The Contact defaults check analyses your client's transaction history and identifies contacts where purchases or sales have been consistently coded to the same account code or tax type. It surfaces these as suggested defaults you can apply directly to the contact in Xero, speeding up bank statement reconciliation.
To access it, go to a client's account and select Data Health in the left navigation, then select Contact defaults.
Important: This check is available for Xero clients only. If you use supplier rules in Dext, those rules take priority over contact defaults set in Xero.
Who can use this check
The Contact defaults check is available to practices with the Data Health & Insights add-on, on Practice Essentials and Practice Advanced plans.
Suggested defaults
The Suggested tab shows contacts that Dext has identified as candidates for account code or tax type defaults. Suggestions are grouped by contact - each contact can have up to two separate suggestions: one for account code and one for tax type.
Reviewing transaction detail
Select the chevron on any suggestion row to expand it and see the transactions behind it. The expanded view shows Reference, Description, Gross Amount, Date, Locked status, Source, and a View in Xero link for each transaction.
Taking action on individual suggestions
For each suggested default, you have 2 options:
Set as default — applies the suggested account code or tax type as the contact's default in Xero
Dismiss — removes the suggestion from the Suggested list without making any change in Xero
Note: Dismissals are specific to the suggestion type. If you dismiss an account code suggestion for a contact, Dext will still show tax type suggestions for that same contact if one becomes suitable - and vice versa.
Bulk actions
To act on multiple suggestions at once, select the checkbox on each suggestion row, or select Select All. Once you've made a selection, Bulk Actions updates to show:
Set [X] Suggested Defaults — applies all selected suggestions as defaults in Xero
Dismiss [X] Suggestions — dismisses all selected suggestions
Dismissed defaults
Select the Dismissed tab to see all suggestions you've previously dismissed. From here you can select individual items and use the Undismiss bulk action to reinstate them to the Suggested list.
Contact defaults and Health Score
Dismissed suggestions don't count as issues in the Health Score. Unresolved suggestions do contribute to the Health Score until they're either applied or dismissed.
Syncing and recalculating data
To update the Contact defaults check, use the buttons at the top of the page:
Sync — pulls the latest contact and transaction data from Xero into Dext
Recalculate — recalculates the check based on the data already pulled into Dext
If you've made changes in Xero, select Sync first, then Recalculate to see the updated results.