Connecting Dext to FreeAgent lets you publish cost items, expense claims, and sales items directly to your accounting software. This article covers how to set up the connection, what syncs from FreeAgent, and how to manage your connection settings.
Important: Only Admin users - including accountants and bookkeepers accessing a client account - can connect to or manage accounting software.
Connect Dext to FreeAgent
To connect your Dext account to FreeAgent:
Go to Business settings in the sidebar, then select Connections.
Under Accounting software, select Connect.
Find FreeAgent in the list, then select Connect.
In the connection window, select Connect software - you'll be redirected to FreeAgent and prompted to log in.
Follow the steps in FreeAgent until you return to Dext.
Select Finish to confirm the connection.
After connecting, allow a few minutes for the following to sync from FreeAgent:
Suppliers: synced from active contacts in FreeAgent. FreeAgent doesn't classify a contact as a supplier until there's a purchase against it, so contacts without a purchase won't sync.
Customers: synced from active contacts in FreeAgent. FreeAgent doesn't classify a contact as a customer until there's an invoice raised against it (even a zero-value one), so contacts without an invoice won't sync.
Categories
Tax rates
Projects
Bank accounts
Note: Categories of the Capital Assets type in FreeAgent aren't synced to Dext.
If you're connecting on behalf of a client
This section applies to accountants and bookkeepers setting up the connection for a client account in Dext. If you're a business user connecting your own account, you won't see the option below.
When connecting from a client account, a Connect to a FreeAgent client account checkbox appears in the connection window. The option you choose depends on the FreeAgent credentials you're using to authenticate.
Using your FreeAgent Practice credentials (recommended)
Leave Connect to a FreeAgent client account unchecked. After logging in, select the relevant client from the dropdown to complete the connection. This is the recommended approach - you only need your own credentials.
Using the client's FreeAgent credentials
Check Connect to a FreeAgent client account before selecting Connect software. The connection completes without showing a client dropdown.
Important: Using the wrong combination of credentials and checkbox causes an error in FreeAgent: "This app is not available for accountants." If you see this, select Go back and retry with the correct option.
FreeAgent connection settings
After connecting, you can manage your FreeAgent settings from Business settings > Connections > Manage (next to FreeAgent) > Settings. The settings are divided into three sections.
General
The General section includes these settings:
Show active projects only: when on, only projects marked as active in FreeAgent are available when categorising or publishing items. Off by default.
Default 'publish to' destination for costs: set a default publishing destination for cost items - Bills or Out-of-pocket Expense. See Publishing cost items to FreeAgent below for details on each option.
Warn me when creating a new supplier: when on, Dext alerts you before creating a supplier in FreeAgent that doesn't already exist in your FreeAgent suppliers list.
Publish item images with expense claims: when on, document images are sent to FreeAgent alongside expense claim items.
Tax
Publish tax data: when on, tax data is included when items are published to FreeAgent. On by default.
Automatic publishing
Auto-publish all items: when on, all cost and sales items are published to FreeAgent automatically once they reach a status of Ready.
Note: Set up supplier rules before enabling auto-publishing. This ensures all items have the correct details applied before they're sent to FreeAgent.
Publish items to FreeAgent
Before publishing an item, make sure it has the correct tax settings and category applied. You can set these on the item's details page, or use supplier and customer rules to apply them automatically each time a document arrives.
Cost items and expense claims can be published to Bills or Out-of-pocket Expense. To use Out-of-pocket Expense, the document owner in Dext must first be linked to their corresponding FreeAgent user - go to Users in the left-hand navigation and select Link users to FreeAgent.
If the document owner isn't linked, you'll see this error when publishing: "In order to publish this Expense, please link [user name] to a valid user in FreeAgent. You can do this from My Team/Users."
Sales items are published to Invoices, which appear under Contacts → Invoices in FreeAgent.
Reconnect or refresh your connection
If your FreeAgent connection has expired or your login credentials have changed, you'll need to reconnect. If you only need to update your charts of accounts or other lists, use the refresh option instead - you don't need to reconnect.