How to import purchase invoices into Sage 200

Sage 200 imports purchase invoices through its supplier transactions import, which reads a CSV or XML file built from Sage’s own example and format files. In Sage 200 Professional it is at Purchase Ledger > Utilities > Import > Import Transactions, and in Sage 200 Standard at Import Records > Suppliers > Import Supplier Transactions.

This guide covers the template files, the mandatory fields, the steps as Sage documents them, and what the import still leaves for your team. Everything about Sage 200 here comes from Sage’s help for Sage 200 Professional and Sage 200 Standard, checked on 16 October 2026.

What is the Sage 200 invoice import template?

There is no single template. Sage publishes three downloads on the import help page: an import format file in XLS that explains the information each field needs, an example CSV file and an example XML file. You build your file in the layout of the example, then check it against the format file.

Sage 200 Professional has two sets of files, one for version 2024 R2 onwards and one for versions up to 2024 R1, so download the set that matches your version. It also offers an example CSV for purchase invoices with reverse charge VAT. Sage 200 Standard has one set.

The same import handles invoices, credit notes, payments and receipts, in base and foreign currency, including opening balance invoices and credit notes.

What do you need before you import?

• Supplier accounts for every supplier in the file. Each row identifies the supplier by AccountNumber, and Sage documents a separate import for supplier accounts.

• The mandatory fields for invoices and credit notes, which the Professional help lists as AccountNumber, TransactionDate, SYSTraderTranType, DocumentToBaseCurrencyRate, DocumentToAccountCurrencyRate and GoodsValueInAccountCurrency.

• At least one VAT amount and one nominal analysis line per invoice. Sage allows any number of each, and the first of each is mandatory. If VAT is split over two codes, each code gets its own VAT entry.

• An exchange rate in DocumentToBaseCurrencyRate for any foreign currency invoice.

• The nominal accounts, cost centres and departments you will code to, checked by hand. The Professional help says cost centre and department combinations are not validated on import, and postings with a combination that does not exist go to the Suspense account.

• The file closed in Excel and every other application before you start, or Sage may report that it cannot access it.

How to import purchase invoices into Sage 200

1. Download the import format file (XLS) and the example CSV or XML file for your edition and version from Sage’s help page.

2. Create your import file in the layout of the example, and check it against the format file so every mandatory field is present and correctly formatted. Save it.

3. Open the import screen: Purchase Ledger > Utilities > Import > Import Transactions in Professional, or Import Records > Suppliers > Import Supplier Transactions in Standard.

4. Select Validate records only and click OK. Browse to your file, select it and click Open. Nothing is imported at this stage.

5. Check the two reports. In Professional they are the Update Report, listing records that would import, and the Update Report (Invalid), listing records that would fail with the reasons. Correct the file and validate again until it is clean.

6. Select Validate and import records. Tick Update Cash Book only if the file holds transactions for a bank or other Cash Book account, or foreign currency transactions. Click OK, browse to the file and click Open.

7. Review the report of imported records and the report of records that failed. Sage advises removing the rows that imported before you correct the rest and import the file again.

Steps checked against Sage’s help on 16 October 2026.

What happens to the invoices after the import?

Imported transactions always post to the Nominal Ledger and the Purchase Ledger, and each one is given a URN. You can also post them to a bank or other Cash Book account.

In Professional, the Operational settings tab in System Settings decides the timing. If you have chosen to update the nominal ledger immediately, current transactions post straight away and future dated ones go to the Waiting postings file. Otherwise everything goes to the Waiting postings file.

An import cannot add information to existing transactions, and Sage says a transaction already on the system is ignored. Large files are slow: Sage’s own example is about a minute per 1,000 items, so it suggests trimming the file to the items you need.

What a manual import still leaves to your team

The import moves data that someone has already prepared. That suits opening balances, or a batch from another system that already holds clean data. For day to day supplier invoices, most of the work happens before the file exists.

• Someone still reads each invoice and keys the supplier, date, net, VAT and nominal lines into the spreadsheet.

• Coding is done in the spreadsheet by whoever builds it. Because cost centre and department combinations are not validated on import, a mistyped combination lands in Suspense and has to be found and corrected later.

• Any check against purchase orders and goods received happens before the row is added. The import help describes ledger transactions and says nothing about orders.

• Approval also has to happen before the file is built, in whatever process your team uses today.

• Errors surface at validation, after the keying is done, and each failed row goes back to the person who built the file.

• Sage’s import help does not mention attaching the supplier’s invoice document, so plan how the PDF will be kept alongside the transaction.

How to automate purchase invoices into Sage 200

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 200 through a direct API and syncs your chart of accounts, tax codes, supplier records and purchase orders. Invoices arrive by email, as scanned paper or as e-invoices, and Stratas extracts the data with 89% field-level accuracy.

Invoices are matched to Sage 200 purchase orders at header or line level, with partial deliveries and GRNs handled, and variances route to the right approver. Non-PO invoices are coded to your nominals, departments and cost centres using patterns learned from your posting history and the rules you set. Approvals can route on value, department, nominal code or any Sage field, and approvers get an email with one-click approval. Our guides to three-way matching and invoice approval workflows cover both steps in more depth.

Approved invoices post into Sage 200 as purchase invoices with full nominal coding, VAT allocated to your Sage tax codes and the audit trail intact. Credit notes and debit notes are identified and posted to the correct Sage transaction type. Stratas supports Sage 200 Standard and Sage 200 Professional, cloud-hosted or on-premise, and every invoice stays visible from arrival to posting.

The details are on our Sage integration page. If part of your group runs Sage 50, our guide to importing invoices into Sage 50 covers its audit trail import.