There have been two versions of Xero reports available for a while now. You may have seen a banner across the top of the page when you open the old format reports, telling you that there’s a new version. 

From the 31^st July 2023, the old Xero reports formats will no longer be available, so you need to update now!

(This deadline is actually New Zealand time, so the old format reports will disappear from your UK Xero at 7pm on 30^th July 2023.)

• From this point, you won’t be able to run the old format Xero reports.
• Any saved drafts of old reports will be removed from Xero.
• You have read-only access to old published and archived reports.

Why can’t Xero keep both versions running?

The communications that have come out from Xero have explained the decision to turn off the old format reports as follows:

• The new formats are far better, allowing faster access to better information, so staying on the old version is making your life more difficult.
• They have plans to add more reports and functionality, but to do so they need to concentrate on the new formats, and until now they’ve still been spending resources on the old format, which is hampering that development.
• They don’t want to leave outdated reports running without supporting them, as they’ll become inaccurate and potentially dangerous to rely on!

What do you need to do before the end of July?

If you open the new versions of Xero reports, and are happy to use them without any amendments, you can get straight on with running them.

If you need to amend any of them, you may need to do any or all of the following:

• Copy any custom layouts you may have using the layout importer tool linked at the top of the report (do this before 30^thJuly as you won’t be able to after then!).
• Customise the new versions if you want to, and save it as a custom report or default layout, so next time they’ll open exactly how you want them.
• Finalise and publish any old saved report drafts, if you want to keep them as read only reports (draft reports will no longer be available after the 30^th July).
• Connect any workflows outside Xero to the new versions of your reports (if you export data and do further manipulations in Excel or other apps to get what you need, like macros).

If you’d like to know more about moving across from the old to the new format Xero reports, there’s a Xero video here on YouTube that might be helpful.

Tips for using the new Xero Reports formats

• The most popular new reports have a ‘tips and tricks panel on the right hand side, with links to support articles and how-to videos.
• You can search for a report article in Xero Central or have a look at the Reports playlist on Xero’s YouTube channel.
• See if there’s a live webinar on reports that you can register for.

Are there any exceptions?

Yes! There are a few reports that will be updated later or being upgraded in a different way. These include:

• VAT Return report
• VAT Reconciliation report
• Budget Manager
• Budget Summary report
• Expense Claim Summary report
• Foreign Currency Gains and Losses report
• Inventory Item Summary report
• Realised Gains and Losses report (the new version of this report is also available)
• Sales by Item report
• Tracking Summary report
• Unrealised Gains and Losses report
• Reporting API (please note this is not a report)

What can you do if you’re struggling?

Get in touch with Xero Support if you’re having trouble with making the change to the new format reports. The links included above give a lot of information that should help, but Support should be primed to provide lots more if you need it!

If you’re struggling, we’re happy to help if we can, so please do get in touch if you need to, but also please do bear in mind that we’re a small firm and Xero Support can’t be our primary focus.