Overview:
- What can you do with rules?
- What you can build rules around
- How do Rules work?
- Smart Rules in Xero: what’s different
- Troubleshooting issues with Smart Rules
- Smart Rules Add-on: Pricing
The way you build a rule is the same on all three: pick a trigger, add conditions, choose an action. What differs is which entities you can build rules around and which actions are available. On QuickBooks Desktop and Xero you also need to load your accounting data first, or the dropdowns come up empty.
This guide uses Invoice for the main example, because it is the one entity available on every platform.
See also: Smart Rules for QuickBooks Desktop | Smart Rules for Xero
What can you do with rules?
By using Smart Rules you can fill in data that is missing after synchronization, correct data that was recorded incorrectly, or trigger an action such as sending a notification email (thank you emails, reminders) or a text message.
Rules work with whatever tools your accounting system provides — categorization, tax treatment, payment details and more. In QuickBooks Online that means classes, locations, categories and payment methods. In Xero it means tracking categories, and you can have up to two applied at the same time. The principle is identical either way: match a transaction on its details, then write the value you want into your books.
Why is data missing? Because systems like Stripe and your accounting platform are built for different jobs. Stripe does not carry your QuickBooks tax rates, classes or locations, but you want them in your books.
Missing data filling example: invoices synced from Stripe arrive without the right tax treatment — they land as Nontaxable, with no sales tax calculated. You want every invoice with a line amount of 150 or more to be marked as taxable instead.
Once the invoice is synchronized to your accounting software, the rule updates it and applies the tax treatment you selected in Synder. Here is the same invoice before and after the rule runs:
What you can build rules around
The entities available as triggers depend on your accounting platform.
QuickBooks Online (11): Customer, Deposit, Expense, Invoice, Journal Entry, Payment, Product or Service, Refund Receipt, Sales Receipt, Transfer, Vendor.
QuickBooks Desktop (4): Check, Credit Memo, Invoice, Sales Receipt.
Xero (10): Bill, Bill Payment, Contact, Invoice, Invoice Payment, Item, Purchase Credit Note, Purchase Credit Note Payment, Sales Credit Note, Sales Credit Note Payment.
Note: Invoice is the only entity available on all three platforms, which is why this guide uses it for the main example. If you work in Xero, be aware there is no Sales Receipt — use Invoice instead.
How do Rules work?
Rules work on the basis of if-then conditions, so you can build flows that make Synder adapt to your needs. The process has two phases:
- Synchronization of a transaction from your payment processor or e-commerce platform into your accounting system.
- Update of the created transaction, based on the information inside it. This happens almost instantly, according to the conditions in your flow.
Below is an example of how to create a rule that applies a tax rate to invoices. You can use the same principle to build any flow.
1. Go to the Smart rules tab in the left menu → Rules → click Create rule.
2. As the trigger that starts the flow, select Invoice → Created. Once you sync a transaction via Synder, the created invoice will trigger the rule.
Condition lets you narrow the rule to specific invoices. You can skip straight to Action if you want the flow applied to every synchronized invoice.
3. Now build your if-then logic. From the Select field dropdown choose Line: Amount → Greater or equals → 150 → click Yes. This means that if the line amount of a transaction is 150 or more, the action in the next step is applied to the invoice.
4. You can keep adding conditions, but for this flow select Actions. Choose the QuickBooks action to apply to Invoice → Update current → Set QuickBooks entity data.
Update current updates the whole synchronized invoice that triggered the flow.
5. Under Update all line items with, set Tax to TAX → click Submit.
Note: the window has a Transaction Tax code field at the top and a Tax field under Update all line items with. Use the one under Update all line items with to set the tax treatment on the invoice lines.
Note: Update current applies your selection to every line on the invoice. If your invoice has several lines, they will all receive the same tax treatment.
6. Click Save & Close Rule.
7. Go to the Platform transactions tab and sync a few transactions to check the result. You can also rollback and resync historical transactions if you want them recorded according to the rule.
8. Once a transaction meeting your criteria is synced, check whether the rule was applied under the Sync log.
Alternatively, go to Smart rules → Executions to check whether the rule was triggered and applied. Use the Show sync info link to open the log of the updated transaction.
9. Check the results on the QuickBooks side to confirm the tax rate was applied automatically. The invoice now shows Taxable (9.5%) and sales tax of $31.35.
Smart Rules in Xero: what’s different
Smart Rules work in Xero the same way they work in QuickBooks — trigger, condition, action. Three things differ:
- You must click Fetch data from Xero before the dropdowns fill up.
- Xero offers three action types: Update current, Update line and Send email.
- Some fields cannot change on paid invoices and bills. Bank transfers are not available at all.
For the full picture — every entity, every action, the paid-invoice limits and three worked examples — see Smart Rules for Xero: Entities, Actions and Limitations.
Troubleshooting issues with Smart Rules
Note: this example uses a QuickBooks Online Sales Receipt. The same nullable-field logic applies to any entity on any platform — in Xero you would choose Xero action → Invoice → Update current → Set Xero entity data and set a tracking category rather than a location.
Cases it may cover: When you have smart rules that involve nullable fields, i.e., fields that might sometimes be empty. Examples include:
Sales transactions: Billing address, shipping address, description, etc.
Fee transactions: Payee (vendor), payment method, etc.
Potential issue: Your smart rule might incorrectly update transactions that should not be updated due to improper handling of nullable fields, or it might not execute at all.
Solution: Create a separate condition box with “Set” at the very beginning of your smart rule.
Example scenario: You want to update a location in your Stripe transactions based on the shipping address. For instance, if the shipping address has “US,” Synder should record such transactions to the US location.
So the initial rule condition will look like this:
Shipping address → Country → Contains → US OR United States
And the action looks like this.
The issue lies with handling nullable fields. First, You need to inform Synder that this field is set, so the app can check this field during the sync and take the necessary action (in this case, updating the location).
This is how you will need to change the rule:
1. Select Set instead of Contains, click on Yes and hit the nearest box to add another condition.
2. Select Condition.
3. Specify the same conditions you had before. In our example, it is Shipping address → Country → Contains → US OR United States. Then, click Yes and hit the nearest box.
4. Click on Action.
5. Choose QuickBooks action → Sales Receipt → Update current → Set QuickBooks entity data.
6. Choose the needed action. E.g., Location in this case and click on Submit.
7. Click on Update & Close Rule.
8. Rollback and re-sync one of the transactions in the Platform transactions tab to check the result.
9. Check the result in your books by clicking on Show in qb and review the smart rule execution.
10. Here’s the result in your accounting company.
Smart Rules Add-on: Pricing
Smart Rules are available as a paid add-on on the Basic, Essential, and Desktop Sync plans, and are included with Pro and Pro Max plans. On the Essential plan, you can choose from the following tiers:
| Tier | Monthly price |
|---|---|
| Up to 3 rules | $29.99/mo |
| Up to 5 rules | $39.99/mo |
| Up to 10 rules | $59.99/mo |
| Up to 30 rules | $119.99/mo |
| Up to 100 rules | $239.99/mo |
To add or change your Smart Rules tier, go to Settings → Billing in Synder.
What counts as one rule? Each Smart Rule takes up one slot. Multiple conditions inside a single rule, joined with AND/OR, do not count as extra rules. A Rule Group counts as the total number of individual rules it contains.
That’s it! Now you know how smart rules work and how to ensure they function correctly.
Reach out to the Synder Team via online support chat, phone, or email with any questions you have – we’re always happy to help you!
