Import Invoices into Xero

You import invoices into Xero with its built-in CSV import: one import for the sales invoices you send customers and a separate import for the supplier bills you receive and pay. Xero does not read a PDF on its own, so invoices that arrive as PDFs or scans need an extraction step to turn them into a CSV first. Which route you use depends on whether you mean sales invoices or bills, whether your data is already in a spreadsheet or locked inside PDFs, and how many you process each week. Last updated July 2026.

This guide covers every practical way to import invoices into Xero: the built-in CSV import for sales invoices, the separate import for bills, how to handle PDF and scanned invoices, the file and row limits, and the usual reasons an import fails. It finishes with the fastest route for accounts payable teams who receive piles of PDF bills and want clean data in Xero without retyping anything.

Can you import invoices into Xero?

Yes. Xero imports sales invoices from a CSV file under Sales, then Invoices, then Import, and imports supplier bills under Purchases, then Bills, using Import from CSV. Both bring records in as drafts you approve afterward. Xero does not read invoice data straight from a PDF, so PDF invoices need converting into a CSV first before either importer will accept them.

Before you start, answer three questions. Are these invoices you send (sales invoices) or invoices you receive (supplier bills)? Are they already in a spreadsheet, or stuck in PDFs and scans? And how many do you handle at a time? Each answer points to a different path, and the sections below match every situation to the cleanest one.

How do I import invoices into Xero from Excel?

Xero only accepts CSV files, not Excel workbooks directly, so save your .xlsx as a .csv first. Then go to Sales, select Invoices, click Import, browse to your CSV, and choose whether the unit amounts are tax inclusive or tax exclusive. Download Xero's template so your column headers match exactly, because Xero rejects files with renamed or deleted columns.

Step by step for sales invoices

Once your file is formatted correctly the workflow is short:

1. Start from Xero's template

Download the sample CSV from the import screen and enter one row per invoice line. The only strictly required columns are ContactName and InvoiceNumber; you can leave other fields blank and complete them in Xero later. Do not rename or remove any column headers, since Xero relies on them to map the data.

2. Format dates and contacts to match Xero

Use the date format that matches your Xero organization's region. For a US organization that is month/day/year. Contact names must match what Xero already has exactly, so "Acme Inc" will not match a contact saved as "Acme Inc." with a period. Mismatches are the most common reason rows fail.

3. Import and review the drafts

Upload the file and Xero brings the invoices in as drafts. Review them, fix anything flagged, and approve. Importing as drafts is a safety net: nothing posts to your accounts until you approve it, so you can catch a wrong amount or account before it affects a report.

How do I import bills into Xero?

To import supplier bills, go to Purchases, select Bills, click New bill, then choose Import from CSV. Download the bill template, which uses columns including ContactName, InvoiceNumber, InvoiceDate, DueDate, Description, Quantity, UnitAmount, AccountCode, and TaxType. Fill it in, save as CSV, and import. Bills also arrive as drafts you approve before they hit accounts payable.

Bills are the side that matters most for accounts payable teams, because received invoices are where the keying time goes. If your bills come as PDFs, the data has to be pulled out into that CSV format first. That extraction step is exactly where automated invoice data extraction software saves the hours, reading each bill including the full line-item table and writing clean rows ready for the Xero template.

How do I import a PDF invoice into Xero?

Xero cannot read data from a PDF invoice by itself, so you convert the PDF into a structured CSV first, then import that file. An AI extraction tool reads the supplier, invoice number, date, line items, tax, and total from the PDF and exports clean rows to CSV in the layout Xero expects, which you then bring in through the Sales or Purchases importer. Our dedicated convert invoices to Xero page walks through that exact path and hands you a Xero-ready CSV.

This is where most of the manual effort disappears. Instead of opening each PDF and typing the figures into a spreadsheet, you upload the files, let the software pull the fields, and download a CSV that is already formatted for import. Our invoice PDF to Excel converter turns PDF and scanned invoices into a clean spreadsheet you can save as CSV, and our walkthrough on how to convert a PDF invoice to Excel covers the manual options too.

Does Xero read invoices automatically?

Xero has no built-in OCR of its own. It bundles Hubdoc free with every plan to capture bills and receipts: you email, scan, or photograph a document and Hubdoc extracts the supplier name, date, and total, then publishes a draft to Xero with the original attached. It is genuinely useful for header fields, but it is built around a few summary values rather than full line-item detail.

That distinction matters when your bills carry many line items or you process them in bulk. Hubdoc reliably grabs the top-level fields, but a dedicated reader pulls the entire line-item table, the tax breakdown, and the totals, and validates that they add up. If you want to understand how that level of accuracy is achieved, our overview of invoice OCR software explains how modern AI extraction differs from basic capture.

How many invoices can you import into Xero at once?

Xero recommends importing no more than 500 items in a single CSV, and a multi-line invoice counts each line toward that total, so a bill with three line items uses three rows. For larger volumes you split the file into batches under 500 rows, or use the drag-and-drop bill upload, which has no limit on the number of files but creates one draft bill per file for you to complete.

If you regularly bring in hundreds or thousands of invoices, splitting CSVs by hand gets tedious fast. An extraction-to-CSV workflow that reads every invoice automatically and outputs import-ready files scales far better than repeating the 500-row upload all day. The goal is to spend your time approving drafts, not formatting spreadsheets. Accounting and bookkeeping firms doing this across many clients at once can standardize the whole thing with a single workflow for invoice processing for accounting firms.

Why won't my invoices import into Xero?

Most failed Xero imports come down to formatting. The usual culprits are an Excel file that was never saved as CSV, dates in the wrong regional format, a contact name that does not match Xero exactly, renamed or deleted template columns, or required fields left blank. Xero reports the errors, so the fix is almost always in the file rather than the software.

Run this checklist before blaming the importer. Save the file as .csv, not .xlsx. Use your organization's date format (month/day/year for a US org). Make sure every ContactName matches an existing Xero contact exactly, punctuation included. Keep the template headers untouched. Fill in every required column. Clean source data is the single biggest factor in a smooth import, which is one more reason letting software extract the fields beats typing them by hand, since the output is consistent every time.

What is the fastest way to get invoices into Xero?

If your invoices arrive as PDFs or scans, the quickest path is to extract the data automatically and import the resulting CSV, rather than reading and typing each one. Upload your invoices, let the tool pull every field and line item into a clean file formatted for Xero, review anything it flags, and import the drafts. An afternoon of keying becomes a few minutes of review.

That is the workflow our invoice extraction tool is built for. Drop in your PDF or scanned invoices, get back structured data ready to save as CSV and import into Xero, and keep your books current without the manual entry. The accuracy checks catch math errors and duplicates before they reach your accounts, so the numbers you import are numbers you can trust. Teams replacing manual keying entirely can read more in our guide to invoice data entry software, and the same approach works for importing invoices into QuickBooks. For the adjacent job of getting a bank statement into Xero for reconciliation, a dedicated bank statement to Excel and CSV converter handles that document type.