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Xero to Excel, without the export
Blink is an Excel add-in that pulls Xero reports and transactions straight into the workbook your team already uses. Pick a report and a period, and it lands on its own tab. When the ledger changes, one refresh brings it up to date.
What you can pull from Xero
| Reports | Transactions |
|---|---|
| Trial balance | Invoices and credit notes |
| Profit and loss | Account transactions |
| Balance sheet | Manual journals |
| Aged receivables and aged payables | |
| Chart of accounts |
Blink works the same way with QuickBooks Online. See what it pulls from QuickBooks Online.
How it works
- Add Blink to Excel. One click opens Excel with Blink ready, or your IT admin can deploy it for the team.
- Sign in with your work Microsoft account, then connect Xero from the Settings tab. You approve the connection on Xero’s own sign-in page; Blink never sees or stores your Xero password.
- Open Reports, choose a report and a period, and pull. It lands on its own tab in your workbook.
- Point your schedules and formulas at that tab. Your workbook does the maths; Blink keeps the numbers coming in.
Why not just export from Xero?
Exporting works, once. Then every month someone downloads the report again, tidies the columns, pastes it over last month’s and checks nothing shifted. A missed row or a stale paste flows straight into the schedules that depend on it.
With Blink the report goes to the same tab, in the same layout, every time, so the formulas reading it keep working. Nothing is downloaded, re-keyed or pasted.
Keeping it up to date
Each tab Blink pulls remembers its own report and period. Refresh re-pulls a tab for that period, picking up anything posted since, and Refresh All updates every tab in the workbook, one at a time. Late adjustments reach your schedules without anyone pulling the report again by hand.
Into Word and PowerPoint
The same numbers can carry into your reporting. Copy a cell from Excel as a live link and paste it into Word or PowerPoint, or tag a ledger figure straight into a Word document. When the source updates, the figure in the report or the deck updates with it.
Questions
Does it work in Excel for the web and on the desktop?
Both, with a current Microsoft 365 subscription. Business Basic includes the web apps only, and Blink runs there too. Perpetual Office (2019, 2021) isn’t supported. More on supported plans.
We use QuickBooks Online as well. Does Blink work with it?
Yes. Blink connects to Xero and QuickBooks Online. See QuickBooks Online to Excel.
Can IT add it for the whole team?
Yes. An admin can deploy Blink once from Integrated apps in the Microsoft 365 admin center, and it appears in Excel, Word and PowerPoint for the people they choose. See the admin steps.
Can you help set up our workbook?
Yes, that’s what we do. Email us about the workbook or process, attach it if you like, and we’ll show you how Blink fits.
Get started with Blink
Add Blink to Excel in a minute, or send us the workbook and we’ll set it up with you.