How to import purchase invoices into Sage X3

Sage X3 imports supplier invoices through its Imports function, which reads a structured data file (delimited, fixed length or XML) and loads it using an import/export template. Sage supplies a standard Supplier BP invoices template, and you choose the template, point the function at the file, test it and then run the import.

This guide covers the templates, the steps as Sage documents them, what Sage X3 documents for incoming e-invoices, and what a file import still leaves for your team. Everything about Sage X3 here comes from the Sage X3 online help for version 12 and the Sage knowledgebase, checked on 16 October 2026.

Which Sage X3 screen do purchase invoices belong to?

Sage X3 has two functions for supplier invoices, and the one you use decides which template fits.

• The Invoices function in Purchasing checks invoices and credit memos against receipts already entered, orders not yet received and orders without receipts. After recording invoices, you generate the accounting entries by validating them, either directly or on a schedule. Sage documents it on its Invoices help page.

• The Supplier invoices function handles supplier invoicing outside the purchase cycle. It cannot be used to manage the order or the receipt note for the stock receipt, and the accounting data is recorded when the invoice is issued.

Both are described in Sage’s help for purchase invoices and supplier invoices.

What import templates does Sage X3 supply?

Every import runs through a template defined in the Import/Export templates function, under Setup > Usage > Imports/exports. A template names the object it updates, the file structure, the field and decimal separators, the date format and the fields in each group of lines, such as one header block followed by a block for each line.

Sage’s help says an editable import template is supplied in the reference folder for each object that can be imported, and that not every object can be. For supplier invoices, the online help documents a standard Supplier BP invoices template, which updates tables including Purchase invoices and Supplier invoice lines. By default it uses the transaction and ledger rates from the Currency rate function, and you add the Divider rate (RATDIV) and Multiplier rate (RATMLT) fields if the file should carry its own rates.

For invoices matched to orders and receipts, check the templates supplied in your own folder. Purchasing also has a parameter for invoice import, Invoicing elements on import (PIHIMPCTL), which either balances invoicing elements automatically or imports the values as they are. Sage notes the second option is common where invoices are integrated with control stages.

What do you need before you import?

• A template with the Import box checked. The Update allowed option controls whether an import may change records that already exist.

• Your own copy of any standard template you want to change. Sage’s knowledgebase advises leaving Sage’s templates unmodified and starting the name of a copy or custom template with Z.

• A sample file in the right shape. The same article suggests entering one invoice by hand, exporting it with the template, and using the export file as the basis for your import file.

• The execution right on the template for the user running the import. Without it, Sage says the user cannot use the template to import or export data.

• If the file sits on the server, a server volume set up by your system administrator.

Sage’s advice on copying and testing templates is in its knowledgebase article on working with import/export templates.

How to import purchase invoices into Sage X3

1. Build your file in the structure the template defines, with the header and line groups in order and dates in a format the template decodes. Sage notes that DD/MM/YYYY decodes correctly.

2. Open the Imports function.

3. In Template, select the import template for your invoices.

4. Set Location to Server and choose a server volume, or to Client to select the file through your browser, then enter the Data file.

5. Select the Import/export temporary storage space checkbox if you want lines in an incorrect format held so they can be corrected and imported again.

6. Click Test. Sage X3 validates the file without importing it and produces an import log, so you can correct the file definition.

7. Run the import and read the import log, which shows the results and anything to review before the data is processed further.

Imports can also run in batch mode using the standard task IMPORT. Steps checked against Sage’s help on 16 October 2026.

Can Sage X3 receive e-invoices?

Sage X3’s online help documents a process for inbound supplier e-invoices under Declarations > E-invoicing > Receiving, with Collect invoices, Supplier e-invoice mapping and Supplier e-invoice generation functions. The page says that at this release the collection applies to French legislation, and it does not mention the UK.

In that process, the invoice is created with its header and a generic line, and your team completes it: allocating amounts to accounts and dimensions, or reconciling it with receipts and orders in Purchasing. For the UK picture, see our guide to the UK e-invoicing mandate.

What a manual import still leaves to your team

A file import is a good way to load clean data from another system. One point in its favour: Sage’s help says an import runs the same controls and actions as entering the record on screen, because one object description drives both. For day to day supplier invoices, though, the work happens before the file exists.

• Someone still reads each invoice and keys the supplier, dates, amounts, VAT and lines into the file.

• Coding to accounts, cost centres and dimensions is chosen by whoever builds the file. The import checks the values against X3; it cannot tell whether they are right for that invoice.

• Matching to orders and receipts depends on the file carrying the right order and receipt references, which someone has to look up first.

• Approval happens outside the file, before the row is added.

• Templates are technical setup in X3, with scripts, separators and line groups, so a change to the file layout means a change to the template.

• Sage’s help for the import functions does not mention attaching the supplier’s invoice document, so plan how the PDF will be kept with the record.

How to automate purchase invoices into Sage X3

The automated route covers the same ground with the keying taken out: capture, coding, matching and approval, then posting through the integration.

Stratas connects to Sage X3 through a direct API, built for the multi-company manufacturing and distribution environments X3 serves. Your chart of accounts, tax codes, supplier records and purchase orders sync automatically. Invoices arrive by email, as scanned paper or as e-invoices, and Stratas extracts the data with 89% field-level accuracy.

Invoices are matched against X3 purchase orders and GRNs at header or line level, with partial deliveries handled, and variances route to the right approver. Non-PO invoices are coded to your accounts and cost centres using patterns learned from your posting history. Approvals can route on value, department, nominal code or any X3 field, with email notifications and one-click approval. Our guide to three-way matching explains the order, receipt and invoice check in more detail.

Approved invoices post into Sage X3 as purchase invoices with full nominal coding, VAT allocation and an audit trail tied back to your X3 transaction references. Several X3 companies can run through one Stratas instance, each with its own coding rules and approval workflows. Smeg UK runs its supplier invoices through Stratas into X3.

The details are on our Sage X3 integration page.