a3048c26524e8d)
The old customer activity screen was pretty much perfect, the only thing missing was maybe a column for date paid. You could have just made that look prettier and I doubt anyone would have been bothered!
I accept that the information is still there (either through the aged payables/receivables listing or the actual sales/purchases screen itself if the customer or supplier has a nil balance), but I struggle to see in what way the new activity screen on a customer/supplier is more useful to anyone?
It looks like essentially you get two lines telling you the same thing - The Bill has been Paid on x date, and a payment was made to a bill on x date. (look at inv-0607 on the screenshot posted earlier http://www.awesomescreenshot.com/image/852872/49587b896816ff3ae2a3048c26524e8d)
The old customer activity screen was pretty much perfect, the only thing missing was maybe a column for date paid. You could have just made that look prettier and I doubt anyone would have been bothered!
Three days before Xmas and coming to the busiest accounting period of the year and you change the whole programme. WHAT ARROGANCE. I don't have time for my people to start learning workarounds or getting their heads around meaningless lists. Time is money and we are now having to spend more time trying to figure out what and where our information is. Who dreamed up this crazy way to display a ledger? Obviously not a accountant. If your got developers sitting on their thumbs looking for someway to upset the customer them sack them. Anything is better than having to learn a new programme every couple of months.
David Maidment
After New Zealand was first to encounter the Xero contacts change, the reviews have been overwhelmingly negative here and I urge every Xero user in the rest of the world to add their thoughts/complaints to this thread. My impression from the direct feedback from Xero was that they are very actively watching this forum and that they already realise their customer base is not happy about this. I think it would be good to get some numbers behind this, so please everybody just drop a line and get things moving along at the Xero end just a bit faster.
Haven't read through the discussion but here are the problems we observed this morning...
1. When opening up a customer/supplier cannot see the date the invoice was created on the initial screen only when the invoice was paid.
2. Cannot see a way to export customer/supplier invoices to excel only to a pdf statement.
3. Ability to search A to Z.
1. When opening up a customer/supplier cannot see the date the invoice was created on the initial screen only when the invoice was paid.
2. Cannot see a way to export customer/supplier invoices to excel only to a pdf statement.
3. Ability to search A to Z.
Also certain users (namely "Invoice Only - Sales") have lost all notes and history when viewing contacts.
Come on Xero - give my staff back the access they used to have at least :(
If you're going to change the look and feel of something (not altogether against change) then give us the same access permissions that we've always had...
Come on Xero - give my staff back the access they used to have at least :(
If you're going to change the look and feel of something (not altogether against change) then give us the same access permissions that we've always had...
I quote:- "The A-Z thing is really interesting: usage of that was extremely low...."
Heck!! Something's wrong with your info Xero - this gets used ALL the time in our company. BRING IT BACK PRONTO.
Also certain users (namely "Invoice Only - Sales") have lost all notes and history when viewing contacts.
Come on Xero - give my staff back the access they used to have at least :(
If you're going to change the look and feel of something (not altogether against change) then give us the same access permissions that we've always had...
And just really to add my voice to the above - don't mind change at all as long as it's an improvement, change for change's sake (case in point here) is pointless and frustrating.
Heck!! Something's wrong with your info Xero - this gets used ALL the time in our company. BRING IT BACK PRONTO.
Also certain users (namely "Invoice Only - Sales") have lost all notes and history when viewing contacts.
Come on Xero - give my staff back the access they used to have at least :(
If you're going to change the look and feel of something (not altogether against change) then give us the same access permissions that we've always had...
And just really to add my voice to the above - don't mind change at all as long as it's an improvement, change for change's sake (case in point here) is pointless and frustrating.
Hi all
Agree - damage control required pronto!
Add your voice here:- http://https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/13386841/ (if you haven't already!)
Agree - damage control required pronto!
Add your voice here:- http://https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/13386841/ (if you haven't already!)
Merged: Contacts Screen and Activity Update
What have you done to the Contacts Screen and the Activity Update? I'm getting very frustrated with logging on recently and finding changes we are not informed about and functionality which makes life harder! Can we not have the option to reject an update, if it does not suit? Why change something which worked perfectly fine in the first instance?
A-Z has disappeared. The Activity Overview is useless. I'm only ten minutes into logging on and worried what else I may find.
We have just purchased another subscription for our sister company and dreading those colleagues calling us this morning to complain.
What have you done to the Contacts Screen and the Activity Update? I'm getting very frustrated with logging on recently and finding changes we are not informed about and functionality which makes life harder! Can we not have the option to reject an update, if it does not suit? Why change something which worked perfectly fine in the first instance?
A-Z has disappeared. The Activity Overview is useless. I'm only ten minutes into logging on and worried what else I may find.
We have just purchased another subscription for our sister company and dreading those colleagues calling us this morning to complain.
Hi Xero
The new Contacts screen looks great however it is not easy to work with. I have already had several clients calling me this morning to complain (which I thought they would after using the new UI myself).
Craig Walker - The new Activity list does not provide the same level of detail as the old "view recent" invoices button.
I believe not having access to the "view recent" invoices button will cause real problems for some of my clients.
Please sort this as soon as possible!
Regards
Graeme
The new Contacts screen looks great however it is not easy to work with. I have already had several clients calling me this morning to complain (which I thought they would after using the new UI myself).
Craig Walker - The new Activity list does not provide the same level of detail as the old "view recent" invoices button.
I believe not having access to the "view recent" invoices button will cause real problems for some of my clients.
Please sort this as soon as possible!
Regards
Graeme
Please roll back these changes. Few days left before christmas and it is impossible to use Suppliers ledger!
Hi Michelle
See topic https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/13386841/
It is a nightmare!
See topic https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/13386841/
It is a nightmare!
This is a real step backwards in my opinion. Please either add a quick link to the invoices report, regardless of whether there is an outstanding amount or not or better still, roll back this update.
Please also take your action quickly and if you have no plans to reverse this then please let us all know so we can best decide how to move forwards whether that is to get used to the change and the dodgy workarounds or to look elsewhere for software.
Please also take your action quickly and if you have no plans to reverse this then please let us all know so we can best decide how to move forwards whether that is to get used to the change and the dodgy workarounds or to look elsewhere for software.
Ohhhhhhh ditto, why have you messed with us this close to Christmas!! I want to sort my contacts by letter....where is it gone?
What possible reasoning did you have for this when there are so may more areas that need your attention?
What possible reasoning did you have for this when there are so may more areas that need your attention?
How can they say the A-Z option was rarely used? have a look at this thread Xero
I really did not need this today, I feel like I'm learning Xero all over again, last week it was messing with payslips, now you've messed with contacts.....why keep trying to fix what isn't broken
I really did not need this today, I feel like I'm learning Xero all over again, last week it was messing with payslips, now you've messed with contacts.....why keep trying to fix what isn't broken
I agree the new layout is really rubbish and takes me ages to navigate around it. Just because it is an online programme means we should have the option to keep it the way it was or to go with the new. It is not right that the whole format should change so radically and not for the best either and that we the punters have no say!!!
Hi Xero,
Updates, are horrible, they are also very hard on the eyes!
You have added the "contacts" section on the left side therefore, reducing the size of the page showing the contacts.
You have removed the A-Z feature - How do I search for contacts quickly by "Letter" now?
Going into the contacts and looking at invoices - this is much harder, you not easily able to see what's going on, instead you have to scroll your life away, with the bill, and payment section. The way the invoices was laid out before was much more transparent.
If you are going to make such big changes, at lease give us an option to use the new layout or reversed back to the old layout.
They have this very good saying: If it aint broken - Don't fix it!
So please change it back soon - I can't work like this!
Updates, are horrible, they are also very hard on the eyes!
You have added the "contacts" section on the left side therefore, reducing the size of the page showing the contacts.
You have removed the A-Z feature - How do I search for contacts quickly by "Letter" now?
Going into the contacts and looking at invoices - this is much harder, you not easily able to see what's going on, instead you have to scroll your life away, with the bill, and payment section. The way the invoices was laid out before was much more transparent.
If you are going to make such big changes, at lease give us an option to use the new layout or reversed back to the old layout.
They have this very good saying: If it aint broken - Don't fix it!
So please change it back soon - I can't work like this!
this is a nightmare upload today, we have trained new staff to search using email address and use the view history data, now it seems i have wasted my time and money.
utter disappointment, staff are trying to clear down before Christmas and i now have to start all over over. - ARE YOU GOING TO PAY FOR MY STAFF TRAINING????
WHAT IS THE POINT AND WHY CHANGE SOMETHING THAT WORKS COMPLETLY WELL.
GUTTED!
NO NOTIFICATION EITHER!
i have a client that clients pay via paypal, there is no way that i can see to search for an email address now. how am i supposed to do that!!!!!
rubbish
utter disappointment, staff are trying to clear down before Christmas and i now have to start all over over. - ARE YOU GOING TO PAY FOR MY STAFF TRAINING????
WHAT IS THE POINT AND WHY CHANGE SOMETHING THAT WORKS COMPLETLY WELL.
GUTTED!
NO NOTIFICATION EITHER!
i have a client that clients pay via paypal, there is no way that i can see to search for an email address now. how am i supposed to do that!!!!!
rubbish
I dont want to run the whole AR ledger to see just one client history, my account has 3993 sales accounts on -that is just ridiculous
can you please advise HOW TO SEARCH FOR A CONTACT BY USING EMAIL !!!!!
can you please advise HOW TO SEARCH FOR A CONTACT BY USING EMAIL !!!!!
Tanks for the upper link Bianca, i have made my owrthy comments on that link.
the xero community are not happy, there are over 90 complaints in there.
the xero community are not happy, there are over 90 complaints in there.
Merged: Contact / list of invoices
Terrible timing Xero! Terrible change's. There appear to be a HUGE list of issues with your new update. The biggest one for me is now not being able to view the customers recent invoices from the contact screen. I can't find it. The way it was listed in the past was easy to read whereas your statements are in a terrible format. I need to know at a glance the invoice date, due date, invoice amount and amount due.
Terrible timing Xero! Terrible change's. There appear to be a HUGE list of issues with your new update. The biggest one for me is now not being able to view the customers recent invoices from the contact screen. I can't find it. The way it was listed in the past was easy to read whereas your statements are in a terrible format. I need to know at a glance the invoice date, due date, invoice amount and amount due.
who's bright idea was this....its TERRIBLE! There are other features that Xero can be updated why mess with something that clearly users had not asked to be changed! What about some sort of notification re the change.
Very unhappy!!
Very unhappy!!
"The links to the reports are also interesting. The new activity feed shows you everything the old reports used to show, and a whole lot more. There's more information than ever in this screen"
there is absolutely NO useful information for me in this new screen. Which I was confronted with when logging on, with a supplier on the phone querying their account. I felt completely stupid, unable to find an invoice by the date he was giving me. I also need the alphabetic function.
I don't want an 'activity feed', I need the recent transactions screen back. This is not social media its an accounting package!!!
And as for Brittany's suggestion over and over again that we 'just' click through a load of other screens to get a report done... words fail me. Xero is supposed to be user friendly not dictated to by the techies. If all I want to do is look for one invoice then why on earth should I need to click through a ton of screens as per her instructions???
I am appalled at how rubbish this change is. And the timing!!!
I am sure I'm not the only parent now faced with working extra hours this CHRISTMAS WEEK when until 9am this morning I was confident everything would be done in time for a lunchtime finish on the 24th of December.
And finally, you need to set up a user group of ACTUAL USERS to run any changes by in future BEFORE implementing them!! Please me down for any such future group.
there is absolutely NO useful information for me in this new screen. Which I was confronted with when logging on, with a supplier on the phone querying their account. I felt completely stupid, unable to find an invoice by the date he was giving me. I also need the alphabetic function.
I don't want an 'activity feed', I need the recent transactions screen back. This is not social media its an accounting package!!!
And as for Brittany's suggestion over and over again that we 'just' click through a load of other screens to get a report done... words fail me. Xero is supposed to be user friendly not dictated to by the techies. If all I want to do is look for one invoice then why on earth should I need to click through a ton of screens as per her instructions???
I am appalled at how rubbish this change is. And the timing!!!
I am sure I'm not the only parent now faced with working extra hours this CHRISTMAS WEEK when until 9am this morning I was confident everything would be done in time for a lunchtime finish on the 24th of December.
And finally, you need to set up a user group of ACTUAL USERS to run any changes by in future BEFORE implementing them!! Please me down for any such future group.
wow, yeah, what an absolute mare... please can you put this back to how it was, this is awful.
I agree Michelle
I cannot abide this updated version of contacts, it is not clear when viewing customer/supplier accounts.
Is there an option to revert back to the older version as it is MUCH more user friendly!?
I cannot abide this updated version of contacts, it is not clear when viewing customer/supplier accounts.
Is there an option to revert back to the older version as it is MUCH more user friendly!?
Just had this from the facebook chat (does not look promicing that we are being listened to).
"
Hi James
We haven't made any plans to roll back the release, however the team are taking feedback on how to improve the contacts / add functionality back in there.
Please take a look at this link here: https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/13386841
Thanks - Ashley.
"
"
Hi James
We haven't made any plans to roll back the release, however the team are taking feedback on how to improve the contacts / add functionality back in there.
Please take a look at this link here: https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/13386841
Thanks - Ashley.
"
Aaaaaaaa!!!! What a ridiculously annoying change!!! I can't believe the techs couldn't invest their time incorporating better functionality on features than messing about with visual things thus reducing the functionality!!! I've previously asked for an additional free text box for PO number or Reference (currently I have to devide whether to quote the clients project title or PO in the Reference field or squeeze both in which is not great at all!)
I want to quickly see which client owes the most and generate statements from the customers screen. That used to be an incredibly simple sort!!! I also want to click on my client list then drill into that client to see what the activity has been throughout the year. Again, I can no longer do this rather I have to first view that client then come out and go into the reports screen, bring up that report and click on the client that way! Talk about a backwards step!!! I'm all for change but seriously, this is just wrong!! Think it through people and communicate!!!
I want to quickly see which client owes the most and generate statements from the customers screen. That used to be an incredibly simple sort!!! I also want to click on my client list then drill into that client to see what the activity has been throughout the year. Again, I can no longer do this rather I have to first view that client then come out and go into the reports screen, bring up that report and click on the client that way! Talk about a backwards step!!! I'm all for change but seriously, this is just wrong!! Think it through people and communicate!!!
PLEASE revert this 'upgrade' to how is was previously, this is NOT helpful to any of us.
I loath the new contacts page. You can no longer see a nice easy list of their invoices. Whilst it is handy to see when payments were made without drilling into the invoice itself, it is a mess to work through!
Yes, it is dreadful and there is another discussion going on in the same vein so hopefully they will eventually take note of how awful it now is!
I hope you all took note of Xeros 'MondayMotivation'.
"Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice." -Steve Jobs
Seems like they are taking that seriously.
"Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice." -Steve Jobs
Seems like they are taking that seriously.
But have they got Apple's super loyal customer base (not to mention bank balance) to play games like this?
<where's that Sage disk I used to have......??>
<where's that Sage disk I used to have......??>
I don't really have the time to post a reply! but I feel that I need to in order to support other users.
Xero has let a lot of people down by just up dating a view that most of us don't like with no option of whether we want it or not. It is not beneficial to most of us and your design team must be looking for more work to do.
They could have put this feature in as an alternate and then get your users to give you feed back.
The statement feature is fine but the new view is RUBBISH!
Xero has let a lot of people down by just up dating a view that most of us don't like with no option of whether we want it or not. It is not beneficial to most of us and your design team must be looking for more work to do.
They could have put this feature in as an alternate and then get your users to give you feed back.
The statement feature is fine but the new view is RUBBISH!
Very disappointing. A pure form over function change.
How am I supposed to reconcile supplier statements if they are at a £0.00 balance? One supplier in particular sends around 50 invoices a month, the current activity stream is not fit for purpose!
As others have said, some notification would be appreciated. Or a beta test phase with an opt-in option? Those who like to play with new features can do so and give feedback, while others who need consistency will not be affected.
Ideal solution = Rollback the change, test properly with feedback from your users and PAYING customers.
How am I supposed to reconcile supplier statements if they are at a £0.00 balance? One supplier in particular sends around 50 invoices a month, the current activity stream is not fit for purpose!
As others have said, some notification would be appreciated. Or a beta test phase with an opt-in option? Those who like to play with new features can do so and give feedback, while others who need consistency will not be affected.
Ideal solution = Rollback the change, test properly with feedback from your users and PAYING customers.
I already have an inbox full of queries - no surprise and all of this just before Christmas - guess who will be working!
I need to have all my facts straight here. Working with several client accounts can be pretty confusing.
Can anybody tell me how to go about cancelling and exporting all data?
I need to have all my facts straight here. Working with several client accounts can be pretty confusing.
Can anybody tell me how to go about cancelling and exporting all data?
Ermmmmmm please tell us you have NOTHING ELSE in the pipeline to further cut short our Christmas holidays?
@Brittany the suggestion to access 'view recent invoices report ' through aged receivables is not a helpful solution when it comes to customers accounts where there are no amounts outstanding so therefore they will not appear on the aged receivables report??
Xero please roll back the release as it is clear to see people are not happy with the new interface and there are problems...listen to your customers!
Xero please roll back the release as it is clear to see people are not happy with the new interface and there are problems...listen to your customers!
i understand this is now on the facebook page, maybe we should post a disgruntled statement on there, at least it may get read and responded to,
I ask for the fourth time,.. HOW CAN I SEARCH FOR A CONTACT NOW WITH AN EMAIL ADDRESS SEARCH!!!
maybe you would like to reconcile my 3993 contacts who pay by paypal!!!
I ask for the fourth time,.. HOW CAN I SEARCH FOR A CONTACT NOW WITH AN EMAIL ADDRESS SEARCH!!!
maybe you would like to reconcile my 3993 contacts who pay by paypal!!!
@Christine Hills It's very frustrating! Maybe as a work around you could export your 3993 contacts and VLOOKUP in excel against the list of paying email addresses in PayPal to figure out who's paid you?
I know its not perfect and its absolutely ridiculous that you've lost this basic functionality but maybe that could work?
I know its not perfect and its absolutely ridiculous that you've lost this basic functionality but maybe that could work?
I have a number of customers in my list that I am sure had been archived - some haven't been used for a couple of years. It's no longer possible to select a number of customers from the list and archive them with one click. That's been a fairly normal year end practice but now I have to go into them individually - including those that I have already archived.
Ditto with merging contacts - that was particularly useful when dealing with new users who often didn't realise that they were creating a multitidue of contacts for the same supplier, generally because the direct debit contained a unique invoice number as well as the supplier name
Like many of the above respondents I regularly used the A-Z index to navigate. I don't know if it's just me but the search function within contacts doesn't work at all.
I also have issues with the speed that the "New Reports" load - Aged payables old reports in a second or two, Aged Payables summary in the new reports just short of a minute. Can't blame the internet connection for that.
Something new always takes a bit of getting used to, but the basic functionality here seems badly compromised
Ditto with merging contacts - that was particularly useful when dealing with new users who often didn't realise that they were creating a multitidue of contacts for the same supplier, generally because the direct debit contained a unique invoice number as well as the supplier name
Like many of the above respondents I regularly used the A-Z index to navigate. I don't know if it's just me but the search function within contacts doesn't work at all.
I also have issues with the speed that the "New Reports" load - Aged payables old reports in a second or two, Aged Payables summary in the new reports just short of a minute. Can't blame the internet connection for that.
Something new always takes a bit of getting used to, but the basic functionality here seems badly compromised
What on earth are Xero thinking - what happened to the A-Z tabs?? Dont 'fix' things that arent broken
The answer from xero saying they werent well used sounds ludicrous to me as in the office here every one uses it.
Also the list of invoices was probably the one thing I used most & now its gone. We really don't need this hassle at this time of the year & we received no notification of the change before or after.
RUBBISH!!!
The answer from xero saying they werent well used sounds ludicrous to me as in the office here every one uses it.
Also the list of invoices was probably the one thing I used most & now its gone. We really don't need this hassle at this time of the year & we received no notification of the change before or after.
RUBBISH!!!
I agree - it looks really messy and only gives the invoice number and not the reference number. Please go back to how it was before
Thank you Ryan. That is a nightmare, if they really expect me to reconcile paypal via Excel there isn't a lot of point using Xero!!
its so disappointing I have been training a newbie for 2 weeks on how to search and allocate paypal, now he is looking at me scratching his head.
I am not going to cancel my Christmas, but there will a definite delay in clearing our desks.
its so disappointing I have been training a newbie for 2 weeks on how to search and allocate paypal, now he is looking at me scratching his head.
I am not going to cancel my Christmas, but there will a definite delay in clearing our desks.
Well its 5:37am in New Zealand and I expect we will get a response in a couple of hours when they wake up to the wave of unhappy users. Watch this space.
Merged: contact statement
Please can somebody explain to me what Xero was thinking when they changed the contact screen.
What use is a list of activity, you cannot view a statement of the account on screen unless you PDF it or email it.
Were has the function gone to export to excel ????
I would have expected this from a new software not one that has been running for a number of years.
Everybody works on excel these days and to take this facility out has baffled me.
We have five companies on Xero and I will be looking for new software over the Christmas period as this update is awful !!!!
Bring back the old format showing the statement of activity on the clients.
Please can somebody explain to me what Xero was thinking when they changed the contact screen.
What use is a list of activity, you cannot view a statement of the account on screen unless you PDF it or email it.
Were has the function gone to export to excel ????
I would have expected this from a new software not one that has been running for a number of years.
Everybody works on excel these days and to take this facility out has baffled me.
We have five companies on Xero and I will be looking for new software over the Christmas period as this update is awful !!!!
Bring back the old format showing the statement of activity on the clients.
Generally I love Xero but this is the worst change I have ever seen. I am frustrated and I have been fielding calls from unhappy customers who don't like it either.
Yes - the activity feed may have been interesting if supplied in addition to the standard debtor/creditor position but now they are merged you can't get a clear view of the current position and what makes it up without running other reports.
You have also added direct payments into the activity history and draft invoices alongside actual debtor and creditor transactions. This looks like a twitter feed not an accounting view.
Bloody awful.
@Xero you have got to introduce some user acceptance testing (as you have with old reports and new reports) with actual users before making changes as redundant, regressive and unhelpful as this one.
Bring back the old interface and put this in the background. I can see a use and a value in this screen but not in it's current form.
Yes - the activity feed may have been interesting if supplied in addition to the standard debtor/creditor position but now they are merged you can't get a clear view of the current position and what makes it up without running other reports.
You have also added direct payments into the activity history and draft invoices alongside actual debtor and creditor transactions. This looks like a twitter feed not an accounting view.
Bloody awful.
@Xero you have got to introduce some user acceptance testing (as you have with old reports and new reports) with actual users before making changes as redundant, regressive and unhelpful as this one.
Bring back the old interface and put this in the background. I can see a use and a value in this screen but not in it's current form.
This update is a disaster... the link to find the recent invoices via the debtors report is no help if they don't owe anything.
I can't believe accounts software doesn't have an easy access customer ledger for reconciliations. and the customer screen is not terribly useful (but it is terrible) :)
and I agree that users should be notified to expect updates.. not sneak them in right at Xmas shutdown.
I can't believe accounts software doesn't have an easy access customer ledger for reconciliations. and the customer screen is not terribly useful (but it is terrible) :)
and I agree that users should be notified to expect updates.. not sneak them in right at Xmas shutdown.
Here, here - I use the contact screen to produce a summary of who to pay. We have dozens of invoices per supplier, so the "bill you need to pay" is way too cluttered to easily see the totals by customer - PLEASE bring back the old contacts screen.
Raised 'new view' issue with help desk 9 hours ago. Just wanted to share the reply I got just now:
Xero Customer Care - ticket number 2836524
Hi Catherine
As you've discovered, we recently released a new Contact interface that allows for Gmail integration.
We're sorry to hear that you haven't enjoyed your experience using our new feature.
Currently we don't have the option to revert back to the previous view.
Customer comments play a critical role in determining which areas we need to make improvements in.
We're tracking feedback from our customers and passing that to our Product Team for review.
Our Product Team will take this into consideration, when planning for future releases.
You can add your feedback on the Community page in the link below.
Xero Community: Contacts - What have you done?
Kind regards
Stephanie
Xero Customer Care - ticket number 2836524
Hi Catherine
As you've discovered, we recently released a new Contact interface that allows for Gmail integration.
We're sorry to hear that you haven't enjoyed your experience using our new feature.
Currently we don't have the option to revert back to the previous view.
Customer comments play a critical role in determining which areas we need to make improvements in.
We're tracking feedback from our customers and passing that to our Product Team for review.
Our Product Team will take this into consideration, when planning for future releases.
You can add your feedback on the Community page in the link below.
Xero Community: Contacts - What have you done?
Kind regards
Stephanie
Of course they can roll back, it would be part of their change control process. Why does Xero think it is ok to lie to their customers or think that we are stupid.
Well logging in this morning was something of a surprise, like being horribly pranked but without the funny YouTube video to go along with it.
Firstly, I quite like the layout of the contact view and activity timeline trail, that's a nice addition. But it should have been an addition, not a replacement. The loss of the view of all a customer's invoices and credits is nothing short of disastrous, sorry Xero, but what made you think we didn't need to see all the invoices and credits for a customer in one neat list!? Or at all in fact.
The suggested workaround is simply inadequate, I need to view invoices and credits on a customer-by-customer basis without burying into reports. I also cannot sift through an activity trail - not without some sort of filtering mechanism at least! This update is the accounts software equivalent of having one eye poked out. We know you didn't mean it, but it blooming-well hurts. Ouch!
The lack of A-Z view is also a big disappointment, that was very useful. Ow, there goes the other eye.
I do like the Smart List of seeing those customers who have overdue invoices - trying to stay positive here... *grasps around blindly in the dark for something positive*
Lastly, can you not show all the emails Xero sends under the Email tab? Gmail-only integration is pants, unless you use Gmail. Possibly, I don't know...
I'm sure you can add another tab between Activity and Email that says 'All Invoices/Credits'. Should be simple...!
Lastly, timing, just before Christmas; I think someone's getting coal in their stocking(s) this year! Naughty.
Look forward to hearing some positive news on correcting this, Xero!
Big hugs and fingers crossed!
Firstly, I quite like the layout of the contact view and activity timeline trail, that's a nice addition. But it should have been an addition, not a replacement. The loss of the view of all a customer's invoices and credits is nothing short of disastrous, sorry Xero, but what made you think we didn't need to see all the invoices and credits for a customer in one neat list!? Or at all in fact.
The suggested workaround is simply inadequate, I need to view invoices and credits on a customer-by-customer basis without burying into reports. I also cannot sift through an activity trail - not without some sort of filtering mechanism at least! This update is the accounts software equivalent of having one eye poked out. We know you didn't mean it, but it blooming-well hurts. Ouch!
The lack of A-Z view is also a big disappointment, that was very useful. Ow, there goes the other eye.
I do like the Smart List of seeing those customers who have overdue invoices - trying to stay positive here... *grasps around blindly in the dark for something positive*
Lastly, can you not show all the emails Xero sends under the Email tab? Gmail-only integration is pants, unless you use Gmail. Possibly, I don't know...
I'm sure you can add another tab between Activity and Email that says 'All Invoices/Credits'. Should be simple...!
Lastly, timing, just before Christmas; I think someone's getting coal in their stocking(s) this year! Naughty.
Look forward to hearing some positive news on correcting this, Xero!
Big hugs and fingers crossed!
I absolutely agree. Bring back the old format. The old format was great.
The new format is cluttered and not user friendly at all. The screens contain a lot of detail that is far better accessed via a drilldown as and when required. Essential information is missing e.g. the invoice date is not displayed unless you drill down for it.
The new format makes it very difficult to talk to a customer or supplier about an account or account balance as the screens are over cluttered and no longer provide a snapshot of the past sales invoices or purchases with the contact.
Xero need to bring back the old format. Keep the new format if you want to but bring back the old format as an alternative view of the contact.
