This month, the team focused on delivering efficiency by connecting new apps, improving automations and enhancing various other features designed to make every process in your practice more intuitive and reliable.
We are excited to announce a new integration with Vinyl, available to all practices on Pro and Elite plans. Vinyl's AI meeting assistant captures and summarises key discussion points and action items, ensuring meeting notes are always clear, consistent and actionable. With this integration, client data is automatically synced between FYI and Vinyl, allowing meetings to be seamlessly linked to the correct client. Meeting Records are automatically filed in FYI, complete with a direct link to the Vinyl recording, ensuring meeting history and client information remain easily accessible, saving valuable admin time and strengthening record-keeping. Refer to Announcing the new Integration with Vinyl.
When converting Office documents to PDF, practices can now choose Convert with threading from the drop-down menu when manually converting from a Document list, or enable the Thread with Original setting within a Convert to PDF automation step. Once enabled, the converted PDF will appear first in the Documents lists, with the original file threaded and easily accessible from the Document Drawer. Using this feature makes document organisation cleaner and ensures related files are connecting, reducing clutter in lists and saves time when reviewing client work. Refer to Creating PDF Documents from FYI and Process Step Details - Convert to PDF.
When filtering lists, the new Relative Date Filter "Last Week (Mon-Sun)" has now been extended to all date columns, including those displaying both date and time. This small but powerful change makes filtering by recent activity faster and more consistent across lists, especially when reviewing task completion or time entries for the previous week. Refer to Sorting and Filtering Lists.
A smoother experience has also been introduced for clients accessing shared links via New Collaborate. When users click a Merge Field link, they will now be prompted to choose which email account they wish to use when signing in to SharePoint. This improvement reduces login errors and ensures clients always access their shared folders using the correct authorised account. Refer to Login Experience for Clients using New Collaborate.
Practices where Xero Practice Manager is their Practice Management source can now use two new Merge Fields: "Estimated Job Hours" and "Actual Job Hours". These fields can be combined with automations and conditional formatting to track progress against budgets and keep jobs on target. By incorporating these fields into automated alerts, practices can gain clearer visibility into job efficiency and resourcing trends. Refer to Merge Fields Glossary to view the merge field. For more information on setting up automated alerts, refer to Job Budget Tracking Alerts.
Practices can now update existing Client Groups using the "Create or Update Client Group" action, using the Zapier integration. This makes it easier to maintain accurate and up-to-date client grouping structures automatically, keeping client information consistent across systems. To take advantage of this new functionality, practices will need to update the FYI app within Zapier. Refer to Integration with Zapier.
Elite practices gained power and flexibility this month with a collection of workflow enhancements:
A new Merge Field, Trigger Time Entry User, has been added when setting up Automation Processes that include a Time Entry - View Filter. This Merge Field allows practices to include the name of the user who created a time entry within automation steps, for example, in a summary notification reminding staff to submit their draft entries. Using this Merge Field in automations strengthens accountability and helps ensure time entries are complete and up to date. Refer to Merge Fields Glossary.
The Capacity Planning Report now includes a confirmation pop-up when a report is requested. Once generated, users will receive a notification with a link to access the report directly, making it easier to be reminded when the report is ready for viewing. Refer to Running a Capacity Planning Report, Making Adjustments and Refreshing the Report Data.
Finally, when importing Unbilled WIP, if an import fails unexpectedly, a clear failure message has been introduced in the Time & Invoices - Setup tab. The Import button will remain enabled, allowing users to easily retry once the issue is resolved. This small but important enhancement gives users more control when managing WIP imports. Refer to Import Unbilled WIP Report.
For further details on the features mentioned above, and other enhancements and resolutions this month, refer to September 2025 Release Notes.