Automate invoice intake in Lexware Office and sevdesk

The name first. People still search for "lexoffice", but the vendor states that lexoffice is now called Lexware Office. Lexware: lexoffice is now Lexware Office, checked on 2 October 2026. sevdesk writes its own name in lower case; the older spelling "sevDesk" means the same product.

What Lexware describes. Lexware describes importing documents from the email inbox, storing up to 20 sender addresses, for example of suppliers or service providers, whose invoices then arrive in Lexware Office directly, and photographing paper documents with the app. It also describes imports from online portals through GetMyInvoices, invoicefetcher or fileee, and from cloud folders through Zapier. Lexware: import documents, checked on 2 October 2026. For recognition, Lexware describes text recognition (OCR) that reads amount, date and supplier data. Lexware: document capture, checked on 2 October 2026.

What sevdesk describes. sevdesk's help centre describes dragging a file into the document overview, capturing it with the app, and forwarding an email with the document attached to the Autobox address; it also names GetMyInvoices for retrieving invoices from portals. According to the same article, recognition then tries to fill in date, amount, document number, supplier and category, and the document is saved as a draft. sevdesk help: capture documents, checked on 2 October 2026.

What this means. These are vendor statements, not test results. Which functions you can use depends on your plan and product version. Follow ten typical invoices through the product you already pay for and note where time is actually lost: collecting, reading, matching or approving.

Lexware API. The documentation lists a file upload at /v1/files with the upload type voucher, the formats pdf, jpg, png and xml, and a maximum file size of 5 MB. It states that the upload returns a file id and a voucher id, that the voucher has the status blank until text recognition has finished and then unchecked, and that the files appear in the folder "Zu prüfen" (to be checked). A voucher with accounting data is created separately at /v1/vouchers. Type and tax type are always required. Voucher number, date, totals and items are mandatory unless the status is unchecked, and each item needs amount, tax amount, tax rate and a category id. The documentation gives a limit of two requests per second. Lexware API documentation, checked on 2 October 2026.

sevdesk API. The documentation describes two steps. Voucher/Factory/uploadTempFile uploads the file and returns an internal file name. Voucher/Factory/saveVoucher creates the voucher together with its positions and attaches the file through that name. The only valid status values at this endpoint are 50 (draft) and 100 (open). Credit or debit, voucher type, status and a tax rule are marked as necessary, with the older tax type for accounts on the earlier system version. Each position needs a sum, a tax rate and a booking account. Booking against a payment is a further call (bookAmount), and enshrine locks a voucher irreversibly. sevdesk API documentation, checked on 2 October 2026.

The two products compare as follows, according to the vendor sources cited above:

The practical difference. A file upload leaves the reading to the product and the checking to the person who reviews the document there. Creating a voucher with data makes your workflow responsible for tax treatment and category. For most small businesses the first is the safer start, because the accounting decision stays where the accountant can see it.

A workflow built with a tool such as n8n, which can call documented endpoints with its HTTP Request node, is useful in four places before the accounting product:

1. Collecting from many sources: invoices arrive in several mailboxes, as download links and in supplier portals. A workflow can bring them into one intake, record the source and pass on only invoice documents.
2. Checking against orders: neither source cited here describes a comparison with your purchase orders or delivery notes. If you need one, it belongs before the upload; see matching orders, delivery notes and invoices.
3. Catching duplicates: Lexware's documentation describes a checksum on uploaded voucher files, so an identical file is not stored twice. A rescanned or re-exported invoice is a different file. A business key of supplier, invoice number and amount can flag that case as a suspected duplicate for review; see detecting duplicate invoices.
4. Approval before booking: a named person confirms that the goods or services were received before the document moves on. The workflow records who approved what and when.

A second recognition service. If the product already reads your usual invoices well enough, a second extraction step adds cost and a second place where errors arise. Measure first.

A single mailbox. If nearly all invoices reach one address, the stored sender addresses in Lexware Office or the Autobox in sevdesk may already be the complete intake.

Automatic booking without review. Tax treatment and category are accounting decisions. Agree with your tax adviser which cases may be prepared automatically, and keep the others in the product's review step. For the handover to a tax firm, see planning a DATEV document workflow.

Lexware Office. Lexware's help centre describes uploading received ZUGFeRD and XRechnung files through document capture, a marker that identifies the document as an e-invoice, and that received e-invoices cannot be changed afterwards. Lexware help: send and receive e-invoices, checked on 2 October 2026.

sevdesk. sevdesk's help centre describes uploading the received file under "Belege", a generated view of the structured data for XML invoices, and that receiving e-invoices is available from the "Buchhaltung" plan. sevdesk help: receive e-invoices, checked on 2 October 2026.

For the workflow. Pass the original file on unchanged. Do not convert an e-invoice into a picture or a new PDF on the way. Which rules apply to which invoice, and how parsing, validation and approval differ, is covered in our guide to processing e-invoices.

The situation. This example is synthetic. A supplier emails an invoice for EUR 595. The workflow uploads the file, but the response is lost in a network timeout. Two days later a colleague scans the printed invoice and sends the scan in from another mailbox.

Without a rule. A careless workflow uploads again after the timeout and again when the scan arrives. For the identical file, Lexware's documentation describes returning the existing file and voucher ids; the sevdesk sources cited here describe no such check. The scan is a different file in either product. The result could be two or three documents waiting for review, and the risk that the invoice is entered or paid twice.

With a rule. The workflow stores its own case with source, file checksum, supplier, invoice number and amount before it uploads anything. After a timeout it first looks for the existing voucher before sending the file again. Once its invoice number and amount have been read, the scan matches the business key and is proposed as a duplicate of the existing case. A person confirms uncertain matches. The aim is one case and one voucher per invoice.

A small acceptance set should contain at least these seven cases:

• an ordinary PDF invoice from a known supplier
• a photographed paper receipt
• a multipage invoice
• an XRechnung and a ZUGFeRD file
• a credit note
• the same invoice sent twice through different channels
• a file that the API rejects, for example one that is too large

For each case, compare the original, the workflow's own record and what appears in Lexware Office or sevdesk. Repeat the set after every change to the mapping or the API version. Use approved test data and have the person who does the bookkeeping judge the result.

These guides and service pages cover the decisions next to invoice intake in Lexware Office or sevdesk:

• AI document processing: capture, review and transfer
• Plan a DATEV document workflow around the right transfer
• E-invoices: separate parsing, validation and approval
• n8n implementation and workflow operations

For a workflow review, a process description, the systems involved and typical exceptions are enough to start. Discuss it with modernagents.