When I raised this issue with Xero I was directed to go into the Aged Receivables or Payables report and drill down from this report to see the invoices. However this is an extra step and only suitable if the customer has a balance outstanding on their account.
The new format is cluttered and not user friendly at all. The screens contain a lot of detail that is far better accessed via a drilldown as and when required. Essential information is missing e.g. the invoice date is not displayed unless you drill down for it.
The new format makes it very difficult to talk to a customer or supplier about an account or account balance as the screens are over cluttered and no longer provide a snapshot of the past sales invoices or purchases with the contact.
Xero need to bring back the old format. Keep the new format if you want to but bring back the old format as an alternative view of the contact.
When I raised this issue with Xero I was directed to go into the Aged Receivables or Payables report and drill down from this report to see the invoices. However this is an extra step and only suitable if the customer has a balance outstanding on their account.
I absolutely agree. Bring back the old format. The old format was great.
The new format is cluttered and not user friendly at all. The screens contain a lot of detail that is far better accessed via a drilldown as and when required. Essential information is missing e.g. the invoice date is not displayed unless you drill down for it.
The new format makes it very difficult to talk to a customer or supplier about an account or account balance as the screens are over cluttered and no longer provide a snapshot of the past sales invoices or purchases with the contact.
Xero need to bring back the old format. Keep the new format if you want to but bring back the old format as an alternative view of the contact.
When I raised this issue with Xero I was directed to go into the Aged Receivables or Payables report and drill down from this report to see the invoices. However this is an extra step and only suitable if the customer has a balance outstanding on their account.
This is really one change that would make me very reluctant to recommend Xero. It needs to be fixed urgently.
The new format is cluttered and not user friendly at all. The screens contain a lot of detail that is far better accessed via a drilldown as and when required. Essential information is missing e.g. the invoice date is not displayed unless you drill down for it.
The new format makes it very difficult to talk to a customer or supplier about an account or account balance as the screens are over cluttered and no longer provide a snapshot of the past sales invoices or purchases with the contact.
Xero need to bring back the old format. Keep the new format if you want to but bring back the old format as an alternative view of the contact.
When I raised this issue with Xero I was directed to go into the Aged Receivables or Payables report and drill down from this report to see the invoices. However this is an extra step and only suitable if the customer has a balance outstanding on their account.
This is really one change that would make me very reluctant to recommend Xero. It needs to be fixed urgently.
Hi Gary, we are not the only ones....check this link out
https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/13386841/
https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/13386841/
Can someone please let me know how i can now look up contacts and view all their transactions, the date the transaction was processed and how it was paid? Really frustrated with the new changes.
I just want to support everything that is written above. This is the worst change I have ever experienced whilst using XERO. So uncustomer focused and frustrating. My reasons are the same as those above, please, please change it back!!!
Hi everyone. We're definitely aware of all of the discussion, and the team are taking on feedback to make changes. I'm going to merge this request to the bigger one linked by Giles - so that we can keep all feedback together, and keep you best updated.
Xero, Xero,
Give me your answer do!
I've gone crazy,
All for the sake of change
Greencastle, Newcastle, Taso,
I can't afford the hassle
But you'll look daft once you have to
Backtrack and sort out the mess......
Give me your answer do!
I've gone crazy,
All for the sake of change
Greencastle, Newcastle, Taso,
I can't afford the hassle
But you'll look daft once you have to
Backtrack and sort out the mess......
I'm just going to merge this discussion here so that we can keep all of the feedback together. I want to assure you that we're looking into all of the discussion and will update you of any changes.
When I logged in this morning I found you dramatically changed the customer look up function. And not for the better. We you the search by first letter (the old way ) alot. Was told to try the search button using key letter. Tried first 2 letters. Got any name with those 2 letters side by side. This isn't going to work guys
Hi everyone. I want to assure you that the recent invoices report still exists, there's just not the direct link from the contact. To get this report go to: Reports > All Reports > Aged Payables/Receivables and then click on your Contact's name. This screenshot shows you how.
I know you're aware of the bigger discussion, and I'm going to merge this one there to keep all of the feedback together.
I know you're aware of the bigger discussion, and I'm going to merge this one there to keep all of the feedback together.
I know most of you are across the bigger discussion here, but I'm going to merge them so we can keep you better updated. Please know that we're listening to your feedback, and the team are planning changes.
Hi team, please know that we hear you! The team are planning changes as we speak. To keep you all better updated, I'm going to merge the discussion here.
I have read the repose from Xero and would like know why the following has not also been addressed.
1) You have taken away the ledger with was very useful as you have an overall picture of the account and have given us a list of activity, this is worse than useless.
2) You have taken out the facility to export the ledger to Excel, are you trying to go back to the stone age.
3) There was not notification to the customer that these major changes would be taken affect four days before Christmas.
You have taken your software back instead of developing it and making it better.
Not sure who had the brain fart to do this but they should look at what their clients need.
Giving the users versatility to be able to email, pdf or excel client ledgers is a fundamental process users need.
Very disappointed in Xero and will be looking at new software over Christmas Boo Hoo.
1) You have taken away the ledger with was very useful as you have an overall picture of the account and have given us a list of activity, this is worse than useless.
2) You have taken out the facility to export the ledger to Excel, are you trying to go back to the stone age.
3) There was not notification to the customer that these major changes would be taken affect four days before Christmas.
You have taken your software back instead of developing it and making it better.
Not sure who had the brain fart to do this but they should look at what their clients need.
Giving the users versatility to be able to email, pdf or excel client ledgers is a fundamental process users need.
Very disappointed in Xero and will be looking at new software over Christmas Boo Hoo.
Brittany H...Craig Walker initially asserted that the A-Z thing had very low useage. Going back over the posts here this seems incorrect information. I would be curious to find out now on what basis this contact revamp was based. Other than within Xero (possibly on the basis of wrong info?) it is now clear that this change is very badly received.
HEY!
Another thing........... In the stupid 'feed' thingy, I've ended up with dollar ( $ ) icons next to every payment.
I'm BRITISH - I want my GBP back, this thing:- £
Come on Xero - seriously this is one h3ll of a screw up on your part. Roll us back, rethink the changes you propose, think again, think again, test it on a few (hundred??) willing users who are in the know, LISTEN to their comments, act on their comments, then and ONLY then roll it out to us (not coinciding with year end)
(Incidentally one of the alluring features over your competitors when we made the momentous switch of bookkeeping software was your awesome drill-down feature, which you've sadly screwed up less than 12 months after I signed on..........)
Chop chop - there's time (just I think) to save your face!
Thanks
Giles
Another thing........... In the stupid 'feed' thingy, I've ended up with dollar ( $ ) icons next to every payment.
I'm BRITISH - I want my GBP back, this thing:- £
Come on Xero - seriously this is one h3ll of a screw up on your part. Roll us back, rethink the changes you propose, think again, think again, test it on a few (hundred??) willing users who are in the know, LISTEN to their comments, act on their comments, then and ONLY then roll it out to us (not coinciding with year end)
(Incidentally one of the alluring features over your competitors when we made the momentous switch of bookkeeping software was your awesome drill-down feature, which you've sadly screwed up less than 12 months after I signed on..........)
Chop chop - there's time (just I think) to save your face!
Thanks
Giles
@rene, In fairness, there are maybe 50-100 complaints about the A-Z function. Out of tens of thousands of users it may well have a very low usage rate.
But it appears that those who use it, use it because they really like/want/need it.
I used the A-Z infrequently, but I used the "recent invoices" function every hour of every day I work with Xero.
I new feed feels like (and is as useful for accounting as) a social media feed. I hope this isn't the begining of a trend of 'Facebookifying' Xero.
The loss of functionality is dissapointing. The timing is REALLY dissapointing.
But it appears that those who use it, use it because they really like/want/need it.
I used the A-Z infrequently, but I used the "recent invoices" function every hour of every day I work with Xero.
I new feed feels like (and is as useful for accounting as) a social media feed. I hope this isn't the begining of a trend of 'Facebookifying' Xero.
The loss of functionality is dissapointing. The timing is REALLY dissapointing.
have to agree not happy with the new look contacts. It's not just the search either its also the viewing of the customer/supplier history - a very messy look with bill payment bill paid bill approved. It does not give a quick concise overview that the original history did. Sorry Xero don't like this change.
Vicki Purchase
Do not like the new contacts screen at all - agree with other comments about needing to see original invoice dates, not just the payment date. Harder to see all the info , harder to search - bring back the original contacts screen, it worked just fine
RESPONSE FROM XERO:
Hi Mel
As you've discovered, we recently released a new Contact interface that allows for Gmail integration.
WOOP WOOP!!! WHY ON EARTH WOULD I WANT THAT??? YOU'RE AN ACCOUNTANCY SOFTWARE, FOCUS ON THAT PLEASE
We're sorry to hear that you haven't enjoyed your experience using our new feature.
HAVEN'T ENJOYED IT???? I CAN THINK OF A VARIETY OF WORDS THAT FIT TODAYS "EXPERIENCE" FAR BETTER
You can use the Customer/Supplier Invoice Reports to view the invoices, payments, credit notes and overpayments.
RUBBISH, USELESS, HOPELESS, LONGWINDED!!!
Customer comments play a critical role in determining which areas we need to make improvements in and we're tracking feedback from our customers and passing that to our Product Team for review.
SO LISTEN TO US AND ACT ON IT!! I OWN A DIGITAL AGENCY, VERSIONING CONTROL PLAYS A HUGE PART SO PLEASE, LISTEN TO US AND REVERT!!!
Our Product Team will take this into consideration, when planning for future releases.
NEVER MIND THE FUTURE, ITS THE PRESENT THAT'S A MASSIVE PROBLEM, FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT!!!!
Hi Mel
As you've discovered, we recently released a new Contact interface that allows for Gmail integration.
WOOP WOOP!!! WHY ON EARTH WOULD I WANT THAT??? YOU'RE AN ACCOUNTANCY SOFTWARE, FOCUS ON THAT PLEASE
We're sorry to hear that you haven't enjoyed your experience using our new feature.
HAVEN'T ENJOYED IT???? I CAN THINK OF A VARIETY OF WORDS THAT FIT TODAYS "EXPERIENCE" FAR BETTER
You can use the Customer/Supplier Invoice Reports to view the invoices, payments, credit notes and overpayments.
RUBBISH, USELESS, HOPELESS, LONGWINDED!!!
Customer comments play a critical role in determining which areas we need to make improvements in and we're tracking feedback from our customers and passing that to our Product Team for review.
SO LISTEN TO US AND ACT ON IT!! I OWN A DIGITAL AGENCY, VERSIONING CONTROL PLAYS A HUGE PART SO PLEASE, LISTEN TO US AND REVERT!!!
Our Product Team will take this into consideration, when planning for future releases.
NEVER MIND THE FUTURE, ITS THE PRESENT THAT'S A MASSIVE PROBLEM, FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT!!!!
@paul G, like you the posts here indicate disappointment with the whole of the Contact UI change and many people specifically appear to mention the A-Z thing. Of course the majority of users will not use or even know of this Commmunity thread, but it would surprise me if that majority had a very low useage of the A-Z thing. Statistically, it seems that people who post here use this feature a lot, so it seems reasonable to assume that this would be similar for the Xero users not posting here.
I'm guessing the users who finished work on the 18th are in for a HUGE surprise when they get back early January... Oh wait, maybe this is part of XERO's plan to undermine their clients... At least they can then say to those complaints that it's been running for two weeks why are you complaining now? But Oh, wait again... They do not bother to respond to us. their faithful PAYING customers!
SO HOW ABOUT AN ANSWER AS TO ''HOW TO FIND OUR CUSTOMERS'' CRAIG?
YOUR SEARCH USE TO BE PRETTY BAD, AS IN, YOU HAD TO BE QUITE ACCURATE WITH THE CONTACT'S NAME. NOW YOU'VE PRETTY MUCH MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND OUR LOYAL CUSTOMERS.
YOUR SEARCH USE TO BE PRETTY BAD, AS IN, YOU HAD TO BE QUITE ACCURATE WITH THE CONTACT'S NAME. NOW YOU'VE PRETTY MUCH MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND OUR LOYAL CUSTOMERS.
So I have now started doing research as to how I can move away from XERO - these unexpected unnecessary surprises they keep throwing at us is just getting too much. I found this. https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/103661
It seems that there is no way to get your company file from XERO - Are they keeping us hostage?
It seems that there is no way to get your company file from XERO - Are they keeping us hostage?
YEAH!! THANKS XERO!!! I just noticed that a link has appeared underneath "Total they owe" and "Total you owe" that takes you directly to the recent invoice/bills list.
I would still love to see the A-Z list return though...!
I would still love to see the A-Z list return though...!
Cannot search for contacts with:
- Partial company name
- Account number
- Email
- Domain
- Customer name
Only works if I put in the full correct company name but I don't know what many customers who email in are billed under.
Can you please go back to the old interface until these issues are tested and resolved. It would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
- Partial company name
- Account number
- Domain
- Customer name
Only works if I put in the full correct company name but I don't know what many customers who email in are billed under.
Can you please go back to the old interface until these issues are tested and resolved. It would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
You have had a few hours now Xero since this thread was started approximately 12 ? How about a response please? Other than there is a work around. It would be good for us in the uk to go to bed knowing what action is going to be taken.
So this has been quite a thread. Thank you so much for your feedback. I can't answer everyone individually even though I'd love to. One thing I would like to reiterate is how important our customers are to us and how serious we take this feedback.
We've just shipped an update that will hopefully alleviate the most pressing concerns.
Firstly: we've added back the links to the invoices/bills reports that were in the previous UI. As before they're accessible from the contact detail screen.
It's interesting that there has been so much feedback on how hard it is to see what's outstanding in the new UI, when it reality it should be a lot easier - everything outstanding against that customer or supplier is right there: https://help.xero.com/Contacts_Activity
We obviously need to spend some more time on that. We don't want you to have to run a report to see what's outstanding. For some of you that's obviously become a key workflow - and I apologize for removing it and have put it back because I was wrong to remove it. But for a lot of customers having a singular view of everything that's happened against a contact is a lot clearer, obvious and more helpful. We haven't done that - so that's a fail. We need to improve it and make it clearer. We've heard that loud and clear.
Secondly: we've changed the way the search works. We've added back in searching by email address and account number. That was just a simple mistake - we've fixed that.
We've also changed the behavior of that box. When you type just 1 letter it will do a "starts with" search (just like the old A-Z tabs did) and when you type more than 1 letter it will start doing a "contains" search (e.g., "a" will return any Contacts with names, numbers and email addresses starting with "a"; and "ab" will return any Contacts with names, numbers and email addresses with "ab" anywhere).
We've also made the search box work without having to hit the "Enter" key (though it will work if you use the "Enter" key). Just type "a" and it will immediately begin to filter the list.
It's a subtle change but will hopefully alleviate some of the issues you've been having in finding contacts.
More updates coming as we continue to tune the workflow...
We've just shipped an update that will hopefully alleviate the most pressing concerns.
Firstly: we've added back the links to the invoices/bills reports that were in the previous UI. As before they're accessible from the contact detail screen.
It's interesting that there has been so much feedback on how hard it is to see what's outstanding in the new UI, when it reality it should be a lot easier - everything outstanding against that customer or supplier is right there: https://help.xero.com/Contacts_Activity
We obviously need to spend some more time on that. We don't want you to have to run a report to see what's outstanding. For some of you that's obviously become a key workflow - and I apologize for removing it and have put it back because I was wrong to remove it. But for a lot of customers having a singular view of everything that's happened against a contact is a lot clearer, obvious and more helpful. We haven't done that - so that's a fail. We need to improve it and make it clearer. We've heard that loud and clear.
Secondly: we've changed the way the search works. We've added back in searching by email address and account number. That was just a simple mistake - we've fixed that.
We've also changed the behavior of that box. When you type just 1 letter it will do a "starts with" search (just like the old A-Z tabs did) and when you type more than 1 letter it will start doing a "contains" search (e.g., "a" will return any Contacts with names, numbers and email addresses starting with "a"; and "ab" will return any Contacts with names, numbers and email addresses with "ab" anywhere).
We've also made the search box work without having to hit the "Enter" key (though it will work if you use the "Enter" key). Just type "a" and it will immediately begin to filter the list.
It's a subtle change but will hopefully alleviate some of the issues you've been having in finding contacts.
More updates coming as we continue to tune the workflow...
Yay! Thank you so much for adding the 'show recent invoices/bills' links back! I can now stop being the foul-mouthed office troll that was hurling profanities and the computer.....and nearly hurling the computer itself from pure frustration caused by your changes! Great to see you guys ARE listening to your customers.
Thank you! Fair play for sorting it quickly but could the communication have been better today? Had you, at lunchtime, said "sorry guys, we've mucked up but we'll fix it later today" then I think the whole forum would have been happy to wait?
Thanks for listening adding back the invoices/bills reports - it was a nightmare without them and the search is much better.
Very quick resolution, although I cant really see how the new layout is easier, it would be if I were a salesman looking at a CRM for activity but not for an accountant or bookkeeper trying to reconcile supplier statements.
I thought the CRM type functionality was in workflow max but I could be wrong
Very quick resolution, although I cant really see how the new layout is easier, it would be if I were a salesman looking at a CRM for activity but not for an accountant or bookkeeper trying to reconcile supplier statements.
I thought the CRM type functionality was in workflow max but I could be wrong
Craig Thanks for putting that link back it really is a key issue for us. What still concerns me and I think warrents some comment is the whole change management process Xero go through and the level of user acceptance testing done. We all know Xero is growing and improving fast but if I / we are to maintain our support and confidence in Xero and be its champion we need to be sure these features that we rely on won't be changed in the way that has been done here without notification or feedback. Can you comment please?
Thanks Craig & Xero. For me personally this has fixed my issues.
Craig you said you were surprised that we didn't like the new UI. It was a case of too much non-essential information clouding the essential information. It was like a long winded story. Accountants need clear snapshots on a day to day basis. Having all that information behind the scenes is great. However we don't generally need access to so much information unless there is a specific problem/issue and where the information was stored previously, often in the notes section was enough for me. Going forward I may find the new UI more helpful as a secondary source of information but the old "view recent invoices/bills" will remain my go to.
Thanks to my fellow Xero Users for joining in the thread. It was great to discover I hadn't gone mad when I found the new UI too hard to use.
Craig you said you were surprised that we didn't like the new UI. It was a case of too much non-essential information clouding the essential information. It was like a long winded story. Accountants need clear snapshots on a day to day basis. Having all that information behind the scenes is great. However we don't generally need access to so much information unless there is a specific problem/issue and where the information was stored previously, often in the notes section was enough for me. Going forward I may find the new UI more helpful as a secondary source of information but the old "view recent invoices/bills" will remain my go to.
Thanks to my fellow Xero Users for joining in the thread. It was great to discover I hadn't gone mad when I found the new UI too hard to use.
@Martin I prioritized writing code over writing posts :) But you're right - I should have communicated earlier.
@Maxine Please apologize to your co-workers on my behalf for helping to release the troll. And we always listen.
@Will Good question. One concern that's been raised in this post is the timing of the release. I don't think we truly understood the impact this would have, even though it's obvious after the fact. We truly apologize for anyone that's lost time in running their business or their practice because of this release. We're definitely looking to improve how we roll out features. This would have been a good case study for phasing out a release in stages. We'll definitely learn from this, especially as we evolve other high-use areas of Xero.
@Faydra Highlights the key difference between small business owner workflows and accountant workflows. It's something that's always a design struggle - balancing power users with non power users. Having the reports accessible is the obvious compromise.
@Maxine Please apologize to your co-workers on my behalf for helping to release the troll. And we always listen.
@Will Good question. One concern that's been raised in this post is the timing of the release. I don't think we truly understood the impact this would have, even though it's obvious after the fact. We truly apologize for anyone that's lost time in running their business or their practice because of this release. We're definitely looking to improve how we roll out features. This would have been a good case study for phasing out a release in stages. We'll definitely learn from this, especially as we evolve other high-use areas of Xero.
@Faydra Highlights the key difference between small business owner workflows and accountant workflows. It's something that's always a design struggle - balancing power users with non power users. Having the reports accessible is the obvious compromise.
Merged: Contacts
Please, bring back the way you had Contacts displayed before this week.
The new layout is awful
Please, bring back the way you had Contacts displayed before this week.
The new layout is awful
I think the timing of the change just prior to xmas in what is probably the busiest time of the year for a lot of businesses has caused the most grief. Trying to navigate a new layout just slows everything down and causes our production to suffer, and when you have had to gauge what you can get done for your clients prior to xmas it did not include having to rethink this stuff. That's all I will say as I am choosing to spend this precious time understanding the new layout rather than bitching and whinging about it.
Merry Christmas XERO team, I still appreciate your efforts!
Merry Christmas XERO team, I still appreciate your efforts!
@Craig. At this point of time I think this is a fair and clear response, thank you. The most urgent issues have been addressed already and that is really good. The search is still a bit cumbersome it seems and may need some refinement. I appear to get more contacts than I used to with the A-Z click menu, but I am not to worried about that right now.
@Rene. I have the same problem with more contacts than before but I think that some suppliers have been classified as customers making the whole thing something of a dogs breakfast. I don.t know how to reclassify them as suppliers but I'm sure support will enlighten me
I totally agree with Heather. The certainly isn't an enhancement but a nightmare. Clearly an accounting person didn't create this. What happened to ease of use. This is a case of "If it ain't broke don't fix it". We have lost the ability to easily see what invoices have been billed and what is outstanding for a customer. We don't need to see when it was created and the events on an invoice. We need to see this when we want to see if.
XERO - stop changing things that don't need changing
XERO - stop changing things that don't need changing
Ok, just saw that you have brought back the view recent invoices - thank you , that makes a big difference. Going to reports is time consuming and not user/ business friendly.
as far as seeing payments in contacts that is not a bad feature however it would be more beneficial if it was a line item on date of payment received and the total amount paid (if you want to know which invoices were allocated against that payment then click on the payment). Don't think you need to see each note in contact particularly if the note is statement / invoice sent. It would be better if there was a note feature for "special" notes.
It would be more important to bring back the date of invoice feature rather than the due date on an invoice in contacts.
Bringing back the view recent invoices is great - thank you, maybe you can change the format to newest to oldest?
Timing - not a good time but that has been addressed.
as far as seeing payments in contacts that is not a bad feature however it would be more beneficial if it was a line item on date of payment received and the total amount paid (if you want to know which invoices were allocated against that payment then click on the payment). Don't think you need to see each note in contact particularly if the note is statement / invoice sent. It would be better if there was a note feature for "special" notes.
It would be more important to bring back the date of invoice feature rather than the due date on an invoice in contacts.
Bringing back the view recent invoices is great - thank you, maybe you can change the format to newest to oldest?
Timing - not a good time but that has been addressed.
And the contact details that are displayed have been reduced.
Previously one was able to view multiple phone numbers and email addresses on the opening contact page, now only the first phone number is displayed.
Is there a way of showing all contact details on the contact page rather than having to go into edit and then view other contact information.
Previously one was able to view multiple phone numbers and email addresses on the opening contact page, now only the first phone number is displayed.
Is there a way of showing all contact details on the contact page rather than having to go into edit and then view other contact information.
Notes have now also been limited to 300 characters - we were using them as a tracking measure of communciations with receivable customers. Please return to previous note capacity.
Merged: New contacts page
Hi Xero,
Just have to say that I do not like the new way the contacts page is displaying. No alphabetical quick sort??
Not sure why you felt the need to change this page as from what I could see it was just fine the way it was :-(
Not often I give negative feedback but this one is annoying!
Sarah Atkinson
Elite Bookkeeping Services
Hi Xero,
Just have to say that I do not like the new way the contacts page is displaying. No alphabetical quick sort??
Not sure why you felt the need to change this page as from what I could see it was just fine the way it was :-(
Not often I give negative feedback but this one is annoying!
Sarah Atkinson
Elite Bookkeeping Services
What were they thinking....?? Thanks for giving us back the 'recent invoices' link but this upgrade is rubbish and these changes don't appear to have been thought through properly. Xero is starting to look a bit dusty with these clunky additions... yuck, not a fan.
A welcome change to contacts (for me anyway) would be an option within the customer details where you can allocate a salesperson for the purpose of tracking commissions and sales targets - I'm aware of tracking.. but to me that is a workaround and could be much easier as it's very fiddly allows errors as you have to enter the tracking category with each invoices so it really needs work.
A welcome change to contacts (for me anyway) would be an option within the customer details where you can allocate a salesperson for the purpose of tracking commissions and sales targets - I'm aware of tracking.. but to me that is a workaround and could be much easier as it's very fiddly allows errors as you have to enter the tracking category with each invoices so it really needs work.
Hi Sarah - we've heard quite a bit of feedback here about the new Contacts page, so I'm going to merge to keep all of the feedback together.
In response to the feedback, we've changed the search so you're able to view contacts starting with a certain character - more below.
---
'We've also changed the behavior of that box. When you type just 1 letter it will do a "starts with" search (just like the old A-Z tabs did) and when you type more than 1 letter it will start doing a "contains" search (e.g., "a" will return any Contacts with names, numbers and email addresses starting with "a"; and "ab" will return any Contacts with names, numbers and email addresses with "ab" anywhere).
We've also made the search box work without having to hit the "Enter" key (though it will work if you use the "Enter" key). Just type "a" and it will immediately begin to filter the list.'
In response to the feedback, we've changed the search so you're able to view contacts starting with a certain character - more below.
---
'We've also changed the behavior of that box. When you type just 1 letter it will do a "starts with" search (just like the old A-Z tabs did) and when you type more than 1 letter it will start doing a "contains" search (e.g., "a" will return any Contacts with names, numbers and email addresses starting with "a"; and "ab" will return any Contacts with names, numbers and email addresses with "ab" anywhere).
We've also made the search box work without having to hit the "Enter" key (though it will work if you use the "Enter" key). Just type "a" and it will immediately begin to filter the list.'
I HATE THE NEW SET UP AS WELL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cant view my total client's outstanding, no idea how to see it with the new set up.
Xero majorly screwed it up by NOT GIVING US AN OPTION to update the changes. I pay my fees every month why do I not have an option?
I have no idea why there is a need to change a perfectly fine platform,
I am considering MYOB or quick books, thats how annoying frustrating XERO has become.
Please just focus on being a accounting software agency and perhaps buy/develop another product to make the extra money if you have so much time to spend.
A very annoyed subscriber.
Kalvin Chow.
WHOLESALE BRIDAL DISTRIBUTION COMPANY
Cant view my total client's outstanding, no idea how to see it with the new set up.
Xero majorly screwed it up by NOT GIVING US AN OPTION to update the changes. I pay my fees every month why do I not have an option?
I have no idea why there is a need to change a perfectly fine platform,
I am considering MYOB or quick books, thats how annoying frustrating XERO has become.
Please just focus on being a accounting software agency and perhaps buy/develop another product to make the extra money if you have so much time to spend.
A very annoyed subscriber.
Kalvin Chow.
WHOLESALE BRIDAL DISTRIBUTION COMPANY
Hi everyone just wanting to let you know I'm going to merge this discussion here to keep all the feedback together. We're not going to revert the update but I want to stress that we're looking into all feedback and making changes.
Debbie, one of those changes was to bring back the 'View Recent Invoices' report - is that what you're asking after?
Jill, I've had a test and the Add Contact button is working for me. Can you please refresh your cookies and cache, and if that doesn't work please get in touch with Support so they can look into it.
Debbie, one of those changes was to bring back the 'View Recent Invoices' report - is that what you're asking after?
Jill, I've had a test and the Add Contact button is working for me. Can you please refresh your cookies and cache, and if that doesn't work please get in touch with Support so they can look into it.
I agree that the salesperson tracking would be a much handier update and inventory tracking even more important but .....
we use the tracking option currently for divisions within the company but need to expand tracking to sales as well.
Way too complicated when you are importing invoices and the reporting does not offer the solution required.
please change the invoice dates in contacts to current first and oldest last unless you create an archive option for previous financial years.
we use the tracking option currently for divisions within the company but need to expand tracking to sales as well.
