Importing past invoices
Uploading invoices from another tool: what you can upload, the review screen, and what gets created.
Uploading your old invoices from another tool creates them in Billow, builds your account list, and fills in your revenue history.
Owner only, under Settings → Imports.
What you can upload
PDFs, PNGs, or JPEGs. Billow reads each one with AI and pulls out the number, dates, account, line items, and totals.
A CSV. One row per invoice. Billow works out your columns automatically.
Limits per import: up to 100 files. PDFs and images cap at 2 MB each and 10 pages; CSVs at 5 MB. Re-uploading a file you’ve already imported is caught and blocked.
A CSV with one row per line item is rejected. Billow needs one row per invoice and tells you to consolidate first.
The review screen
Nothing is created until you commit. Every row lands in one of three states:
State | Meaning |
|---|---|
Ready | Everything checks out |
Needs review | Something needs your attention |
Rejected | Excluded, either a terminal problem or you dropped it |
Common reasons a row needs review:
a missing date, total, or account name
a duplicate of an invoice you already have
an account Billow isn’t sure it matched right
amounts that don’t add up
a currency it can’t identify
a future date
Fix them inline, or drop the ones you don’t want.
A file the AI decides isn’t an invoice at all can be overridden. Editing the row puts it back in the queue.
Committing
Commit imports everything marked Ready in one go.
Rows still in Needs review are discarded. A confirmation shows both counts before the import runs. Fix or drop those rows first to include them.
What imported invoices look like
They land as Paid, since they’re history
They keep their original number from your old tool, exactly as it was. Billow’s own INV- numbering isn’t touched.
They aren’t attached to a project, so no project or offer is created
The original file is stored with the invoice and comes back in your data export
Imports cover history. Issue new invoices in Billow to get Billow numbering, share links, and payment tracking.
Deleting an imported invoice
An imported invoice is a normal invoice, so an admin can delete it. That frees its number and its file, and you can re-import a corrected version.
Timing
Processing runs in the background. You get an email when the review screen is ready. An import you never finish expires after 7 days of no activity.
