How to Import Invoices into Exact Online: 7 Methods Compared

Exact Online powers over 500,000 administrations across Belgium and the Netherlands, making it the default bookkeeping platform for much of the Benelux. Yet for most practices, getting supplier invoices into the system still means one thing: typing them in by hand. Not because better options don't exist, but because the alternatives are scattered across different tools, integrations, and workflows that no single resource has ever compared side by side.

This guide covers seven distinct methods to import invoices into Exact Online, from the simplest to the most technical:

Manual entry through Purchase Entries — keying invoices directly into Exact Online's built-in screen.
CSV or XML file import — uploading structured data files for batch booking.
OCR scanning via TriFact365 — scanning paper or PDF invoices with optical character recognition and pushing them into Exact Online.
Automated invoice fetching with GetMyInvoices — pulling digital invoices from email inboxes and supplier portals automatically.
OCR and Peppol processing through eConnect — combining scan-and-recognize with structured e-invoice handling.
Peppol e-invoicing — receiving structured B2B invoices directly through the Peppol network.
Programmatic import via the Exact Online REST API — building custom integrations for high-volume or specialized workflows.

The right method for your practice depends on three factors: how many invoices you process each month, what formats they arrive in (structured Peppol data, native PDF, scanned paper), and how much automation your workflow justifies.

Belgium's mandatory B2B e-invoicing, which took effect in January 2026, has shifted the landscape significantly. Belgian B2B invoices increasingly arrive as structured Peppol data that flows into Exact Online with minimal manual handling. But cross-border suppliers, non-EU vendors, and smaller businesses outside the mandate still send PDFs and paper documents. Most practices now operate in a hybrid environment where no single import method covers every invoice that lands on their desk.

Each section below breaks down one method: what it does, what it costs, where it fits, and where it falls short.

Manual Entry Through Purchase Entries

The starting point for most Exact Online users is straightforward: open Financial → Purchase entries, select or create a supplier (creditor) record, and key in each invoice line by line. The required header fields include invoice number, invoice date, due date, net amount, VAT/BTW amount, total, the corresponding general ledger account, and the applicable VAT code. Once verified, you post the entry and move on to the next invoice.

One detail that demands extra care on Belgian invoices is the OGM-VCS structured payment reference (gestructureerde mededeling), a 12-digit code formatted as +++NNN/NNNN/NNNNN+++. This reference ties the payment to the correct open receivable on the supplier's side. A single transposed digit breaks the link, which means your supplier's system will not automatically reconcile the payment, and both parties waste time chasing the mismatch. For a deeper look at how these references work, see our guide on Belgian OGM-VCS structured payment references on invoices.

For a practice processing fewer than roughly 20 supplier invoices per week, manual entry is manageable. Beyond that threshold, it becomes a measurable bottleneck. Each invoice takes two to five minutes to enter depending on complexity, and the risk of transcription errors grows with volume. This risk compounds in Belgium, where invoices routinely arrive in Dutch, French, or German, forcing the person doing data entry to context-switch between languages, date formats, and terminology for every batch.

Manual entry remains the universal fallback, the baseline every other import method in this guide aims to reduce or eliminate entirely.

Importing Invoices via CSV or XML Files

Exact Online includes a built-in import tool for bringing structured financial data into your administration without third-party software. You can access it through Financial → Import, where the system accepts CSV or Excel files containing purchase invoice entries mapped to Exact Online's required fields.

Getting the file format right is the critical step. Your CSV must include columns that correspond to Exact Online's entry structure:

Journal code (the purchase journal, e.g., 20 or INK)
Creditor code (the supplier's account number in your administration)
GL account number (the expense or asset ledger account)
Invoice number and invoice date
Description (line-level or header-level)
Net amount, VAT code, and VAT amount

Regional formatting matters more than most users expect. For Benelux administrations, Exact Online typically requires DD-MM-YYYY date formatting and a comma as the decimal separator (e.g., 1.250,00 rather than 1,250.00). A mismatch in either setting will cause the import to fail or, worse, import incorrect amounts silently.

