# Excel to ZUGFeRD

Fill the template, drop the workbook, get one ZUGFeRD PDF per invoice: an invoice your customer can simply read, with the e-invoice data inside it.

Source: https://tally-stick.com/excel-to-zugferd

## How it works

Download the template, fill it in, drop it back, and you get one PDF per invoice row. The PDF is a normal-looking invoice a person can read, and the machine-readable invoice rides inside it as `factur-x.xml` in UN/CEFACT CII syntax, at the profile you pick on the page: EN 16931 by default, or the slimmer rungs BASIC, BASIC WL and MINIMUM. That is the file to send a customer who is not set up for e-invoicing yet.

Nothing is uploaded. The workbook is read and every PDF is built in your own browser, under the site's fair usage limit.

Two sheets, and the names matter: `Invoice` with one row per invoice, `Lines` with one row per line item keyed by invoice number. It is the same workbook the XRechnung tool reads, so one filled template feeds both.

## What is checked before anything is written

An invoice is refused before it reaches the PDF writer when a field EN 16931 treats as mandatory is missing, and the refusal names the invoice number so you know which row to fix. The rest of the workbook still converts. Totals are computed rather than trusted, and the figures printed on the page are the same ones written into the XML.

## Common questions

### What is the difference between ZUGFeRD and XRechnung?

ZUGFeRD is one PDF that a person can read with the invoice data embedded inside it, so it works with a customer who is not set up for e-invoicing yet. XRechnung is XML only and is what German public authorities require. Same invoice, two deliverables: use [Excel to XRechnung](https://tally-stick.com/excel-to-xrechnung) for the XML.

### Which ZUGFeRD version comes out?

A PDF/A-3B file carrying factur-x.xml, the ZUGFeRD 2.x and Factur-X attachment name that receiving software looks for. The Profile picker chooses the rung: EN 16931 writes the full invoice, BASIC drops the optional header detail, BASIC WL keeps the header without the lines, and MINIMUM keeps the facts a tax administration reads.

### Can I put several invoices in one workbook?

Yes. One row per invoice on the Invoice sheet, its line items on the Lines sheet keyed by invoice number, and you get one PDF per invoice.

### I would rather type the invoice than fill a sheet.

[Create XRechnung](https://tally-stick.com/create-xrechnung) is the blank-form route when you have no workbook.

## Related tools

- [Embed PDF](https://tally-stick.com/attach-xml-to-pdf)
- [ZUGFeRD to Excel](https://tally-stick.com/zugferd-to-excel)
- [Factur-X to Excel](https://tally-stick.com/factur-x-to-excel)
- [Excel to XRechnung](https://tally-stick.com/excel-to-xrechnung)