All purchase and sales invoice statuses on the eConnect platform explained, including mark as done and XML or PDF on receipt.
Every invoice on the eConnect platform has a status indicating where the document is in the processing workflow. The statuses differ between incoming (purchase) and outgoing (sales) invoices.
The statuses "Under review", "Approved", "Approved for payment" and "Rejected" are used when an approval workflow is configured. Without a workflow, an invoice goes directly to the "Received" status and you can manually mark it as paid. The statuses "Payment started" and "Collection successful" appear in automated payment and direct debit processes.
A status change in the Inbox (for example to Downloaded, or "marked as done" / completed in everyday terms) only changes the status label. The document remains in place. Invoices in the Inbox cannot be deleted.
Did you accidentally mark an invoice as done or Downloaded without downloading it? Do this:
See also Change the status of a purchase invoice.
Via Peppol the invoice always arrives as structured UBL/XML. A PDF is only present if:
AdditionalDocumentReference / EmbeddedDocumentBinaryObject), or sent one separately; orPSB: on-demand PDF generation from UBL is not yet standard; only an embedded PDF is returned. UBL without an embedded PDF means no PDF via the PSB.
XML-only without a processed PDF is normal when the supplier did not include a PDF and generation did not produce one. That is not a receipt error.
Invoice view vs attachment (platform): an embedded PDF only counts as the invoice PDF in the dashboard invoice view when cac:AdditionalDocumentReference contains the exact detection value:
cbc:DocumentDescription = CommercialInvoice (camelCase, no space), orDocumentType = PrimaryImageProse saying "Commercial Invoice" means the same thing, but the platform detection follows the exact literal above. Without that tag the platform treats the PDF as a regular attachment; with PDF generation set to When not present/Always the platform can still create an eConnect PDF from XML (often cover sheet first instead of the original supplier PDF). See UBL invoice structure.
Self-check in the Inbox (platform.econnect.eu):
AdditionalDocumentReference + DocumentDescription / DocumentType. See Download XML invoice.CommercialInvoice / PrimaryImage? That's a message for the supplier (eConnect does not rewrite the XML): ask them to embed the invoice PDF with DocumentDescription CommercialInvoice in the UBL.Search variants: omit cover sheet invoices, eConnect PDF first, original PDF first, CommercialInvoice tag, DocumentDescription missing, PrimaryImage, embedded PDF as attachment, contact supplier PDF tag.
See also: PDF via Peppol (sender and embed path).
The statuses "Under review", "Paid" and "Rejected" for outgoing invoices are set by the receiving party, not by you as the sender. When both parties are on the eConnect platform, status changes are exchanged automatically. When sent via Peppol, the recipient can send back a status message via the Invoice Response Message.
When both sender and recipient use the eConnect platform, status changes are shared in real time. When the recipient approves an invoice or marks it as paid, you see this immediately in your Outbox. This also works the other way around: when you mark a purchase invoice as paid, the sender can see that status in their own system.
For invoices sent via Peppol to a recipient at another provider, the status exchange depends on the recipient's support for Invoice Response Messages.
The platform automatically checks for duplicates. When an invoice arrives that has already been received (even if it arrived through a different channel), the new invoice is marked as "Duplicate". The original invoice retains its status.
An invoice marked as duplicate is not automatically forwarded to your accounting software. Is the marking incorrect? You can mark the invoice as "Original" via the menu (three dots), after which it will be processed. Read more in How is a duplicate invoice recognised?.
In the dashboard you see a visual overview of your invoice statuses. Green invoices are fully processed; orange invoices have been received but not yet processed. A large number of orange invoices may indicate duplicates that have been deliberately rejected; this is normal behaviour and not an error.
Want to manually change the status of a purchase invoice? Read Change the status of a purchase invoice.
If both parties are on the eConnect platform, status changes are shared automatically in real time. The sender then sees immediately in their Outbox that you marked the invoice as paid. For invoices via Peppol to another provider, this depends on support for Invoice Response Messages at the receiving party.
For outgoing invoices the statuses Under review, Paid and Rejected are set by the receiving party, not by you as the sender. The recipient has taken your invoice into processing. The status only changes when the recipient processes the invoice further.
Orange invoices have been received but not yet fully processed. A large number may indicate duplicates that were automatically rejected. This is normal behaviour: the platform recognises duplicate invoices and blocks them. Optionally check the Inbox for invoices with status Duplicate.
No. Only the status label has changed. The invoice remains in the Inbox and has not been deleted. Search by invoice number, filter by Downloaded or All if needed, open the invoice and download it again as PDF and/or XML.
No. Via Peppol the invoice arrives as UBL/XML. A PDF is only present if the supplier embedded or sent one separately, or if PDF generation from XML is active on the receiving account. XML-only without a processed PDF is normal and not a receipt error. Check the invoice view, attachments and XML download in the Inbox.