Way too complicated when you are importing invoices and the reporting does not offer the solution required.
please change the invoice dates in contacts to current first and oldest last unless you create an archive option for previous financial years.
Merged: Customer Contacts
“Progress always means change, but Change does not always mean progress.”
Michael
“Progress always means change, but Change does not always mean progress.”
Michael
I know what you're referring to, Michael.. but please be assured that we're looking into all feedback and making needed changes. If you have any specific feedback that would be much appreciated. In the meantime, I'm going to merge this thread to the bigger one to keep all of the discussion together.
When I go into Contacts and type in my client it comes up with a list and I can see to the right the total that I owe them or that they owe me. So I am unsure what all the whinging is about on this issue. There are some other issues granted, however being able to see the total balance owed for each client is right there in black and white. So people let's stay focused on what is clunky in the update, some of you seem to be jumping in without actually looking at the new updates with an open mind. @Kalvin Chow - Can't view my total clients outstanding?
1. Our client base has now increased due to the fac that the entries put in bank reconcilations are now being showing as clients when they are just a description of a transaction.
2. We had clients in Groups and whilst the Group headings have stayed, there are no clients shown there.
3. Why aren't the invoices showing in the date they were raised, instead of showing when they were paid.
4. Why do we need to see two entries everytime an invoice is paid. It just clutters up teh page with irrelevant data.
5. Obviously these changes were not checked with a "normal" user. That should have been a priority before release. This is not something you learn for the future, it is just plan common sense.
6. Please restore the previous system.
Hi Brittany. When you have customers on the phone and are sorting out their account - in particular if the customer has a repeating invoice each month it was perfect to click on the overdue amount and get the report that showed all invoices and what is showing as unpaid.
The facility to drill down on that invoice and /or the payment was perfect. Showing most recent invoices does not solve the problem, why move a report that was accessible with the correct functionality to something that now has to be searched for. Clearly this change is not to enhance or make easier credit control. We don't need to see all/ most of the other information that is now showing.
If you are going to make change make sure it is useful - this certainly is not.
To say this change is not going to be reversed is arrogant and you are not listening to your customers. We put Xero where it is today and this attitude is why many of us went off MYOB. A lot of us will go looking for someone who is not constantly making changes which make out job harder. I have moved my practice to Xero and I can move it again. VERY disappointed.
You need to read the feedback with an open mind. Good organisations listen to their customers and respond accordingly
The facility to drill down on that invoice and /or the payment was perfect. Showing most recent invoices does not solve the problem, why move a report that was accessible with the correct functionality to something that now has to be searched for. Clearly this change is not to enhance or make easier credit control. We don't need to see all/ most of the other information that is now showing.
If you are going to make change make sure it is useful - this certainly is not.
To say this change is not going to be reversed is arrogant and you are not listening to your customers. We put Xero where it is today and this attitude is why many of us went off MYOB. A lot of us will go looking for someone who is not constantly making changes which make out job harder. I have moved my practice to Xero and I can move it again. VERY disappointed.
You need to read the feedback with an open mind. Good organisations listen to their customers and respond accordingly
@Michael what you're describing doesn't sound correct! I've asked the team to touch base to see what's going on.
@Debbie, the links to the two reports were added back earlier today. Do have a read of Craig's Official Reply here which has more info about the updates he's made based on the feedback given.
@Debbie, the links to the two reports were added back earlier today. Do have a read of Craig's Official Reply here which has more info about the updates he's made based on the feedback given.
Thank you Craig.
But why not just make the "Total you owe" & "Total overdue" (even if $0 zero) clickable? No need for the "View recent bills" link if you can just click on the "Total you owe" & "Total overdue" to be taken to the invoices/bills reports that were in the previous UI.
Also, the Graph is useless for most of us. Instead, allow the graph to be clickable to be take to the same invoices/bills reports that were in the previous UI the is behind the "View recent bills" link. For example, if I click on November 2015, you take me to the invoices/bills report with a filter of Nov 2016.
Even better, have the option to have the graph or the list of recent invoices/bills reports right on the contacts page. (similar how you have the Activity/Email option right below it.
But why not just make the "Total you owe" & "Total overdue" (even if $0 zero) clickable? No need for the "View recent bills" link if you can just click on the "Total you owe" & "Total overdue" to be taken to the invoices/bills reports that were in the previous UI.
Also, the Graph is useless for most of us. Instead, allow the graph to be clickable to be take to the same invoices/bills reports that were in the previous UI the is behind the "View recent bills" link. For example, if I click on November 2015, you take me to the invoices/bills report with a filter of Nov 2016.
Even better, have the option to have the graph or the list of recent invoices/bills reports right on the contacts page. (similar how you have the Activity/Email option right below it.
Let me begin by stating that my firm IS a Google For Work Partner, so we have access to all of the official Google Apps documentation, and I am personally a Certified Administrator for Google For Work. Hence, while there is nothing per se "official" in any way with regard to my comments, I do begin with verifiable knowledge of the platform and product.
There is substantially more "to-ing and fro-ing" thanks to a friend in the UK for that expression over this issue than their should be. The simplest way to summarize what needs to happen is:
1. Active Xero clients ought be in a Smart Folder - I am not going to explain what is readily in the documentation.
2. The Google For Work side of this very clear DO NOT SYNC "ALL CONTACTS". Your Xero Clients should be in their own folder at the level you want to sync them. If you have groups of entities you should carefully think through what this point means and not sync you understand it.
3. Best practices would suggest that the proper hierarcy for Contact Sync should be your CRM over Google Apps Contacts..then Google Apps Contacts over Xero for priority resolution rules. Despite what they may say here, don't enter contact change date in Xero if you sync with other applications.
4. If you have more complex data sync needs you want to look at this http://https://www.mulesoft.com/integration-solutions/dataweave-integration
There is complete documentation for Google Apps Administrators regarding the sync that can be located here.
The Google For Work Learning Center is located http://https://apps.google.com/training/
We support 1,200 clients on Google for Work, Salesforce, etc including > 20 Xero Partners.. We are a cloud integrator, and members AICPA, ICAEW, and CAANZ. If anyone need assistance NOT FREE we are not difficult to find.
There is substantially more "to-ing and fro-ing" thanks to a friend in the UK for that expression over this issue than their should be. The simplest way to summarize what needs to happen is:
1. Active Xero clients ought be in a Smart Folder - I am not going to explain what is readily in the documentation.
2. The Google For Work side of this very clear DO NOT SYNC "ALL CONTACTS". Your Xero Clients should be in their own folder at the level you want to sync them. If you have groups of entities you should carefully think through what this point means and not sync you understand it.
3. Best practices would suggest that the proper hierarcy for Contact Sync should be your CRM over Google Apps Contacts..then Google Apps Contacts over Xero for priority resolution rules. Despite what they may say here, don't enter contact change date in Xero if you sync with other applications.
4. If you have more complex data sync needs you want to look at this http://https://www.mulesoft.com/integration-solutions/dataweave-integration
There is complete documentation for Google Apps Administrators regarding the sync that can be located here.
The Google For Work Learning Center is located http://https://apps.google.com/training/
We support 1,200 clients on Google for Work, Salesforce, etc including > 20 Xero Partners.. We are a cloud integrator, and members AICPA, ICAEW, and CAANZ. If anyone need assistance NOT FREE we are not difficult to find.
OK, the 'fix' is hardly a fix I'm afraid Craig.....
Some of my users (namely "Invoice Only - Sales") are unable to view any recent activity in this feed thing - please give them back the access to the History & Notes and the ability to add notes to a Contact.
I use this user type for outsourced credit control, when I don't want the user to have full bank access etc. but I DO want them to have access to my notes & jottings on the invoices & Contacts.
Also when clicking on the 'View recent invoices' link it opens it in a new tab - annoying and unecessary. Please return this to its original state as a click-through link.
This has temporarily (I hope) completely screwed our credit control department...........
My over-riding impression is that this social media-type 'feed' contains far too much irrelevant information to be useful in a bookkeeping/accounting software package. This info is there, granted, but it's buried amongst a tide of 'ping-you-have-a-new-tweet-twot-twit' kind of updates............
Also we definitely need our A-Z selector back, this is something every user in our company (6 of) uses frequently and they're moaning like a windy night in a graveyard.
Overal unimpressed by the whole roll-out and the subsequent 'fix'.
Please sort this remaining issues ASAP
As someone has mentioned already, I have moved my company to Xero and I'm williing and able to move away from Xero.
Some of my users (namely "Invoice Only - Sales") are unable to view any recent activity in this feed thing - please give them back the access to the History & Notes and the ability to add notes to a Contact.
I use this user type for outsourced credit control, when I don't want the user to have full bank access etc. but I DO want them to have access to my notes & jottings on the invoices & Contacts.
Also when clicking on the 'View recent invoices' link it opens it in a new tab - annoying and unecessary. Please return this to its original state as a click-through link.
This has temporarily (I hope) completely screwed our credit control department...........
My over-riding impression is that this social media-type 'feed' contains far too much irrelevant information to be useful in a bookkeeping/accounting software package. This info is there, granted, but it's buried amongst a tide of 'ping-you-have-a-new-tweet-twot-twit' kind of updates............
Also we definitely need our A-Z selector back, this is something every user in our company (6 of) uses frequently and they're moaning like a windy night in a graveyard.
Overal unimpressed by the whole roll-out and the subsequent 'fix'.
Please sort this remaining issues ASAP
As someone has mentioned already, I have moved my company to Xero and I'm williing and able to move away from Xero.
What on earth were you thinking when you decided to make this change. Surely sometimes you need to actually ask the very people who are using Xero. The way that contacts is being viewed now is not only confusing to partners but what about the customers i have been inundated with frustrated customers. They know how to use it but when you make drastic changes like this people are turning off. Sorry.
Firstly: How do I get rid of unwanted 'suppliers' in my contacts list? I suddenly have hundreds of 'suppliers' that are in fact descriptions used when reconciling the bank - we have hundreds of parking fees and congestion charges each month due to London working and they have now appeared as suppliers! Total waste of time as we can't even drill down into those 'receipts'
Secondly: this is the UK and we use GBP not USD so why have we got a dollar sign? May seem pernickity but trust me, like everyone else, I'm having a bad week here!
Thirdly; WHY do you refuse to roll this back to Saturday and the layout we all want? do we not pay enough to get what we need?
There has been a lot of talk about moving to another accounting system, how do we do this?
You also didn't answer a question I asked yesterday - Is there anything else that you have planned that we should know about?
Secondly: this is the UK and we use GBP not USD so why have we got a dollar sign? May seem pernickity but trust me, like everyone else, I'm having a bad week here!
Thirdly; WHY do you refuse to roll this back to Saturday and the layout we all want? do we not pay enough to get what we need?
There has been a lot of talk about moving to another accounting system, how do we do this?
You also didn't answer a question I asked yesterday - Is there anything else that you have planned that we should know about?
@Xero - Can I volunteer to be involved in a User Acceptance Testing group?
Changes are being made that make no sense to end users.
If you think viewing data in this cluttered 'feed' form is easier than the debtors/creditors screens - then you really don't understand what your users need to see in order to manage their business accounts or those of their clients.
Changes are being made that make no sense to end users.
If you think viewing data in this cluttered 'feed' form is easier than the debtors/creditors screens - then you really don't understand what your users need to see in order to manage their business accounts or those of their clients.
Ahhhhhhh I hate it. It's a nightmare to do my clients credit control, I can't see why you need to duplicate everything into invoices and payments...all you needed to do was add an extra column to the original clear layout with a paid date....that's all...... K.I.S.S. It's now a complete mess. This change has not been designed with bookkeepers in mind. Please please please can we have the old format back...I beg you!
@Michael @Brittany I asked support about the massive increase in customers & how to reclassify them & this was what they said
These suppliers will be supplier, however, now they'll be customers also. At this point in time, there isn't a way to change this back.
Brilliant! Did Xero actually test this with any actual users before release
These suppliers will be supplier, however, now they'll be customers also. At this point in time, there isn't a way to change this back.
Brilliant! Did Xero actually test this with any actual users before release
Hi Xero
I started this discussion 24hrs a go and it's become - without doubt - the most feisty and angst ridden forum I have ever been involved in. There's a temptation to want to enjoy the ranting and see you guys suffer but that would be immature, although, as others have pointed out, there's comfort in knowing that my pain is shared.
The wisest comment I saw was from a poster who pointed out that you have created a great CRM tool but, in so doing, have destroyed what was becoming a fine book-keeping system.
Having run a small business for 25 years I have got to know all aspects of business pretty clearly. Being able to make my book-keeping a 15 minute a day job is essential and the switch from Sage to Xero 18 months ago was utter joy. Unlike accountancy, book-keeping is a binary activity – there is and never should be any grey. It's either black or white, on or off. With the legacy layout of Xero and with excellent bank feeds the book-keeping which used to be a chore in Sage, was almost a pleasure – for now that's gone. I guess like the switch from Mac OS9 to OSX or from Windows 7 to 8, we'll find a way – that's the genius of the human mind – adaptability. But there will always linger a slight sense that on or around the 21st December 2015 Xero cr*pped on us. For a brief and potentially fatal moment they suffered from the hubris that has destroyed so many businesses – thinking they know better than their customers.
About a thousand years ago, when I was employed and had a thing called a salary I went on a company conference. The theme of the week has stuck with me over the years and seems very apposite here; "Keep it simple, make it fun"
Martin
I started this discussion 24hrs a go and it's become - without doubt - the most feisty and angst ridden forum I have ever been involved in. There's a temptation to want to enjoy the ranting and see you guys suffer but that would be immature, although, as others have pointed out, there's comfort in knowing that my pain is shared.
The wisest comment I saw was from a poster who pointed out that you have created a great CRM tool but, in so doing, have destroyed what was becoming a fine book-keeping system.
Having run a small business for 25 years I have got to know all aspects of business pretty clearly. Being able to make my book-keeping a 15 minute a day job is essential and the switch from Sage to Xero 18 months ago was utter joy. Unlike accountancy, book-keeping is a binary activity – there is and never should be any grey. It's either black or white, on or off. With the legacy layout of Xero and with excellent bank feeds the book-keeping which used to be a chore in Sage, was almost a pleasure – for now that's gone. I guess like the switch from Mac OS9 to OSX or from Windows 7 to 8, we'll find a way – that's the genius of the human mind – adaptability. But there will always linger a slight sense that on or around the 21st December 2015 Xero cr*pped on us. For a brief and potentially fatal moment they suffered from the hubris that has destroyed so many businesses – thinking they know better than their customers.
About a thousand years ago, when I was employed and had a thing called a salary I went on a company conference. The theme of the week has stuck with me over the years and seems very apposite here; "Keep it simple, make it fun"
Martin
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for bringing back the "view recent invoices" link on each customers page - best Christmas present ever!!!
I can live with the rest of the changes by basically ignoring the useless "activity feed" and graphs completely. If I pretend they don't exist and never look at it, I'm happy now that I have my "view recent invoices" button back.
I still don't understand at all what you were thinking with these changes as they took an excellent system and destroyed it, but IF YOU DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING ELSE I can just about live with it.
Merry Christmas everyone :-)
I can live with the rest of the changes by basically ignoring the useless "activity feed" and graphs completely. If I pretend they don't exist and never look at it, I'm happy now that I have my "view recent invoices" button back.
I still don't understand at all what you were thinking with these changes as they took an excellent system and destroyed it, but IF YOU DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING ELSE I can just about live with it.
Merry Christmas everyone :-)
Brittany stated @Michael what you're describing doesn't sound correct! I've asked the team to touch base to see what's going on.
Hi Brittany I think that you can see from other replies that I am correct. I have responded to customer care and given them access to my files, however they have not been accessed yet.
Instead of applying Patches PLEASE return us to the previous format and get the programmers to rework the additions. Incidentally I understand that a number of ex MYOB progreammers are now working at Xero. The continual programming stuff-ups at MYOB were the reason a lot of us left that coy. They also had a good product until it was decided that the developers knew better than the users. Please be big enough to admit the error (which can be respected) and bring the system back to a workable one.
Hi Brittany I think that you can see from other replies that I am correct. I have responded to customer care and given them access to my files, however they have not been accessed yet.
Instead of applying Patches PLEASE return us to the previous format and get the programmers to rework the additions. Incidentally I understand that a number of ex MYOB progreammers are now working at Xero. The continual programming stuff-ups at MYOB were the reason a lot of us left that coy. They also had a good product until it was decided that the developers knew better than the users. Please be big enough to admit the error (which can be respected) and bring the system back to a workable one.
Ouch !! But I think you now understand the depth of ill feeling this upgrade has caused
CTO Craig, if you think that what you have done with this revised search facility comes anywhere close to what we had then think again. You have said that CTO Craig has made the change so that now we can search with just the entry of one letter into the search box and we need not press enter. Well. when we enter a letter it does indeed search without pressing enter, but the list is everybody in the database that has that letter anywhere in their contact details, in their address, email address, phone number, anywhere!!! This is still totally unacceptable and we must insist on a rollback to what we had earlier.
We are now recording the extra time time spent on using Xero, including retraining time, time spent on customer support, time liaising with our accountant, etc. in order to prepare for the invoice that will hit your desk in the New Year. I must say that Sage and Quickbooks must be rubbing their hands with glee and gearing up for the influx of new customers and good luck to them because I have never heard of any other company to treat its customers in such a shabby way.
We are now recording the extra time time spent on using Xero, including retraining time, time spent on customer support, time liaising with our accountant, etc. in order to prepare for the invoice that will hit your desk in the New Year. I must say that Sage and Quickbooks must be rubbing their hands with glee and gearing up for the influx of new customers and good luck to them because I have never heard of any other company to treat its customers in such a shabby way.
David Maidment
I totally agree with Martin's comments above - I have never known a thread like this. It is so scary how wrong Xero got it. Anyway I'm now fed-up with all the emails I keep receiving on this topic so please forgive me whilst I get on with some work that needs to be done before the Christmas break starts. Here's hoping Xero only improves things in 2016!
@David Funny you should mention the invoice thing as I asked Support for the address of where I should send it? No answer. I wish I was going to XeroCon now so I could debt chase in person.
Meanwhile I've just taken on a new client who was on Sage One & wanted to switch to Xero, I have dissuaded them, spoken to Sage who were V helpful and I will be looking at Sage One in the new year - bet it wont take them long to work out how to extract the data from Xero
Meanwhile I've just taken on a new client who was on Sage One & wanted to switch to Xero, I have dissuaded them, spoken to Sage who were V helpful and I will be looking at Sage One in the new year - bet it wont take them long to work out how to extract the data from Xero
Hi, following other comments - I'm sorry to say that I too find the new Contacts page useless:
1. What happened to bill / invoice dates? All you can now see is Due date or Paid date
2. Customers / suppliers invoiced / billed in currencies different than GBP - it's absolutely impossible to tell what is owed / due in let's say USD or EUR
3. Quotes on the list - who cares when they were created and edited (and by whom) when you don't have info whether they are still open or actually have been converted into invoices?
4. How are you supposed to work out which invoices / bills need to be paid / what's the amount etc other than going through the list with your calculator as you are no longer able to export the list of invoices / bills from the contact activity page?
All in all - a TOTAL DISASTER! I seriously think that Xero should check any changes they want to introduce with people who use Xero and Its features on daily bases.
1. What happened to bill / invoice dates? All you can now see is Due date or Paid date
2. Customers / suppliers invoiced / billed in currencies different than GBP - it's absolutely impossible to tell what is owed / due in let's say USD or EUR
3. Quotes on the list - who cares when they were created and edited (and by whom) when you don't have info whether they are still open or actually have been converted into invoices?
4. How are you supposed to work out which invoices / bills need to be paid / what's the amount etc other than going through the list with your calculator as you are no longer able to export the list of invoices / bills from the contact activity page?
All in all - a TOTAL DISASTER! I seriously think that Xero should check any changes they want to introduce with people who use Xero and Its features on daily bases.
I agree.. It has changed for worse. Please set back to what it was before. All the information now displayed on Customer/Supplier is not useful. Grid and column look as before was much more obvious to see what was going on on customer's ledger. Very very disappointed.
User access is still a big problem for a couple of clients, As stated above Invoice Only level users have lost access to the detailed reports.
That means that any customer or supplier query is landing on the desk of the business owners - not what they should be dealing with
That means that any customer or supplier query is landing on the desk of the business owners - not what they should be dealing with
I've spent a few minutes looking through the Feature Requests to see if I could find the idiots that made the request for theses changes. Surprise, surprise, not in all the 389 pages is there anyone who made a request for the A-Z tabs to disappear or for the presentation of invoice/bill information to be changed either. These changes do not appear in any of your 'completed' changes so I wonder where the requests actually came from.
Whilst I am sure we all appreciate that we signed up for an 'evolving' product, we also signed up for advance notification by EMAIL about changes. That's what your website says. I have had no email notification about changes and there has been nothing in my notifications box about these ridiculous changes. I am now exploring the legality of these changes with our legal team.
I am sure that everybody is aware of these changes now so I would welcome anybody who actually thinks these changes are welcome to speak up.
Whilst I am sure we all appreciate that we signed up for an 'evolving' product, we also signed up for advance notification by EMAIL about changes. That's what your website says. I have had no email notification about changes and there has been nothing in my notifications box about these ridiculous changes. I am now exploring the legality of these changes with our legal team.
I am sure that everybody is aware of these changes now so I would welcome anybody who actually thinks these changes are welcome to speak up.
David Maidment
I can see that you have "fixed" some of the problems caused by this change but I still can't understand why you have not just reverted back to the previous release accepting that you have got it wrong and need to do some reworking...
Specifically my Invoice Only users are now unable to view ANY recent activity on the contacts screen. They need access to the History & Notes and the ability to add notes to a Contact and cannot become Standard users otherwise they end up getting full bank and reporting access (and that's a whole other problem). Can this be addressed asap as this is how we do our credit control.
Also, I have loads of suppliers now listed as customers and really don't have time to go through them all and sort it out when it was perfectly fine before.
I strongly suggest:
- you revert back to the previous release asap then have a rethink and do any changes properly and in consultation with your users
- set up a proper User Group. I have worked with other System suppliers and they have brought their users together once every year to talk about what the users actually want not the developers.
Specifically my Invoice Only users are now unable to view ANY recent activity on the contacts screen. They need access to the History & Notes and the ability to add notes to a Contact and cannot become Standard users otherwise they end up getting full bank and reporting access (and that's a whole other problem). Can this be addressed asap as this is how we do our credit control.
Also, I have loads of suppliers now listed as customers and really don't have time to go through them all and sort it out when it was perfectly fine before.
I strongly suggest:
- you revert back to the previous release asap then have a rethink and do any changes properly and in consultation with your users
- set up a proper User Group. I have worked with other System suppliers and they have brought their users together once every year to talk about what the users actually want not the developers.
Merged: Changes to Customers/Suppliers layouts
I just wanted to let you know that I do not like the new layouts for customers and suppliers, it is not as clear as it used to be. The old layout was much easier to use and see what had gone on historically.
I just wanted to let you know that I do not like the new layouts for customers and suppliers, it is not as clear as it used to be. The old layout was much easier to use and see what had gone on historically.
Xero please also change the Notes back to the way they were. Our business relies on these for each contact. Not being able to see Notes in a thread is a deal breaker for us. You risk losing so many users because of all of these changes. Just go back to how it was, your clients are begging you to do this. And the sooner the better. Please.
Xero,
I think the main point about this whole thread is that no changes were requested. You have so many other change feature requests, that users like myself really dont understand why these requests have been ignored and a feature change that was never requested has been actioned?
This is a classic case of style over substance. Your technicians are no doubt very good at their jobs but this does not work for bookkeepers or accountants.
I think the main point about this whole thread is that no changes were requested. You have so many other change feature requests, that users like myself really dont understand why these requests have been ignored and a feature change that was never requested has been actioned?
This is a classic case of style over substance. Your technicians are no doubt very good at their jobs but this does not work for bookkeepers or accountants.
Can I just add to that too.
The invoice activity page is just terrible. I used to be able to check off statements from this old page and see what was paid and still outstanding at a glance. Now there is a couple mentioned at the top of the page and if I scroll down they appear again - not necessarily in the same order. With them all in the one column it's hard on the eye. The icons at the side don't help. 'bill paid' or 'payment' icons - what's the difference? Please, Please put this back the way it was. This is messy and I'm going mad scrolling up and down trying to note what I'm looking at and not seeing double or counting paid invoices when all I want is the outstanding ones. (Is there a report that show aged payable's for specific suppliers?) I can see that you have tried to bring the information to the fore rather than have us scroll to the bottom of a long page of invoices, but perhaps the ability to archive older invoices or put them in a folder of some sort would have been better.
Please bring back the old format until you work out how to improve it. I'm dreading end of month statements.
The invoice activity page is just terrible. I used to be able to check off statements from this old page and see what was paid and still outstanding at a glance. Now there is a couple mentioned at the top of the page and if I scroll down they appear again - not necessarily in the same order. With them all in the one column it's hard on the eye. The icons at the side don't help. 'bill paid' or 'payment' icons - what's the difference? Please, Please put this back the way it was. This is messy and I'm going mad scrolling up and down trying to note what I'm looking at and not seeing double or counting paid invoices when all I want is the outstanding ones. (Is there a report that show aged payable's for specific suppliers?) I can see that you have tried to bring the information to the fore rather than have us scroll to the bottom of a long page of invoices, but perhaps the ability to archive older invoices or put them in a folder of some sort would have been better.
Please bring back the old format until you work out how to improve it. I'm dreading end of month statements.
I agree with the above, really awkward to use and not user friendly at all! I liked the old A-Z accross the top to quickly glance at a list of customers and totally agree with the comments about checking the bill paid list and contact details are not as easy to see as before, not sure why this was changed?
@David Maidment - you have undertaken what I intended to try and find time to do this afternoon....... Search the feature requests for any requests remotely along the lines of this anger creating debacle..........
I suspected what you have found would be the case. Dozens of seriously useful features requested (then seemingly ignored) and no requests for anything like the disaster rolled out on 21/12/2015 but still they press on with it.
XERO - time to sit up and listen to your boss (your customers) we and only we have total power to fire you all from the CEO to the janitor by simply diverting our custom elsewhere.
Please, please, please listen to your customers.
I suspected what you have found would be the case. Dozens of seriously useful features requested (then seemingly ignored) and no requests for anything like the disaster rolled out on 21/12/2015 but still they press on with it.
XERO - time to sit up and listen to your boss (your customers) we and only we have total power to fire you all from the CEO to the janitor by simply diverting our custom elsewhere.
Please, please, please listen to your customers.
Same here guys. The new layout is terrible. If it ain't broke don't fix it. The customer page is so user unfriendly and another problem i have discovered with my most popular supplier. I cant view all of there invoices now. The layout just freezes after October. i cant see the most recent bills i have put on the system! PLEASE change back.
I agree with the above comment, but I also have a particular query. Since the update, when sending statements Xero says it's been emailed, but no one seems to be receiving them?!?
I agree with all the comments above, this latest update is terrible! Probably the most frustrating change is the loss of the A-Z tabs for quickly finding customers and suppliers, it now takes a lot longer to simply find a contact, which is crazy!! Also, the only way to see some of the contact details is to click "edit", which again is crazy!
Got our ability to search via email address back this morning. Thanks Xero please don't remove it again it's got to be a core requirement.
Indeed what have you done. It is all good having a activity for a supplier/customer in chronological order BUT
previously one line gave all the information of total amount, amount paid and amount outstanding, now one has to either view the document to see the activity for that document.
previously one line gave all the information of total amount, amount paid and amount outstanding, now one has to either view the document to see the activity for that document.
Please put the contacts page back to what it was. We use A-Z constantly. The new screen takes up too much space. One line per contact with the tabs. Just as it was before. It worked well. Don't change things without asking users if changes are needed.
Same here. The new update is awful, and removes a lot of the functionality that we've worked into our workflow over the past several years. Why can we not order the customer list by anything other than A-Z or by email address (like amount owing, overdue by, etc.)? Where did my columns go that I could order the customer lists by? And attachment icons are gone too now from the customer screen, which is frustrating and unhelpful. This update broke Xero for us. A fairly large step backwards. The gmail integration is nice, but not at the expense of killing the functions that screen has been providing. Xero is already feature-lean, so removing things that it DOES do is going in the wrong direction. We want more, not less.
