Publishing documents to your accounting software creates the necessary transactions in your accounting system whilst maintaining the connection to the original document in Apron.
Publishing process
Once you've uploaded a document and all of the details are populated, you can publish it to your connected Xero or QuickBooks account.
You can publish from two locations:
Main view – Select documents from the Inbox section and click the yellow Publish button.
Document review – Click Publish whilst reviewing an individual document.
What gets created
After publishing, Apron creates the appropriate transactions in your accounting software. For bills and receipts, this creates a Bill or Spend Money transaction in Xero, or a Bill or Expense in QuickBooks. For credit notes, this creates a Credit Note transaction in both platforms. The transaction type depends on your publishing preferences and the document type.
Xero-specific options
For Xero users, you can specify the bill status when publishing by choosing between 'Draft', 'Awaiting Approval', or 'Awaiting Payment' in the Xero preferences section. This allows integration with your existing approval workflows in Xero.
Handling archived documents
If a document has been archived, you'll need to unarchive it first by finding the document in the Archive section, clicking the three dots and selecting Unarchive. The document returns to your Inbox where you can publish it normally.
Publishing validation
Before publishing, ensure that all required fields are complete and accurate, contact details are correct, amounts match the original document, and categories and tax rates are appropriate. Published transactions appear in your accounting software immediately, so top-notch accuracy is important.
Subscription plan requirements
Before publishing documents from Apron, check that your accounting software subscription includes the necessary features.
Some basic subscription plans have limitations on bill management features or restrict the number of bills you can process each month. If you're unable to publish documents from Apron, you may need to upgrade your accounting software plan to access bill creation and payment features.
For specific details about your plan's capabilities, please refer to your QuickBooks or Xero subscription information or contact their support team.
Common publishing issues
If you're having trouble publishing documents, here are a few things to check:
Greyed out publish button – If the publish button is greyed out, it might mean that some details of the document still need to be filled in or corrected before it's possible to publish the document
Credit note amounts – When publishing a credit note, make sure there's no minus sign at the beginning of the amount, as this can prevent the credit note from publishing correctly
Check your permissions – If you still can't publish documents, you might not have the necessary permissions in Apron. Check with one of your practice admins to ensure you have publishing access
General publishing errors – If you see an error saying it's not possible to publish the document at the moment, please reach out to our support team via chat and we'll take a look