To publish a Costs item as paid, Dext needs to know which bank account the payment was made from. You can specify this by linking each payment method in Dext to the corresponding bank account in your connected accounting software.
Note: This article only applies to accounts connected to accounting software.
Why link a payment method to a bank account?
Linking a payment method to a bank account lets you publish Costs items as paid, directly to the bank account they were paid from in your accounting software.
To publish an item as paid, the item needs both:
A Publish to destination for paid items
A payment method linked to a bank account
When you publish an item set up this way:
It’s recorded as paid in your accounting software, which saves time and effort
It doesn’t show as an unpaid bill in your accounting software, which helps you avoid paying the same expense twice
It goes directly to the linked bank account, ready to reconcile
You can also see which payment method was used on your items in Dext, in the Costs inbox and on the Item details page
Linking a payment method doesn’t publish items automatically. For repeat payments you trust, such as a company card you use for regular subscriptions, the next step is to set up rules:
Payment method rules set the Publish to destination and Auto-publish for each payment method. Go to How to set up payment method rules in Dext
Supplier rules apply a payment method and publishing settings to every item from a specific supplier. Go to How to use supplier and customer rules in Dext
Before you start
Payment methods don't come from the bank accounts in your accounting software.
Dext creates a Payment method when it extracts a card reference from a document, or you can create one yourself. If your Payment methods list is empty, create one first, then link it to a bank account. For how, go to Manage Payment methods in Dext
If you’re not sure what a payment method is in Dext, go to What is a Payment method in Dext?
If you want to auto-publish or assign publishing destinations based on a payment method, go to How to set rules based on Payment method
Who can manage payment methods?
Only Admin users can link payment methods to bank accounts.
This includes:
Business Admins and User Admins in a business account
Accountants or bookkeepers accessing a client account
If you don’t have access, contact an Admin in your account or your accountant/bookkeeper.
Tip: Learn more about roles and permissions in Dext
Link a payment method to a bank account
There are two ways to link a payment method to a bank account:
From Business Settings
Go to Business settings > Lists.
Open the Payment methods page.
Locate the payment method.
In the Bank account column, select the correct account from the dropdown.
From the Item details page
If a Payment Method used on an item is not linked to a bank account:
You’ll see a “Link to bank account” option under the Payment section.
Click it to open the bank account selection modal.
Choose the correct bank account and confirm.
If a Payment Method is already linked:
A small link icon appears next to the Payment Method.
Hovering over it shows which bank account it is linked to.
You can click Change linked account to update it.
Bank account not appearing?
If you’ve recently added a new bank account in your accounting software and it does not appear in the dropdown:
On the Payment methods page, click Reload.
The updated list of accounts will refresh.
Alternatively, you can refresh your integration data.
