Google Sheets troubleshooting guide

Table of contents

This number’s already in use

PixieBooks only allows one phone number to be connected to one organisation at a time. If you try to add your phone number and see an error saying “This number’s already in use”, check your PixieBooks dashboard to see which organisation it’s connected to.

If you can’t see it on your dashboard, one of these is usually true:

A) It’s a bug

Follow the steps in our troubleshooting guide to disconnect and reconnect.

B) You’re signed into a different Xero account

If you have more than one Xero account, your phone number may be connected under the other account’s organisations.

A quick way to check: if you’ve submitted receipts via WhatsApp before, open your PixieBooks WhatsApp chat and scroll to the very top. In the welcome message, you should see the organisation name and the email address managing it.

To switch Xero accounts:

  1. Log out of your PixieBooks dashboard.
  2. Go to xero.com and log out there too (as cache can get in the way).
  3. Return to PixieBooks and sign in with your other Xero account.
  4. Connect the organisation (if needed), then disconnect your phone number from the organisation it’s currently linked to.

If you manage multiple Xero accounts and want to access all your organisations from one PixieBooks dashboard, see our tips & tricks guide.

Still having trouble with your number? Reach out to us at
[email protected]
and include as much detail as possible about what went wrong and what steps you’ve already tried.

Something went wrong when adding your phone number

This issue can occur when you’re creating a new organisation in PixieBooks and your phone number is still connected to a different organisation.


Why this happens

A phone number can only be linked to one PixieBooks organisation at a time.

If you try to add your phone number while it’s still connected to another organisation, PixieBooks won’t be able to complete the setup. When this happens, you may be taken to a “Something went wrong” page.


What to do instead

If your phone number is already connected to another organisation:

  1. When you reach the Add your number step, skip this step for now.
  2. Complete the rest of the setup without adding your phone number.

You can add your phone number later once it’s been removed from the other organisation.


How to get back to your dashboard

If you’re taken to the “Something went wrong” page:

  1. Open a new browser tab.
  2. Go to app.pixiebooks.com.
  3. You’ll be taken directly to your PixieBooks dashboard.

From there, you can manage your organisations and phone number connections.


Need to move your phone number?

To use the same phone number with a new organisation, first remove it from the existing organisation in your PixieBooks dashboard. Once it’s been disconnected, you’ll be able to add it to the new organisation without any issues.

Can’t create an organisation in PixieBooks for Google Sheets

Some users may run into an issue when using PixieBooks for Google Sheets with a Google Workspace Cloud Identity Free (CIF) account.


What’s happening

Workspace Cloud Identity Free does not include Google Drive storage.

While CIF accounts can create new documents in Google apps like Sheets and Docs (which are stored locally), they can’t open shared templates or documents that rely on Google Drive.

PixieBooks for Google Sheets uses a shared Google Sheet stored in Drive, so on CIF accounts the PixieBooks spreadsheet won’t open.


Why this affects PixieBooks

The PixieBooks Google Sheets file is a shared document hosted in Google Drive.

Because CIF accounts don’t have Drive storage, Google blocks access to that shared file — even though Google Sheets itself is available.


Current workarounds

At the moment, there are two options:

Option 1: Use a personal Gmail account
This allows the PixieBooks Google Sheet to open correctly. However, we understand this may not be ideal from a confidentiality or data-handling perspective.

Option 2: Use a paid Google Workspace account
Any Google Workspace plan that includes Drive storage will resolve the issue.

The goal of PixieBooks for Google Sheets is to remain free and accessible, so requiring a paid Workspace account isn’t the intended solution.

Contacting support 

If you encounter issues that cannot be resolved through the troubleshooting guide or would like to report a PixieBooks error, please fill out the form or send us an email at [email protected]