---
title: "Xero tracking categories for Administrators - Payhawk Help Center"
slug: "updating-tracking-categories-from-xero"
description: "Update your Xero tracking categories in Payhawk from the Fields library, learn why you edit them only in Xero, and share them with other entities in a group."
updated: 2026-10-27T15:49:53Z
published: 2026-10-27T15:49:53Z
canonical: "payhawk.com/updating-tracking-categories-from-xero"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://payhawk.com/help/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Updating tracking categories from Xero

When you [connect your Payhawk account to Xero](/help/connecting-payhawk-to-xero), your available Xero tracking categories are automatically imported.

If you update your Xero tracking categories after the connection between the two systems has been established, you have to manually update that data in Payhawk.

## Updating Xero categories in Payhawk

To manually update your tracking categories in Payhawk:

1. In the [Payhawk Web Portal](https://portal.payhawk.com/), go to **Settings** > **Fields library.**
2. Select the desired tracking category.
3. Click on **Update from Xero**.

![Cost Center in the Payhawk Fields library with the Update from Xero button and the values imported from Xero.](https://cdn.payhawk.com/Adm%3AIntegrations%3AXero/xero_cost_center_update_from_xero_20261020_ai.png)

## Editing or deleting existing tracking categories

You can edit or delete tracking categories only in Xero as the accounting system is the source of truth. The updated values will be displayed after you manually sync the integration from **Settings** or when you click on the **Update from Xero** button.

## Making a tracking category available to another entity

In a multi-entity group, each entity syncs its tracking categories from the Xero organization it’s connected to, so a category and its values appear only for the entities whose Xero organization contains them.

This is why an entity can be missing from the entity visibility list of a synced custom field, because the category does not yet exist in that entity's Xero organization. You can't add it from the visibility settings in Payhawk alone.

To make the field available for that entity:

1. In Xero, open the organization connected to the entity that needs the field.
2. Create the tracking category, using the same name as the existing one. Payhawk matches synced tracking categories by their label.
3. In the [Payhawk Web Portal](https://portal.payhawk.com), go to **Settings** > **Integrations** > **Xero**.
4. Click on the three-dot menu and select **Manually sync** to manually sync the Xero integration.
5. Refresh the page. The entity now appears and you can set its visibility.

## Next steps

- [Updating the VAT rates from Xero in Payhawk](/help/updating-vat-rates-from-xero)