One practical challenge: Exact Online's own documentation on CSV import is published only in Dutch and focuses primarily on sales invoices (verkoopfacturen). Purchase invoice import follows a similar structure through the financial entry import tool, but you may need to adapt the column mapping based on the sales invoice templates Exact provides as examples. A practical workaround is to export an existing purchase entry from Exact Online and use the resulting file as a template for your import structure.

CSV and Excel import works best in specific scenarios. Batch-importing pre-processed invoice data from spreadsheets is the most common use case, whether that means migrating historical records into a new administration, importing structured output from a data extraction tool, or loading a backlog of invoices that were tracked outside Exact Online. For firms handling dozens or hundreds of invoices in a single batch, file-based import eliminates the repetitive manual entry that the Purchase Entries screen demands.

For XML-based import, Exact Online supports the UBL (Universal Business Language) invoice format, which is the same structured XML standard used in Peppol e-invoicing. UBL files carry all required invoice fields in a machine-readable structure, making them suitable for automated workflows where upstream systems already generate standardized output.

The data must already be structured and correctly formatted before you can import it. CSV import does not extract data from documents. If your invoices arrive as PDFs, scanned images, or email attachments, someone or something must first read those documents, pull out the relevant fields, and arrange them into the exact column structure Exact Online expects. The import tool handles the last step of getting clean data into the system, not the first step of turning unstructured documents into clean data.

TriFact365: Scan-and-Recognize Invoice Import

TriFact365 is the dominant scan-and-recognize solution in the Exact Online ecosystem. As an official Exact partner listed in the Exact App Center, it serves the full base of 500,000+ Exact Online administrations and has become the default OCR invoice scanning tool across Benelux accounting practices.

The workflow follows five steps:

Upload invoice PDFs or images. Users can drag and drop files into the TriFact365 web portal, scan paper invoices directly, or forward them via email to a dedicated inbox assigned to each administration.
OCR extraction. TriFact365 reads the document and extracts header-level data: supplier name, invoice number, invoice date, net amount, VAT/BTW amount, and total.
Matching against Exact Online master data. The extracted supplier name and amounts are matched to your Exact Online chart of accounts and existing supplier records. If TriFact365 finds a known supplier, it pre-fills the correct ledger account and VAT code.
Review and correction. Users verify the recognized data in TriFact365's web dashboard, correcting any misreads before approval. The original invoice image is displayed alongside the extracted fields for side-by-side comparison.
Posting to Exact Online. Approved invoices are pushed directly into Exact Online as purchase entries, with the source PDF attached to the transaction.

For accounting firms managing multiple client administrations, TriFact365 offers multi-step approval routing. Invoices can be routed through one or more approvers before they reach the bookkeeper for final posting. This is equally relevant for organizations that require internal sign-off on purchases before anything hits the books.

TriFact365 applies machine learning to improve recognition accuracy over time. When a bookkeeper corrects a misread VAT code or ledger account for a specific supplier, the system remembers that correction. The next invoice from the same supplier arrives with the right values pre-filled. For practices processing hundreds of invoices monthly from recurring suppliers, this learning curve pays off within a few billing cycles.

Where TriFact365 delivers:

Deep native Exact Online integration that posts entries without intermediate file exports
Built-in approval workflows suitable for multi-client accounting practices
Supplier-specific learning that reduces manual corrections over time
Wide adoption across Benelux, meaning peer support and community knowledge are readily available

Where it falls short:

Paid subscription required, priced per administration per month, which adds up for firms managing dozens of clients
Header-level extraction only. TriFact365 captures invoice totals and VAT amounts but does not break out individual line items, product descriptions, or quantities. Practices that need line-item detail for cost allocation or project accounting will still do manual work.
OCR accuracy varies by language. Dutch-language invoices are well-recognized out of the box. French and German invoices, common in Brussels and the eastern cantons of Belgium, may require more manual correction during the initial learning period before supplier-specific patterns are established.

Automated Invoice Processing: GetMyInvoices and eConnect

Two additional tools address parts of the import workflow that TriFact365 does not cover.

GetMyInvoices: Centralized Invoice Collection

GetMyInvoices automates the retrieval of invoices rather than their processing. It connects to over 10,000 online portals, email inboxes, and cloud storage services, automatically downloading invoices as they appear. Instead of logging into each supplier portal individually to fetch documents, you get a single central inbox where everything arrives on its own.

