Connecting Xero, QuickBooks or Zoho Books means invoices, payments and refunds reach the books every night without retyping. The one decision that matters is the sync-from date.

Connect

1

Select Xero, QuickBooks Online or Zoho Books under Apps Integration and Connect

Approve on the provider's page and pick the organization or company. The app's short description sits under its connection status, above the account choices. If you approve more than one Xero organization, ClinyPal uses the one you approved last and the panel shows Organization with a list; pick another and select Switch to change. The confirmation reads From now on invoices, payments and account credit go to the new organization, sent afresh from your sync-from date. Pick its sales, payment and account credit accounts again. Nothing already in the old one is changed., and Organization switched confirms it. A Xero connection made before this update shows the list after you disconnect and connect again.

2

Set Sync invoices from

Invoices issued before this day aren't sent. Chosen from ClinyPal's own calendar control. Usually the start of your current financial year, or the day you go live, so the books don't get invoices your accountant already entered.

3

Choose where money goes

Payments go to: the bank or clearing account in the books that receives payments; Xero also asks for the sales account, QuickBooks uses one invoice item. Save.

4

Choose where account credit is kept

Account credit is kept in. In QuickBooks Online and Zoho Books the first choice is Patient credit (made on the first sync that needs it), or pick an existing account; the hint reads Money patients hold as account credit. Paying an invoice with credit takes it from here, not the bank. In Xero it starts on None yet, because ClinyPal doesn't create the account there: Add a Current Liability account named Patient credit in Xero with "Enable payments to this account" checked, then pick it here. Account credit waits until then. Only liability accounts that accept payments are listed.

5

Sync invoices for the first run

Pushes what's due now; after that the sync runs every night in the clinic's time, with no switch to set. Each run sends up to 500; the next one carries on.

The Xero panel showing Connected, a Sync invoices from date, a Payments go to account choice, the count of invoices synced and a Sync invoices button.
Xero connected with Sync invoices from 1 July, Payments go to the clinic's bank account, and Invoices synced 1,284.
Pick Sync invoices from carefully before the first sync. Everything issued on or after that day is sent on the first run, and invoices already entered in the books by hand would then appear twice. Later changes to the date only add earlier invoices.

What the books get

  • Every issued invoice from the sync-from day, numbered with ClinyPal's invoice number, with each line at its final amount after discounts and tax and promotions as one discount line, so totals match ClinyPal exactly. Tax is sent inside the line amounts, not as a tax code.
  • Every payment taken, on the day it was taken. The patient is created as a contact; Zoho needs the patient to have an email address.
  • A refund as a credit note numbered CN and a refund payment, so the invoice stays paid and the money out is shown.
  • An invoice edited before any payment was sent is updated. Invoices that were paid in the books aren't updated again, because Xero and QuickBooks refuse that.
  • Account credit moves through a liability account named Patient credit. Money that becomes credit goes into it with the reference PC- and a number: a payment of more than was owed, a refund to account credit, or a canceled visit's deposit beyond its fee. An invoice paid with credit takes that part out of Patient credit, not the bank; in QuickBooks that's a journal entry numbered PCS- and a 0.00 payment applying it to the invoice, in Xero and Zoho a payment from Patient credit. Credit refunded to the patient as money comes out of Patient credit.

Some things can't be sent and leave a note in the activity log for you to adjust in the books: a write-off (that is not sent, adjust it there), an invoice changed after a payment reached the books, a void the provider refuses because it has a payment, and a payment voided here. Credit added by hand, imported balances and credit from invoices before the Sync invoices from date aren't sent either; the note reads, for example, Account credit of 25.00 for Jane Doe (adjusted by hand or by a voided payment) is not sent to Xero; adjust Patient credit there., with the reason in parentheses being an imported balance, adjusted by hand or by a voided payment or from an invoice from before the sync-from day.

For the clinic's accountant: in QuickBooks and Zoho a liability account named Patient credit appears in the books on the first sync that needs it; in Xero it's the account the clinic made, with whatever code they gave it. Until a Xero account is picked the panel says Account credit is waiting for an account in Xero: add a Current Liability account named Patient credit with "Enable payments to this account" checked, then pick it under Account credit is kept in. It goes across on the next sync. A Xero connection made before this update shows Account credit received or refunded as money is waiting: reconnect Xero (Disconnect, then Connect) and allow bank transactions. It goes across on the next sync., because connecting Xero now also asks for access to bank transactions. Xero also needs an active bank account for credit received or refunded as money; otherwise the panel says No active bank account in this Xero organization for account credit received or refunded: add one in Xero. Nothing is lost while it waits; everything goes across on the next sync after the account is picked.

Keeping it healthy

  • Some invoices or payments couldn't be sent on the last sync on the panel means one or more were refused; the reason, such as a contact name the provider rejects, is kept for support. See An invoice hasn't synced.
  • A sync is already running; it carries on by itself appears if two people press Sync at once; wait a few minutes. Zoho Books limits how fast and how often ClinyPal may call it, so a sync can stop part way with Zoho Books asked ClinyPal to slow down; the rest are sent on the next sync. or, when the day's allowance on Zoho's plan is used up, Zoho Books' daily limit for its API was reached; the rest are sent on the next sync. Nothing is lost; the next sync carries on, and a first sync of a large backlog on Zoho's free plan can take several nights to finish.
  • Reconnecting to a different organization starts the invoices afresh from the sync-from day, so the new books get everything.
  • Needs attention means the provider's access expired; reconnect and the nightly run resumes where it stopped.