Manual items

A manual item is a cash event that doesn't exist in Xero yet but you know is coming — a tax payment, a pending grant, an owner draw, an insurance premium you pay outside your Xero bank feed.

Adding them makes the forecast complete instead of optimistic.

Creating a manual item

From the dashboard, click + Add item, or click into any cell in the timeline and choose + Add here.

The form takes:

• Name — short description (e.g. "BAS Q2").
• Amount — the cash value. Inflows are positive, outflows negative.
• Date — when the cash is expected to move. For recurring items this is the first occurrence.
• Category — groups it under the right row in the timeline (revenue, payroll, tax, etc.).
• Scenario visibility — by default, manual items appear in every scenario. You can restrict an item to specific scenarios (e.g. a worst-case emergency purchase that only shows up in Worst).

Hit Save and it shows up in the timeline immediately.

Recurrence

If the item repeats, toggle Repeats on and configure the rule:

• Every N days / weeks / months / years
• On which day — "the 15th", "the last Friday", "every Monday"
• Until — a specific end date, a number of occurrences, or "no end"

Recurrence is evaluated on the fly over the 13-week window, so changing a rule updates every future occurrence instantly.

Use recurrence sparingly for Xero-known items

Xero already handles most recurring invoices and bills via its own repeating templates. Use Cash Runway manual recurrence for events that aren't in Xero — quarterly taxes, annual software renewals paid off-book, etc.

Editing and deleting

Click any manual item in the timeline drawer, or find it in Manage → Manual items. From there you can:

• Edit — change amount, date, or recurrence rule. Changes apply going forward; past occurrences that have already "happened" on the timeline are not altered.
• Delete — removes the item from every future occurrence. You'll get a confirmation dialog.
• Duplicate — handy when you want a near-identical item with a different date or amount.

Drag to reschedule

On the timeline, drag a manual item between weeks to reschedule it. This is a shortcut for the common case of "push that tax payment out a week". Only manual items are draggable — Xero-sourced items are anchored to their real due dates.

Bulk entry

Adding five-plus manual items? The CSV import flow is faster than filling in the form for each one.

Related

• Scenarios — restrict a manual item to one scenario only.
• CSV import — add many manual items at once.
• AR insights — chase invoices so fewer manual corrections are needed.