The Exact Online integration works in two ways. Downloaded invoices can be forwarded directly to Exact Online, or routed through TriFact365 for OCR processing before posting. This makes GetMyInvoices a collection layer that pairs with other tools rather than replacing them.

The tool is best suited for firms and businesses that receive invoices from dozens of different digital sources. If your team spends time each week manually downloading documents from energy providers, telecom portals, SaaS dashboards, and supplier platforms, GetMyInvoices eliminates that repetitive work entirely.

GetMyInvoices does not perform OCR or extract structured data from the documents it collects. It solves the gathering problem, not the data extraction problem. You still need a separate tool or manual effort to turn those collected PDFs into posted entries in Exact Online.

eConnect: OCR Plus Peppol in One Platform

eConnect takes a different approach by combining two capabilities. It converts PDF invoices into structured e-invoices using OCR, and it also functions as a Peppol access point for sending and receiving electronic invoices in the UBL format.

This dual role is especially relevant now that Belgium's B2B e-invoicing mandate is in effect. In practice, eConnect can receive a PDF invoice, extract its data via OCR, and convert it to a UBL XML document that posts to Exact Online through the same channel as native Peppol invoices. This unified pipeline suits businesses that want to avoid managing separate integrations for PDF processing and e-invoice exchange.

The trade-off is adoption and documentation. eConnect is less widely used than TriFact365 in the Exact Online ecosystem, and publicly available setup guides and configuration resources are more limited. Firms evaluating eConnect should factor in potentially longer implementation timelines and greater reliance on vendor support during onboarding.

Peppol E-Invoicing and Belgium's 2026 B2B Mandate

Peppol (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) is the network through which structured electronic invoices travel between businesses and government entities. Unlike PDF invoices that require OCR or manual data entry, Peppol invoices use the UBL 2.1 (Universal Business Language) XML format, delivering fully machine-readable, pre-structured data from sender to recipient.

Belgium's mandatory B2B e-invoicing system, which took effect on 1 January 2026, covers the exchange of structured electronic invoices between approximately 1.2 million public and private sector entities via the Peppol network, according to the European Commission's eInvoicing overview for Belgium. This mandate is the primary regulatory driver behind Peppol adoption among Exact Online users in Belgium and has significant implications for Dutch firms with Belgian trading partners.

How Peppol invoices reach Exact Online: A business connects to the Peppol network through a certified Access Point provider such as eConnect, Basware, or Exact's own Peppol connectivity. Once connected, incoming Peppol invoices arrive as structured UBL XML with all header fields pre-populated:

Supplier identification (name, VAT number, Peppol participant ID)
Invoice number, issue date, and due date
Line items with quantities, unit prices, and descriptions
Total amounts and full VAT breakdown

These fields map directly to purchase entries in Exact Online without manual transcription. Where a PDF invoice might pass through OCR, field validation, and manual correction before reaching the ledger, a Peppol invoice arrives already structured at source. This makes it the most efficient import pathway available when both parties are on the network.

While Peppol invoice data fields are structured and language-agnostic, free-text fields such as line item descriptions may arrive in Dutch, French, or German depending on the supplier's region. Firms handling invoices across language communities should verify that their GL account mapping and approval workflows accommodate multilingual descriptions. For background on how language affects invoice compliance, see Belgium's trilingual invoice language rules.

The coverage gap remains significant. Peppol currently covers B2B transactions between entities connected to the network. Invoices from suppliers outside Belgium's mandate, particularly cross-border suppliers, non-EU vendors, and smaller businesses that have not yet adopted e-invoicing, still arrive as unstructured PDFs. These require a separate import approach, whether that is OCR-based extraction, CSV import, or manual entry. For most accounting practices, Peppol handles a growing share of domestic invoice volume, but a parallel workflow for non-Peppol invoices remains necessary.

Programmatic Import via the Exact Online REST API

The Exact Online REST API provides a programmatic interface that lets external software create purchase entries directly in Exact Online. Instead of uploading files or clicking through screens, an application sends structured JSON data via HTTP requests, and Exact Online processes it as if a user had entered the invoice manually. This is the foundation for custom integrations, automated data pipelines, and any workflow where invoice data originates in another system.

