Xero Troubleshooting

This is a brief article that explains various error messages you might encounter with the Xero integration and provides solutions to resolve them.

More payments across the systems than money due - This issue typically arises when two separate payments are recorded for the same invoice—one in Xero and another in Powered Now. To rectify this, we recommend removing the payment entry from Powered Now. After doing so, please sync your account with Xero once more. This action will import the payment recorded in Xero into Powered Now, thereby updating the invoice status to 'paid'.

For help with deleting a payment in Powered Now, click here


Description field is mandatory - This issue usually occurs when there is a pricing line set to £0. Unfortunately, Xero does not permit invoices to include a pricing line of £0. To resolve this, we recommend either assigning a price to that line or removing it altogether. You can then add the necessary information to the invoice description or create a new pricing line with a valid price.


You have reached your limit of invoices you can approve - This issue typically occurs if your Xero account is on the lowest subscription tier, which limits the number of invoices you can create or import. To resolve this, we recommend reviewing your current subscription plan in Xero and considering an upgrade to a tier that allows for unlimited invoice creation and importation.


Document totals have changed in Xero - This issue arises when an invoice or supplier invoice that has been synced from Powered Now to Xero is modified in Xero, resulting in a discrepancy between the two documents. To resolve this, we recommend either reverting the invoice in Xero to its original state or removing it entirely. If you choose to remove the invoice in Xero if it needs updating, the Powered Now support team can get the invoice unlocked for you in Powered Now, you can make the necessary amendments and then sync the updated version of the invoice back to Xero.


The contact with specified contact details has been archived - This tends to be caused by the contact that an invoice is for has been archived over in Xero so now that invoice has no contact to associate to in Xero. This tends to be caused when merging contacts together over in Xero. When merging contacts together in Xero it usually transfers all details onto one contact and then archives the other into the background. This error usually gets caused by the version of the contact that Powered Now is connected to being the one that's been archived. To amend this you'll need to un-merge the contacts over in Xero for the invoice to go across.


An existing contact could not be found using the specific contact details - This error message often arises when you create an invoice for a customer in Powered Now, but a contact with the same details already exists in Xero and is not linked to the Powered Now contact. As a result, the contact cannot sync from Powered Now to Xero due to this duplication. To resolve this issue, we recommend adding a full stop at the end of the contact's name in Powered Now. This will make the name unique, allowing it to sync successfully with Xero. After syncing, you can merge the contacts in Xero if desired.


Lock wait timeout exceeded - When syncing Powered Now and Xero, a prolonged sync process may lead to a timeout in Xero, resulting in incomplete data transfer if there is a large volume of information to sync. To resolve this issue, simply initiate another sync between Powered Now and Xero. This will allow any data that failed to sync during the initial attempt to be transferred successfully, helping to eliminate the error message.


Your Xero access has not been authorised, or has been revoked. Please re-connect - this usually means the connection between your Powered Now and Xero needs to be re-established. For this if you go into the settings and reconnect the two together. After doing this and reloading your account, the Xero sync button should return for you to sync up.


If none of this helps and you're having problems with the Xero integration, feel free to drop us a message in the chat system in the bottom right corner and we'll be happy to help