Updating without so much as a warning was extremely frustrating.. especially right at the end of the month and calendar year. Just put it back to the way it was until you've got it right.
Updating without so much as a warning was extremely frustrating.. especially right at the end of the month and calendar year. Just put it back to the way it was until you've got it right.
All my staff have been complaining like hell about this update today! As per the post above, this is a major step backwards which has broken the way we've got used to working with Xero! Also, what on earth were you thinking rolling out a majorly disruptive update like this at one of the busiest and most stressful times of the year for most businesses - have you lost all care and regard for your customers!!??
Hi everyone, really appreciate all the feedback here so will merge together with this bigger discussion so we can keep a better eye on what's being said. Please have a look at Craig's Official updates, if you haven't already.
I do want to confirm that he's made some changes based on the feedback given, so entering in one character in the search field will display contacts that start with that character. This is to replace the A-Z tabs that have been requested. At the moment the one character search will also include email addresses that start with that character, but we're looking into feedback on that. The View Recent Invoices link has also been put back so that you can view the report from within the Contact itself.
@Tony I've asked the team to contact you about your statement issue.
@Paul, have also asked Support to touch base with you.
I do want to confirm that he's made some changes based on the feedback given, so entering in one character in the search field will display contacts that start with that character. This is to replace the A-Z tabs that have been requested. At the moment the one character search will also include email addresses that start with that character, but we're looking into feedback on that. The View Recent Invoices link has also been put back so that you can view the report from within the Contact itself.
@Tony I've asked the team to contact you about your statement issue.
@Paul, have also asked Support to touch base with you.
I'm hearing this new layout has something to do with Gmail?
Has there been some kind of agreement/contract entered into with Google that is stopping Xero reverting our contacts back to the old screen we want? If not, why won't you do it?
Has there been some kind of agreement/contract entered into with Google that is stopping Xero reverting our contacts back to the old screen we want? If not, why won't you do it?
absolutely disgusted. cannot believe that anybody would think this was better. Do you actually have any bookkeeping experience what so ever? Or any experience? How the hell can we find any of our contacts.
Hi again, have had a look at the comments overnight and I'm going to attempt to answer them below. Please know we're still looking at all feedback and the team are working all hours to get things fixed for you!
Can't drill into total owed figures
@David W this is as designed. You're able to view those exact figures in the View Recent invoices link below.
Currency sign display
@Giles, Jeanette & Kasia I've emailed you about this so we can get a better look into what's going on here. Look like you're referring to the picture to the left of the transaction?
Invoice Only + Sales can't view notes
@David G, Giles & Emma, I've added this to the list of things for the team to look into.
Spend/Receive money transactions will turn contact into a Supplier/Customer
@Jeanette, Ellie & Emma. Before the release of Contacts, we heard a lot of feedback that this was something that users wanted to be included. Some people don't use invoices or bills, but still want these contacts to be grouped as a Supplier, or Customer. We're looking at the feedback here though - as there may be a solution.
@Michael, apologies I can see now that I'd misunderstood what you'd initially written. I know the team spoke to you last night, and emailed again this morning - so if you'd like them to look into your other grouping issue, then please let them know.
One character Search displaying email address
@David M & Giles, the inclusion of email addresses to the one character search was included to be helpful, but the team can certainly look into this.
Invoice displays Due date, not actual date
@Kasia, this is on the list of things to add. Thanks for the request.
Contact Export isn't working
@Kasia, this should be sorted tomorrow.
Please revert back to old Contacts
Can certainly understand that this is a big change, and one that could have been released at a better time - again we're so sorry for any stress this has caused. We're not going to roll back these changes as we've invested time and effort into this new experience. However, we're making a ton of changes based on the feedback here, and in emails to Support, to make this better for you all - we really appreciate all of your input. Thanks again.
Can't drill into total owed figures
@David W this is as designed. You're able to view those exact figures in the View Recent invoices link below.
Currency sign display
@Giles, Jeanette & Kasia I've emailed you about this so we can get a better look into what's going on here. Look like you're referring to the picture to the left of the transaction?
Invoice Only + Sales can't view notes
@David G, Giles & Emma, I've added this to the list of things for the team to look into.
Spend/Receive money transactions will turn contact into a Supplier/Customer
@Jeanette, Ellie & Emma. Before the release of Contacts, we heard a lot of feedback that this was something that users wanted to be included. Some people don't use invoices or bills, but still want these contacts to be grouped as a Supplier, or Customer. We're looking at the feedback here though - as there may be a solution.
@Michael, apologies I can see now that I'd misunderstood what you'd initially written. I know the team spoke to you last night, and emailed again this morning - so if you'd like them to look into your other grouping issue, then please let them know.
One character Search displaying email address
@David M & Giles, the inclusion of email addresses to the one character search was included to be helpful, but the team can certainly look into this.
Invoice displays Due date, not actual date
@Kasia, this is on the list of things to add. Thanks for the request.
Contact Export isn't working
@Kasia, this should be sorted tomorrow.
Please revert back to old Contacts
Can certainly understand that this is a big change, and one that could have been released at a better time - again we're so sorry for any stress this has caused. We're not going to roll back these changes as we've invested time and effort into this new experience. However, we're making a ton of changes based on the feedback here, and in emails to Support, to make this better for you all - we really appreciate all of your input. Thanks again.
Brittany,
In preface to my comments, I am both a Xero Gold Accounting Partner and a Google for Work Partner. There are several points that ought be noted, many of which reflect that Xero made significant and substantial improvements to its product, though there should have been a substantially better effort made to communicate the manner in which the tools ought be used. Best practices for IT governance in an accounting environment would have:
1. Updates to the Master Data Set be maintained at the ENTITY LEVEL with Shared Contacts properly grouped as "Customers", "Vendors", "Contractors" and "Employees". The usual situs for this would be within CRM e.g. Salesforce or Worketc, and such would be the sole location where changes to Shared Contacts would be made. A individual's Contact would become a Shared Contact when it was properly attached e.g. when an Opportunity is converted to a realized transaction to an Account, and by definition, Accounts belong to the business entity rather than an individual Employee.
Shared Contacts are properly synced solely in the direction to update functional Contact repositories such as Google Contacts which contain groups of Shared Contacts amongst the domain Entity and an individual Employees personal contacts. They sync should always go from CRM to Shared Contacts with the Shared Contacts then updating individuals and other Contact repositories such as Support Portal and Accounting Xero.
The Shared Contact data should only flow from CRM to common to Xero NEVER the reverse, and contact update in Xero ought be disabled. Where an entity doesn't maintain a formal CRM, the common repository Google Contacts should control replication of data for contact information e.g. Xero ought be read only on that date. The information that Xero can write to the entity's information ought relate to invoices, bill payment, collection and management notes and comments etc.
In preface to my comments, I am both a Xero Gold Accounting Partner and a Google for Work Partner. There are several points that ought be noted, many of which reflect that Xero made significant and substantial improvements to its product, though there should have been a substantially better effort made to communicate the manner in which the tools ought be used. Best practices for IT governance in an accounting environment would have:
1. Updates to the Master Data Set be maintained at the ENTITY LEVEL with Shared Contacts properly grouped as "Customers", "Vendors", "Contractors" and "Employees". The usual situs for this would be within CRM e.g. Salesforce or Worketc, and such would be the sole location where changes to Shared Contacts would be made. A individual's Contact would become a Shared Contact when it was properly attached e.g. when an Opportunity is converted to a realized transaction to an Account, and by definition, Accounts belong to the business entity rather than an individual Employee.
Shared Contacts are properly synced solely in the direction to update functional Contact repositories such as Google Contacts which contain groups of Shared Contacts amongst the domain Entity and an individual Employees personal contacts. They sync should always go from CRM to Shared Contacts with the Shared Contacts then updating individuals and other Contact repositories such as Support Portal and Accounting Xero.
The Shared Contact data should only flow from CRM to common to Xero NEVER the reverse, and contact update in Xero ought be disabled. Where an entity doesn't maintain a formal CRM, the common repository Google Contacts should control replication of data for contact information e.g. Xero ought be read only on that date. The information that Xero can write to the entity's information ought relate to invoices, bill payment, collection and management notes and comments etc.
With properly trained and skilled consultants e.g we are certified by Xero, Google For Work, Salesforce, dropbox for Business, and Box.com the proper application of business rules in contact replication and grouping of Share Contacts, and the absolutely EXCELLENT Smart Lists with Xero would have rendered all of this a non-issue.
One key takeaway is that business owners would be wise to involve professionals such as ther CPA or ACA in the implementation of tntegrated systems...just because you can "point and click" doesn't mean that everything is going to work just fine.
One key takeaway is that business owners would be wise to involve professionals such as ther CPA or ACA in the implementation of tntegrated systems...just because you can "point and click" doesn't mean that everything is going to work just fine.
The first letter search should only be looking for "starts with" rather than "contains" to bring back the A-Z functionality. It makes no sense, when I am searching for "M" clients to include those with an email of "Clem"
We have hundreds of names in our system that we have to find quickly when a customer calls to ask about an invoice.
Your team may have invested hundreds of hours in developing this "improvement" but it pales in significance when you consider the thousands of users who are disappointed and frustrated by your unwillingness to roll back to a prior version which was working and stable.
Do the honorable thing -- roll back and test properly before release again. It will win huge support from your client base for the future.
Many of us have been burned by Microsoft over 20 years, and are very leery of changing systems until they are well tested and accepted. At least with Microsoft, we have the option of staying with Windows 7 or 8 instead of moving to Windows 10. With Xero, you are forcing us to change without notice. This change, together with your policy of changing subscription prices without notice, will drive us to look for alternative systems that are more predictable.
We have hundreds of names in our system that we have to find quickly when a customer calls to ask about an invoice.
Your team may have invested hundreds of hours in developing this "improvement" but it pales in significance when you consider the thousands of users who are disappointed and frustrated by your unwillingness to roll back to a prior version which was working and stable.
Do the honorable thing -- roll back and test properly before release again. It will win huge support from your client base for the future.
Many of us have been burned by Microsoft over 20 years, and are very leery of changing systems until they are well tested and accepted. At least with Microsoft, we have the option of staying with Windows 7 or 8 instead of moving to Windows 10. With Xero, you are forcing us to change without notice. This change, together with your policy of changing subscription prices without notice, will drive us to look for alternative systems that are more predictable.
DJ Dean - thank you for replying so well to this update. I agree and you said it so well.
Again, agree entirely with DJ Dean. Saying "we've invested time and effort into this new experience." is hardly reasonable justification for keeping an update in place which clearly none of your users like, appreciate or asked for?
It's not even like there isn't a ton of things which have been asked for and yet you put your time into this instead?
It makes your apologies somewhat insincere when you are basically saying "we're sorry we've done this and upset everyone, we are learning from it, but we're not going to put things back to how everyone wants it"!!
It's not even like there isn't a ton of things which have been asked for and yet you put your time into this instead?
It makes your apologies somewhat insincere when you are basically saying "we're sorry we've done this and upset everyone, we are learning from it, but we're not going to put things back to how everyone wants it"!!
DJ Dean, if you have a look at Craig's Official reply, you'll see the search is exactly as you've described. The first letter search does however bring up results for email addresses, but as I mentioned above, this is something we're looking into atm.
In Community alone, we've had hundreds of feature requests to add functionality to Contacts, and this initial release will make it easier to implement new features.
I'm conscious that this thread is getting quite big and could be filling up some inboxes. So, if you no longer wish to receive these emails, come back here and click Cancel Email Updates. We still do welcome discussion here though!
In Community alone, we've had hundreds of feature requests to add functionality to Contacts, and this initial release will make it easier to implement new features.
I'm conscious that this thread is getting quite big and could be filling up some inboxes. So, if you no longer wish to receive these emails, come back here and click Cancel Email Updates. We still do welcome discussion here though!
Brittany....as I have indicated.....the changes made are are, on the whole excellent. The rollout could have been better....I have raised this internally....THE SINGLE BIGGEST ERROR HEAR IS NOT REACHING OUT TO ACCOUNTING AND CLOUD PARTNERS TO COMMUNICATE THE ISSUE AND CREATING A FORCE MULTIPLIER TO MAKE US AWARE SO WE COULD HAVE ALERTED "OUR" CUSTOMERS!!!
That's why Partner Programs Exist...and we are Partners with Salesforce, Google For Work, box.com, dropbox.com etc in one case for 11 years and the rest since inception and we will share that observation all the way up the chain. Customers come first which is precisely why Xero not letting me know made it harder to reach our customers for this partner.
That's why Partner Programs Exist...and we are Partners with Salesforce, Google For Work, box.com, dropbox.com etc in one case for 11 years and the rest since inception and we will share that observation all the way up the chain. Customers come first which is precisely why Xero not letting me know made it harder to reach our customers for this partner.
"....the changes made are, on the whole excellent....." ??? Errr, really?? I think you may want to read through the feedback in this forum thread from actual users; The changes are far from excellent, they've caused users no end of problems!! Or maybe the changes are excellent to you as a partner, giving you a revenue opportunity to help us victims work round the changes?
Hi Erin,
Thanks for your offer, however this just requires more work on my part and as I said don’t worry about the Groups that is something I will have to fix myself in the new year.
Incidentally, whilst I have had problems before with support staff not reading emails correctly, and managers not keeping their promotional promise, the attitude of Xero through Brittany astounds me.
There is a perceived arrogance here that says Xero won’t change because we invested time and money and that the users will just have to suck it up.
Erin, the message being received from Xero “is loud and clear”, and “not forgotten”.
Cheers
Michael
Thanks for your offer, however this just requires more work on my part and as I said don’t worry about the Groups that is something I will have to fix myself in the new year.
Incidentally, whilst I have had problems before with support staff not reading emails correctly, and managers not keeping their promotional promise, the attitude of Xero through Brittany astounds me.
There is a perceived arrogance here that says Xero won’t change because we invested time and money and that the users will just have to suck it up.
Erin, the message being received from Xero “is loud and clear”, and “not forgotten”.
Cheers
Michael
I stand behind what I said.....and we are a CPA firm first and foremost ....don't generally do IT work for non-clients.....just because orthopaedic surgery instruments can be purchased off of eBay doesn't mean everyone ought do so and try them on spouse and family. We were no more aware of this situation than anyone else, however, we the training and skills to respond.
You are welcome to your views and I will keep mine..the topic is Contacts changes not what any individual poster thiinks...and back to our regular programming.
You are welcome to your views and I will keep mine..the topic is Contacts changes not what any individual poster thiinks...and back to our regular programming.
Just go back to the Old contacts and get rid of this rubbish, seriously if something isn't broken why fix it, it was easy to navigate around before its just a dogs breakfast and takes longer and when you find your contact/Customer or Supplier and you drill down to them the next screen has changed and is also ridiculous. The reason we changed to Xero was for its uncluttered and ease of doing the book work now its a shambles, don't just make tweaks to it as I said revert to the old system and throw this rubbish where it belongs... In the Bin, surely you don't need to change things to justify your job.
Cameron Diffey
First letter search does not just pick client names starting with the letter. It also picks up contact people's first letter of their email address starting with that letter.
This is not needed! It just adds to the long list to choose from.
When we know enough of the client name to enter more information, the new search capability is useful, but often we just need an alpha listing to look through.
This is not needed! It just adds to the long list to choose from.
When we know enough of the client name to enter more information, the new search capability is useful, but often we just need an alpha listing to look through.
Quote "In Community alone, we've had hundreds of feature requests to add functionality to Contacts, and this initial release will make it easier to implement new features"
Brittany, please supply the links to the community pages that have requested 'these' new 'functions' AND what do you mean by 'implement new features' - tell me there aren't any more to come
As for 'unfollowing' this thread, I think you will find we are waiting for a reply from yourselves stating you have rolled it back
I keep seeing Craig popping up saying you have added this that and the other.....surely its easier to change it back?
Brittany, please supply the links to the community pages that have requested 'these' new 'functions' AND what do you mean by 'implement new features' - tell me there aren't any more to come
As for 'unfollowing' this thread, I think you will find we are waiting for a reply from yourselves stating you have rolled it back
I keep seeing Craig popping up saying you have added this that and the other.....surely its easier to change it back?
If the functionality isn't going to be rolled back, which despite 100's of requests, looks unlikely, can I ask for a change.
I am involved with a pub/cafe/shop where virtually all income is cash or credit card, but we have lots of bills paid by BACS - we have food deliveries daily from lots of different suppliers. I used the All contacts view to quickly check for overdue suppliers. The Aged payables tells me by supplier what I owe, but not what is overdue. The bills I owe gives my by bill not supplier.
So here are three options that would restore the functionality I'm looking for;
On the Contacts screen allow for Smart lists by supplier not just customer, with a pre-set search for Suppliers I owe - with those overdue in red.
On the Aged Payables screen highlight in red payments overdue - might need an amber colour for where some payments in the month are overdue and some aren't
On the overdue bills screen add functionality to allow summary by supplier.
I am involved with a pub/cafe/shop where virtually all income is cash or credit card, but we have lots of bills paid by BACS - we have food deliveries daily from lots of different suppliers. I used the All contacts view to quickly check for overdue suppliers. The Aged payables tells me by supplier what I owe, but not what is overdue. The bills I owe gives my by bill not supplier.
So here are three options that would restore the functionality I'm looking for;
On the Contacts screen allow for Smart lists by supplier not just customer, with a pre-set search for Suppliers I owe - with those overdue in red.
On the Aged Payables screen highlight in red payments overdue - might need an amber colour for where some payments in the month are overdue and some aren't
On the overdue bills screen add functionality to allow summary by supplier.
In support of DJ Dean's first post today, please please revert to the previous version and sort this release out in the New Year...
Brittany has said Xero is not going to roll back the changes because of the time and effort invested but I think that only goes to show that Xero has missed the point here completely. I am happy to be corrected by other users but I don't believe anyone is suggesting you tear up all your changes and throw them in the bin but right now they are generally not working for us users so the very best course of action and the most customer aware one is to revert back to the previous Contacts right now as per the endless requests here in this thread....
Why on earth is Craig spending hours patching the system in "emergency" response to this feedback when Xero could have just immediately reverted back and used Craig's time to sort the release out properly ready for a January roll out? Without having to fire fight all your unhappy users' feedback, you can then take the time to sort out what elements of the changes you have worked on that you are actually going to release and which ones, based on the chaos of the last 3 days you are going to modify or reject. This then becomes a series of updates delivered to users in a considered and user friendly way and means all your time and effort invested already is not wasted at all. This will win back your user support.
If Xero cannot see how much it has upset its own user community that does show a certain arrogance in my opinion....So in summary, and again, please revert to the previous version of Xero as this is what your users want
Brittany has said Xero is not going to roll back the changes because of the time and effort invested but I think that only goes to show that Xero has missed the point here completely. I am happy to be corrected by other users but I don't believe anyone is suggesting you tear up all your changes and throw them in the bin but right now they are generally not working for us users so the very best course of action and the most customer aware one is to revert back to the previous Contacts right now as per the endless requests here in this thread....
Why on earth is Craig spending hours patching the system in "emergency" response to this feedback when Xero could have just immediately reverted back and used Craig's time to sort the release out properly ready for a January roll out? Without having to fire fight all your unhappy users' feedback, you can then take the time to sort out what elements of the changes you have worked on that you are actually going to release and which ones, based on the chaos of the last 3 days you are going to modify or reject. This then becomes a series of updates delivered to users in a considered and user friendly way and means all your time and effort invested already is not wasted at all. This will win back your user support.
If Xero cannot see how much it has upset its own user community that does show a certain arrogance in my opinion....So in summary, and again, please revert to the previous version of Xero as this is what your users want
Regarding the A-Z search being "put back", you said: "We've also changed the behavior of that box. When you type just 1 letter it will do a "starts with" search (just like the old A-Z tabs did) and when you type more than 1 letter it will start doing a "contains" search (e.g., "a" will return any Contacts with names, numbers and email addresses starting with "a"; and "ab" will return any Contacts with names, numbers and email addresses with "ab" anywhere).
This is not the same as it was, because it does not only search for the customer name beginning with the letter. Instead it brings up all different search fields beginning with that letter. This is not helpful at all.
I will add my name on to the list of unhappy users.
Right now, XERO = zero satisfaction
This is not the same as it was, because it does not only search for the customer name beginning with the letter. Instead it brings up all different search fields beginning with that letter. This is not helpful at all.
I will add my name on to the list of unhappy users.
Right now, XERO = zero satisfaction
Please roll back... This is similar to the invoicing changes that failed and they were rolled back. Take it as a compliment that the previous contacts are so popular :) Not currently beautiful accounting software though.
PLEASE ROLL BACK
The features which I was using to show advantages of XERO no longer apply.
1. Major change without consulting anyone.
2. Roll out requiring user training rather than familiarisation
3. What was possible before is now only possible by convoluted key strokes, where as before it was one click
these are just 3 of many ................
The features which I was using to show advantages of XERO no longer apply.
1. Major change without consulting anyone.
2. Roll out requiring user training rather than familiarisation
3. What was possible before is now only possible by convoluted key strokes, where as before it was one click
these are just 3 of many ................
Well I am very disappointed that although some of the features have been put back the whole upgrade is very difficult to manage.
I have clients moaning about not being informed of such a major change and why hadn't I provided training to their staff.
Been a difficult week for a lot of people, all totally unnecessary.
Xero please take note of this disaster, and if not improved I will, along with others, think carefully about recommending Xero to new clients.
Bring back the old format. There was nothing wrong with it.
I have clients moaning about not being informed of such a major change and why hadn't I provided training to their staff.
Been a difficult week for a lot of people, all totally unnecessary.
Xero please take note of this disaster, and if not improved I will, along with others, think carefully about recommending Xero to new clients.
Bring back the old format. There was nothing wrong with it.
I can't believe Brittany's post saying that they won't roll back how arrogant and ignorant. Xero has to accept that it was a poor management decision to make these changes and that time and effort spent on doing so is not our (the customer) problem. Xero must take responsibility for this huge error in judgement and revert the changes as the contacts worked really well before one of the best features there was on Xero software. Bad idea to change something that is not broken and try and invent the wheel again especially if it turns out to be a square one. Please revert back to previous version and do not change it again.
With this amount of bad feedback, (and let's remember that a lot of businesses are closed this week and people do not necessarily know about the Community Board), that Management is not seeing that Xero is a listed company and has a strong presence on Facebook and Linkedin and they think this will just go away over Xmas. I want to see this excellent software continue, but with the right approach to modifications. If management does not see the need for a step back and a reworking of the changes, that "they" want, then it is most likely that some disenfranchised users will break ranks and go public and the competition will lap it up.Personally I could not stomach going back to MYOB, with all the enhancement stuff ups the had.
Well Brittany, it is arrogant of you to say in your response to Zara that 'the A-Z tabs aren't going to be brought back'. Your organisation boasts that you listen to your customers and respond to their needs....and you just blew that out of the water!!!
The response to this unwanted change has been the biggest response to anything that has happened in the passed and yet you tell us that you will ignore it. THAT'S ARROGANCE AT ITS WORST.
We, your customers, pay you for your product and need a product that suits our needs, not the needs of your developers who clearly know nothing about accounting.
So, now is the time, after getting so many requests from your paying customers, to LISTEN to them and reverse this update without further delay.
@Michael Curtain you don't have to go back to MYOB, Quickbooks is out there and a much better option. My guess is that they are already gearing up for the influx of new customers.
The response to this unwanted change has been the biggest response to anything that has happened in the passed and yet you tell us that you will ignore it. THAT'S ARROGANCE AT ITS WORST.
We, your customers, pay you for your product and need a product that suits our needs, not the needs of your developers who clearly know nothing about accounting.
So, now is the time, after getting so many requests from your paying customers, to LISTEN to them and reverse this update without further delay.
@Michael Curtain you don't have to go back to MYOB, Quickbooks is out there and a much better option. My guess is that they are already gearing up for the influx of new customers.
David Maidment
This is a reply I got from Brittany Via email that was concerned because we have dollar signs!
"First off, thanks for providing your thoughts on Community. I want to assure you that we're looking into all feedback, but we don't have plans of reverting back to the old Contacts screen.
I wanted to confirm that creating a Spend/Receive money transaction for a Contact will move them to that respective group in your Contacts screen. We'd received feedback that this change is needed so that the groups are more inclusive of all Suppliers/Customers. We're looking into the discussion on this at the moment though - so will keep you up to date on any changes.
In following up from your comment on Community, I wanted to look into your GBP issue. Could you please send through a screenshot of where you're seeing the dollar sign?
Throughout Xero we don't display currency signs so this would need to be something that's looked into"
..........Then I receive a reply to my questions as to WHY they won't revert and the annoying DOLLAR signs when we are in the UK......
"You may have seen that I'd updated that thread about why we don't have any plans to rolling back the Contact's update" ...... "We're not going to roll back these changes as we've invested time and effort into this new experience. However, we're making a ton of changes based on the feedback here, and in emails to Support, to make this better for you all - we really appreciate all of your input"
........they don't care that we don't want it!!....
..........There is no way NOT to create new suppliers/customers when reconciling the bank (I have so many garages and parking spots as suppliers it is ridiculous)......
......and finally in answer to Brittany's concern that Xero DOES NOT DISPLAY CURRENCY SIGNS........
"I've let the Product team know about this, however there aren't any plans to change the currency symbol on the icons"
...........WE WORK IN GBP, WE DON'T WANT DOLLAR SIGNS, what happened to not using them?........
......I ask again Xero....are we stuck with this because you have a contract with GOOGLE....?
"First off, thanks for providing your thoughts on Community. I want to assure you that we're looking into all feedback, but we don't have plans of reverting back to the old Contacts screen.
I wanted to confirm that creating a Spend/Receive money transaction for a Contact will move them to that respective group in your Contacts screen. We'd received feedback that this change is needed so that the groups are more inclusive of all Suppliers/Customers. We're looking into the discussion on this at the moment though - so will keep you up to date on any changes.
In following up from your comment on Community, I wanted to look into your GBP issue. Could you please send through a screenshot of where you're seeing the dollar sign?
Throughout Xero we don't display currency signs so this would need to be something that's looked into"
..........Then I receive a reply to my questions as to WHY they won't revert and the annoying DOLLAR signs when we are in the UK......
"You may have seen that I'd updated that thread about why we don't have any plans to rolling back the Contact's update" ...... "We're not going to roll back these changes as we've invested time and effort into this new experience. However, we're making a ton of changes based on the feedback here, and in emails to Support, to make this better for you all - we really appreciate all of your input"
........they don't care that we don't want it!!....
..........There is no way NOT to create new suppliers/customers when reconciling the bank (I have so many garages and parking spots as suppliers it is ridiculous)......
......and finally in answer to Brittany's concern that Xero DOES NOT DISPLAY CURRENCY SIGNS........
"I've let the Product team know about this, however there aren't any plans to change the currency symbol on the icons"
...........WE WORK IN GBP, WE DON'T WANT DOLLAR SIGNS, what happened to not using them?........
......I ask again Xero....are we stuck with this because you have a contract with GOOGLE....?
"We're not going to roll back these changes as we've invested time and effort into this new experience" - so what XERO wants is more important than what the CUSTOMER wants???? That's an odd selling technique. I'm sure that if I tried that with my customers I would not have any customers left! Haha
I am in the UK and also seeing only dollar signs on the stupid activity feed icons. My fix to this problem = just ignore the activity feed completely! It gives no useful info so I will just never look at it, ever!
I am in the UK and also seeing only dollar signs on the stupid activity feed icons. My fix to this problem = just ignore the activity feed completely! It gives no useful info so I will just never look at it, ever!
I am now fed up as XERO are not considering rolling back
It is supposed to be a bookkeeping software and not a news feed.
Please roll back
It is supposed to be a bookkeeping software and not a news feed.
