Xero permissions,
in plain English.
Xero shows a screen saying the app wants access, lets you pick which organisation to connect, and lists what it can 'View and manage' and what it can only 'View'. Each time you approve more, the new permissions add to the old ones. You cannot trim them later without disconnecting and starting again. You can disconnect any time under Connected Apps in your Xero settings. Xero is replacing some broad permissions with narrower ones, and the broad ones stay available until September 2027.
- All business transactions (broad, being retired)
This broad permission covers most of your day-to-day transactions in Xero: invoices, bills, quotes, purchase orders, credit notes, payments, bank transactions, receipts, and manual journals. The app can view and change them. Xero is splitting it into narrower permissions and will keep this one only until September 2027. - All business transactions (view only, being retired)
This is the view-only version of the broad transactions permission. The app can see your invoices, bills, payments, bank transactions, and journals, but cannot change them. Xero will keep it only until September 2027. - Invoices and bills
This lets the app view and change invoices and bills, plus quotes, purchase orders, credit notes, repeating invoices, and the items you sell. It can also email sales invoices to your customers. - Invoices and bills (view only)
This lets the app see your invoices, bills, quotes, purchase orders, credit notes, repeating invoices, and items. It cannot change them. - Payments
This lets the app view and record payments in Xero: payments against invoices and bills, batch payments, prepayments, and overpayments. The Xero docs describe recording payments in your books, such as marking an invoice paid. - Bank transactions and transfers
This lets the app view and change spend money and receive money transactions, and transfers between your bank accounts, as recorded in Xero. - Manual journals
This lets the app view and post manual journals. Accountants use these to make adjustments and fix mistakes in the books. - Financial reports (broad, being retired)
This lets the app see your financial reports: profit and loss, balance sheet, aged receivables and payables, bank summary, budget summary, executive summary, trial balance, and GST or BAS reports. Xero is replacing it with one permission per report. - Customers and suppliers
This lets the app view, add, and update your customers and suppliers in Xero, and archive them. - Organisation settings
This lets the app view and change how your Xero organisation is set up, including your chart of accounts, tax rates, items, currencies, tracking categories, and branding themes. It can also see your organisation details and your list of Xero users. - Attachments on your records
This lets the app view, download, upload, and replace files attached to your Xero records, like a receipt on a bill or a contract on a contact. - Xero file library
This lets the app view and manage your Xero file library. It can upload, update, and delete files. - Payroll employees
This lets the app view and change your employees in Xero Payroll. Depending on your country, that includes leave, salary and wages, pay templates, and the bank account their pay goes to. - Pay runs
This lets the app view and manage pay runs in Xero Payroll. In Australia, the docs show it can create a pay run and post it in one step. In New Zealand it can create pay runs. In the UK it can only view them. - Online payment links on invoices
This lets the app add payment services to Xero. A payment service is a web link, with its own Pay Now button text, that customers can use to pay your online invoices. Xero only gives this permission to certified partners. - Stay connected while you are away
This lets the app stay connected and keep working when you are not signed in. By itself it opens no extra data. It keeps alive whatever else you approved.
Thinking about a specific agent?
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This page explains what a permission allows. It does not describe, test or rate any product. Permission details are summarized in our own words from the provider's documentation, linked on the page; providers change their documentation, so check the source before you rely on a detail.