The recent launch of Xero's refreshed navigation is a significant update designed to simplify your daily workflow, offering faster access to key financial data and tools. As your accounting partner, Breaking the Mould Accounting Limited is here to guide you through these changes and ensure you continue to use Xero efficiently.
Here’s our breakdown of the key updates and what they mean for your business.
The core goal of this redesign is to replace the old, sometimes cluttered menus with simpler labels and more logical groupings, ultimately saving you time on everyday tasks.
The old 'Business' menu has been split into Sales and Purchases in the main top navigation.
Sales (New): This menu now houses all customer-related activities, including Invoices, Quotes, and Online payments. A new Customer option provides quick access to the relevant section of the Contacts menu.
Purchases (New): Everything to do with suppliers is now grouped here, including Bills, Purchase orders, and Expenses. Similarly, the Suppliers option is a shortcut to the supplier section of the Contacts menu.
This separation makes it much quicker to jump between managing what you are owed and what you need to pay, enabling a more efficient workflow.
Two crucial areas have been elevated to the main navigation bar for instant access:
Reporting (New): Moving to the main menu provides faster access to your financial insights, including the new Analytics Powered By Syft dashboards and reports like Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet. This puts performance data right where you need it.
Tax (New): All regional tax functions, such as VAT Returns, CIS Contractor, and CIS Subcontractor, are now consolidated under a new Tax menu specifically tailored for UK users, making compliance tasks more accessible.
One of the most user-friendly changes is the overhaul of the Settings experience.
Settings are now accessible in two ways:
Drop-down Menus: Dedicated Settings options are now included at the bottom of almost every main drop-down menu (e.g., Sales settings, Purchases settings, Accounting settings).
2. Centralised Settings Page: You can access a new, comprehensive settings page from the Organisation menu (which displays your organisation's name, e.g., 'Demo Company') in the main toolbar. This page is logically divided into sections like General, Sales, and Purchases settings.
This change means you can quickly manage settings relevant to the task you’re working on, or visit the centralised page for a complete overview.
The updated right-hand panel puts essential support tools at your fingertips, regardless of where you are in Xero. This panel now contains:
JAX (Xero’s AI-powered companion)
Search
Help
Notifications
Apps (for connected third-party tools)
This ensures a fluid and uninterrupted workflow, as you no longer have to navigate away from your task to find information or use a quick tool.
The goal of Xero’s refreshed design is to save you time and make getting to your financial data and compliance tools simpler. We recommend clicking through the new main menus—Home, Sales, Purchases, Reporting, Payroll, Accounting, Tax, Contacts, and Projects—to familiarise yourself with the new structure.
If you have any questions or would like a brief guided walkthrough of the new features tailored to your specific business needs, please don’t hesitate to contact the team at Breaking the Mould Accounting Limited. We are here to ensure a smooth transition and help you make the most of your Xero experience.
You can get an overview of the key changes in Xero's latest update in this document. This document provides a tour and initial impressions of the new dashboard, which is part of the overall navigation refresh.