August 2026 roundup
The updates that matter this month. Available in your Dext account now.
See documents and time together on your Time Spent dashboard
We've added a new way to connect effort to output on the Time Spent dashboard.
Why it matters: Time Spent tells you how long you spent on a client. Documents vs. time tells you how much actually got done. Together, they can flag something worth a closer look, for example, high time spent with low document output may point to a bottleneck.
- A new Documents over time tile shows total published documents (manual and auto-published) alongside a chart of document volume and time spent, at a practice level.
- A new Published documents and Time per document column on the client drill-down table lets you see document volume per client next to time spent.
- A new Documents over time (by month) chart on each client's profile shows documents published and time spent, month by month, for that client.
Availability
Available to practices on the Dext Advanced plan.
AI Assist can now publish and archive documents
Publishing documents
AI Assist can now add notes to a document and publish it for you, based on guidance you set up, with no manual review needed.
- Set your own rules for when AI Assist should act, for example: "If the document is from Supplier X and the amount is below £50, publish the document."
- Ideal for regular, low-value invoices you'd normally wave through anyway.
Why it matters: this frees you up to spend your time on the documents that actually need a second look, while the routine ones take care of themselves.
Archiving documents
AI Assist can also now automatically archive documents that don't need to be published, helping keep your Costs inbox tidy. For example, you can create guidance for purchase orders and delivery notes to be automatically archived, so they're still there if you need them later.
What is AI Assist?
AI Assist is an AI agent built in to Dext, designed to help you automate repetitive tasks at scale. If you've not tried it yet, you can start a free trial from within your Dext account.
Two updates in Dext Solo this month
CIS support for sales invoices
You can now create and send sales invoices that include Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) deductions.
- Choose a CIS category for line items on a new sales invoice.
- CIS deductions show clearly on the customer-facing PDF.
- Choose which income source to send an invoice from, for more flexibility in selling and more accurate reporting.
- Line items with CIS categories can't be edited once created, so reporting stays accurate. This applies only to invoices you create, not extracted ones.
Availability
Available to all Solo accounts with CIS enabled.
Client creation just got faster
When you create a self-employed client, you can now choose straight away whether they have access to reports and can submit quarterly updates to HMRC. Previously, you'd have to set this up afterwards in business settings → connections.
One thing to know: if you turn on client submissions, reports are switched on automatically. A client can't submit an update without seeing the reports behind it.
Why it matters: getting report access right per client makes a real difference to how engaged and financially fluent that client feels. Setting it up front, at creation, means your client sees what they need from day one, no follow-up questions, no extra steps later.
What is Dext Solo?
Dext Solo is Dext's digital record-keeping solution built to help you manage MTD for Income Tax and quarterly updates.
A new homepage for your clients
Your clients now land on a homepage that gives them a high-level view of their business and what needs doing next, as soon as they open Dext. It includes:
- To do: items needing their attention, and items waiting on others.
- Business summary: costs, expense claims, and sales recorded for the current or last complete period.
- Get the most out of Dext: credit usage and features they haven't tried yet.
If you have client access, you'll be able to switch between your partner-only overview and this new homepage, so you can see exactly what your client sees.
Note
This is rolling out gradually over the coming month, if you don't see it yet, it's on its way.
Bring trusted Dext data into your AI tools
AI Connectors will let you securely connect AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude to your Dext data, giving you accurate client context instead of generic responses.
- Generate client-ready performance reviews and advisory notes.
- Ask questions using accurate, client-specific financial data.
- Identify growth opportunities and deliver more proactive advice.
Note
Available for Dext Advanced customers.
