Restore Xero data

Take a breath: nothing in the backup is lost because something went wrong in Xero. Every version of every record that was captured is still there, and a new backup run never overwrites an older version. This page takes you from "what has happened" to getting the data back, one step at a time.

The first five minutes #

1. Do not disconnect Xero from Caryvane, and do not delete the backup. Neither helps, and disconnecting stops tonight's capture.
2. You do not need to stop the backups. If something is still damaging the books — a bad integration, a bulk edit — the next backup simply records the damaged state as a new version. Every earlier version stays exactly as it was. Stop the cause in Xero (disconnect the faulty app, remove the user), not the backup.
3. Write down when it went wrong, as closely as you can: the date and roughly the time. Everything below works from "as at a date before that".
4. Check the backup is up to date to before that moment. On Connectors → Xero, the organisation's row shows its last backup. In Browse, the header shows when it was last captured.
5. Tell the customer what is coming back and what is not (see What cannot be put back) before you start, so nobody expects a button that turns Xero back to last Tuesday. No such button exists for any Xero backup product — Xero does not allow it.

What has happened? #

Finding things in the backup #

1. Connectors → choose the customer → in the Xero card, Browse on the organisation.
2. Set As at (top right) to a date before the problem — End of last month, End of last year, or Choose a date…. Every list, count, status and total on the screen now shows the backup as it stood at the end of that day.
3. Pick the record type on the left (Invoices & bills, Contacts, Bank transactions…) and search by number, name, contact or reference.
4. Click a record to see it laid out — contact, dates, lines, totals. Under History is every version captured, newest first: click one to see the record as it was then. A record that has since vanished from Xero is still listed, marked No longer in Xero.

Bring back particular records #

For a handful of records, re-keying them in Xero from the backup's view is often quickest and safest — the record is on screen exactly as it was. For more:

1. In Browse, set As at to before the problem.
2. Export → Xero import CSV. You get a ZIP with one file per type Xero can import: Contacts.csv, ChartOfAccounts.csv, SalesInvoices.csv, Bills.csv, CreditNotes.csv, and a README.txt.
3. Remove every row you do not want to import. The export holds everything as at the date; import only the records that are missing or wrong, or you will create duplicates. Keep the header row exactly as it is — Xero matches on the column names.
4. Import through Xero's own screens (Importing into Xero).

The books as at a date #

For an accountant, an audit, an HMRC enquiry or a dispute — where the need is a record, not a change to Xero:

1. In Browse, set As at to the date asked for (a year end, a VAT quarter end).
2. Export → Everything as JSON for the complete record — every record as Xero stored it, with the attachments. Or Xero import CSV for spreadsheets an accountant can open.
3. For the balances themselves, open Accounting → Trial balance. Xero's own trial balance is captured every day from the day the backup started, so for any date since then it is there exactly as Xero produced it. For dates before the backup started, run the report in Xero itself while the organisation is still there.

Nothing is written to Xero. This is the most common use of a Xero backup, and the one Xero cannot do for itself.

A missing attachment or file #

1. In Browse, open Files → Attachments (receipts and documents attached to invoices, bills, bank transactions and contacts) or Files → Files (the Xero Files library).
2. Search by the file name or the record it belonged to, open it, and Download.
3. Attach it again in Xero from the record's own Files / attachment option.

Rebuild an organisation #

When an organisation has to be started again. This is a job for the customer's accountant with you alongside — budget a day, not an hour — and try it on a free Xero trial organisation first.

1. Agree the cut-off date with the accountant: the date the new organisation's balances start from (usually the last clean month end or year end).
2. In Browse, set As at to the cut-off and export both: Everything as JSON (the full record, kept safe) and Xero import CSV (what goes back in).
3. Create the new Xero organisation and set its basics — tax/VAT settings, financial year end, currencies, tracking categories, branding — from the old organisation's settings, which are in the backup (Settings and Accounting in Browse).
4. Import in this order, because each depends on the one before: chart of accounts → contacts → sales invoices → bills → credit notes (Importing into Xero).
5. Opening balances. The accountant enters them from the backed-up trial balance at the cut-off date (Xero's Conversion balances). Outstanding invoices and bills imported in step 4 make up the receivables and payables detail behind them.
6. Reconnect the bank feeds from the cut-off date, and connect the new organisation to Caryvane (Connect another organisation) so it is backed up from day one.

Importing into Xero #

Xero imports each type from its own screen; open the screen, choose Import, and upload the matching file from the export. Xero shows a preview before anything is created — read it.

Menu names vary a little between Xero editions; the Import option is on the list page for each type.

• Accounts and tax rates first. Every invoice line names an account code and a tax rate; if either is missing in the organisation, Xero rejects the row. Import or create the chart of accounts before anything else.
• Tracking categories (departments, regions) must exist with the same option names before invoices that use them are imported.
• Dates are written day/month/year (UK). Invoice numbers must be new to the organisation.
• Imported invoices arrive as drafts or awaiting payment — payments are not imported. Record payments (or match them from the bank feed) afterwards.
• Do a small batch first — ten rows — and check them in Xero before importing the rest.

What cannot be put back #

Say this to the customer plainly, early. It is true of every Xero backup product, because Xero does not let any app write these:

• The general ledger and journal history. Xero builds them from the transactions; no app can write them directly. The balances are in the backed-up trial balance, captured every day since the backup started.
• Bank reconciliations and the matching of payments to statement lines.
• History and notes on records, and who changed what in Xero.
• Payments, by import: they are recorded again in Xero, or matched from the bank feed.

What the backup does hold of all of these is the record: every transaction, every version, every attachment, and Xero's own trial balance, as at any date since the backup started. That is what an accountant, an auditor or HMRC asks for.

If you are stuck #

Before importing anything into a live organisation, test the files on a free Xero trial organisation. If Xero rejects rows, the preview names the column — check the account code, tax rate and tracking option on that row exist. If the backup itself is missing something you expected, contact Caryvane support with the organisation name and the date you need; nothing in the backup is ever overwritten, so there is no rush to act before we reply.