Please roll back
We have to keep bombarding them to make them come to their senses. Please dear users don't give up.. Ultimately we have the power and they must listen to us, but we need to keep insisting on a roll back. THANK YOU ALL for all the posts!
In perfect timing it is #XeroUserHour day today. Wednesday 23rd December at 1pm. "#XeroUserHour is your chance to shout-out over Twitter what you’re doing with Xero."
"How does it work? It’s easy...
1) During the ‘hour’- every Wednesday at 1pm-2pm Sydney time and 1pm-2pm London time - compose a new tweet in the normal way but include the hashtag #XeroUserHour."
Wouldn't like to see this weeks tweets if I were Xero #contactsgate
Xero - stop being pathetic and roll it back.
"How does it work? It’s easy...
1) During the ‘hour’- every Wednesday at 1pm-2pm Sydney time and 1pm-2pm London time - compose a new tweet in the normal way but include the hashtag #XeroUserHour."
Wouldn't like to see this weeks tweets if I were Xero #contactsgate
Xero - stop being pathetic and roll it back.
@ Brittany
Quote " Before the release of Contacts, we heard a lot of feedback that this was something that users wanted to be included"
....please supply the link to the requests/feedback page?....
Quote " Before the release of Contacts, we heard a lot of feedback that this was something that users wanted to be included"
....please supply the link to the requests/feedback page?....
@ Brittany
Quote "Some people don't use invoices or bills, but still want these contacts to be grouped as a Supplier, or Customer. We're looking at the feedback here though - as there may be a solution"
Quote again from email: " If plans to change how this works are made, we'll let you know, but at this stage there isn't a way around this"
...which one is it Brittany? 'there may be a solution' or 'at this stage there isn't a way around it'....
Quote "Some people don't use invoices or bills, but still want these contacts to be grouped as a Supplier, or Customer. We're looking at the feedback here though - as there may be a solution"
Quote again from email: " If plans to change how this works are made, we'll let you know, but at this stage there isn't a way around this"
...which one is it Brittany? 'there may be a solution' or 'at this stage there isn't a way around it'....
Real-time problem number 2 just encountered :
HMRC gave us one tax rebate once about year ago.... why are they now showing up as a customer???
HMRC gave us one tax rebate once about year ago.... why are they now showing up as a customer???
@ Bianca Davitt
As per Brittany "Some people don't use invoices or bills, but still want these contacts to be grouped as a Supplier, or Customer"
Like you, I am perplexed .... I have a strange assortment of customers
They just don't listen and are quoting 'some' phantom people who actually wanted this mess!
I wonder if the 'some people who want it' amount to the 289 people here who don't it!
As per Brittany "Some people don't use invoices or bills, but still want these contacts to be grouped as a Supplier, or Customer"
Like you, I am perplexed .... I have a strange assortment of customers
They just don't listen and are quoting 'some' phantom people who actually wanted this mess!
I wonder if the 'some people who want it' amount to the 289 people here who don't it!
Will you be offering a reduction in our January fees as a gesture to your many clients who have been walloped by this PR disaster!!??
Actually we very pleased with the upgrades to search, and have not had a single complaint from the clients we have on Xero...and we are a Gold Partner so we are referencing hundreds. I am not go back and repeat what I said before...but will say that as long time partner with products like Salesforce.com and Google For Work its highly unusual to watch the "terrible two" unfold over accounting software. Rather than complaining, people need to learn how to use smart lists and tags, as well at why one NEVER EVER should make contact changes in an accounting app.
It appears that the Xero team had made up their minds about the changes and are now digging in their heels, often referring to user requests that cannot be verified or low useage (A-Z tabs) which seems statistically unlikely considering the posts here. Indeed at the end of the day it all comes down to the value which Xero puts on listening to its customers and Brittany's reply is very disappointing in that respect. It has changed my position from accepting the wait for Xero to patch things up completely in the new format to actually agreeing with the other posts demanding an immediate rollback. On a positive note...I am extremely pleased that we are not "referenced" by Jordan Zoot to be our consultant!
Don't be so pig headed and roll back the contacts, this is incredibly bad customer service, businesses go under for having customer service like this.
We don't care if you have invested time into this release, its rubbish and should be tossed out.
Remember your business will only be as strong as your faithful customers, who at teh moment are feeling very aggrieved.
It's not a problem to admit your wrong, we all make mistakes at times.
Roll it back and stop sooking....
We don't care if you have invested time into this release, its rubbish and should be tossed out.
Remember your business will only be as strong as your faithful customers, who at teh moment are feeling very aggrieved.
It's not a problem to admit your wrong, we all make mistakes at times.
Roll it back and stop sooking....
Isn't it time you children stop whining wa wa give it back, and get on with your work? It's kind of ironic that you accuse Xero of sooking!
I quite like the new contacts page, and I'm picking that those who agree with me are not bothering to post here.
Merry Christmas
I quite like the new contacts page, and I'm picking that those who agree with me are not bothering to post here.
Merry Christmas
Hey Heather, how about minding your own business and you get back to work, my post wasn't directed at you, so you can leave now...
This is very frustrating. Invoices listing on contact page by due date is very confusing. We need invoice date please!!!!
Merged: New Layout for Contacts? Not good
Does anyone else dislike the new layout for Contacts ? We certainly don't. Is there an option to revert to "classic" or some such.
Does anyone else dislike the new layout for Contacts ? We certainly don't. Is there an option to revert to "classic" or some such.
Hi Mary
There are a number of people that don't like the new Contacts pages - you can see Xero's responses in this thread: https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/13386841/
What is it specifically that you don't like about the new layout? I quite like it (although invoices showing due date only and not invoice date is a little strange a choice).
There are a number of people that don't like the new Contacts pages - you can see Xero's responses in this thread: https://community.xero.com/business/discussion/13386841/
What is it specifically that you don't like about the new layout? I quite like it (although invoices showing due date only and not invoice date is a little strange a choice).
I did not like it originally however I have got used to using the search function at the top right of the screen. As I get used to it I think it is actually an improvement. However what I don't like is the new client invoice layout. The previous version was much easier for large slow paying clients when you need to look many months back for unpaid invoices.
I agree, with the new layout not being practical for activity for sales invoices or purchase invoices. It would suit if there were only 5 transactions in a year, more than that it is just not functional. It looks more like a texting thread. Just wondering if Xero check with an accountant that uses the system when designing it and tested the version before release?
from my point of view the activity should read like a statement of account so that it is easy to idenify what invoices are already on the system, paid/unpaid, and maybe a small dropdown showing when the invoices that are paid paid or money received without having to click into the invoice to get this information. Due to the amount of compaints, taking into account alot of people are on holiday in the southern hemisphere at the moment, surely there should now be an option to go back to the old version whilst Xero goes back to the drawing board??
from my point of view the activity should read like a statement of account so that it is easy to idenify what invoices are already on the system, paid/unpaid, and maybe a small dropdown showing when the invoices that are paid paid or money received without having to click into the invoice to get this information. Due to the amount of compaints, taking into account alot of people are on holiday in the southern hemisphere at the moment, surely there should now be an option to go back to the old version whilst Xero goes back to the drawing board??
there is now also an issue with copying a previous invoices layout, when wanting to insert a new line within the lines it deletes the line directly below. To all be on the lookout for this as you could potentially be missing a line of anyone you invoice
the new activity report is a bit nonsense and definitely not fit for purpose, efficient or practical. it would be ok if there were only 5 invoices in a year, but most businesses have more than this and becomes very time consuming to work out if an invoice has already been process onto the system and if it has been paid.
Could you please revert back to the old layout whilst you go back to the drawing board?
the new activity report is a bit nonsense and definitely not fit for purpose, efficient or practical. it would be ok if there were only 5 invoices in a year, but most businesses have more than this and becomes very time consuming to work out if an invoice has already been process onto the system and if it has been paid.
Could you please revert back to the old layout whilst you go back to the drawing board?
I do not like the new contacts page. Not having alpha listing is a pain, I always found it very helpful to see the names at a glance. Having to open a customer/supplier to view the attachment is also very painful as we refer back to the attachments on a regular basis.
I noticed this the other day when helping a client unpick her self made Xero puzzle with the new Contacts view - is under "Activity" you can easily see whether a transaction was recorded via Sales/Purchases or Spend/Receive Money. This can significantly help when trying to identify problems and clean-up. I am not sure how I could see that in the past - so I appreciate access to this data.
In answer to Tom's question about what specifically we don't like about the changes.
My problems have come when I need to check payments against invoices when slow paying customers query reminders for payment.
The old layout over a full page showed the transactions clearly going back many invoices. This layout only goes back a few without using the down button. To get a full page layout you have to print a statement, but then you cannot use it to open specific invoices.
You need this when customers pay only some invoices and not in order.
The new layout suits smartphones and tablets which are too small for a decent invoice check anyway.
My problems have come when I need to check payments against invoices when slow paying customers query reminders for payment.
The old layout over a full page showed the transactions clearly going back many invoices. This layout only goes back a few without using the down button. To get a full page layout you have to print a statement, but then you cannot use it to open specific invoices.
You need this when customers pay only some invoices and not in order.
The new layout suits smartphones and tablets which are too small for a decent invoice check anyway.
Merged: New contact user interface
I'm glad to see an improvement on the Contacts section, however, when you click into a customer for instance, the list of transactions is still virtually useless. Why does the invoice have the payment date and not the invoice date?
Under the Outstanding section, it says 16 days overdue. What does that mean especially if some customers are due on receipt of invoice and some on 30 days? When was the invoice issued?
I see that there is a Statement page that details debits and credits which is what we have been asking for for years, but there is no way to get it into Excel. Do any of the developers use Xero on a day to day basis?
Please guys. You really have something brilliant here but too often features are completely irrelevant or are almost unusable.
I'm glad to see an improvement on the Contacts section, however, when you click into a customer for instance, the list of transactions is still virtually useless. Why does the invoice have the payment date and not the invoice date?
Under the Outstanding section, it says 16 days overdue. What does that mean especially if some customers are due on receipt of invoice and some on 30 days? When was the invoice issued?
I see that there is a Statement page that details debits and credits which is what we have been asking for for years, but there is no way to get it into Excel. Do any of the developers use Xero on a day to day basis?
Please guys. You really have something brilliant here but too often features are completely irrelevant or are almost unusable.
Agree this layout is a step back and very user unfriendly. Where you have lots of contacts, the alpha list filter at the top of the contacts lists that we had before reduced your data subset for searching but now you have to use the slide bar to get to the bottom of the page then wade through a number of pages to get to your contact. So labourious.
I too can't see value in the Activity list, it is just a cut down audit trail when I can go into an invoice and see the full audit trail....if that's what i need to look up; accounting wise, I don't know that it holds any value.
Who does advise the Xero developers on what is useful enhancement? This certainly isn't an enhancement, good functionality has now been replaced with bad and meaningless functions.
Marg
I too can't see value in the Activity list, it is just a cut down audit trail when I can go into an invoice and see the full audit trail....if that's what i need to look up; accounting wise, I don't know that it holds any value.
Who does advise the Xero developers on what is useful enhancement? This certainly isn't an enhancement, good functionality has now been replaced with bad and meaningless functions.
Marg
Its very confusing when you click on the payment of a bill and it says its unreconciled but if you click on the invoice and then click on the attached payment its reconciled.
The payments might as well not be there as multiple invoice payments are listed individually and if you click one it doesnt show all the invoices paid.
I really dont see the point of the change, other to annoy your customers. One payment amount, click on the amount and it shows the invoices paid, not this ridiculous multiple listing of payments.
For everyone one who has posted on this, I can guarantee there are over 20 just as annoyed customers who have no idea this exists as a forum to complain about the change!
What i find ludicrous is this was never asked for and we got it even if we didnt want it. Other requests for change are ignored or given the 'we will put it on the list".
How about using your time on the following:
1. GIVE US A RECONCILIATION ACCOUNT FOR EXPENSE ACCOUNTS
2. ALLOW EXPENSE ACCOUNTS INSTEAD OF JUST LIABILITIY ACCOUNTS FOR PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS (requested Aug 2012)
Make those a high priority instead of destroying something that works fine!!!
The payments might as well not be there as multiple invoice payments are listed individually and if you click one it doesnt show all the invoices paid.
I really dont see the point of the change, other to annoy your customers. One payment amount, click on the amount and it shows the invoices paid, not this ridiculous multiple listing of payments.
For everyone one who has posted on this, I can guarantee there are over 20 just as annoyed customers who have no idea this exists as a forum to complain about the change!
What i find ludicrous is this was never asked for and we got it even if we didnt want it. Other requests for change are ignored or given the 'we will put it on the list".
How about using your time on the following:
1. GIVE US A RECONCILIATION ACCOUNT FOR EXPENSE ACCOUNTS
2. ALLOW EXPENSE ACCOUNTS INSTEAD OF JUST LIABILITIY ACCOUNTS FOR PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS (requested Aug 2012)
Make those a high priority instead of destroying something that works fine!!!
We have been reviewing our client activity during 2015, and have found the new format for contacts very frustrating.
The new display of recent invoices and payments is useless for us. We need to see a concise listing of invoices and their paid status for each customer we select.
In the past, we were able to click on the 'view recent invoices' link and it would show the list of invoices.
Then, if we hit the "back" button, we could go back and look at another client in the list.
(This required only 2 clicks)
Now the system is creating a separate window each time we click on the 'view recent invoices' link, and there is no capability to go back. Instead, we have to start the process all over again, selecting a client from the search list, then clicking on the view recent invoices link.
After checking a few clients, we have a browser full of separate pages that each have to be closed. Previously, we could control whether to create a new browser tab ourselves, but now you have created more hassle for us.
The new approach requires a minimum of 4 clicks.
Please revert to the previous display for contacts! (You should provide a separate option with new changes, and see what usage you get before forcing your loyal customers to endure these changes!)
The new display of recent invoices and payments is useless for us. We need to see a concise listing of invoices and their paid status for each customer we select.
In the past, we were able to click on the 'view recent invoices' link and it would show the list of invoices.
Then, if we hit the "back" button, we could go back and look at another client in the list.
(This required only 2 clicks)
Now the system is creating a separate window each time we click on the 'view recent invoices' link, and there is no capability to go back. Instead, we have to start the process all over again, selecting a client from the search list, then clicking on the view recent invoices link.
After checking a few clients, we have a browser full of separate pages that each have to be closed. Previously, we could control whether to create a new browser tab ourselves, but now you have created more hassle for us.
The new approach requires a minimum of 4 clicks.
Please revert to the previous display for contacts! (You should provide a separate option with new changes, and see what usage you get before forcing your loyal customers to endure these changes!)
Totally agree, this is not an improvement at all and not helpful for the user. I like the quick function of outstanding balances as before but the list of invoices is just confusing. I really would like to see the ability back of using the alphabet categories rather than scrolling though, especially as we have companies with names that are hard to spell, this just makes it more complicated.
Very disappointed in this random, unannounced update - please give us a rollback option.
In the meantime, how do I sort my contacts by account number? This feature was lost in the update and I can not find a workaround.
In the meantime, how do I sort my contacts by account number? This feature was lost in the update and I can not find a workaround.
Appreciate the feedback, so am going to merge here to keep it all together.
I just want to point out, that instead of the A-Z tabs, searching by a character will bring up all Contacts that start with that character. Hopefully that helps you out.
I just want to point out, that instead of the A-Z tabs, searching by a character will bring up all Contacts that start with that character. Hopefully that helps you out.
I understand that a lot of the frustration will ease after forming new habits and getting used to the new contacts layout, and a lot of us just simply don't like change, but WOW, the contacts is just so messy I find myself unsure where to even start. Solely using the contacts for my job for a solid 8 hours a day, when you have ways of doing things and they change this dramatically - it is SO disruptive.
Being a big user of the 'A-Z' tabs, I am finding using the search bar so painful as just typing in "T" hoping for the same result as the previous T tab, it comes up with every contact that has a t in it, not just the ones that start with T.
I also don't understand this activity feed..... I liked the old where I could just scroll straight to the bottom of a contact and see the last time I re-sent invoices and statements chasing money. With the dates all there. Now I've got no idea!? I have to click on each invoice to figure out firstly which bloody one it is, the dates it involves and whether I've sent it or re-sent it to chase payment. I used to see all this just one the front page. It seems all our jobs now take significantly longer. A colleague asks a question about whether a contact has paid and if I've chased them recently, and now I have to take minutes figuring out what I usually could respond to in seconds. Completely frustrating. The whole thing is just incompetent.
I don't like that it opens up new tabs and you can't just go back to pages. I used to open up my own extra tabs when I wanted to with ease - this doesn't need to be an automatic feature!
If you can't take this whole mess away, please seriously consider giving us an option where we can revert to the old format of the contacts page until it's fixed for the better.
I know we can sound like a bunch of sooks but when it's something you use several hours a day every day, and it was fine to start with, a change like this is VERY frustrating. Just change it back.
Being a big user of the 'A-Z' tabs, I am finding using the search bar so painful as just typing in "T" hoping for the same result as the previous T tab, it comes up with every contact that has a t in it, not just the ones that start with T.
I also don't understand this activity feed..... I liked the old where I could just scroll straight to the bottom of a contact and see the last time I re-sent invoices and statements chasing money. With the dates all there. Now I've got no idea!? I have to click on each invoice to figure out firstly which bloody one it is, the dates it involves and whether I've sent it or re-sent it to chase payment. I used to see all this just one the front page. It seems all our jobs now take significantly longer. A colleague asks a question about whether a contact has paid and if I've chased them recently, and now I have to take minutes figuring out what I usually could respond to in seconds. Completely frustrating. The whole thing is just incompetent.
I don't like that it opens up new tabs and you can't just go back to pages. I used to open up my own extra tabs when I wanted to with ease - this doesn't need to be an automatic feature!
If you can't take this whole mess away, please seriously consider giving us an option where we can revert to the old format of the contacts page until it's fixed for the better.
I know we can sound like a bunch of sooks but when it's something you use several hours a day every day, and it was fine to start with, a change like this is VERY frustrating. Just change it back.
I totally agree with you Samantha.
There has been no thought by Xero regarding the Users who use Xero for their customers and /or process the books for multiple customers.
We will also not be cost effect if we have to credit control for our customers using this new setup
This is not just a change it is just about a rewrite.
Imagine now trying to convince/train a new user to Xero on Contacts - Sales and Purchases. We will never get our customers to move to Xero now.
A-Z search - yes I also am a big user of this.
I also agree - change it back
There has been no thought by Xero regarding the Users who use Xero for their customers and /or process the books for multiple customers.
We will also not be cost effect if we have to credit control for our customers using this new setup
This is not just a change it is just about a rewrite.
Imagine now trying to convince/train a new user to Xero on Contacts - Sales and Purchases. We will never get our customers to move to Xero now.
A-Z search - yes I also am a big user of this.
I also agree - change it back
I agree and also would like to see the A - Z return within the Contacts as I know a lot of my clients use this function and have found the search option more clicks than they like.
Sorry for the delay, just going to merge this discussion here to keep all of the feedback on new Contacts together.
@Murray looking at the transaction feed at the moment, so will pass on your thoughts about displaying the invoice date. Also, what Statement page are you referring to? This Statements page has been available for quite some time - unless I've misunderstood what you're looking at!
@Accounts, if your clients enter in one character (eg A) into the Contacts search bar, the search will only display contacts that start with that character (eg Angela). This replaces the A-Z tabs.
@Murray looking at the transaction feed at the moment, so will pass on your thoughts about displaying the invoice date. Also, what Statement page are you referring to? This Statements page has been available for quite some time - unless I've misunderstood what you're looking at!
@Accounts, if your clients enter in one character (eg A) into the Contacts search bar, the search will only display contacts that start with that character (eg Angela). This replaces the A-Z tabs.
@Brittany, thanks for your feedback.
I am aware of the Statement that you provided a link for. The report I need (which is covered in great detail in other topics) is similar to the Statement report generated when one is in a contact and you click Options > Send Statement. This report has debits and credits in separate lines which makes reconciling a creditor/debtor easier, however I cant see how to get this format into Excel as it is only generated in PDF.
The Supplier or Customer Invoice Report is virtually useless for reconciliation's as are the Payable Invoice Summary and Detail reports.
All of my clients complain about this and find it the single biggest drawback on Xero. Doing a complicated creditor reconciliation on a client that takes discounts, short pays etc is nearly impossible in Xero currently. If we could have the debit/credit layout in Excel, you would have solved Xero's greatest weakness
I am aware of the Statement that you provided a link for. The report I need (which is covered in great detail in other topics) is similar to the Statement report generated when one is in a contact and you click Options > Send Statement. This report has debits and credits in separate lines which makes reconciling a creditor/debtor easier, however I cant see how to get this format into Excel as it is only generated in PDF.
The Supplier or Customer Invoice Report is virtually useless for reconciliation's as are the Payable Invoice Summary and Detail reports.
All of my clients complain about this and find it the single biggest drawback on Xero. Doing a complicated creditor reconciliation on a client that takes discounts, short pays etc is nearly impossible in Xero currently. If we could have the debit/credit layout in Excel, you would have solved Xero's greatest weakness
According to Gary Turner as many people love the new contacts as hate the new contacts according to his tweet on Dec 22nd which says:
"I hate the new Contacts UI in Xero!"
"I love the new Contacts UI in Xero!"
@Xero + GMail is now a thing.
So apparently we just need to get over ourselves as its much more important that Xero has linked to Gmail than that the sales and purchase ledgers are fit for purpose.
Perhaps the people who love it are the same people who love the idea of having the dinner included in the price of Xerocon
"I hate the new Contacts UI in Xero!"
"I love the new Contacts UI in Xero!"
@Xero + GMail is now a thing.
So apparently we just need to get over ourselves as its much more important that Xero has linked to Gmail than that the sales and purchase ledgers are fit for purpose.
Perhaps the people who love it are the same people who love the idea of having the dinner included in the price of Xerocon
Xero are completely blinkered on this matter there's more chance of Chelsea winning the league this season than Xero rolling back to UI on the contacts!
I've come across one person that likes it and several hundred that don't so where Xero are getting the positive feed back from?
I've come across one person that likes it and several hundred that don't so where Xero are getting the positive feed back from?
It has been my question to Xero all along Ellie ... "are you in bed with google to the tune that we don't matter" ... a question they chose not to answer, yet it is obvious ...
I don't have google mail, google business or anything else where google can spy on my every move, I don't expect my accounting package to be 'a thing' I expect to be able to work with it and I am talking to my client now as to the implications and options for a move
Basically, Xero are hoping we all 'get over ourselves' and suck it up...
I don't have google mail, google business or anything else where google can spy on my every move, I don't expect my accounting package to be 'a thing' I expect to be able to work with it and I am talking to my client now as to the implications and options for a move
Basically, Xero are hoping we all 'get over ourselves' and suck it up...
We are a Xero Silver Partner and have been a massive advocate of Xero - However I am deeply disappointed at the moment.
Xero make a massive deal about celebrating their successes and upcoming feature roll outs and I have been a big fan these last 4 years. But its times like these, when things go wrong, that you get a real sense of the company and I am disappointed in how this has been handled.
Disappointed not only by the change itself, which has made the product less user friendly, in my opinion, and has not been well planned or executed but also, more importantly, the lack of communication about this major feature change and the lack of communication after when the stuff hit the fan.
So come on Xero it’s time for an official response on this, not just on this forum, giving an idea what went wrong, what you will do different and how you are going to answer these hundreds of unhappy customers.
Or if you think all is still rosey and there is no problem please answer some of the real issues that have been caused by this change but please don’t just do nothing. A wall of silence helps no one.
Xero make a massive deal about celebrating their successes and upcoming feature roll outs and I have been a big fan these last 4 years. But its times like these, when things go wrong, that you get a real sense of the company and I am disappointed in how this has been handled.
Disappointed not only by the change itself, which has made the product less user friendly, in my opinion, and has not been well planned or executed but also, more importantly, the lack of communication about this major feature change and the lack of communication after when the stuff hit the fan.
So come on Xero it’s time for an official response on this, not just on this forum, giving an idea what went wrong, what you will do different and how you are going to answer these hundreds of unhappy customers.
Or if you think all is still rosey and there is no problem please answer some of the real issues that have been caused by this change but please don’t just do nothing. A wall of silence helps no one.
Is there likely to be any further response from the Xero team (or how about someone at management level to explain / apologise for this appalling PR disaster that you seem to be sticking your heads in the sand over!!) or is this community only now for us users!!! It's been some time since we had a proper formal response from you Xero, come on treat your customers with the respect we deserve!!
Having posted on both twitter and Facebook, I was firmly directed back here to comment further. Is that because you fear continued social media negativity i.e. keep it locked into the community rather than be open to new customers to view how badly you handled this!?? Perhaps all of us on this feed should post more comments on your twitter feed, see if that has any response!??
https://twitter.com/Xero
Having posted on both twitter and Facebook, I was firmly directed back here to comment further. Is that because you fear continued social media negativity i.e. keep it locked into the community rather than be open to new customers to view how badly you handled this!?? Perhaps all of us on this feed should post more comments on your twitter feed, see if that has any response!??
https://twitter.com/Xero
Oo even better, try the Xero MD's twitter feed, he's looking back at the year that was 2015, doubt he'll mention this mess!
https://twitter.com/garyturner
https://twitter.com/garyturner
Well according to Gary...
@JeanetteSiret We hear the feedback loud and clear and be assured we'll get everyone back to a happy place with the rework we're doing.
I did ask him to comment here but he prefers not to it seems....we have been and continue to be ignored
@JeanetteSiret We hear the feedback loud and clear and be assured we'll get everyone back to a happy place with the rework we're doing.
I did ask him to comment here but he prefers not to it seems....we have been and continue to be ignored
I DONT WANT THIS UPDATE.
The old version already had its kinks - but I was able to use the phone and skype fields for my own specific data fields and could sort based on that. Of course that's gone too.
To the Xero Product development team: extend, don't simplify and try to make Xero look like an iOS interface for kids. Because this is where it appears to be going :(
PS there should be a way to find contacts without a group associated. I'd call them orphaned contacts and in my contact set every one on the contacts should be grouped.
Unhappy, Marco
The old version already had its kinks - but I was able to use the phone and skype fields for my own specific data fields and could sort based on that. Of course that's gone too.
To the Xero Product development team: extend, don't simplify and try to make Xero look like an iOS interface for kids. Because this is where it appears to be going :(
PS there should be a way to find contacts without a group associated. I'd call them orphaned contacts and in my contact set every one on the contacts should be grouped.
Unhappy, Marco
Well said Melanie Russell and Willie Wood. Xero is forgetting who made them what they are today and we can change their tomorrow. User friendly was the major reason I moved my clients to Xero.
There is also a cost now to our bottom line due to the extra time it will take perform debtor and creditor support for my clients.
The lack of response and / or arrogant response that they aren't changing back could be their undoing. I go back with Xero to the days of Rod Drury working out of Victoria Park office in AKL where our input was worth something. I am extremely disappointed to now be of no consequence to Xero.
Xero needs to admit their mistake and change everything back as quickly as they can to restore support for their product.
Come on Xero, everyone makes mistakes, the kudos comes from how quickly these are recognized and fixed.
There is also a cost now to our bottom line due to the extra time it will take perform debtor and creditor support for my clients.
The lack of response and / or arrogant response that they aren't changing back could be their undoing. I go back with Xero to the days of Rod Drury working out of Victoria Park office in AKL where our input was worth something. I am extremely disappointed to now be of no consequence to Xero.
Xero needs to admit their mistake and change everything back as quickly as they can to restore support for their product.
Come on Xero, everyone makes mistakes, the kudos comes from how quickly these are recognized and fixed.
Response from Gary Turner, Xero UK MD. Really not particularly helpful or resultion-full (is that a word!!) but better than the wall of silence!!!
gary.turner@xero.com
Dear Melanie - thanks for taking the time to send this, and I'm sorry if I missed your tweet. I replied to a couple of people on this matter yesterday, around the same time as your tweet arrived, and I think may confused your individual plea with another one I replied to.
We don't deliberately ignore customers, please let me assure you.
I'm actually encouraged by the fact that you feel so strongly about your experience of using Xero that this update has provoked such a passionate reaction, even if I am disappointed that we've manage provoke a negative one.
