How to connect Xero to your garage software (and why it's worth it)

If you keep your books in Xero, the last thing you want is to raise an invoice in your garage software and then type it in againin Xero. Yet that’s exactly what a lot of workshops still do — an evening job that’s easy to get wrong and easy to fall behind on. A proper Xero connection removes it entirely.

What “syncing to Xero” actually means

When your garage software is connected to Xero, an invoice you raise on a job is pushed to Xero automatically as an accounts-receivable invoice against the right customer, with its parts, labour and tax lines intact. Mark it paid in the garage software and the payment is recorded in Xero too. One action, both systems updated.

How to connect it

• Open your garage software’s accounting settings.
• Choose “Connect Xero” and sign in with your Xero login.
• Approve access to the organisation you want to sync.
• From then on, new invoices and payments flow across on their own.

In Garage Desk it’s under Settings → Accounting, and the same flow works for QuickBooks Online if that’s your books instead.

Why it’s worth doing

• No double entry — you invoice once, in the workshop.
• Fewer errors, because the numbers aren’t re-keyed.
• Always-current books, so VAT returns and month-end are painless.
• Your accountant sees the same figures you do, in real time.

The bottom line

A Xero connection turns your accounting from an evening chore into something that just happens. Garage Desk syncs invoices and payments to Xero and QuickBooks automatically — see the Xero integration for exactly how it works.