How to Create a Positive Pay File From Xero
Xero does not export a positive pay file. There is no menu item for it and no add-on inside Xero that produces a check issue file in your bank's format. To meet a positive pay requirement, you export your check data from Xero, then convert that data into the layout your bank expects. This guide shows exactly which Xero report to use, the two column gotchas that trip people up, and how to turn the export into a bank-ready file for free.
If positive pay is new to you, read what is positive pay first. The short version: your bank matches each check that clears against a list of checks you issued (check number, amount, and often the payee). Anything that does not match gets flagged before it pays. The list you send the bank is the positive pay file, sometimes called a check issue file.
Step 1: Run the Account Transactions report
Xero has no dedicated check register report. The closest thing is the Account Transactions report, filtered to your bank account. In Xero, go to Accounting > Reports and open Account Transactions. Set the account to the bank account you write checks from, then set your date range to cover the checks you need to report.
Before you export, open the report's column or layout settings and make sure these fields are showing: Date, Reference, Debit, and Credit. Add the payee or contact name if it is available, because some bank layouts match on payee too. Then export to Excel or CSV using the export button at the top of the report.
Step 2: The Reference column holds the check number
This is the part that catches almost everyone. Xero does not have a column literally labeled "Check Number." When you pay a bill or write a check, the check number lives in the Reference field of the transaction. So in your export, the Reference column is your check number column.
Two things to confirm before you build the file:
- Reference is actually populated. If your team did not type the check number into the Reference field when entering payments, the column will be blank or hold something else (an invoice number, a note, a batch ID). A positive pay file with missing check numbers is useless to the bank. Fix the source transactions in Xero, or fill in the numbers in the export before converting.
- Reference holds only the number. If someone entered "Check 1042" or "1042 - rent," the bank wants just
1042. Clean the column so it contains the bare check number.
Step 3: The Credit column gotcha
On a bank account in Xero, money leaving the account (a check you wrote) appears in the Credit column, not the Debit column. This is correct double-entry bookkeeping from the account's point of view, but it is the opposite of what most people expect when they think "the check reduced my balance."
When you map your export, the check amount comes from the Credit column. Do not pull from Debit: those are deposits and money coming in, which do not belong in a check issue file. If your file ends up listing deposits as if they were checks, the bank will flag legitimate checks and let the wrong items through. Filter your export so you keep only the rows with a value in the Credit column.
Step 4: Watch the date format for your locale
Xero formats dates according to your organisation's country and region settings. A UK or Australian org shows 14/06/2026 (day first), while a US org shows 06/14/2026 (month first). Your bank's positive pay spec expects one specific format, often MM/DD/YYYY or YYYYMMDD.
If the format in your export does not match what the bank wants, the file will be rejected or, worse, the dates will be silently misread (a check dated June 14 read as the 6th of the 14th month makes no sense, but 06/07 versus 07/06 swaps quietly). Check your bank's spec, then make sure the dates in your export match it exactly before you generate the file.
Step 5: Convert the export with PositivePayMaker
Once you have a clean export with check numbers, amounts, and dates, you need to reshape it into your bank's exact file layout. Banks each define their own fixed-width or delimited format. Typing this by hand in a text editor is slow and error-prone.
PositivePayMaker does the conversion in your browser. You upload the Xero export (CSV or Excel), map the columns (Reference to check number, Credit to amount, the date column to issue date), pick your bank's layout, and download a file ready to upload to your bank's portal. It is free and runs entirely client-side: your check data never leaves your browser and is never sent to a server.
It ships with 11 bank layouts, including specs published by Chase and Huntington, plus a custom format builder if your bank is not in the list. See all supported formats to check yours.
Always validate the first file with your bank
No matter how you build the file, treat the first one as a test. Generate it, then run it through the file validator to catch structural problems before upload. After that, send it to your bank and confirm they accept it and that the check numbers and amounts match. Bank specs change, and a field that is off by one position will reject the whole batch. Verify once, and the rest become routine.
Why not just buy a desktop tool?
You can, but for Xero users the paid desktop converters are aimed elsewhere and cost real money (pricing current as of 2026). Big Red Consulting's Positive Pay File Creator is built around QuickBooks, runs only on Windows, and its QuickBooks Online edition still requires Microsoft Excel installed: no Mac and no web version. Treasury Software's Bank Positive Pay is installed Windows software priced per seat at roughly $30 to $90 per month. MoneyThumb and ProperSoft also sell paid desktop converters. If you already exported a clean register from Xero, a free browser tool covers the same ground without an install or a subscription.
The workflow above is the same one QuickBooks users follow, with different column names. If you also run QuickBooks, see the QuickBooks positive pay guide.