Creating Your First Invoice in Xero

Updated 19 Sept 2026

With Xero connected and the sync running, you can raise an invoice from any Salesforce record. Here's the quickest path, from an Opportunity, end to end.

1. Start with the products

Line items come from the Products on the record. Add them to the Opportunity first, with the quantities and prices you want on the invoice.

An Opportunity record with three Products in its related list and an empty Invoices related list — An Opportunity with three products and no invoices yet. Xero Stock Levels on the right shows on-hand quantity for tracked products.

No Account match? No problem

The wizard works best when the Opportunity's Account is already linked to a Xero contact, but it isn't required. If it isn't linked, the first step offers Create new contact, which makes the Xero contact from the Account's details and links them as you go.

2. Open the wizard

Click New Invoice in the Opportunity's action bar. If the button isn't there, it needs adding to the layout: see Adding TwoCanConnect to your page layouts.

The wizard has three steps: Contact, Details, Line items.

Step 1 of the New Invoice wizard with Use linked contact selected and one Xero contact listed — Step 1 — Contact. Use linked contact is pre-selected when the Account is matched.

Contact offers three routes:

Use linked contact — the Xero contact matched to this Account. Pre-selected when there is one.
Create new contact — make a Xero contact from the Account's Salesforce details.
Search another contact — pick any active Xero contact, even one linked to a different Account.

Click Next.

3. Check details and line items

Details and line items share one screen. Dates, an optional invoice number and reference, whether amounts are tax exclusive or inclusive, and the branding theme at the top; the line items below, built from the Opportunity's products with their Xero account and tax rate filled from your defaults.

The Details and Line items screen: invoice date, due date, amounts and branding theme, then three line items with quantity, unit price, Xero account and tax rate, and totals — Details and line items. Totals update as you edit. In stock: 5 under the T-shirt comes from Xero's tracked inventory.

Things you can change here, depending on your Object Settings:

Detailed view exposes discount, description and tracking category per line.
Add line item adds a product that isn't on the Opportunity.
The Xero account, tax rate and tracking category per line are editable only if the matching line item settings are switched on.

4. Create it

The buttons at the top are the statuses your admin has allowed under Object Settings: Create Draft Invoice, Create Approved Invoice, and Create and Submit for Approval if it's switched on. Draft is the safe choice for a first invoice; it's visible in Xero but not yet issued.

The invoice record is created in Salesforce and you're taken to it. Until the next sync it shows NO SYNC with a Waiting to sync to Xero bar.

The new Invoice record showing NO SYNC status and a Waiting to sync to Xero bar, with Send To Xero, Resync With Xero and Download Invoice from Xero buttons — Just created. The ongoing sync will send it on its next cycle, or click Send To Xero to send it now.

5. Watch it sync

The ongoing sync sends the invoice to Xero on its next cycle. To send it straight away, click Send To Xero.

The same Invoice record after syncing: status DRAFT, Xero Invoice Number ORC1049, a View Invoice in Xero link, and the Xero contact and invoice ids filled in — Synced. The status comes from Xero, the Xero invoice number is filled in, and View Invoice in Xero opens it there.

Back on the Opportunity, the invoice appears under Invoices with its Xero number and dates.

The Opportunity record with the new invoice listed under Invoices, showing its Xero invoice number — The Opportunity now shows what was billed against it.

From here

Two-way. Approve or pay the invoice in Xero and the Salesforce record updates on the next sync: status, amount paid, amount due.
Resync With Xero on the record pulls the latest from Xero on demand; Download Invoice from Xero attaches the PDF.
Automate it. Once you're comfortable, drop invoice creation into a Salesforce Flow so it happens when an Opportunity reaches a stage you choose. The Flow elements need Salesforce Enterprise Edition and above.

Invoice from any object

Opportunities are the default, but the same wizard runs from any standard or custom object once it has a button and a field mapping — see Generating documents from custom objects.

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