1. Connect once
Connect Xero or QuickBooks Online from your account using the provider's own sign-in screen, so your ledger credentials are never typed into Pileform. The connection is self-serve and free for both providers, no implementation fee applies. If you connect both, you can choose a default provider for posting.
2. Your chart of accounts syncs in
Once connected, your chart of accounts syncs in automatically, so categorisation uses your real account codes rather than a generic template. Each confirmed entry maps to the accounts synced from the ledger you're posting to, so the codes always match where it lands. This improves further over time too: Pileform learns your suppliers and your coding preferences, so the same supplier keeps landing on the same code without you re-picking it every period.
3. What posts, and when
In Xero, confirmed supplier invoices post as Bills, and journal entries post as Manual Journals. In QuickBooks Online, confirmed supplier invoices post as a Bill, and bank-statement transactions post as a Journal Entry. Nothing posts until you confirm it in the review queue, and posting is idempotent, so a confirmed entry is never posted twice. See understanding the review screen for how an entry gets to "ready to post" in the first place, or the full Xero and QuickBooks Online pages for more.
4. Other ways to post
Xero and QuickBooks Online aren't the only options: QuickBooks Desktop connects through its own Web Connector, BTMS is supported through a separate on-premise connector, and Esoft gets a ready-to-import Excel file instead of a live connection; Sage currently isn't supported. Whichever you connect, or if you connect nothing at all, you always keep the Excel workbook, and posting to a ledger is something you switch on, not something you're tied to.
Still stuck? Email contact@pileform.com and a person replies within one business day.