Refrens

Refrens helps you automatically create invoices and other documents in bulk via CSV files. In this article, we will learn by taking the example of bulk uploading invoices. you can follow the same process for other documents.

To bulk upload invoices, go to your invoice dashboard > on the top right side, click on the dropdown menu beside the "Create New Invoice" button > Select "Bulk Upload Invoices" OR "Bulk Upload Invoices (custom Config.)".  We will see the difference between the two options later.

A pop-up will appear on the screen, and from there download the sample CSV.


You can then fill up your data in the CSV and upload the same CSV on the bulk upload invoices option. But before that, you need to keep several things in mind.

1) "Bulk Upload Invoices" Vs "Bulk Upload Invoices (custom Config.)" - What to choose?

If your invoices do not contain custom fields & don't have any custom columns with customized formulas, you can go with the normal "Bulk Upload Invoice" option to upload your invoices in the system-defined format.

But, in case your invoices have custom fields or have custom columns with customized formulas, go with the "Bulk Upload Invoices (custom Config.)" option. (learn more about this here.) 

2) File format

Only CSV files are supported for bulk upload. 

3) Column names 

The sample CSV file that you downloaded will look like this:

You can add your data in this file only to avoid any errors. Also, do not make changes to the column names.

4) Mandatory columns

There are 8 columns that are mandatory to be filled. You can leave other columns empty if not needed, but you will need to have data in the below given 8 columns:

1. clientName - The name of your client.

2. invoiceNumber -  Your invoice number.

3. invoiceDate (must be in a format of dd-mm-yyyy, for example, 23-01-2022)

4. lineItem - The product or service you are selling.

5. amount - Price of the product or service.

6. currency - You will need to add the currency as a currency code. for example, INR, USD, EUR, GBP, etc. You can see the full list of currency codes below.

7. quantity      

8. country - You can add the country by adding country codes such as IN, US, AU, SA, and so on. If you add India, United States, Australia, etc., it will give you an error. So please add the country code only. The full list of country codes is given below.

5) Sending emails to clients/vendors

In the CSV file, you will see a column called sendEmail as shown below.

If you keep it as TRUE, your clients will automatically receive an email once the invoices are created in the system. So, if you don't want to send an email to your clients, write FALSE in that column.

6) Phone number format

Phone numbers are not mandatory to add, but if you are adding a phone number that contains a plus sign in the beginning, Add an apostrophe (’) at the start to avoid any errors. 

For example:

7) Uploading time

Once you are done adding all the data, you can upload that CSV file. If your upload is successful, you will the following message.

Do keep in mind that the invoices you uploaded will take several minutes to reflect in the system. So unless you receive an error message while uploading, do not re-upload the CSV file again. 

After a few minutes, you will be able to view the uploaded invoices in your invoice dashboard. You will also receive a confirmation email once this process is complete.

In case you want to add custom fields in the header/footer/additional charges sections of your invoices, or you want to add multiple line items while bulk uploading, please check out this help article: How to add custom fields and multiple line items using bulk upload?

For any help, please reach out to us at care@refrens.com

A) Country Codes

B) Currency Codes

Read More:

How to add custom fields and multiple line items using bulk upload?