Importing past invoices
Bring your history from another tool so your revenue and account list start full.
Coming from another tool? Upload your old invoices and Billow reads them, 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.
CSV exports with one row per line item won’t work. Billow needs one row per invoice and will reject a line-item export, telling you to consolidate first.
Reviewing before anything is created
Nothing is imported until you say so. 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.
If Billow's AI decides a file isn’t an invoice at all, you can override it. 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, behind a confirmation showing both counts so nothing disappears quietly. Fix or drop them first if you want them included.
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, which is why they don’t create offers or projects
The original file is stored with the invoice and comes back in your data export
Imports are for history, not ongoing billing. Issue new invoices in Billow so they get numbers, share links, and payment tracking.
Fixing a mistake
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 and you get an email when the review screen is ready. An import you never finish expires after 7 days of no activity.
