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Import and export organizations from Xero

Updated this week

Your rental management solution and your accounts package are two of the most important parts of software for running your business. Use the import and export tools on our Xero integration screen to maintain customer records between both systems.

When would you use the import and export tools?

  • If you’re an existing Xero user and new to OnRent Events, import your contacts from Xero to create corresponding linked organizations in the system.

  • If you’re an existing OnRent Events user and new to Xero, export your organizations from OnRent Events to Xero to create corresponding linked contacts in Xero.

  • If you’ve used both OnRent Events and Xero in parallel for a while but haven’t integrated the two, import from Xero to create organizations in the system and export from the system to create contacts in Xero.

Automatically create and update linked contacts

Don’t forget, OnRent Events includes two settings to keep your organizations and Xero contacts in sync:

  • Create a linked Xero Contact when creating an Organization?

  • Update the linked Xero Contact when editing an Organization?

If you have both of these settings enabled and only maintain your customers in OnRent Events, you shouldn’t need to use the import or export tools after you’ve initially integrated your systems.

To learn more, see: Set up the Xero integration 

Get started

Go to System Setup > Integrations > Xero to access the import and export tools.

Import contacts

To import contacts from Xero to OnRent Events as organizations, hit the blue Import contacts button.

  • A new organization is created in OnRent Events for each active Xero contact that’s not already linked to an organization in OnRent Events.

  • Organizations in OnRent Events that are already linked to Xero contacts are updated with information in Xero. 

Review the information in the pop-up box carefully and hit the blue Import contacts button to start the process. You’ll be notified by email when the import is completed.

Existing linked contacts

When organizations in OnRent Events are already linked to Xero, keep in mind that data in OnRent Events will be overwritten with data from Xero. Be sure that the information in Xero is up-to-date. This might be problematic if you have the “Update the linked Xero Contact when editing an organization?” toggle set to NO in the system.

⚠️   There’s no way to recover information in OnRent Events replaced by information from Xero.

Duplicate organizations

In the system, organization names don’t have to be unique. Make sure that you’ve linked existing organizations to Xero contacts, or duplicate organizations may be created.

Blank fields

To prevent accidental data loss, if you remove data from a field in Xero and import it, the corresponding field will not be cleared in OnRent Events.

Export organizations

To export organizations from OnRent Events to Xero as contacts, click the blue Export organizations button.

  • A new contact is created in Xero for each unlinked organization in OnRent Events.

  • Contacts in Xero that are already linked to organizations in the system are updated with information in system.

Review the information in the pop-up box carefully and hit the blue Export organizations button to start the process. You’ll be notified by email when the import is completed.

Existing linked contacts

When contacts in Xero are already linked to organizations in the system, keep in mind that data in Xero will be overwritten with data from OnRent Events. Be sure that the information in the system is up-to-date. 

Duplicate contacts

While you can create multiple organizations with the same name in OnRent Events, contacts in Xero must have unique names. Make sure that you’ve linked existing Xero contacts to organizations in OnRent Events, or Xero will attempt to create duplicates, which will result in errors.

Blank fields

To prevent accidental data loss, if you remove data from a field in the system and import it, the corresponding field will not be cleared in Xero.

A note on inactive organizations

When an organization is made inactive in OnRent Events, exporting your organizations to Xero will attempt to archive the linked Xero contact. Subsequent exports from OnRent Events will not update the Xero contact.

If you make an organization active in OnRent Events, the linked contact will not be unarchived. This is due to a limitation of the Xero API. 

Common questions

Which fields are updated between the systems?

The name, telephone numbers, email address, address, and account number fields are updated. For a full list, check out our guide: Additional notes about the Xero integration

I didn’t receive an email. What should I do?

The time for an import or export to complete depends on how much data you’re importing or exporting, our server load, and the server load of Xero. Generally, this shouldn’t take too long. If you haven’t received the message, check your junk email folder or “Clutter” folder on Outlook. 

If you’ve not received the email after about an hour, contact the Customer Success team using the green help bubble ↘️

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