We invest a lot of time and effort in building and enhancing Xero to make it even more useful to our customers, and we launched more new features and functionality in 2015 than probably the three to four years that preceded it. And most of the time we succeed in threading the needle that is building and enhancing the product at the same time as keeping our customers on board with those changes, particularly if they're as profound as this one.
Most of the we released new functionality in 2015 we managed to do so and delight our customers in the process, so perhaps we were a little eager and complacent in deciding to roll such a large update so close to the Christmas break which really compounded the problem in in terms of communication and responding to feedback after the release. It makes us look like we're being atypically non-responsive, when we strive to be the complete opposite.
That's certainly been a hard lesson.
We've also been working over the Christmas break to address many of the concerns that people have raised and have already made a number of design changes and will continue to do so until we've managed to address the core concerns that customer have with the new design in Contacts.
We've been in large part successful as a business because we are motivated to build a product that people find invaluable and love using, so please be assured that we are therefore equally motivated to build a Contacts experience that people love even more than the old layout, even though that's clearly been lost in the telling right now.
Happy to speak with you further on this.
But please keep the faith!
Kind regards,
Gary
gary.turner@xero.com
Dear Melanie - thanks for taking the time to send this, and I'm sorry if I missed your tweet. I replied to a couple of people on this matter yesterday, around the same time as your tweet arrived, and I think may confused your individual plea with another one I replied to.
We don't deliberately ignore customers, please let me assure you.
I'm actually encouraged by the fact that you feel so strongly about your experience of using Xero that this update has provoked such a passionate reaction, even if I am disappointed that we've manage provoke a negative one.
We invest a lot of time and effort in building and enhancing Xero to make it even more useful to our customers, and we launched more new features and functionality in 2015 than probably the three to four years that preceded it. And most of the time we succeed in threading the needle that is building and enhancing the product at the same time as keeping our customers on board with those changes, particularly if they're as profound as this one.
Most of the we released new functionality in 2015 we managed to do so and delight our customers in the process, so perhaps we were a little eager and complacent in deciding to roll such a large update so close to the Christmas break which really compounded the problem in in terms of communication and responding to feedback after the release. It makes us look like we're being atypically non-responsive, when we strive to be the complete opposite.
That's certainly been a hard lesson.
We've also been working over the Christmas break to address many of the concerns that people have raised and have already made a number of design changes and will continue to do so until we've managed to address the core concerns that customer have with the new design in Contacts.
We've been in large part successful as a business because we are motivated to build a product that people find invaluable and love using, so please be assured that we are therefore equally motivated to build a Contacts experience that people love even more than the old layout, even though that's clearly been lost in the telling right now.
Happy to speak with you further on this.
But please keep the faith!
Kind regards,
Gary
Thanks Melanie, pretty much a long version of the answer I got then ....They are ignoring our request and not rolling it back under any circumstances.
Sadly the wall of silence still reigns here
He must have written this from the beach as he is on his holidays according to his tweet on Monday, that's dedication!
Sadly the wall of silence still reigns here
He must have written this from the beach as he is on his holidays according to his tweet on Monday, that's dedication!
". It makes us look like we're being atypically non-responsive, when we strive to be the complete opposite. "
My support experience - average response time on urgent issues is 48 hours.
Xero, PLEASE get your act together, or I'm going to start calling you Zero support ;)
Marco
My support experience - average response time on urgent issues is 48 hours.
Xero, PLEASE get your act together, or I'm going to start calling you Zero support ;)
Marco
Melanie - I do hope you are going to take up Gary's offer to speak further on this topic. I hope you will ask him to read this Community post so he can truly understand the impact of this "large update so close to the Christmas break" - he says it's been a hard lesson but I don't think any of the unhappy users feel the Xero team really understand how annoying these changes have been. I hope you will ask him why they are persisting with not rolling it back when they could do so and show that they are listening to their users. If some of the changes were/are good then they can implement them in a proper and considered way over the coming months. I hope you will also challenge his assertion that they are "striving" to be responsive when we have basically had nothing official about this from anyone senior in Xero at all. All very frustrating....
HI Emma
I've forwarded your email to Gary with the attached message:
HI Again
Felt I had to forward this response to you (there are so many more looking for real answers!) on the back of your recent response!
Can you answer why there seems to be absolutely no suggestion of a roll back?? I too am at a loss now to find notes associated with clients that seem to have disappeared in the mess which had critical information about renewal phases that had been agreed etc etc.
Why will you not entertain a rollback??
Cheers
Mel
I've forwarded your email to Gary with the attached message:
HI Again
Felt I had to forward this response to you (there are so many more looking for real answers!) on the back of your recent response!
Can you answer why there seems to be absolutely no suggestion of a roll back?? I too am at a loss now to find notes associated with clients that seem to have disappeared in the mess which had critical information about renewal phases that had been agreed etc etc.
Why will you not entertain a rollback??
Cheers
Mel
Gary doesn't even bother to answer me now........my latest response to requesting a roll back
Gary Turner @garyturner 41m41 minutes ago
@JeanetteSiret Sorry.
Gary Turner @garyturner 41m41 minutes ago
@JeanetteSiret Sorry.
In defence of Xero for a moment when this first came to light Craig Walker did respond and actually did make changes to the contact layout to restore the link back to the View Invoices Report that so many people rely on. In an organisation as big as Xero has become this does show flexibility and a quick response in my opinion.
Although flexibility and responsiveness is a double edge sword because, have we have seen, unilateral changes can be made. I suppose in the past with fewer users this was not a problem but as Xero gets bigger and more widespread, with more users than I care to imagine, you can't just make sweeping changes without careful consideration and planning. It’s worse for them because they are global now so changes have to be considered in that context.
With all this in mind the events around the changes made to contacts beggar believe because updates and roll outs are normally communicated so well and we all, generally, feel included.
Someone messed up here and I hope the changes that Gary alludes to come out soon and there is at least a nod to the stress and unease this has caused. Celebrate your wins Xero but also acknowledge your failures we will love you more for it.
I am looking forward to having a chat with the team at Xerocon to pass on the feedback some of my clients have given me.
Although flexibility and responsiveness is a double edge sword because, have we have seen, unilateral changes can be made. I suppose in the past with fewer users this was not a problem but as Xero gets bigger and more widespread, with more users than I care to imagine, you can't just make sweeping changes without careful consideration and planning. It’s worse for them because they are global now so changes have to be considered in that context.
With all this in mind the events around the changes made to contacts beggar believe because updates and roll outs are normally communicated so well and we all, generally, feel included.
Someone messed up here and I hope the changes that Gary alludes to come out soon and there is at least a nod to the stress and unease this has caused. Celebrate your wins Xero but also acknowledge your failures we will love you more for it.
I am looking forward to having a chat with the team at Xerocon to pass on the feedback some of my clients have given me.
Hi all - as I said in the pasted reply I sent to Melanie earlier today, the choice of timing for such a big change was clearly not great. I hope we have built up enough equity and trust with our customer community to be trusted to make design decisions all the time in Xero, and most of the time we get them mostly right. Clearly there's enough concern being articulated here to warrant reflection on our part for how we do this stuff in future.
In terms of rolling back, while most of the problems people had in the release are apparently surface level design issues, a significant amount of engineering work under the covers was also done to enable the extension of Contacts to cater for Gmail integration in this release, as well as exposing Contacts to other areas inside Xero. Therefore there are engineering contingencies that just make rolling back a bigger net compromise than addressing the concerns people have with the new design. Plus, we think the the end goal of an improved Contacts experience will be significantly better than what was there before, even if that feels understandably like a hollow victory right now.
We're focused on addressing all the concerns and Craig will give another update here shortly.
If you give us a bit of time and trust, I'm confident that we'll more than restore any faith in Xero that's been tarnished over the last few days, and we'll definitely learn from this experience for the future.
In terms of rolling back, while most of the problems people had in the release are apparently surface level design issues, a significant amount of engineering work under the covers was also done to enable the extension of Contacts to cater for Gmail integration in this release, as well as exposing Contacts to other areas inside Xero. Therefore there are engineering contingencies that just make rolling back a bigger net compromise than addressing the concerns people have with the new design. Plus, we think the the end goal of an improved Contacts experience will be significantly better than what was there before, even if that feels understandably like a hollow victory right now.
We're focused on addressing all the concerns and Craig will give another update here shortly.
If you give us a bit of time and trust, I'm confident that we'll more than restore any faith in Xero that's been tarnished over the last few days, and we'll definitely learn from this experience for the future.
I wish to echo the response from Gary that Melanie copied into this thread & also offer my own apology for my lack of response recently. To suggest we're not listening is a misnomer - we've been actively monitoring this thread & my team has been working on collating feedback (including from other sources such as tickets & social media) & building out a program of work that we're looking to deliver over the coming weeks.
I will absolutely admit that we made some mistakes in the delivery of this new UI. We had tested it with customers, demoed it at XeroCons & the feedback we had was positive. In some respects that lulled us into a false sense of security. One of the biggest lessons from this release is how we deploy redesigns in the future - whether it's through a beta program, or A/B testing. Delivering something so different to everyone in one go is a massive shock & obviously it doesn't help when what we deliver fails to meet some of the basic requirements of the experience our customers expect from us. For that I am truly sorry.
Over the next couple of weeks we'll be deploying more improvements. A lot of the feedback here has really honed our understanding of how customers use Contacts. We’re going to move the outstanding transactions (invoices, bills etc) higher in the screen to make it more obvious. We’re also moving to a more responsive design that allows us to use more of the available screen real estate to show more data (in a tabular form as the screen goes wider & in it’s current form as the screen size reduces). That was always our intention & we should have delivered it with the redesign.
We’re also adding in the ability to filter the activity feed - to show you only what you want to view at that time (notes, bills, payments etc). This will help to remove some of the noise.
A lot of you continue to ask us to roll back. It is most certainly not arrogance or hubris that prevents us from doing that. While we do believe that this new view is fundamentally better & it’s up to us to prove that to you, we also have customers that are using the new features quite happily. There is now very little functionality that exists in the old screens that doesn’t exist in the new ones. Where I believe we failed was in messaging the extent of the changes, & working with our customers to help them to migrate their workflows to fit in with the new design.
Will try to be more active in this thread from now on & answer questions directly as they come up.
I will absolutely admit that we made some mistakes in the delivery of this new UI. We had tested it with customers, demoed it at XeroCons & the feedback we had was positive. In some respects that lulled us into a false sense of security. One of the biggest lessons from this release is how we deploy redesigns in the future - whether it's through a beta program, or A/B testing. Delivering something so different to everyone in one go is a massive shock & obviously it doesn't help when what we deliver fails to meet some of the basic requirements of the experience our customers expect from us. For that I am truly sorry.
Over the next couple of weeks we'll be deploying more improvements. A lot of the feedback here has really honed our understanding of how customers use Contacts. We’re going to move the outstanding transactions (invoices, bills etc) higher in the screen to make it more obvious. We’re also moving to a more responsive design that allows us to use more of the available screen real estate to show more data (in a tabular form as the screen goes wider & in it’s current form as the screen size reduces). That was always our intention & we should have delivered it with the redesign.
We’re also adding in the ability to filter the activity feed - to show you only what you want to view at that time (notes, bills, payments etc). This will help to remove some of the noise.
A lot of you continue to ask us to roll back. It is most certainly not arrogance or hubris that prevents us from doing that. While we do believe that this new view is fundamentally better & it’s up to us to prove that to you, we also have customers that are using the new features quite happily. There is now very little functionality that exists in the old screens that doesn’t exist in the new ones. Where I believe we failed was in messaging the extent of the changes, & working with our customers to help them to migrate their workflows to fit in with the new design.
Will try to be more active in this thread from now on & answer questions directly as they come up.
Hi Gary, Hi Craig,
Thank you for your responses and assurances, but sadly the activity feed will never work no matter what you do with it. This is bookkeeping/accounting, not social media.
The old style table format was 10000000% better and showed all info at a glance. I appreciate that it has been added back in as the "view recent invoices" (thank you so much for that!) so what ever "updates" you have planned, please please please please please please do not play around with it, or take it away again. I reply on that table to do my job and simply cannot function without it.
In all honesty I wish that you would just delete the activity feed and the graph from the front page completely, and replace it with the "view recent invoices" table instead. Well, a girl can dream......
Thank you for your responses and assurances, but sadly the activity feed will never work no matter what you do with it. This is bookkeeping/accounting, not social media.
The old style table format was 10000000% better and showed all info at a glance. I appreciate that it has been added back in as the "view recent invoices" (thank you so much for that!) so what ever "updates" you have planned, please please please please please please do not play around with it, or take it away again. I reply on that table to do my job and simply cannot function without it.
In all honesty I wish that you would just delete the activity feed and the graph from the front page completely, and replace it with the "view recent invoices" table instead. Well, a girl can dream......
Gary and Craig thank you for the update - confidence that you are listening is restored. I look forward to future updates.
Just for the record I personally wouldn’t want to see a roll back we should move forward but it is good to hear that feedback is being actioned.
Craig - I hope adding invoice date to the new contact invoice activity screen is on the list. It would make that list much more useable.
Just for the record I personally wouldn’t want to see a roll back we should move forward but it is good to hear that feedback is being actioned.
Craig - I hope adding invoice date to the new contact invoice activity screen is on the list. It would make that list much more useable.
So glad to see these more comprehensive posts from key staff at Xero. At least we have now had a decent response as to why you have not gone down the roll back route...
In terms of key functionality to be restored, please can I implore you to give the Invoice Only users back access to recent activity on the contacts screen. Specifically they need access to the History & Notes and the ability to add notes to a Contact. As per other feature requests, I cannot have my administrator set up as a Standard user otherwise she ends up getting full bank and reporting access but she does do some of our credit control so needs to be able to see Activity and Notes to do her job.
Just to clarify this Craig - you talk about filtering the activity feed but the Invoice Only users cannot see any of it at all - No "View recent invoices" under "Total they owe" and no Activity below or Notes either...
Also, as others have asked, please move the graph down (or get rid of it) and add Invoice dates to the Activity.
Thanks
PS. A user group is surely the way forward?
In terms of key functionality to be restored, please can I implore you to give the Invoice Only users back access to recent activity on the contacts screen. Specifically they need access to the History & Notes and the ability to add notes to a Contact. As per other feature requests, I cannot have my administrator set up as a Standard user otherwise she ends up getting full bank and reporting access but she does do some of our credit control so needs to be able to see Activity and Notes to do her job.
Just to clarify this Craig - you talk about filtering the activity feed but the Invoice Only users cannot see any of it at all - No "View recent invoices" under "Total they owe" and no Activity below or Notes either...
Also, as others have asked, please move the graph down (or get rid of it) and add Invoice dates to the Activity.
Thanks
PS. A user group is surely the way forward?
@Bianca Let's see what you think after we do the updates. There is merit to both the activity feed and the graph. One of things that we screwed up here was understanding the different user personas that access this screen. I think having the link to the report + a (better) activity feed is the right combination for those different personas.
@Will Absolutely - invoice date, reference. We were being too cute with the data we had - we're now going less cute, more verbose.
@Emma The "Invoice Only" users view is actually a bug. We have that fixed and in testing. That's not a feature - that's most certainly an issue. And yes - the outstanding view will move up the hierarchy (with more information).
We're working on all this stuff right now and going as fast as we can. The urgency is there - and has been there since we launched.
@Will Absolutely - invoice date, reference. We were being too cute with the data we had - we're now going less cute, more verbose.
@Emma The "Invoice Only" users view is actually a bug. We have that fixed and in testing. That's not a feature - that's most certainly an issue. And yes - the outstanding view will move up the hierarchy (with more information).
We're working on all this stuff right now and going as fast as we can. The urgency is there - and has been there since we launched.
Hey Craig,
in response to this:
"@Bianca Let's see what you think after we do the updates. There is merit to both the activity feed and the graph. One of things that we screwed up here was understanding the different user personas that access this screen. I think having the link to the report + a (better) activity feed is the right combination for those different personas."
Why not make the Graph and List/Report two sides of a "Card". Users can decide if they like the Graph "card" or the List/Report "card" and the system would remember the preference. This way, users that don't like the Graph can hide it and use the List instead (not have to click a link to be taken to a different tab/page).
Also, make the graph clickable and so you can be taken to a detailed list of whatever to click on in the graph.
in response to this:
"@Bianca Let's see what you think after we do the updates. There is merit to both the activity feed and the graph. One of things that we screwed up here was understanding the different user personas that access this screen. I think having the link to the report + a (better) activity feed is the right combination for those different personas."
Why not make the Graph and List/Report two sides of a "Card". Users can decide if they like the Graph "card" or the List/Report "card" and the system would remember the preference. This way, users that don't like the Graph can hide it and use the List instead (not have to click a link to be taken to a different tab/page).
Also, make the graph clickable and so you can be taken to a detailed list of whatever to click on in the graph.
It's a huge relief to see Xero staff responding to the issues raised on this thread at last and for now at least I can stop thinking about having to consider alternatives for the 6 businesses I'm currently running on Xero.
With regards the engineering work to achieve Gmail integration, I'm sure I'm not alone when I say this is of no interest to my business as we are running on Office 365, I'm sure many others will be the same. What's Xero's position on integration with Office 365?
With regards the engineering work to achieve Gmail integration, I'm sure I'm not alone when I say this is of no interest to my business as we are running on Office 365, I'm sure many others will be the same. What's Xero's position on integration with Office 365?
I agree 100% with @Andrew. Great to see Xero responding & why single out Gmail for integration rather than Office 365?
Thank you for finding time to come and speak to us Gary, sorry to have disturbed your holiday but....
You say....In terms of rolling back, while most of the problems people had in the release are apparently surface level design issues, a significant amount of engineering work under the covers was also done to enable the extension of Contacts to cater for Gmail integration in this release...
Who asked for contacts to be changed to enable Gmail integration? Like others I do not have Gmail, ... Office 365 for me too. Perhaps a polling of customers would have been a good idea.
No disrespect Craig but you keep saying 'wait until you see the updates' - we are 3 weeks into this and we aren't getting anything different really are we? when will these updates be completed? time scale please..
PS When will the dollar signs be removed? may sound petty, but unlike google I work in GBP
You say....In terms of rolling back, while most of the problems people had in the release are apparently surface level design issues, a significant amount of engineering work under the covers was also done to enable the extension of Contacts to cater for Gmail integration in this release...
Who asked for contacts to be changed to enable Gmail integration? Like others I do not have Gmail, ... Office 365 for me too. Perhaps a polling of customers would have been a good idea.
No disrespect Craig but you keep saying 'wait until you see the updates' - we are 3 weeks into this and we aren't getting anything different really are we? when will these updates be completed? time scale please..
PS When will the dollar signs be removed? may sound petty, but unlike google I work in GBP
Why does a new tab open each time you look at something in contacts? This didn't happen before the last "upgrade" and is quite annoying as all of a sudden you can end up with 6 tabs open.
@David Both are valid and quite different ways of looking at your data. As I mentioned we're changing the hierarchy. What's outstanding should be the most important data on that page.
@Andrew @Eli @Jeanette Gmail was prioritized first because of Google for Work's dominance in the small business space and across our wider customer base. Are you all Xero partners (or at least bookkeepers or accountants)? I only ask because I know Office 365 still has a prominent place in the accounting & financial verticals so it would be interesting to see if you all fit into that space. To answer your question though: Office 365 integration is on the roadmap - but has not been prioritized at this time.
@Jeanette We've actually been doing updates the entire time - however most of those have been under the hood. You'll start to see the changes I specifically mentioned over the next week or two. I can't be more specific because it's hard to determine the level of QA effort to test everything - but we'll look to drip-feed changes as they become ready for live.
@Sharee Yes - this is an interesting one. It makes sense is some ways - it keeps the tab you're actively working on open while you go do something else. Working in multiple tabs can be a productivity win. However it's easy for people to do that themselves (right-click or control/command click). So yes - we're looking to change it back.
@Andrew @Eli @Jeanette Gmail was prioritized first because of Google for Work's dominance in the small business space and across our wider customer base. Are you all Xero partners (or at least bookkeepers or accountants)? I only ask because I know Office 365 still has a prominent place in the accounting & financial verticals so it would be interesting to see if you all fit into that space. To answer your question though: Office 365 integration is on the roadmap - but has not been prioritized at this time.
@Jeanette We've actually been doing updates the entire time - however most of those have been under the hood. You'll start to see the changes I specifically mentioned over the next week or two. I can't be more specific because it's hard to determine the level of QA effort to test everything - but we'll look to drip-feed changes as they become ready for live.
@Sharee Yes - this is an interesting one. It makes sense is some ways - it keeps the tab you're actively working on open while you go do something else. Working in multiple tabs can be a productivity win. However it's easy for people to do that themselves (right-click or control/command click). So yes - we're looking to change it back.
Thanks for some feed back Craig.
Can you also explain why spend money and receive money transactions are now showing on the contacts screen.
Before you only saw them if "All" contacts were selected, now when you select "contacts - suppliers" all spend money and suppliers "accounts" are listed.
It was much better the other way.
If a user wanted all transactions as supplier accounts then they should set all up as suppliers.
Suppliers and Customers are contacts that you have an ongoing relationship with. Anything coded via the dashboard or cash coding is usually a one off payment/receipt and not something you would want to send statements for or reconcile. This differentiation still needs to be kept. It seems that there is now no clear definition as to what is a supplier / customer. Everything has just been dumped into a big pot. It is now difficult to split these out
Can you also explain why spend money and receive money transactions are now showing on the contacts screen.
Before you only saw them if "All" contacts were selected, now when you select "contacts - suppliers" all spend money and suppliers "accounts" are listed.
It was much better the other way.
If a user wanted all transactions as supplier accounts then they should set all up as suppliers.
Suppliers and Customers are contacts that you have an ongoing relationship with. Anything coded via the dashboard or cash coding is usually a one off payment/receipt and not something you would want to send statements for or reconcile. This differentiation still needs to be kept. It seems that there is now no clear definition as to what is a supplier / customer. Everything has just been dumped into a big pot. It is now difficult to split these out
@Debbie Yes - you're right. We're going to change this back. It made sense in some ways - but was a mistake. The bigger issue, as you've raised, is the ability to be able to actually manage those lists yourself - rather than let Xero derive them. This is something we're looking to do longer term.
@Craig No, I'm a company director based in the UK with group finance responsibility for a parent company and several subsidiary companies all currently running on Xero. We work Xero pretty hard!
How do you know it to be true that Gmail Work is dominant in your customer base? I don't recall Xero ever asking me and I've been a Xero customer for 4 or 5 years now. I fear an assumption has been made here which may well prove to wrong. Certainly in my network of SME owners and directors (and I have a pretty large network) most are now running Office 365 and in fact I can only think of one that is running Gmail. Why not survey your customers and find out? I think you may be surprised.
How do you know it to be true that Gmail Work is dominant in your customer base? I don't recall Xero ever asking me and I've been a Xero customer for 4 or 5 years now. I fear an assumption has been made here which may well prove to wrong. Certainly in my network of SME owners and directors (and I have a pretty large network) most are now running Office 365 and in fact I can only think of one that is running Gmail. Why not survey your customers and find out? I think you may be surprised.
I don't have time to read through all the comments so adding my own frustrations!! Trying to read through notes of Customers and as all transactions that have gone through eg: quotes invoices statements. All I want to read is what I noted in previous ph calls and can't even find notes! Why didn't we get notification? Very disappointing, oh and A-Z of contacts missing is very frustrating.
@Lucy The search field is A-Z aware - type a character and it will filter the names like it used too - type more characters to actually run a search. It works inline - so the grid dynamically updates as you type. The notes frustration is a common one - we're going to add a filter that will allow you to get rid of the noise. However we may need to do something more specific with notes since they're such as obviously important concept against a contact. We're working on some ideas.
@Craig What about the ability to highlight and copy text within notes? Why was that functionality removed? We run paper trails in the notes section, and in other places out of Xero. We used to be able to highlight an entered note in Xero, then copy and paste it in other paper-trail areas. Why has Xero removed the ability to highlight and copy text from the customers screen?
@Metropol Bug. It wasn't something we specifically tested for - but we've now added it to our test suites. Will have a fix out early next week.
"We're not going to roll back these changes as we've invested time and effort into this new experience."
Are you f*****g serious? You create a mess, make everyone mad, and you won't unwind it because you put time into it? Well guess what, I put time into your product, too, but if that's what support is, there's another product.
Are you f*****g serious? You create a mess, make everyone mad, and you won't unwind it because you put time into it? Well guess what, I put time into your product, too, but if that's what support is, there's another product.
"this is as designed"
Coders, support staff, don't EVER say that. When your customer tells you they have a problem, they want it fixed. To say "this is as designed" does NOT solve the problem and is arrogant beyond belief.
Coders, support staff, don't EVER say that. When your customer tells you they have a problem, they want it fixed. To say "this is as designed" does NOT solve the problem and is arrogant beyond belief.
@Craig Thanks for letting us know.
How about the ability to see whether a customer has a file attachment? This used to be easily seen via the file icon beside their name on the customer list screen. Now we need to go to a specific customers file to discern if they have file attachments. Can we PLEASE have that back too? We store credit agreements and contracts for clients and customers using this, and now it is frustratingly impossible to see this via the customer screen. Like everyone else using your software, we have over the years built our own workflows, using the tools you provided to us, that are now broken due to this debacle. What may been trivial to your coders and support staff have in many, many situations become cornerstones of workflows built by Xero's users. Removing these items BREAKS those workflows.
Redesign away; make things better to look at and use, but don't remove functionality without recognizing what that may mean to your (decreasingly) loyal user base.
Add back please.
How about the ability to see whether a customer has a file attachment? This used to be easily seen via the file icon beside their name on the customer list screen. Now we need to go to a specific customers file to discern if they have file attachments. Can we PLEASE have that back too? We store credit agreements and contracts for clients and customers using this, and now it is frustratingly impossible to see this via the customer screen. Like everyone else using your software, we have over the years built our own workflows, using the tools you provided to us, that are now broken due to this debacle. What may been trivial to your coders and support staff have in many, many situations become cornerstones of workflows built by Xero's users. Removing these items BREAKS those workflows.
Redesign away; make things better to look at and use, but don't remove functionality without recognizing what that may mean to your (decreasingly) loyal user base.
Add back please.
@Craig I've searched but to no avail finding "notes" I had entered on Customers files reminding me of what was said in previous ph calls regarding outstanding invoices? Any idea where i can find them....I also think this may just be the tip of the iceberg with many businesses only just returning from Christmas break this/next week!
Merged: Is there anyway we can return to the previous way of viewing invoices payments for Suppliers/Custome
Let's be honest! the new way of viewing transactions for customers or suppliers is worse than before! is there anyway to revert back??
Let's be honest! the new way of viewing transactions for customers or suppliers is worse than before! is there anyway to revert back??
I do not use Gmail and have no interest in Gmail integration and yes I am a partner but none of my clients have asked for it. Like it or not we use Office 365.
I opted out from receiving updates on this thread as I was being spammed out by the number of emails telling me other users also hated the contacts update.
Having a quick glance through the more recent postings it is good to see Xero realise their mistake and that some more senior people are now involved. I have a better understanding of things from Xero's point of view but that hasn't changed my sad face with regards how I think about Xero.
2015 may have seen a lot of updates but most are incomplete (can you "favourite" any of the new style reports?) And to be honest there are many simple things that are more important to resolve (for example why is VAT not shown on the "Expense Claim Summary Report") than mess around with the contacts and add features no one seems to be asking for.
And on the contacts page you need to demerge sales and purchase activities where one contact is on both ledgers - I can't immediately work out what is what.
Why is there the word "Outstanding" under the heading Activity? are you going to alter the messy activity page so you can filter outstanding, all, notes etc? You may have answered this above but life is too short!
I opted out from receiving updates on this thread as I was being spammed out by the number of emails telling me other users also hated the contacts update.
Having a quick glance through the more recent postings it is good to see Xero realise their mistake and that some more senior people are now involved. I have a better understanding of things from Xero's point of view but that hasn't changed my sad face with regards how I think about Xero.
