Xero Contact Syncing

Xero Contact Syncing

How profiles in Loft sync to Xero contacts and when

When any transaction is posted Loft looks at the contact type and the existing Xero Contact.  If the Contact does not exist in Xero, Loft will automatically create the contact in Xero and then link those contact in the Linked Xero contact field on the Contact in Loft.

During our synchronization and before an entire batch of transactions get posted we

  1. Pull every contact from Xero, updating existing contacts, creating new contacts, and pulling in any AP and AR balance in Xero.

  2. Push newly paid agents and their Org contact, if set to be payable to org, to Xero. 

  3. During the sync, if a Xero contact is not Linked with a Loft Contact and try to link them based on the following best match:

  • When the email is exactly the same we match them and create a link tom@example.com = tom@example.com

  • When the name is contained in the other and matches 60% of the length we match them and create a link

4. During the sync, Loft looks for any changes within a contact in Loft that differ from its Xero contact (name, email, addresses, etc) and updates the change to the Xero contact.

Please note, although we try to match contacts as best we can, Xero rules around duplication can interfere with that match causing a batching error. Please refer to this article if you do get a batching error, the article will guide you through how to identify that error, what the error means, and how to troubleshoot and fix the error.

When an Agent is paid to their Organization

If an Agent is set to be paid to an Organization Loft will post all bills and credit notes to the Organization name. The invoicing in Xero should reflect this and invoices should be created with the Organization's name. As a result we’ve created the following rule: 

Agent and Organization Syncing Rule
If the Agent is paid to the Organization Loft will sync the AR/AP balance of the Organization contact in both the Agent's contact as well as the Org contact. If the agent is paid as an individual, Loft will sync the AR/AP balance within the Agent's contact.

Linked Xero Contact

The Linked Xero Contact field will, for the most part, automatically update as per how the contact is set up.  For agent or profile contacts paid and set to be payable to profile, the field will match the contact name, like so


Agents/Contacts set to be payable to an Organization, MUST have the profile contact's Linked Xero Contact field blank


and the Org Contact MUST match the contact in the Linked Xero Contact field, like so 



Missing or Blank Linked Xero Contacts Sometimes if you haven't done a hard Xero Sync (clicking the Sync Xero button in your Xero Activity page) this field will either be blank or will have the contact missing, like so Blank


Missing contact
If Missing, click the unlink button to turn blank, and search and select the contact from the dropdown. If the Unlink button is stuck, reach out to support and ask us to have the devs unlink this for you. If blank, you can add it back in by searching within the field and selecting the contact from the dropdown, if you can't find the contact in the search, this means you haven't done a hard Xero Sync or have made a change to the contact on the Xero side, in that case, head to your Xero Activity page and click the 'Sync Xero' button and let the sync run fully>head back to the contact and it will either have auto populated or will be searchable.  If you have more than one contact in the searchable dropdown or only the agent's name, this is a good indication that either the contact has been changed or archived in Xero OR you haven't done a hard Xero Sync in a while. Remember every change you make in Xero contacts will need a hard Xero Sync every time a change is made!


Disable Sync

When you choose to disable the Xero Sync in the profile in Loft it will no longer try to match any of the above criteria.  If it is currently ‘Linked’ to a Xero contact AP and AR balances will continue to update.



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