Download all Xero invoices as separate PDFs in one ZIP

The short answer

Xero does not offer a separate PDF per invoice for a whole selection. The ideas-board request Sales Invoice - Bulk Download of PDFs in separate files was opened on 27 October 2022 and had 47 votes on 7 November 2026. On 31 August 2026 Xero moved it to "Gaining Support" and wrote that it can't confirm a delivery date. Until that changes, you have the manual route below, or a tool.

The manual route, and why it is slow

The request describes the current process like this:

1. Open the Paid or Unpaid tab under Invoices.
2. Tick all the invoices you want and choose Print.
3. Xero puts every invoice into a single PDF, not one file per invoice number.
4. To get separate files you then split that PDF with an online tool, and re-merge any invoice that runs over one page. Or you open each invoice, click Print PDF, go back and repeat.

Comments on the request, dated 19 May and 17 June 2026, report 50 or more invoices at a time and up to two hours of work. That hurts at a tax inspection, an accountant handover or a portal upload, where each file needs the invoice number in its name.

Supplier bills? Their attached files are a different job: Unapprove's attachment export covers it.

Option: Unapprove

Unapprove is a web application for Xero users. Its Export page has a mode for invoice PDFs: you connect an organisation, count first, then download. It only reads from Xero and changes nothing in your books. It works with Unapprove's standard connection, so it asks for no extra permission. Before any sign-in, a page lists what Xero will ask you to allow.

1. Choose what you want. Sales invoices, sales credit notes, or both. Pick the statuses, a date range, part of a customer name, and one of three file name styles: INV-0123.pdf, INV-0123 - Customer.pdf or the date, number and customer.
2. Read the count. The free preview says how many PDFs you will get and what it leaves out. Unapprove downloads sales invoices and sales credit notes that are awaiting approval, awaiting payment or paid. It does not download drafts, voided or deleted documents, bills or supplier credit notes. The drafts and voided ones come as a CSV list with the reason on every row.
3. Download. Each ZIP holds folders by month, such as Sales invoices/2026-03/INV-0123.pdf, and an index.csv.

• The index matches the ZIP. index.csv has one row for every PDF the ZIP was meant to hold. A PDF that Xero would not give, or that did not arrive whole, is marked "failed" in that row and in an _ERRORS.txt file, and the next "only new" run offers it again.
• Windows-safe names. Characters Windows refuses, such as a slash or colon, become spaces. Two invoices that end up with the same name get a number in brackets.
• Pace. Xero allows 60 calls a minute for each organisation, and each PDF is one call, so 120 invoices take a few minutes. A ZIP holds up to 200 PDFs; a larger selection comes as several ZIPs. If Xero asks Unapprove to slow down for a moment, it waits. The files stream from Xero to your browser and are never stored.
• If a download stops early. If Xero asks for a long pause, today's calls run out or Xero stops accepting the connection, the ZIP still closes and opens normally. index.csv marks each PDF it did not get as "not fetched", an _INCOMPLETE.txt file says why, and the scan page offers a button for only those. If your own connection drops, that ZIP is cut off and will not open: the scan page says so and offers it again.
• Incremental. "Only invoices not downloaded through Unapprove yet" leaves out the ones you already have.
• What it does not do. It is not a substitute for keeping the records the law requires you to keep.

Related: how to unapprove an invoice in Xero.

Disclosure. Atesen Software, which publishes this guide, makes Unapprove. The manual steps above work without it, one invoice at a time.

Price. Preview is free. The free trial costs $0, needs no card and processes 3 documents within 14 days; the export has its own sample of 25 PDFs, once per organisation. Invoice PDFs are included in the plans, with no separate price. Monthly is $29 per connected organisation. The Clean-up Pass is a one-off $49 for 30 days with unlimited documents and no renewal. Prices exclude VAT and sales tax. Founding offer: FOUNDING40 takes 40% off your first payment until 30 November 2026, so the pass comes to $29.40. A full refund is open for 14 days after that payment if you have not processed a document with it. Checkout is by Paddle on the Unapprove site. Fair use is 5 GB per organisation in 30 days.

Count my invoice PDFs free About Unapprove

Which route fits

• A handful of invoices: Xero's Print PDF on each one, free.
• One combined PDF is enough: Xero's own Print on a ticked selection, free.
• Dozens or hundreds, one file per invoice number, now: a tool such as Unapprove. Other tools exist, including browser extensions, so compare what each one reads and what it costs.

Atesen Software is independent. Xero is a trademark of Xero Limited, and this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by Xero. The Xero ideas board was checked on 7 November 2026; vote counts and Xero's status can change, and if Xero adds separate-file download, use that first.

Questions about this guide: support@atesensoftware.com.