2015 may have seen a lot of updates but most are incomplete (can you "favourite" any of the new style reports?) And to be honest there are many simple things that are more important to resolve (for example why is VAT not shown on the "Expense Claim Summary Report") than mess around with the contacts and add features no one seems to be asking for.
And on the contacts page you need to demerge sales and purchase activities where one contact is on both ledgers - I can't immediately work out what is what.
Why is there the word "Outstanding" under the heading Activity? are you going to alter the messy activity page so you can filter outstanding, all, notes etc? You may have answered this above but life is too short!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the recent changes to Contacts. As you may have seen, there's an existing thread where we're collecting feedback on the new layout. I'm going to merge your post here too, to keep all the discussion in one place.
As you'll see from the Brittany's post on 23rd Dec, we will not be reverting back to the old layout, but really do appreciate all feedback on the changes.
As you'll see from the Brittany's post on 23rd Dec, we will not be reverting back to the old layout, but really do appreciate all feedback on the changes.
Merged: Contacts - Unable to see customer notes
Recently the Contacts layout has been changed and since then Invoice only users now can't view customer notes this is a nightmare for us now as all the vital info for invoicing is in the notes. We cant upgrade user to Standard as this displays all the restricted Info Ie Bank Balance etc. Major Headache
Recently the Contacts layout has been changed and since then Invoice only users now can't view customer notes this is a nightmare for us now as all the vital info for invoicing is in the notes. We cant upgrade user to Standard as this displays all the restricted Info Ie Bank Balance etc. Major Headache
Not enjoying the new layout for Customers, but I am sure I will get used to it. Certainly missing the feature that told me on average how long Customers took to pay. I see this feature is still available for Suppliers! It is not uncommon to get companies calling for credit checks and the one question they always ask is "on average - how long does it takes this client to pay". Can you restore this feature?
Thanks,
Kelli
Thanks,
Kelli
I am also not liking the new contacts in Xero, so unfriendly and makes my job twice as long. Please can you replace it with the old version. Why update this when everyone was mostly happy with how it used to be. What a waste of time for everyone.
I hate this new layout for the contacts and the fact that every time you do something in the client account it opens in a new tab.
I've come across this thread.
I have a credit controller. She can no longer access the "notes" section of the customer record with the new format. The "notes" section is only available to "full" users but for obvious reasons I do not want her to access the full accounting system.
Are there plans to revert back to other users having access to the "notes" section?
I have a credit controller. She can no longer access the "notes" section of the customer record with the new format. The "notes" section is only available to "full" users but for obvious reasons I do not want her to access the full accounting system.
Are there plans to revert back to other users having access to the "notes" section?
Craig, in response to this comment.
"A lot of you continue to ask us to roll back. It is most certainly not arrogance or hubris that prevents us from doing that. While we do believe that this new view is fundamentally better & it’s up to us to prove that to you, we also have customers that are using the new features quite happily. There is now very little functionality that exists in the old screens that doesn’t exist in the new ones. Where I believe we failed was in messaging the extent of the changes, & working with our customers to help them to migrate their workflows to fit in with the new design."
let me assure you there is no functionality in your new set up, either for customers or suppliers. I would suggest not rolling back would be a bigger mistake than this poor update.
I have started to consider if anyone at Xero has any accounting experience in the real world at all!! Xero may have a few "Qualified" accountant but it appears not many of these have real day to day accounting experience!
"A lot of you continue to ask us to roll back. It is most certainly not arrogance or hubris that prevents us from doing that. While we do believe that this new view is fundamentally better & it’s up to us to prove that to you, we also have customers that are using the new features quite happily. There is now very little functionality that exists in the old screens that doesn’t exist in the new ones. Where I believe we failed was in messaging the extent of the changes, & working with our customers to help them to migrate their workflows to fit in with the new design."
let me assure you there is no functionality in your new set up, either for customers or suppliers. I would suggest not rolling back would be a bigger mistake than this poor update.
I have started to consider if anyone at Xero has any accounting experience in the real world at all!! Xero may have a few "Qualified" accountant but it appears not many of these have real day to day accounting experience!
@Kelly
"As you'll see from the Brittany's post on 23rd Dec, we will not be reverting back to the old layout, but really do appreciate all feedback on the changes"
You obviously do NOT appreciate the feedback because you are all, including your MD more in bed with Google than with your customers
I enjoy a challenge and I enjoy working (I do it a lot) but you at Xero, with your attitude have made it so I frown at the very thought of logging in because I don't know what you are going to do next.
Here we are at the 11th January and I don't see what you have done to improve it. I still have dollar signs!! I have loads of suppliers that start with things like 'BP' and 'Shell' produced from my bank reconciliation, my suppliers have options to view both sales and purchases even though we have never sold them anything and I still don't have a clue what that stupid twitter look alike feed is supposed to be about
I will not be using Xero for any future customers, I can assure you of that, but then I am just a newish starter, so I'm the lucky one!
"As you'll see from the Brittany's post on 23rd Dec, we will not be reverting back to the old layout, but really do appreciate all feedback on the changes"
You obviously do NOT appreciate the feedback because you are all, including your MD more in bed with Google than with your customers
I enjoy a challenge and I enjoy working (I do it a lot) but you at Xero, with your attitude have made it so I frown at the very thought of logging in because I don't know what you are going to do next.
Here we are at the 11th January and I don't see what you have done to improve it. I still have dollar signs!! I have loads of suppliers that start with things like 'BP' and 'Shell' produced from my bank reconciliation, my suppliers have options to view both sales and purchases even though we have never sold them anything and I still don't have a clue what that stupid twitter look alike feed is supposed to be about
I will not be using Xero for any future customers, I can assure you of that, but then I am just a newish starter, so I'm the lucky one!
You might want to read the thread called Contacts - what have you done? There's lots in there about the new layout...
Re Andrew Evans' post (and Craig's previous comments on 6/1), we use Office 365 not Google / GMail. We are not a Xero partner, we are a small but growing UK business....
I also use office 365 not google. I wonder how many people do use google and if any research was done before making this integration or perhaps it’s an integration aimed at the US market?
In the UK, I would guess that the majority of businesses use office 365. In my 15 years of full time office-based employment, I have never even heard of google as an alternative to office 365. However this may be different in other countries? Would be very interesting to find out.
We also use microsoft 365 - I would imagine most accountants would be Microsoft as Excel is SO much better than googles half baked offering. What grates for me is yet again Xero claiming they know what we want rather than asking - there is a long list or enhancements requested by users that people vote on but they 'havent got time' to action those because they are adding 'functionality' that no one wants other than the powers that be at Xero who are getting all fired up about getting into bed with Google - ' we're big boys now'
Well good for you!
Well good for you!
I've been watching the comments about how many Xero partners are using gmail.
I facilitate an International Xero mastermind group and polled the group on the 7th January.
The results so far are 58.3% gmail, 31% Office 365 and 10.4% something else.
Many respondents actually used two solutions - which was unexpected.
I'm not suggesting this is a controlled scientific poll - it was a rough poll.
Maybe poll your clients share the results.
You can see the poll and vote here if you're interested...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind/permalink/744653568998011/
I facilitate an International Xero mastermind group and polled the group on the 7th January.
The results so far are 58.3% gmail, 31% Office 365 and 10.4% something else.
Many respondents actually used two solutions - which was unexpected.
I'm not suggesting this is a controlled scientific poll - it was a rough poll.
Maybe poll your clients share the results.
You can see the poll and vote here if you're interested...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind/permalink/744653568998011/
@Metropol Yes - that's coming. Will be in the next release.
@Lucy The notes should be in the Activity tab. They may be buried (which is something we're going to fix by creating a specific Notes tab). If they're definitely missing then please raise this with Xero Support for me to look at deeper.
@Finance There was no previous way. This functionality has never existed beyond the Invoice reports (which are linked to directly from this screen). So now you have 2 options - to view the transaction data in the Contact record, or run the reports and see them there.
@Simon We're definitely doing this. We're making the outstanding a lot clearer, and de-merging that data (the Activity will be everything for the time being - but the Outstanding will be split out to be a lot clearer about what's going on right now with that Contact).
@Kelli That should be there... We're making some design changes so hopefully this will be clearer when that's released.
@Nicholas We are fixing this - hopefully released this week.
@Jeanette Both of these things are getting fixed. We're packaging up a release for this week (though it may slip to early next week depending on testing).
@Lucy The notes should be in the Activity tab. They may be buried (which is something we're going to fix by creating a specific Notes tab). If they're definitely missing then please raise this with Xero Support for me to look at deeper.
@Finance There was no previous way. This functionality has never existed beyond the Invoice reports (which are linked to directly from this screen). So now you have 2 options - to view the transaction data in the Contact record, or run the reports and see them there.
@Simon We're definitely doing this. We're making the outstanding a lot clearer, and de-merging that data (the Activity will be everything for the time being - but the Outstanding will be split out to be a lot clearer about what's going on right now with that Contact).
@Kelli That should be there... We're making some design changes so hopefully this will be clearer when that's released.
@Nicholas We are fixing this - hopefully released this week.
@Jeanette Both of these things are getting fixed. We're packaging up a release for this week (though it may slip to early next week depending on testing).
In addition to my individual responses I just want to give an update on a bunch of fixes we're in the middle of developing and testing right now:
Contacts Search Screen
- ability to sort on fields beyond what is just in the grid header
- showing Skype details in search view
- Files support (showing attached Files in grid)
View Contact Screen
- new responsive layout (grid like at higher screen resolutions) with more information (invoice dates, references etc)
- outstanding activity moved up into a newly designed Contact summary view
- new Notes tab (available to all users)
- links no longer open in new tabs
- text selection in all grids (so you can select notes again)
- removing dollar signs from icons
This is by no means an exhaustive list - there are lots of other small tweaks we're doing as well. I'm hoping we can do a release this week (as promised previously) - however we have a rigorous testing process so it might be early next week. I'm sorry for the delays.
Contacts Search Screen
- ability to sort on fields beyond what is just in the grid header
- showing Skype details in search view
- Files support (showing attached Files in grid)
View Contact Screen
- new responsive layout (grid like at higher screen resolutions) with more information (invoice dates, references etc)
- outstanding activity moved up into a newly designed Contact summary view
- new Notes tab (available to all users)
- links no longer open in new tabs
- text selection in all grids (so you can select notes again)
- removing dollar signs from icons
This is by no means an exhaustive list - there are lots of other small tweaks we're doing as well. I'm hoping we can do a release this week (as promised previously) - however we have a rigorous testing process so it might be early next week. I'm sorry for the delays.
Craig, I went to do the survey, but guess what?, it took me to a Google account screen and I don't have one and WILL NOT BE getting one, is like to do your survey is there another way I can do it.
Mate, seriously this has gotten way out of hand you have made a monumental stuff up with this contacts stuff, stop tweaking and doing little add ons and man up to the stuff up and get it sorted ASAP
David
Mate, seriously this has gotten way out of hand you have made a monumental stuff up with this contacts stuff, stop tweaking and doing little add ons and man up to the stuff up and get it sorted ASAP
David
Cameron Diffey
@David It shouldn't require a login. That was a mistake - am trying to get that requirement removed as soon as possible. Will update when we have.
Damn bro, relax.
Thanks Craig. Thank you for listening to all the feedback (and rage) and working hard to incorporate all of our ideas and frustrations into a better product.
Please keep working to make a great product even better.
Thanks Craig. Thank you for listening to all the feedback (and rage) and working hard to incorporate all of our ideas and frustrations into a better product.
Please keep working to make a great product even better.
The fact that that we have to sign into a google account to complete the survey has to be the straw that broke the camels back for me. After everything that has been said, it is a downright insult...
I've removed the survey link from my previous post - there's no point in you all trying to use it while it requires a login. Once the login restriction has been removed I will repost in a new answer.
I haven't read through every response post to the initial subject matter of this conversation string but I just wanted to weigh in on this and cast my vote in favour of the old contacts format and the fact that there are far more useful updates that could be implemented before messing around with this area.
The option of customising our screen views for such things as contacts and invoicing would be very helpful and though it probably warrants a separate string (though I'd be surprised if one doesn't already exist), the option to set our own default layouts for reports would also be helpful - ie viewing the receivables report in days not months etc.
The option of customising our screen views for such things as contacts and invoicing would be very helpful and though it probably warrants a separate string (though I'd be surprised if one doesn't already exist), the option to set our own default layouts for reports would also be helpful - ie viewing the receivables report in days not months etc.
Natasha Wyatt
OK - as previously mentioned, we are conducting a survey across our customer base to get feedback on the Contacts feature in general. I thought it would be great to post a link to the survey here as well. If you feel like giving us feedback through the survey then you can take it here: Help us improve Contacts
Looking forward to reading the responses. Thanks!
Looking forward to reading the responses. Thanks!
Just on the Microsoft/Google point, I like to think of myself as a power Excel user and accordingly joined Office365 a few years back, however, in September last year I moved my business to Google for Business and was blown away by the advances that, in particular, Google Sheets has made. The two main reasons I moved to Google was I found Microsoft to be extraordinarily slow. When saving a document, when opening a document etc it checks its status online and interacting with Sharepoint Online and OneDrive was excruciating. Outlook also was often really slow to respond. Also, to get the most out of Office365, you need an expert to set it up and maintain it.
Google can be maintained by almost anybody, GMail is significantly faster than Outlook (plus has hundreds of add-ins), Google Sheets will do 95% of what one needs. Where it struggles is with links to other spreadsheets, pivot tables and other advanced features are not in Excel's league, however, most business owners will be perfectly happy with Xero and Google. In particular, where one has clients that you share spreadsheets with, I think Google is way ahead because you only get one version. With Excel, the online version is very basic and it often messes with the formatting and complex things in the offline version so I have stopped using that and only use Google Sheets with clients where collaboration is required.
Currently, I use Google for Business as my main office tool but also have Excel and OneNote running, so I use both.
Google can be maintained by almost anybody, GMail is significantly faster than Outlook (plus has hundreds of add-ins), Google Sheets will do 95% of what one needs. Where it struggles is with links to other spreadsheets, pivot tables and other advanced features are not in Excel's league, however, most business owners will be perfectly happy with Xero and Google. In particular, where one has clients that you share spreadsheets with, I think Google is way ahead because you only get one version. With Excel, the online version is very basic and it often messes with the formatting and complex things in the offline version so I have stopped using that and only use Google Sheets with clients where collaboration is required.
Currently, I use Google for Business as my main office tool but also have Excel and OneNote running, so I use both.
OMG, I can't believe how horrible the new look contacts screen is. I've not said anything until now as I was hoping it was just a case of me not being used to it, but there's no getting away from it, it's horrible! Why on earth did you change it? Previously, it was nice & clearly laid out and compact, now, it just feels like everything is lumped in together. It's quite difficult to see where one contact ends and the next one starts. I can't think of a situation where I would want to see an audit trail of everything that's been going on ie. a mixture of notes, invoices and payments. I'm very disappointed with it.
Powered by google forms...
Tell me Chris, can Xero guarantee that 'we will never' have to sign up to a google account to use any aspect of Xero?
Tell me Chris, can Xero guarantee that 'we will never' have to sign up to a google account to use any aspect of Xero?
Please let me try to take some of the heat out the Google grumbling...
Xero is a wholly independent service and we would never mandate that customers must connect via a third party whether that's Google, Microsoft or anyone else.
- We introduced our first integration with Google in 2008 to enable the export of reports directly to Google's spreadsheet app.
- We added an integration with Microsoft Office 365 in 2014 not long after the availability of the relevant Microsoft APIs which enabled us to do so.
https://www.xero.com/blog/2014/10/increase-productivity-xero-microsoft-integration/
https://www.xero.com/uk/office-365/
The fact this time it's Google that's the first cab off the rank for the next wave of integration is just the fact of this release, it's not a preference for Google. We LOVE Microsoft, in fact Microsoft is the headline event sponsor for our accountants and bookkeepers conference in London next month where we will be showcasing the next phase of integration with Microsoft.
Please be assured that we're committed to serving customers on either platform, the fact that Craig created a survey using Google forms is simply because it was closest to hand. It could have easily been Survey Monkey.
As per my and Craig's comments last week and since, we're working to build a Contacts experience that not only addresses the concerns you've raised but which is much better overall than what was there before. Hopefully we're demonstrating the right level of attentiveness with this, please be patient and we'll get there.
Xero is a wholly independent service and we would never mandate that customers must connect via a third party whether that's Google, Microsoft or anyone else.
- We introduced our first integration with Google in 2008 to enable the export of reports directly to Google's spreadsheet app.
- We added an integration with Microsoft Office 365 in 2014 not long after the availability of the relevant Microsoft APIs which enabled us to do so.
https://www.xero.com/blog/2014/10/increase-productivity-xero-microsoft-integration/
https://www.xero.com/uk/office-365/
The fact this time it's Google that's the first cab off the rank for the next wave of integration is just the fact of this release, it's not a preference for Google. We LOVE Microsoft, in fact Microsoft is the headline event sponsor for our accountants and bookkeepers conference in London next month where we will be showcasing the next phase of integration with Microsoft.
Please be assured that we're committed to serving customers on either platform, the fact that Craig created a survey using Google forms is simply because it was closest to hand. It could have easily been Survey Monkey.
As per my and Craig's comments last week and since, we're working to build a Contacts experience that not only addresses the concerns you've raised but which is much better overall than what was there before. Hopefully we're demonstrating the right level of attentiveness with this, please be patient and we'll get there.
Hi Gary and thanks for the reply.
Regardless of the whole Google grumbles issue (& I agree the survey issue is a bit on the petty side!), I'd genuinely love to know what was so critically failing in the previous contacts layout that merited such a vast shift and clearly, extensive development time by your team (and obviously now even more development in back tracking and trying to make sense of so many complaints). I genuinely am all for change where change is due and keeping up with technology but I'm still at a loss to understand why Xero felt this totally unnecessary and wholly misjudged roll out happened in the first place when there were clearly many other, far more important development requests on your forum which have been totally ignored.
I'm now incredibly nervous as to what will be rolled out unanounced in the future and how that will impact on my usage of the system and that of my staffs.
I'm glad I'm not in your shoes right now as I imagine this mess is just not going away but appreciate what you're doing.
Regardless of the whole Google grumbles issue (& I agree the survey issue is a bit on the petty side!), I'd genuinely love to know what was so critically failing in the previous contacts layout that merited such a vast shift and clearly, extensive development time by your team (and obviously now even more development in back tracking and trying to make sense of so many complaints). I genuinely am all for change where change is due and keeping up with technology but I'm still at a loss to understand why Xero felt this totally unnecessary and wholly misjudged roll out happened in the first place when there were clearly many other, far more important development requests on your forum which have been totally ignored.
I'm now incredibly nervous as to what will be rolled out unanounced in the future and how that will impact on my usage of the system and that of my staffs.
I'm glad I'm not in your shoes right now as I imagine this mess is just not going away but appreciate what you're doing.
Please don't be nervous, Melanie.
We make changes to Xero all the time and in fact 2015 was our biggest ever year in terms of the sheer quantity and scope of new features, changes and updates to Xero. So, in that extraordinary context I think our track record is actually pretty good*.
Plus - you've got direct, unfettered access to Craig Walker, our Chief Technology Officer on this thread which should hopefully reassure you that the concerns and feedback in respect of this particular release are being heard.
We're passionate about building great software and if sometimes we drift off course we're a resilient bunch and capable as well as confident that we'll get things back in line, so as much as we'd obviously rather not upset customers, this is a healthy conversation to be part of and we're grateful for the feedback.
* Not intended to be deliberately provocative. Honest.
We make changes to Xero all the time and in fact 2015 was our biggest ever year in terms of the sheer quantity and scope of new features, changes and updates to Xero. So, in that extraordinary context I think our track record is actually pretty good*.
Plus - you've got direct, unfettered access to Craig Walker, our Chief Technology Officer on this thread which should hopefully reassure you that the concerns and feedback in respect of this particular release are being heard.
We're passionate about building great software and if sometimes we drift off course we're a resilient bunch and capable as well as confident that we'll get things back in line, so as much as we'd obviously rather not upset customers, this is a healthy conversation to be part of and we're grateful for the feedback.
* Not intended to be deliberately provocative. Honest.
Hi Gary,
Discovering Xero was like a breath of fresh to me and changed my mind about never going back into public practice, however the implementation and subsequent handing of the Contacts revamp, has been extremely disappointing in many ways and reminiscent of the
disasters that we used to experience with MYOB.
However one of the issues raised by Melanie, and many others continues to remain unanswered. Melanie stated:-
"I genuinely am all for change where change is due and keeping up with technology but I'm still at a loss to understand why Xero felt this totally unnecessary and wholly misjudged roll out happened in the first place when there were clearly many other, far more important development requests on your forum which have been totally ignored."
I am sure a lot of us would feel slightly less concerned, if Xero would provide a "straight and not PR " answer to this question.
Regards
Michael
Discovering Xero was like a breath of fresh to me and changed my mind about never going back into public practice, however the implementation and subsequent handing of the Contacts revamp, has been extremely disappointing in many ways and reminiscent of the
disasters that we used to experience with MYOB.
However one of the issues raised by Melanie, and many others continues to remain unanswered. Melanie stated:-
"I genuinely am all for change where change is due and keeping up with technology but I'm still at a loss to understand why Xero felt this totally unnecessary and wholly misjudged roll out happened in the first place when there were clearly many other, far more important development requests on your forum which have been totally ignored."
I am sure a lot of us would feel slightly less concerned, if Xero would provide a "straight and not PR " answer to this question.
Regards
Michael
Thanks Michael,
I was planning to ask something similar but you replied first.
@Xero
I would also add that based on previous replies from Xero reps on other topics I understand there are multiple teams working independently developing new features/updates for xero so the order on which updates are released may not necessarily correspond to the most important or most requested features. I also understand that the Xero team is passionate about building great software for their customers etc.
So aside from all that I think what people here are asking is what 'specifically' was this update trying to achieve? or to put another way, what was the reasoning behind the thought process when the Xero team decided that the new layout would be an improvement on the old layout to the point it was justified spending time and effort making the change?
I'm not trying to argue it was the wrong decision or anything like that, just trying to understand where yous are coming from when you decide to make changes.
I was planning to ask something similar but you replied first.
@Xero
I would also add that based on previous replies from Xero reps on other topics I understand there are multiple teams working independently developing new features/updates for xero so the order on which updates are released may not necessarily correspond to the most important or most requested features. I also understand that the Xero team is passionate about building great software for their customers etc.
So aside from all that I think what people here are asking is what 'specifically' was this update trying to achieve? or to put another way, what was the reasoning behind the thought process when the Xero team decided that the new layout would be an improvement on the old layout to the point it was justified spending time and effort making the change?
I'm not trying to argue it was the wrong decision or anything like that, just trying to understand where yous are coming from when you decide to make changes.
First of all, we have a fairly large development capability at Xero (the product team as a whole is the largest team at Xero). Even though my team is currently working on this particular feature, other teams are working across the rest of Xero (whether it be in the practice tools, payroll, invoicing etc) continuing to improve and build upon what we already have. We actually release software every day into production - most of it you don't see (bug fixes, small improvements) - others you do (like this Contacts release). Some of these projects can span months - some can span days. So even though it looks like we’re specifically focused on Contacts, there’s actually only a very small team working on it.
It’s important to us to continue to evolve the product to deliver the best experience we can. This is something we’re adamant about. The previous Contacts system was very much like an address book in the cloud - it was rudimentary even though it did most of what it needed to do well. It also couldn't support continuous improvements, and the new UI (while not all may agree with the direction it's taken) allows us to add new features quickly.
Ultimately, we wanted to provide you with a better and easier way to view and manage your contacts. We did this by bringing the customer or supplier more into focus and delivering a singular experience around a Contact that highlights the macro activity you’ve had with that contact. We wanted you to be able to do more in one place, and minimize the steps required to manage your contacts, including the need to drill into reports. We’ve also pulled Smart Lists into Contacts (along with groups) to help improve your workflow - these give you the ability to group together specific lists of contacts.
We also introduced the integration of Gmail into the experience. This wasn’t specifically about Gmail - it was another step towards the goal of giving you one place to go for all your interactions with a customer or supplier. It’s yet another facet to our Single-Ledger story.
There is a lot more we can do. We’re already getting great ideas from the feedback we’ve had. We're actively working on a number fixes and improvements to help maximize the benefits of the new screens and get you closer to the experience you rightfully expect us to deliver.
It’s important to us to continue to evolve the product to deliver the best experience we can. This is something we’re adamant about. The previous Contacts system was very much like an address book in the cloud - it was rudimentary even though it did most of what it needed to do well. It also couldn't support continuous improvements, and the new UI (while not all may agree with the direction it's taken) allows us to add new features quickly.
Ultimately, we wanted to provide you with a better and easier way to view and manage your contacts. We did this by bringing the customer or supplier more into focus and delivering a singular experience around a Contact that highlights the macro activity you’ve had with that contact. We wanted you to be able to do more in one place, and minimize the steps required to manage your contacts, including the need to drill into reports. We’ve also pulled Smart Lists into Contacts (along with groups) to help improve your workflow - these give you the ability to group together specific lists of contacts.
We also introduced the integration of Gmail into the experience. This wasn’t specifically about Gmail - it was another step towards the goal of giving you one place to go for all your interactions with a customer or supplier. It’s yet another facet to our Single-Ledger story.
There is a lot more we can do. We’re already getting great ideas from the feedback we’ve had. We're actively working on a number fixes and improvements to help maximize the benefits of the new screens and get you closer to the experience you rightfully expect us to deliver.
one of the biggest requests since this has happened is asking for the invoice date to come back into view, you say you are resolving bugs and doing fixes yet this , the biggest bug has yet to be fixed. when will this be fixed?
Also i have yet to receive an answer to my question, why bother having a payment line per invoice paid if it doesnt show its been reconciled, doesnt show its part of a bigger batch? why is this taking up room on our screen?
Also i have yet to receive an answer to my question, why bother having a payment line per invoice paid if it doesnt show its been reconciled, doesnt show its part of a bigger batch? why is this taking up room on our screen?
@Edith I mentioned this above. Yes - this will be there in the next release. We're targeting early next week.
Since introductions of new layout when I click on Customers I get a mixed up list of Customers and a lot (but not all) Suppliers. Does anyone have a similar problem or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks.
Thanks.
Could we PLEASE have an ETA on the Notes being included on ALL users views of contacts?
This has seriously interupted my outsourced debt collection and I've got customers that need reminding and aren't being due to something totally outside of my control.
Xero - pull your socks up and get on with this essential patch to a doomed 'up-date' (or is it a 'down-date'......?)
Yours annoyed
Giles
This has seriously interupted my outsourced debt collection and I've got customers that need reminding and aren't being due to something totally outside of my control.
Xero - pull your socks up and get on with this essential patch to a doomed 'up-date' (or is it a 'down-date'......?)
Yours annoyed
Giles
Whilst i love the fact that Xero is continually being developed, this has clearly been somewhat of a disaster! For me the biggest issue is that I can no longer find the client and then look at all their transactions within the client record. The only way to do this now is to go to All invoices in either sales or purchases. This is annoying and messy. PLEASE can you ensure that there is some means of ONLY seeing the invoices as a list like previously, without all the ikons and bits and pieces. I like being able to see payments but to have Invoice Paid and Payment all in the same string is a real mess. PLEASE can you keep it nice and SIMPLE?!
Yours in hope that it will be fab once sorted :)
Alex
Yours in hope that it will be fab once sorted :)
Alex
Craig,
Any update on when the update will take place? My credit controller cannot carry out any work without the notes section.
Whose idea was it to remove the notes from all users? Please answer this as I feel it is vital to understand who is coming up with these ideas and they really need to be accountable for these decisions.
As you can see this has greatly effected many, many users.
Yours frustrated
Nick
Any update on when the update will take place? My credit controller cannot carry out any work without the notes section.
Whose idea was it to remove the notes from all users? Please answer this as I feel it is vital to understand who is coming up with these ideas and they really need to be accountable for these decisions.
