Most receipts go the same way every time: the same supplier, the same coding, a small amount. A Publish with XBert rule tells XBert which of those it can publish for you, for example "Coles receipts under $500 for these clients". When a matching receipt arrives, XBert publishes it straight away, running the same steps as when someone on your team clicks Publish.
You stay in control:
XBert only publishes receipts that match your rule.
It never overrides a warning. If it finds a possible duplicate, or would need to create a new contact, it stops and leaves the receipt for your team.
Everything it does is recorded on the work item, so you can always see what happened and why.
💡 Get the coding right first
A rule publishes whatever XBert has coded, so it works best on suppliers XBert already codes correctly. If you're still correcting a supplier, add a memory for them first.
👉 Read more here: How To: Use Memories with Receipt Capture
Before you start
You need admin access. The Automation menu is admin only.
Receipt Capture must be switched on for each client the rule covers, and they must be connected to their accounting software.
👉 Read more here: How To: Turn On Receipt Capture for Your Clients
For expenses, set up payment methods, so each receipt knows which bank account paid it.
👉 Read more here: How To: Configure Payment Methods for Receipt Capture
Make sure your client's regular suppliers already exist as contacts in their accounting software. If a supplier doesn't, XBert stops instead of creating the contact.
Bills follow the client's Draft or Approved setting, the same as when you publish them yourself. Approved is only available for Xero clients.
👉 Read more here: How To: Choose Whether Bills Go to Xero as Draft or Approved
1. Set up a rule
Rules live on the two Receipt Capture XBerts: the Bill Agent for bills, and the Bank Transaction Agent for expenses. Each has its own rules, so set one up on each if you want both covered.
In the left-hand menu, click Automation, then XBert Automation.
In the header, click the Receipt Capture XBerts filter icon.
Open Bill Agent or Bank Transaction Agent.
Click Rules, then Add.
Give the rule a Name, for example Auto-publish Coles under $500. The name appears on every work item the rule publishes.
In 1. Conditions, choose All Clients or Selected Clients.
Click + Add Condition, then pick a field, an operator and a value. A receipt has to match every condition before XBert publishes it.
Fields you can check:
Supplier (Bill Agent) or Contact (Bank Transaction Agent): who the receipt is from
Total: the total, in the receipt's own currency
Tax: the tax amount
Currency: the currency code, for example AUD
Reference: the invoice number or transaction reference
Bill Date (Bill Agent) or Payment Date (Bank Transaction Agent): how many days have passed since that date
Bank Account (Bank Transaction Agent only): the name of the bank account the receipt was paid from
Operators:
Text fields: equals, does not equal, contains, does not contain, starts with, ends with
Number fields: less than, less than or equal to, greater than, greater than or equal to, equals
Date fields: less than or greater than a number of days
Click Add Action and choose Publish with XBert.
Set the toggle to Active.
Click Save, choose Update future XBerts only or Update all existing and future XBerts (see below), then click Yes.
⚠️ Whose name the rule publishes under
XBert publishes as the person who added the Publish with XBert action to the rule, or who last changed that action. Saving the rule again doesn't change it. If that person leaves your firm, remove the action, add it back, and save the rule.
Future only, or existing receipts too?
Option | What it does |
Update future XBerts only | Open receipts that already match when you save are left for your team. Everything after that is covered. This is the safest choice for a new rule. |
Update all existing and future XBerts | Also publishes every open receipt that already matches, for the clients the rule covers. Completed and snoozed receipts aren't touched. |
⚠️ Check before you choose "all existing"
Look at which open receipts match your conditions first. Once they're published, the bills and transactions are in your clients' accounting software.
💡 Receipts can start matching later
XBert checks open receipts against your rules each time the client's ledger syncs, not only when a receipt arrives. A receipt that didn't match at first can still be published later, for example after someone edits it, or once a Bill Date condition is met.
This can happen even with Update future XBerts only.
2. What happens when a receipt arrives
The receipt is read and becomes a Receipt Capture work item as usual.
Your rules run straight away.
If the receipt matches, XBert runs the same steps as the Publish button:
checks the details
checks for duplicates
checks the tax
matches the supplier or contact in the ledger
creates the bill, or the Spend Money transaction for an expense, with the receipt attached
completes the work item
For an expense, XBert uses the bank account chosen when the receipt was sent in. If none was chosen and the client has just one bank account, it uses that one.
⚠️ Publishing isn't reconciling
XBert creates the transaction and attaches the receipt. It doesn't match it against the bank feed. You still reconcile in your accounting software, exactly as you do now.
3. See what XBert did
Open the work item.
Go to the Activity tab. If the history is hidden, click the history icon. Hover over it and you'll see Show History.
You'll see entries like these. For an expense, they say bank transaction instead of bill.
XBert rules engine ran for the rule '[rule name]' and queued this bill for XBert to publish
XBert published this bill for the rule '[rule name]'
If XBert stops or can't publish
What you see | What it means | What to do |
XBert started publishing this … for the rule '…' but paused … for your review. Open it and use Publish to continue, followed by the reason | It found a possible duplicate, the supplier isn't a contact in the ledger yet, or it couldn't check the supplier's tax registration, for example because there's no ABN on the receipt. | Check the reason. Add the ABN and publish again, or click Publish to continue without it. |
XBert could not publish this bill for the rule '…' … Open it to review, then use Publish to try again, followed by the reason | The ledger rejected it, or XBert held it for review because something didn't add up. | Fix the issue, then click Publish. |
XBert could not publish this bill for the rule '…' after repeated attempts | It tried several times and couldn't get through. | Open it, check the details, then click Publish. |
…could not queue this bill … because the person who saved the rule no longer has an active account | The person the rule publishes under has left. | Remove the Publish with XBert action from the rule, add it back and save. Then publish this receipt yourself. |
XBert did not publish this bill for the rule '…', followed by the reason | For example, Receipt Capture has been switched off for this client. | Fix the cause, then publish the receipt yourself. |
💡 An expense with no bank account
If XBert can't tell which bank account paid an expense, it can't publish it, and clicking Publish won't fix it either. The bank account can't be changed once a receipt has been sent in, so it needs to be sent in again with the right account chosen.
Tips
Start narrow, for example Supplier contains Coles and Total less than 500.
Try a rule on Selected Clients before switching it to All Clients.
Ensure regular suppliers are contacts in the ledger, so rules don't stop on them.
For Australian clients, rules publish receipts that show the supplier's ABN. Receipts without one stop for your team to check.
What's next
Need help?
If you have any questions, our support team is here to help!
Reach out via the chat widget on the bottom left of your XBert screen (Help), or email us at support@xbert.io