For accountants and bookkeepers who handle high volumes from a consistent source, such as an e-commerce platform, a procurement system, or a data extraction tool that outputs structured JSON, the API removes the human bottleneck entirely. Once built, the integration runs without manual intervention.

How the Integration Works

A typical Exact Online REST API invoice import follows five steps:

Register an application in the Exact Online App Center. This generates the client credentials (client ID and secret) needed to authorize API access.
Authenticate using OAuth 2.0. The application redirects a user to Exact Online's login page, the user grants permission, and the application receives an access token and refresh token. The refresh token allows the application to maintain access without repeated logins.
Identify the target administration. Each Exact Online environment can contain multiple divisions (administrations). The API's Me endpoint returns the current division, or the application can query available divisions to select the correct one.
POST invoice data to the PurchaseEntries endpoint. The request body includes the required fields: supplier code, invoice number, journal, invoice date, line amounts, general ledger account, and VAT code. Each line item maps to an entry line within the purchase entry.
Exact Online creates the purchase entry. The API returns the created object with its assigned entry number, confirming successful import.

Once this workflow is operational, it processes invoices in seconds with no screen interaction required.

When API Import Is the Right Choice

The API delivers the most value for recurring, high-volume imports from a predictable data source. If the same import logic runs daily or weekly against data that arrives in a consistent format, the upfront development cost pays for itself quickly. Common use cases include syncing purchase invoices from a procurement platform, importing extracted invoice data from an OCR or AI tool, or feeding Exact Online from a centralized accounts payable system that serves multiple clients.

For one-off imports or low volumes, the development overhead is not justified. CSV import or a scan-and-recognize tool will be faster to set up and maintain.

Initial setup requires developer involvement: registering the application, implementing the OAuth 2.0 flow, mapping source fields to Exact Online's field structure, and handling edge cases like duplicate detection. OAuth tokens expire and must be refreshed programmatically, which adds a maintenance requirement. Exact Online also enforces API rate limits, so high-burst scenarios need throttling logic. The APIDeck blog has published a detailed developer guide for Exact Online API integration, though it targets Python developers and does not address the accounting workflow context around field mapping or VAT handling.

For practices without in-house technical resources, engaging a freelance developer for the initial build is a practical path, but budget for ongoing maintenance as well. API endpoints and authentication flows do change over time, and someone needs to respond when they do.

Handling PDF Invoices from Non-Peppol Suppliers

Cross-border suppliers outside the EU, vendors in countries without Peppol infrastructure, and smaller businesses still transitioning their invoicing systems all send invoices as unstructured PDFs. These cannot be imported into Exact Online through Peppol, and without a data extraction step, they cannot be formatted for CSV import either. The default outcome is manual entry.

This is a structural gap, not a temporary one. The question is how to process non-Peppol invoices without reverting to manual entry.

AI-powered data extraction addresses this gap by reading PDF invoices, including scanned documents and phone photos, and converting them into structured output files. The process works in three steps: upload the PDF invoices (in batches of up to 6,000 files if needed), prompt the AI with the fields to extract and the desired output format, and download the result as an Excel, CSV, or JSON file. The extraction handles invoices in all major languages, including Dutch, French, and German, which covers the bulk of cross-border supplier documents that Belgian and Dutch practices encounter.

The extracted output connects directly to two import methods covered earlier in this article. A CSV file formatted with the correct column structure can be imported through Exact Online's financial import tool. Alternatively, JSON output can feed into a custom integration built on the Exact Online REST API, enabling automated processing for higher-volume workflows. The extraction step is the upstream layer that makes these file-based and programmatic import paths usable for documents that started as unstructured PDFs.

Consider a concrete scenario: a Belgian accountant processes monthly invoices from a German supplier who sends PDF invoices by email. Using a prompt such as "Extract invoice number, date, vendor name, net amount, VAT amount, total, format dates as YYYY-MM-DD," the extraction produces a CSV with properly formatted fields and native data types, numbers stored as numbers, dates as dates. That CSV is ready for Exact Online import without manual reformatting. For recurring suppliers with consistent invoice layouts, the prompt can be saved to a prompt library and reused across months, producing consistent output structure every time.

