Documentation/ Working with documents/ Downloads and exports
Downloads and exports
Two quite different things come out of a list: the original files of the documents, and the data read off them as a spreadsheet. They are separate actions and they cover different ground.
On this page
The two kinds of download
| Kind | What you get | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Originals | The file exactly as it arrived: the PDF or the image. | PDF or image |
| Extracted data | What the system read, in rows and columns. | Spreadsheet |
They are separate buttons, and mixing them up is behind a fair share of the questions we get:
- Download selected gets you a ZIP of the original files. It needs rows ticked: with nothing ticked it says so and downloads nothing.
- Export Excel Invoice and Export Excel Invoice-VAT get you the data in a spreadsheet. There is no PDF in them.
Downloading the original files
With documents ticked, Download selected gets you their original files in a ZIP. For a single document you start it from its own row or from the editing screen.
With nothing ticked, the application says so rather than downloading the entire list.
Merged documents
A merged document came from several pages or files grouped together. Download it and you get the whole thing, not just the first part.
On single-page documents the file comes back exactly as it arrived, untouched: a photograph downloads as an image and is not turned into a PDF.
Exporting to Excel
The lists offer several exports, and they do not hold the same thing:
| Export | What is in it | One row per |
|---|---|---|
| Documents | Header data: issuer, dates, numbers, net amounts, taxes and totals. | Document |
| Items | Line detail: item, quantity, price, discounts and tax. | Document line |
| Documents with VAT breakdown | The header with the taxes broken out. | Tax rate on each document |
An invoice with no VAT breakdown comes out too in the breakdown export, with one row at 0 % and nil tax, carrying its net amount. That covers exempt invoices and reverse-charge ones. They used to be left out of the file, and a small selection could end up as an empty sheet.
A document with several VAT rates takes several rows in the breakdown export. That is right for reconciling tax, but not every accounting package accepts it; some insist on one row per invoice. Where the destination needs that, use the documents export, which does not break tax out, or ask for a format built to order.
Dijit supports export formats built to order, with whatever column layout the receiving system needs. They are set up with the team rather than in the application.
What goes into an export
An export does not reach your whole history: it reaches whatever is loaded on screen at that moment, honouring the filters. The document lists load 500 at a time, so a list of 3,200 invoices just opened exports 500.
On the document lists the order is this:
- With rows ticked, it exports just those.
- With nothing ticked and a filter or search on, it exports whatever matches the filter, within what is loaded.
- With neither ticks nor filter, it exports everything loaded.
There are two ways to get the lot:
- Press Load next 500 documents until the button reads "All documents loaded", then export.
- Or narrow it by date and export in batches: one month, then the next, and join the sheets afterwards. That is the quick way when there are thousands of documents.
The count under the table tells you at all times how many you have loaded and how many there are in total. It is covered in How records load.
Not every screen behaves the same:
| Screen | What the spreadsheet takes |
|---|---|
| Document lists: purchase, expense, sales and transport invoices, goods received and delivery notes | What is ticked; with nothing ticked, whatever matches the filter; failing that, the documents loaded. |
| Product master | What is ticked, or the full result of the search. The server works it out, so it does not depend on what you have loaded. |
| Supplier master, Client master, Chart of Accounts, External product catalogue, Clients / Companies | The whole list, with no regard for ticks or the search. |
Ticks take priority over the filter. A few rows ticked from an earlier search are the usual reason a download brings less than expected. Untick them before you export.
Why a total may not match
When a total in an export does not agree with the dashboard or the list, the cause is usually what was covered rather than the arithmetic. Check these, in order:
- The period. The dashboard and the export may be working on different dates: the document's against the upload.
- The filters that were on when you exported.
- How many documents were loaded against the list's total.
- Which export. An items file adds up lines; a documents file adds up headers. The amounts are not comparable between the two.
- Deleted documents, which count towards your usage but not towards the amounts.
Reports built to order
On top of the general exports, some accounts have reports made to their own specification, laid out the way their receiving software insists. They appear as their own actions on the list and are only visible on the accounts that have them.
When nothing downloads
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing happens when you press it | The browser has blocked the download, or nothing is ticked. | Look for the browser's blocked notice, and check something is ticked. |
| A notice saying there is nothing to export | The filtered set is empty. | Go over the filters and the period. |
| A notice saying there are no items to download | The documents you ticked have no lines read off them. | Use the documents export, or find out why there are no lines. |
| The file comes back incomplete | The export ran on a partial selection. | Filter by the period and export again. |