Connecting Dext to BrightBooks lets you publish cost items, expense claims, and sales invoices directly to your accounting software. This article covers how to set up the connection, what syncs from BrightBooks, and how to manage your connection settings.
Important: Only Admin users - including accountants and bookkeepers accessing a client account - can connect or manage accounting software.
Connect Dext to BrightBooks
To connect your Dext account to BrightBooks:
Go to Business settings in the sidebar, then select Connections.
Under Accounting software, select Connect.
Find BrightBooks in the list, then select Connect.
In the connection window, select Connect software - you'll be redirected to BrightBooks and prompted to log in.
If you're an accountant or bookkeeper connecting on behalf of a client, select the relevant client organisation when prompted.
Follow the remaining steps until you return to Dext.
Select Finish to confirm the connection.
After connecting, allow a few minutes for the following to sync from BrightBooks:
Suppliers
Customers
Categories
Tax rates
Bank accounts
Projects (synced as Cost Centres or Departments, depending on your BrightBooks setup - Dext pulls whichever list is configured)
Connection settings
After connecting, you can manage your BrightBooks settings from Business settings > Connections > Manage (next to BrightBooks) > Settings. The settings are divided into three sections.
General
Warn me when creating a new supplier: when on, Dext alerts you before creating a supplier in BrightBooks that doesn't already exist in your BrightBooks suppliers list.
Publish item images with expense claims: when on, document images are sent to BrightBooks alongside expense claim items.
Tax
Use tax list: when on, a tax dropdown appears on the item details page in Dext, showing tax rates from your BrightBooks account. This setting must be on for tax data to be published to BrightBooks - if it's off, all items will publish with zero tax. Enabling it also allows tax rates to be set as supplier rules.
Use supplier tax rates: when on, Dext imports any tax rates applied to your suppliers in BrightBooks and sets these as supplier rules. These override extracted data but can be edited at the item level by selecting the extracted amount.
Note: if this setting is on, any manual changes to supplier tax rules in Dext will be overridden at the next sync.
Default tax for costs: the default tax rate applied to cost items when publishing to BrightBooks. A default tax rate must be set here for tax data to be included on published items.
Default tax code if no tax amount extracted (costs): the tax code used when Dext extracts a £0 tax amount on a cost item.
Default tax for sales: the default tax rate applied to sales items when publishing to BrightBooks. A default tax rate must be set here for tax data to be included on published sales items.
Default tax code if no tax amount extracted (sales): the tax code used when Dext extracts a £0 tax amount on a sales item.
All tax settings can be overridden by supplier rules or on the item details page.
Automatic publishing
Auto-publish all items: when on, all cost and sales items are published to BrightBooks 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 BrightBooks.
Cost items exceptions: select any item types you don't want to be auto-published.
Publish items to BrightBooks
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 are published to the Dext Prepare tab under Banking in BrightBooks. Sales invoices follow the same route and appear in the same location.
Published items don't appear in BrightBooks automatically - they need to be imported manually. To import your items into BrightBooks:
Go to Banking, then select the Dext Prepare tab.
Select New to see the items waiting to be imported.
Review the items, then select Import.
Confirm the import when prompted.
Once imported, cost items and expense claims appear under Suppliers in BrightBooks. Sales invoices appear in Sales.
Note: All items are sent to BrightBooks with their payment method information included. Dext sends the due date for each item.
Known limitations
There are a few things to be aware of when using Dext with BrightBooks.
Sales receipts and credit notes cannot be published to BrightBooks. Only sales invoices are supported.
Multi-currency: Dext sends items in their original currency. BrightBooks handles currency conversion on its side. If you see validation errors related to currency, check your BrightBooks currency settings under Settings > General Setup > Manage Currency. For further help, contact BrightBooks support directly.
Customer and supplier conflict: BrightBooks doesn't support having both a customer and a supplier on the same transaction. If an item in Dext has both, you'll see this error when publishing: "Expected either supplier or customer data while both of them supplied, which is not relevant for type: invoice." Remove one before publishing.
Divisions: Dext doesn't sync divisions from BrightBooks. If you need this, you can upvote the feature request at dext.uservoice.com.
Dext Prepare tab not visible in BrightBooks: if you can't see the Dext Prepare tab under Banking, contact BrightBooks support directly.
Reconnect or refresh your connection
If your BrightBooks connection has expired or your login credentials have changed, you'll need to reconnect. If you only need to update your categories, tax rates, or other lists, use the refresh option instead.