As you can see this has greatly effected many, many users.
Yours frustrated
Nick
@Ivana This is being tidied up in the next release.
@Giles Hopefully today? But probably tomorrow. Just trying to get through the QA of the last few bits and pieces.
@Alex Yes - we're actually looking at removing payments from the list because it does create a lot of noise. I'm not sure of the impact of that for customers that actually like that. We're debating that right now actually.
@Nick Again - hoping I can get this live today - but it's looking more likely to be tomorrow. It wasn't actually anyone's idea to be honest. It was simply a mistake (a bug).
@Giles Hopefully today? But probably tomorrow. Just trying to get through the QA of the last few bits and pieces.
@Alex Yes - we're actually looking at removing payments from the list because it does create a lot of noise. I'm not sure of the impact of that for customers that actually like that. We're debating that right now actually.
@Nick Again - hoping I can get this live today - but it's looking more likely to be tomorrow. It wasn't actually anyone's idea to be honest. It was simply a mistake (a bug).
Hey guys!
I've just noticed that my contact layout has changed.....I just want to say this looks sooooooo much better than the initial new layout! It is A LOT clearer and the information displayed is easier to read than how it was before. I'm still not 100% sold on all the activity being shown, but at least it now shows dates etc.
Just wanted to say thanks for listening and thumbs up on this re-design from me!
I've just noticed that my contact layout has changed.....I just want to say this looks sooooooo much better than the initial new layout! It is A LOT clearer and the information displayed is easier to read than how it was before. I'm still not 100% sold on all the activity being shown, but at least it now shows dates etc.
Just wanted to say thanks for listening and thumbs up on this re-design from me!
I agree Maxine, this is much better. I am also not sure how useful the activity screen actually is but the overall look is pleasing. Plus we still have the crucial link to the activity report which is good.
I've just checked my contacts section as well. While I'm still not in love with the new page, It is good to see the search function is working properly as a replacement for the A-Z thingy, the payments have been removed as a separate line on the individual contact page and the program is not opening another window for me as soon as I click on a recent invoice. Thank you for at least fixing the things that didn't work well.
Official Xero Reply
Hi all
As some of you have already discovered we released the updates we've been promising over the last couple of weeks. This includes everything I described above (including but not limited to):
- ability to sort on fields beyond what is just in the grid header
- showing Skype details in search view
- Files support (showing attached Files in grid)
- new responsive layout (grid like at higher screen resolutions) with more information (invoice dates, references etc)
- outstanding activity moved up into a newly designed Contact summary view
- new Notes tab (available to all users)
- links no longer open in new tabs
- text selection in all grids (so you can select notes again)
- removing dollar signs from icons
It's a fairly big release, though most of changes are small. Obviously the big experience change is how we deal with outstanding invoices and bills - you can see we've moved this up the hierarchy to be the main focal point of the page.
And we've added in the Notes tab (as promised). This can be seen by all users. Notes will still show up in the activity feed for a contact - this tab essentially provides a filtered view.
We have some more work to do on the activity feed itself. We think there's a better way of showing the activity against a particular document (like the history of an invoice - when it was created, approved, sent, paid etc). We really want this to be the singular view of a contact (be they customer or supplier) so we're working hard on delivering to that vision.
Keep the feedback coming - it's been invaluable to this process.
As some of you have already discovered we released the updates we've been promising over the last couple of weeks. This includes everything I described above (including but not limited to):
- ability to sort on fields beyond what is just in the grid header
- showing Skype details in search view
- Files support (showing attached Files in grid)
- new responsive layout (grid like at higher screen resolutions) with more information (invoice dates, references etc)
- outstanding activity moved up into a newly designed Contact summary view
- new Notes tab (available to all users)
- links no longer open in new tabs
- text selection in all grids (so you can select notes again)
- removing dollar signs from icons
It's a fairly big release, though most of changes are small. Obviously the big experience change is how we deal with outstanding invoices and bills - you can see we've moved this up the hierarchy to be the main focal point of the page.
And we've added in the Notes tab (as promised). This can be seen by all users. Notes will still show up in the activity feed for a contact - this tab essentially provides a filtered view.
We have some more work to do on the activity feed itself. We think there's a better way of showing the activity against a particular document (like the history of an invoice - when it was created, approved, sent, paid etc). We really want this to be the singular view of a contact (be they customer or supplier) so we're working hard on delivering to that vision.
Keep the feedback coming - it's been invaluable to this process.
The new layout is much better than before.
I like :
a) the "view recent invoices" link is still there! Phew! Thank you so much!!! Would still prefer this table on the main page, but so long as I can get this report somehow then I'm happy.
b) the link opening in the same window - much better than opening in a different window.
c) the new icons showing invoices as paid or outstanding - great!
d) the invoice date & paid dated is showing on the activity feed on one line - fab!
However, the activity feed is still useless in it's current state because :
a) it's still littered with notes about when I sent statements or when I updated a spelling error in their address etc... please get rid of this. It's unnecessary info.
b) everything is still not in date order - please give us the option to sort by our preferred field
You're 2/3 of the way there! I have all my fingers, toes and eyes crossed for the last couple fixes! :-)
I like :
a) the "view recent invoices" link is still there! Phew! Thank you so much!!! Would still prefer this table on the main page, but so long as I can get this report somehow then I'm happy.
b) the link opening in the same window - much better than opening in a different window.
c) the new icons showing invoices as paid or outstanding - great!
d) the invoice date & paid dated is showing on the activity feed on one line - fab!
However, the activity feed is still useless in it's current state because :
a) it's still littered with notes about when I sent statements or when I updated a spelling error in their address etc... please get rid of this. It's unnecessary info.
b) everything is still not in date order - please give us the option to sort by our preferred field
You're 2/3 of the way there! I have all my fingers, toes and eyes crossed for the last couple fixes! :-)
Hey Craig, I noticed some weird things on the new Contacts page:
#1 - When you click on a Vendor Bill that is Awaiting Approval from the Contact page, you are brought to a "Read-only" version of that Vendor Bill. But when you access the same page from the Purchases subtab, you are brought to a editable version of the same page. That is strange. I like the "Read-only" version of that Vendor Bill, you should make that the behavior everywhere.... but you need to add a Edit option to the dropdown.
You can see the difference in the URL:
From Purchases subtab: https://go.xero.com/AccountsPayable/Edit.aspx?InvoiceID=
From new Contacts page: https://go.xero.com/AccountsPayable/View.aspx?InvoiceID=
#2 - In the Activity list, there is an ITEM column, a NUMBER column, and a REFERENCE column
- ITEM column - this is strange terminology since it is not Item as defined elsewhere in the Xero software. ie an Item is in Inventory. Consider "Type" instead of ITEM.
- NUMBER column - this is the Reference in the actual Vendor Bill transaction. Why is it called NUMBER?
- REFERENCE - This is only used on an Invoice transaction. Seems like these is some confusion of terminology
#3 - In the New Contacts page, only the NUMBER is clickable. So if you have a Spend/Receive Transaction without a Reference number, there is nothing to click. You have to click the little arrow and choose View. Thats annoying to make extra clicks. Instead, make the Amount (TOTAL) also clickable to take you to the transaction.
#4 - The Activity list shows Bills Awaiting Approval with a ITEM of Bill submitted. This terminology is different than the terminology elsewhere of Awaiting Approval.
#5 - The Activity list shows Bills Awaiting Approval with a ITEM of Bill submitted. But when you look at the list behind the "View recent bills report" link, this transaction is not there. It does not show Bills Awaiting Approval. Please show them on this report as well.
#1 - When you click on a Vendor Bill that is Awaiting Approval from the Contact page, you are brought to a "Read-only" version of that Vendor Bill. But when you access the same page from the Purchases subtab, you are brought to a editable version of the same page. That is strange. I like the "Read-only" version of that Vendor Bill, you should make that the behavior everywhere.... but you need to add a Edit option to the dropdown.
You can see the difference in the URL:
From Purchases subtab: https://go.xero.com/AccountsPayable/Edit.aspx?InvoiceID=
From new Contacts page: https://go.xero.com/AccountsPayable/View.aspx?InvoiceID=
#2 - In the Activity list, there is an ITEM column, a NUMBER column, and a REFERENCE column
- ITEM column - this is strange terminology since it is not Item as defined elsewhere in the Xero software. ie an Item is in Inventory. Consider "Type" instead of ITEM.
- NUMBER column - this is the Reference in the actual Vendor Bill transaction. Why is it called NUMBER?
- REFERENCE - This is only used on an Invoice transaction. Seems like these is some confusion of terminology
#3 - In the New Contacts page, only the NUMBER is clickable. So if you have a Spend/Receive Transaction without a Reference number, there is nothing to click. You have to click the little arrow and choose View. Thats annoying to make extra clicks. Instead, make the Amount (TOTAL) also clickable to take you to the transaction.
#4 - The Activity list shows Bills Awaiting Approval with a ITEM of Bill submitted. This terminology is different than the terminology elsewhere of Awaiting Approval.
#5 - The Activity list shows Bills Awaiting Approval with a ITEM of Bill submitted. But when you look at the list behind the "View recent bills report" link, this transaction is not there. It does not show Bills Awaiting Approval. Please show them on this report as well.
#6 I don't know if this is a bug but for some of my clients they have more invoices overdue than the total outstanding on the contact record. This is due to timing of credit notes but is obviously a nonsense and needs some work.
Is it just me or is the contacts 'activity feed' or whatever you wish to call it a bit out of order? Reading across the page it would be more logical if it began with the date of the invoice and then the invoice number and status etc. But I suppose that way it would pretty much resemble the 'view recent activity' page... hmmmmn
Merged: New Format
I would like to start a Request.
I am not sure exactly when the format of the Contacts changed (Approx Nov '15 I think) but it is cumbersome with too much general information cluttering the main page with not enough specific on the main page. The previous version listed all transaction and you could get an instant overview of a supplier or customer, now there is a line entry for dates reminders are sent etc.
Far less user friendly than it use to be.
I would like to start a Request.
I am not sure exactly when the format of the Contacts changed (Approx Nov '15 I think) but it is cumbersome with too much general information cluttering the main page with not enough specific on the main page. The previous version listed all transaction and you could get an instant overview of a supplier or customer, now there is a line entry for dates reminders are sent etc.
Far less user friendly than it use to be.
Thanks for the feedback, and sorry to hear you don't like the new layout, Adam. We've been collecting and reviewing feedback on the new layout of contacts on this thread, please feel free to also share your thoughts here too. You'll see we've made some more changes since the initial release, the latest mentioned in the Official Xero Reply on that thread.
Notes added to Invoices (sales particularly I'm thinking of) no longer appear in the list of Notes under a Contact.
This is another feature that has been broken by this 'update' (downdate?) please could the team investigate and let us know if this can fixed ASAP.
Thanks
Giles
This is another feature that has been broken by this 'update' (downdate?) please could the team investigate and let us know if this can fixed ASAP.
Thanks
Giles
The list of invoices on a contact is nice for contacts with a small number of invoice but once it get over 5 or 10 open items it gets a little unwieldy. I have two suggestions to fix this. First add the aging for the contact as a line at the top, like the way it looks in the Account Receivable Aging Summary Report. Second, make that line clickable which would open the "New" Account Receivable Aging Detail Report filtered for that contact.
Another suggestion for the general contact screen. Please default the search to something that does not include Archived contacts. Once they are Archived I never really want to see them again unless I go looking. I see the value in having an "All" filter, but for day to day use something closer to "Active" as the default filter would be much better.
Another suggestion for the general contact screen. Please default the search to something that does not include Archived contacts. Once they are Archived I never really want to see them again unless I go looking. I see the value in having an "All" filter, but for day to day use something closer to "Active" as the default filter would be much better.
Since this is the only post getting any attention and responses from Xero, I thought i would bring to light another issue with Xero thats very annoying and im sure would be a quick fix if any of your programmers would spare a few minutes attention to it!!
Please fix the payroll deduction item to be able to post to ANY account and not just Liability accounts. this would be very useful instead of having to go back and do a journal end of each month.
thank you
Please fix the payroll deduction item to be able to post to ANY account and not just Liability accounts. this would be very useful instead of having to go back and do a journal end of each month.
thank you
Merged: New Contacts set up
I don't know about anyone else but I find the new CONTACTS tab ugly and unfriendly.
I prefer the old CONTACTS set up where I could see my CONTACT GROUPS in tabs at the top etc
The new set up looks like a spreadsheet and I find the search facility is the quickest way around it.
Everything was visible and user friendly before.
Anyone else think so?
Whats the chances of giving us back the old set up Xero?
I don't know about anyone else but I find the new CONTACTS tab ugly and unfriendly.
I prefer the old CONTACTS set up where I could see my CONTACT GROUPS in tabs at the top etc
The new set up looks like a spreadsheet and I find the search facility is the quickest way around it.
Everything was visible and user friendly before.
Anyone else think so?
Whats the chances of giving us back the old set up Xero?
When you are in contacts and looking at a customer and you click on Options, send statement; why is the statement date automatically the end of the last month and not today's date?
Also: if you do not use payroll on Xero (I have a lovely payroll package that puts payslips and P60s into the cloud (no printing for me!) and automatically links directors' P60s to their tax returns) is it possible to designate any of the contacts as Employees?
I haven't time to read everything above: but I do think Contacts is getting better but it still has a long way to go. I like that the outstanding invoices are in their own section but you must be able to filter out the noise that is still in the activity feed.
Also: if you do not use payroll on Xero (I have a lovely payroll package that puts payslips and P60s into the cloud (no printing for me!) and automatically links directors' P60s to their tax returns) is it possible to designate any of the contacts as Employees?
I haven't time to read everything above: but I do think Contacts is getting better but it still has a long way to go. I like that the outstanding invoices are in their own section but you must be able to filter out the noise that is still in the activity feed.
Hi, it's been 3 months now - when are you going to get rid of the rest of the junk from the "activity feed" thing? It is so cluttered that I am still unable to use it.
Merged: Contacts - Double Ups
How are you users going since the new contact format?
We are finding it harder to bring up existing customers
For several reasons -
Either the Search is slow, cant find it - Quite often and annoying
Or we are not spelling the contact EXACTLY ie Sun Burst or Sunburst
For our users that KNOW the customer already exists, more time is taken to find the customer
(Really missing A-Z)
Or by mishap a new customer is being created
This in turn giving us double ups of the same customer
Just us? or Anyone else experiencing this
How are you users going since the new contact format?
We are finding it harder to bring up existing customers
For several reasons -
Either the Search is slow, cant find it - Quite often and annoying
Or we are not spelling the contact EXACTLY ie Sun Burst or Sunburst
For our users that KNOW the customer already exists, more time is taken to find the customer
(Really missing A-Z)
Or by mishap a new customer is being created
This in turn giving us double ups of the same customer
Just us? or Anyone else experiencing this
I agree I think the new format is going backwards. The A-Z was much better and more user friendly.
Sad to see many of us still hate the 'google friendly' layout but even sadder that Xero haven't bothered to answer any of you since January!
The upgrade was a well thought out change, and some of us actually find the change to be a positive one. The issue can be a difficult one for people that are inflexible and have difficulty adapting to changes in technology. We are a Google for Work Partner as well, and they have constant change, and there is a vocal minority that insist on carrying on an yelping like a cross between a fishwife and a demented banshee. Eventually, one learns to ignore them and continues to work with the vast majority that come to appreciate the improvements. We have come to a simple rule, we stick to deployment and leave training to those with far more patience than we have. There I said what quite a few have been thinking silently for months.
Well Jordan for me it was not a well thought out change...hence the hasty changes Xero has done since it's first release. When change is positive it is embraced.
In my world the Contacts is primarily a point of finding details and making contact with clients such as chasing up outstanding debts and recording the activity. Some businesses can have 50 or more live invoices per client at a given time and I merely want to make a call re the outstanding invoices and then document that via a note on the contacts. To do this, once in the contact, I have to do 4-5 scrolls to get to a point where I am presented with an Activity list that goes on for 9 scrolls plus 3 more pages...I could use the slide bar...but damn I've zoomed past and have to go back.. Then I can go to the Notes tab and enter my note...what an effort to get to Notes.
Why present me with pages full of activities which re-iterates the 50 Invoices awaiting payment as presented to me in the pane above, plus I don't want an audit of each invoice as I can get that at the invoice level where it belongs...then somewhere in between there is my history of notes.
In the old version I located the contact and Notes was at the bottom of the page and I just added my note and moved on. The new version requires quite a lot of effort and provides screen loads of data I don't need and can get elsewhere where it does make sense.
In my world Jordan debtor management is critical and no doubt a big function for most companies; the first contacts was built for such activity, this release makes debtor management so much more labourious...I'm not a techno phobe Jordan, I just hate inefficiency in business.
Marg
In my world the Contacts is primarily a point of finding details and making contact with clients such as chasing up outstanding debts and recording the activity. Some businesses can have 50 or more live invoices per client at a given time and I merely want to make a call re the outstanding invoices and then document that via a note on the contacts. To do this, once in the contact, I have to do 4-5 scrolls to get to a point where I am presented with an Activity list that goes on for 9 scrolls plus 3 more pages...I could use the slide bar...but damn I've zoomed past and have to go back.. Then I can go to the Notes tab and enter my note...what an effort to get to Notes.
Why present me with pages full of activities which re-iterates the 50 Invoices awaiting payment as presented to me in the pane above, plus I don't want an audit of each invoice as I can get that at the invoice level where it belongs...then somewhere in between there is my history of notes.
In the old version I located the contact and Notes was at the bottom of the page and I just added my note and moved on. The new version requires quite a lot of effort and provides screen loads of data I don't need and can get elsewhere where it does make sense.
In my world Jordan debtor management is critical and no doubt a big function for most companies; the first contacts was built for such activity, this release makes debtor management so much more labourious...I'm not a techno phobe Jordan, I just hate inefficiency in business.
Marg
Totally agree with Marg... and the 400+ comments above back up that it was NOT a well thought out change. Debtor management is critical to me too, and the new version of contacts only hinders the process for me personally. I still cannot use the activity feed as it is too cluttered, and I would be completely lost without the "view recent invoices" button!
On a personal note, please remember Jordan that just because other people have a different experience of the changes than you, it does not make their opinions any less valid than yours. The derogatory name-calling was really unnecessary. Please can we keep the discussion a little more respectful to others? Thank you :-)
On a personal note, please remember Jordan that just because other people have a different experience of the changes than you, it does not make their opinions any less valid than yours. The derogatory name-calling was really unnecessary. Please can we keep the discussion a little more respectful to others? Thank you :-)
Totally agree with Bianca and Marg in their response to Jordan.
Jordan if you are happy with the changes thats fine for you, but if you would like to read any number of the opinions on this page, you may come to realise that there are a lot of unhappy users out there, in addition to those who also do not express their opinions on the Community Board. Xero themselves have acknowledeg that they could have introduced these changes in a better fashion, however even if they did, they have effectively "stuffed up " a good system",
Interestingly, I have been told by some Managers, (as Partner contacts), that they were not really aware of this issue and the reaction on the noticeboard.
Now that is a concern!
Regards
Jordan if you are happy with the changes thats fine for you, but if you would like to read any number of the opinions on this page, you may come to realise that there are a lot of unhappy users out there, in addition to those who also do not express their opinions on the Community Board. Xero themselves have acknowledeg that they could have introduced these changes in a better fashion, however even if they did, they have effectively "stuffed up " a good system",
Interestingly, I have been told by some Managers, (as Partner contacts), that they were not really aware of this issue and the reaction on the noticeboard.
Now that is a concern!
Regards
I totally agree with Bianca and Marg.
Jordon clearly doesn't use the product at all in a serious performance based business. is comments are those from a non user point of view.
Debtor management and supplier management for my clients is critical to their business for cash flow management.
The new process and screen is messy and it is time consuming to get where you need to be especially from a customer or Supplier reconciliation point of view
Totally agree with Michael - they have "stuffed up" a good system.
It has effected the bottom line in my business as it takes my staff a lot longer to reconcile my clients debtors and creditors or solve problems.
AND THEN we get a price increase. Well done Xero
Jordon clearly doesn't use the product at all in a serious performance based business. is comments are those from a non user point of view.
Debtor management and supplier management for my clients is critical to their business for cash flow management.
The new process and screen is messy and it is time consuming to get where you need to be especially from a customer or Supplier reconciliation point of view
Totally agree with Michael - they have "stuffed up" a good system.
It has effected the bottom line in my business as it takes my staff a lot longer to reconcile my clients debtors and creditors or solve problems.
AND THEN we get a price increase. Well done Xero
Like Bianca (and many others) I too cannot use the new activity feed, especially on a contact which has a large volume of bills. It takes up far too much screen real estate and I would be constantly scrolling up and down to try and find things.
As a result I also use the 'view recent invoices' link to get to the 'old screen' and hope and pray that Xero never removes this link!
I wonder if Xero tracks how many requests/clicks they get to 'view recent invoices' to see just how many frustrated people are using this page instead of the new activityfeed???
As a result I also use the 'view recent invoices' link to get to the 'old screen' and hope and pray that Xero never removes this link!
I wonder if Xero tracks how many requests/clicks they get to 'view recent invoices' to see just how many frustrated people are using this page instead of the new activityfeed???
Not to mention the pale colouring plus the white space. Its easier just to export the list to Excel and find what you need there
Part of the problem is that Xero think that everyone who uses Xero is an accountant. The fact is that many self-employed people and small businesses would be attracted to Xero, not being professionally qualified accountants, because of it's simplicity. The stupidity of the management has ensured that this has all gone out the window so the package is not so attractive other than to the professionals.
This is a fact that you, Jordan, seem to be missing. You are the only contributor here that prefaces all his posts with I am, I am, I am.. Well, listen up Jordan, it is you who are in the minority of just one here.
The rest of us just want to get on with running our businesses without the headache of wondering what ingenious change the development team are going to come up with next. This update was uncalled for and there has been no evidence produced by Xero that anyone asked for any of this. All the evidence produced is that many other long requested changes have been ignored in favour of this unwelcome change.
Like Helen, we use the 'view recent invoices' link every day because it gives all the information required concisely. As for any links with Google, this is an accounts package and not a digital marketing platform so any links with Google are totally superfluous for us. As long as my accountant can log in and point out any errors that's good enough for me.
This is a fact that you, Jordan, seem to be missing. You are the only contributor here that prefaces all his posts with I am, I am, I am.. Well, listen up Jordan, it is you who are in the minority of just one here.
The rest of us just want to get on with running our businesses without the headache of wondering what ingenious change the development team are going to come up with next. This update was uncalled for and there has been no evidence produced by Xero that anyone asked for any of this. All the evidence produced is that many other long requested changes have been ignored in favour of this unwelcome change.
Like Helen, we use the 'view recent invoices' link every day because it gives all the information required concisely. As for any links with Google, this is an accounts package and not a digital marketing platform so any links with Google are totally superfluous for us. As long as my accountant can log in and point out any errors that's good enough for me.
David Maidment
Here, here. We are a software provider too and this whole episode has shown our company how NOT to do things! Spending a lot of time and resources to "improve" a system that means your customers hate it, isn't a reason not to backtrack.
If it weren't for the View Recent Invoices, which they thankfully restored early on in the piece, so much time would be wasted every single day. I just automatically go there each time I access invoices to avoid all the other unnecessary noise.
If it weren't for the View Recent Invoices, which they thankfully restored early on in the piece, so much time would be wasted every single day. I just automatically go there each time I access invoices to avoid all the other unnecessary noise.
Xero you are being very quiet through these discussions. Interestingly when you look at this discussion all you see is your positive response in December last year and not any of the 400+ negative comments that the community is making about how much this update was not an improvement but more 10 steps backwards
Are there going to be changes?
Are there going to be changes?
Helen I second that request that the view recent invoices link never be removed it is essential. Although, as Xero point out, it is available from the aged receivables report as well but one of the reasons we like Xero is that there are several ways to get to the same report.
David – I do not think that Xero is aiming there software at accountants and cannot agree that this change has meant that this as all gone out of the window.
Whilst I disagree with the way it was actioned and the result I do think it was being done with the best intentions. I think is should have been more consultative and better actioned but I think Xero do try and make their software more useable.
If you compare the software to Sage that seems to be solely designed for accountants Xero is way more user friendly and remains so especially with global search and the quick links etc.
I have seen many more clients engage with this software than they ever did with Sage so I think Xero have got it right, not with the change to contacts, but in general we are still big fans.
I agree with Joy as well not much feedback coming from Xero - I attended Xerocon and it was barely mentioned at all - I think along with all the positive the Xero team could of spent at least ten minutes acknowledging the problems they caused with the update if it was mentioned I missed it.
David – I do not think that Xero is aiming there software at accountants and cannot agree that this change has meant that this as all gone out of the window.
Whilst I disagree with the way it was actioned and the result I do think it was being done with the best intentions. I think is should have been more consultative and better actioned but I think Xero do try and make their software more useable.
If you compare the software to Sage that seems to be solely designed for accountants Xero is way more user friendly and remains so especially with global search and the quick links etc.
I have seen many more clients engage with this software than they ever did with Sage so I think Xero have got it right, not with the change to contacts, but in general we are still big fans.
I agree with Joy as well not much feedback coming from Xero - I attended Xerocon and it was barely mentioned at all - I think along with all the positive the Xero team could of spent at least ten minutes acknowledging the problems they caused with the update if it was mentioned I missed it.
I also would love to have the Alphabetical tabs back please for searching customers but also maybe with an extra option of adding a customer type tab so that ie if I am trying to locate all my Education customers then I can also collate this in one place. I hate having to scroll through all the pages to try and locate a name.
Thanks
Thanks
Hey Annie, The groups feature might work well for your Education customers, I use it for something similar! https://help.xero.com/us/Contacts_Groups
Hope that helps.
Hope that helps.
WOW, so happy to see so many people feel like me. Whilst I like using Xero and get around it well, I just cannot understand why they do silly things and not concentrate on the important stuff such as putting important updates in Payroll. Once upon a time I could put an address in the postal section and/or the street address section of the contacts card and when I enter a Purchase the address detail came up for either, now if you want an address on your purchase, you have to put it into the postal section only. Maybe this is a matter of interpretation but postal address mean to me that is it a PO Box address. Historically I rarely used the PO address section unless the person had a PO Box. Since the contact changes all my addresses are now amazingly sitting in the Postal Address section.
Talking to support about it is like talking to your hand, I have got it wrong attitude, I also dont think Xero is aiming their software at accountants either. To me it just a matter of a tech person thinking, this will be good, I will change it or dump it or no this is not important enough. Xero should be talking to bookkeepers, as they do most of the entries, with some
advice from accountants.
Talking to support about it is like talking to your hand, I have got it wrong attitude, I also dont think Xero is aiming their software at accountants either. To me it just a matter of a tech person thinking, this will be good, I will change it or dump it or no this is not important enough. Xero should be talking to bookkeepers, as they do most of the entries, with some
advice from accountants.
I've always found support to go above and beyond when it comes to areas they can help with and they do always take the time to listen and clarify your issue.
I do too Heather, most times they are wonderful but sometimes when it comes down to important difficult stuff they dont or they are protecting Xero's image I guess.
I'm happy to hear that Julie.
I had a small stupid issue recently and I asked to speak to the support manager ... and the matter got sorted really quickly and I don't think it even went to the support manager.
Do you have a Xero account manager or Xero partner you deal with - maybe they could assist?
I had a small stupid issue recently and I asked to speak to the support manager ... and the matter got sorted really quickly and I don't think it even went to the support manager.
Do you have a Xero account manager or Xero partner you deal with - maybe they could assist?
Just a thought about de-cluttering the "activity" timeline thingy in the contacts - has anyone found a way to delete the useless notes?
Especially the useless notes that record every time you correct a spelling error in an address, or give an invoice an expected payment date?
Once an invoice is paid there is no need to keep an expected payment date note and I want to get rid of them. Is that possible?
Especially the useless notes that record every time you correct a spelling error in an address, or give an invoice an expected payment date?
Once an invoice is paid there is no need to keep an expected payment date note and I want to get rid of them. Is that possible?