For practices that need to extract invoice data from PDFs into Excel or CSV, this extraction layer complements the import methods described throughout this article rather than replacing them. Peppol handles the suppliers on the network. Scan-and-recognize tools like TriFact365 handle documents routed through their platform. The extraction step covers everything else: the cross-border PDFs, the scanned paper invoices, the emailed attachments from vendors who are years away from adopting e-invoicing. Field-level formatting control, including date standardization and decimal precision, ensures the extracted data matches Exact Online's expected input structure. Source file and page references on every output row allow verification against the original documents before import.

Batch extraction handles hundreds of invoices in minutes rather than hours, and pay-as-you-go pricing (with 50 free pages per month) keeps costs proportional to volume for practices of any size.

Which Import Method Fits Your Workflow

Each import method serves a different combination of invoice volume, format mix, budget, and technical capacity. The table below places all seven methods side by side so you can compare them on the dimensions that matter most for your practice.

Method	Formats Handled	Automation Level	Setup Effort	Cost Model	Best Suited For
Manual entry (Purchase Entries)	Any (operator reads and types)	Manual	Minimal	Free (included in Exact Online)	Low-volume practices under ~20 invoices per week
CSV / XML import	Structured data files	Semi-automated	Moderate (template mapping)	Free (included in Exact Online)	Batch import of invoices already available as structured data
TriFact365	PDF, scanned paper, UBL	Semi-automated (scan, review, approve)	Moderate (connector setup, GL mapping)	Subscription (per-user or per-document tier)	Practices that receive a steady flow of PDF invoices and want guided review before posting
GetMyInvoices	Email, portal downloads, PDF	Fully automated collection, semi-automated posting	Moderate (source connections, sync rules)	Subscription (tiered by source count)	Firms managing invoices from many digital sources and supplier portals
eConnect	UBL, PDF with OCR, EDI	Fully automated	Significant (integration configuration)	Subscription	High-volume environments needing end-to-end automation with minimal manual review
Peppol e-invoicing	UBL (structured e-invoice)	Fully automated	Minimal (activate access point in Exact Online)	Free or low per-transaction fee	Belgian and Dutch B2B invoices from Peppol-registered suppliers
Exact Online REST API	JSON (structured data from any upstream system)	Fully automated	Significant (development and maintenance)	Development cost	Organizations building custom integrations between ERP, procurement, or extraction tools and Exact Online

Matching Your Practice Profile to the Right Approach

Most invoices come from Belgian B2B suppliers. With Belgium's 2026 B2B e-invoicing mandate, Peppol will handle the majority of your incoming invoices natively within Exact Online. For the remaining PDF invoices from non-Peppol suppliers, a CSV import workflow or an AI-powered extraction tool fills the gap without adding a recurring subscription.

High volume with diverse digital sources. When invoices arrive through email, supplier portals, and document management systems, GetMyInvoices automates the collection step. Pair it with TriFact365 or a data extraction tool to process, validate, and post the captured invoices into Exact Online with minimal manual handling.

Mostly PDF or scanned invoices from international suppliers. Practices that work across borders often receive invoices in formats that no single e-invoicing network covers. AI-powered extraction converts those PDFs into structured CSV files, which you then batch-import into Exact Online. This combination keeps accuracy high without requiring a per-document subscription for every source.

Custom integration requirements. If your organization bridges Exact Online with an ERP system, procurement platform, or internal approval workflow, the Exact Online REST API gives you full programmatic control. Feed it structured data from an extraction tool or internal system and automate the entire posting process on your own terms.

Low volume, straightforward invoice mix. For practices processing fewer than roughly 20 invoices per week, manual entry through Purchase Entries remains the most direct option. There is no configuration, no subscription, and no learning curve beyond the Exact Online interface itself.

Most practices combine methods: Peppol for structured Belgian B2B invoices, an OCR or extraction tool for PDF invoices outside the e-invoicing network, and manual entry for the occasional outlier. The right approach is almost always a combination, tuned to the specific invoice formats and volumes your practice handles every week.