The invoices import brings bills you have already raised into Studio, so your billing history, outstanding balances and client revenue are all in one place from the start.
An imported invoice is a record of a bill that already exists. Importing one never emails anybody and never charges a card.
The One Thing to Understand First
One row is one line item, not one invoice. That is how nearly every accounting system exports, and it is what lets a three-line invoice come across as one invoice with three lines.
Repeat the invoice number on each row that belongs to it:
| Invoice Number | Client Name | Description | Qty | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| INV-1001 | Northgate Logistics | Website care plan, August | 1 | 2500.00 |
| INV-1001 | Northgate Logistics | Additional page build | 3 | 150.00 |
| INV-1002 | Verity Health | Brand strategy workshop | 1 | 4000.00 |
That file produces two invoices. INV-1001 has two lines and a subtotal of 2,950.
Before You Start
- Import Clients (and Vendors, for bills you received) first. Studio will create one from the name on an invoice if it has to, but a client created that way has only a name.
- Spell client names the same way in both files. Matching is on the name, ignoring case.
- Decide how far back to go. Most orgs bring the current and prior financial year.
Running It
- Go to Imports → New Import and pick Invoices.
- Upload your export, or start from the template at Imports → Templates.
- Check the mapping and run.
The Columns That Matter
- Invoice Number: required, and repeated across the lines of one invoice. Re-importing the same number updates that invoice rather than creating a second one.
- Billed To (Client) or Billed By (Vendor): one or the other. Use Vendor for a bill you received.
- Line Description, Quantity and Rate: the line itself. Leave Line Total blank and Studio multiplies quantity by rate.
- Status: draft, sent, paid, partial, overdue or cancelled. Blank means draft.
- Amount Already Paid: what has been received. A row marked paid with nothing here is treated as paid in full.
- Invoice Date and Due Date: blank dates default to today and 30 days out.
- Tax Rate: a percentage as a number, so 8.25 means 8.25 percent. It applies to the whole invoice, so it only needs to be on one of its rows.
When Your File Already Has the Totals
By default Studio adds the lines up. If your export states its own Subtotal, Tax Amount or Invoice Total, map those and Studio uses your figures instead. That matters when an export rounds, so the imported invoice reads at exactly the amount the client was billed.
What Won't Be Touched
If an invoice number in your file already exists in Studio and that invoice has been paid, the import leaves it exactly as it is and tells you it did. Invoice numbers collide across systems, and someone's paid invoice is not the place to find that out.
After It Runs
- Open Invoices and check a multi-line invoice: the lines, the subtotal, and the status should all match your old system.
- Nothing imported has been sent, so nothing goes out to a client until you send it.
- Wrong file? Revert this import removes every invoice it created.