I’ve installed the module data import and data export in order to be able to import a large amount of invoices that I have in excel or xml format into my database.
I see that there are a bunch of modules when it comes to export data, invoices being one of them. However when it comes to importing data, invoices is not one of the modules I can import to.
Am I missing something? Is there a setting I haven’t turned on to make the invoices module available in the new import data step by step procedure?
I’ve just checked my v7.0 and noticed importing invoices is not a feature yet.
As a workaroun, if you don’t refer to these (old?) invoices, maybe you can scan them and save/upload them in the /documents folder? That way you can access them within Dolibarr.
However Scanning won’t do. It’s not an one time thing I need to do. I have to import mass amounts of invoices once every month. I get those in an excel report where one invoice is one line which is very convenient. However I need to add them in dolibarr right now by hand.
It’s so weird that you can export just fine but importing is not yet a thing.
Is there by any chance a commercial module that could do that?
Or any other workaround that anyone might know?
Even if you know that will be a feature in an upcoming release would help greatly. Thank you.
I think that for almost every business, Dolibarr is the application that generates the invoices and all other business objects. Hence importing invoices is (I imagine) just not a priority at all.
What is your business processes that requires you to import invoices…why are they generated elsewhere?
I work for a courier franchise. Invoices are created by the central office towards the customers I serve. Not all invoices. Just the ones that are meant for account holders. That is people who do a lot of volume and have to pay according to their monthly traffic. I can’t follow their traffic through my office so that is monitored from the central offices. They send me the invoices every month in a sheet so that I know which customer needs to pay what. At the moment I have to manually create each invoice by hand which takes the better part of the month and then send them to my customer by email through dolibarr. That is the process I need automated.
Is there a guide on how to get started with creating modules in dolibarr? I suppose that if I could find the php code that handles exporting, I could use my php skills to create a module that handles importing.
Well not just track
Actually the report comes in pdf format but I found out that you can copy paste it in excel and get a proper spreadsheet.
However I need the invoices imported into dolibarr as I send them by email through dolibarr.
I have the email template setup and all. Only part of the process missing is to be able to massively import invoices instead of filling them out by hand as I do now.
I think if I was presented with this scenario I would find some other end-to-end solution. Having Dolibarr in the middle just to send emails is making things more complicated.
If your head office is sending you a pdf, they can go one step back and send you the source spreadsheet. There are solutions online to automatically make invoices from a spreadsheet, then you could use some relatively simple php-solution to email them.
This is not a feasible scenario. They won’t go one step back. I have tried to ask them to simplify many things but they always go “This is how we work, you need to comply with our procedure”.
No this is not an option at all.
Dolibarr takes care far more than just sending out mails. It tracks EVERYTHING in our business here. We can’t just go and disable it.
Furthermore, we create ALL invoices from within Dolibarr and we issue them and print them out. Besides the ones created from central offices we have invoices to issue that are not sent from there. Its way too complex to disable dolibarr. We’ve built our entire logistics around it.
Ah, that’s why I asked…you didn’t detail to what extent you use Dolibarr. Now it’s clear.
In another forum I frequent, this often happens…someone asks for a feature, but on further analysis there are more appropriate solutions.
I would imagine you would need to import the invoices as proposals and then mass-update them within Dolibarr to invoices, I don’t understand enough about internal processes to say more. You need developer input.
Thanks for the suggestion.
However is that doable? What do you mean that I need developer input?
Which part? The import to proposals part? Or the mass update to invoices part?
“Developer Input” - means someone who knows Dolibarr internals properly has to advise the best way to do this.
I just imagine that as importing is directly inserting into the database, it is best done to mimic the start of the normal invoice creation process as a proposal, that is not linked to anything else…and then the normal procedures can be followed so it links to your accounts just like a manually-created invoice.
That’s my opinion, hence you need guidance from a developer.
Remember “anything is possible”, it just depends how much time/money you are prepared to throw at it.
I was actually hoping to get a developer already involved in this conversation. Time is not an issue. He can take his time… Money, on the other hand, is the boss’s prerogative… he will hear a price and decide. So… I’m open to offers.
In any case, I still say that if I could find a proper guide of how dolibarr module creation works I could maybe give it a go. I have created plugins for WordPress a couple of times and I know how to program in php. so…
