Connect Lexware Office

→ Open Lexware Office in SimpliServ · Open orders

With the Lexware Office connector you keep writing your invoices in Lexware without typing the items again. As soon as an order is finished in SimpliServ, SimpliServ creates a draft invoice in Lexware Office from it. You open the draft with one click, review it and finalise it in Lexware. When the invoice is paid in Lexware, SimpliServ brings the payment status back to the order.

SimpliServ does not create an invoice of its own. The invoice, its number, sending it to the customer and the bookkeeping stay in Lexware.

RequirementsCopy Anchor Link

• An account with Lexware Office, the cloud solution in the browser (formerly lexoffice). Desktop programs such as Lexware buchhalter or Lexware faktura+auftrag cannot be connected this way. For Lexware buchhalter, use the Lexware export format in Accounting instead.
• A Lexware Office plan that includes the Public API.
• An API key from Lexware Office. You create it at app.lexware.de/addons/public-api (in Lexware under Add-ons → Public API).
• Your orders are in euros and use German tax rates (0, 7 or 19 %). More under Limits.

ConnectCopy Anchor Link

Below the connection the card shows Invoices sent, Errors (7 days), Last checked and Last sync.

More actions in the configuration:

• Test connection asks Lexware again whether the key is still valid.
• Sync status fetches the current status of all open Lexware invoices right away instead of waiting for the next hourly sync.
• Re-register webhooks sets up the notifications from Lexware again (see Payment status).

The two switchesCopy Anchor Link

• Send to Lexware automatically when finished – as soon as an order gets a finished status, SimpliServ creates the draft invoice in Lexware. A status counts as finished when it carries the Marks order as finished marker in the order settings and is not a cancellation status. With the switch off, you send each order yourself from the menu.
• Write payment status to the order – when the invoice is paid in Lexware, SimpliServ sets the payment status of the order to partially paid or paid.

Both switches are on after connecting. Changes are saved right away.

On the orderCopy Anchor Link

Automatically when finishingCopy Anchor Link

With automatic transfer on, you set the order to a finished status as usual. The notice Sending invoice to Lexware … appears. A few seconds later SimpliServ reports Draft invoice created in Lexware, and the Open in Lexware button opens the draft straight in Lexware.

If it takes longer, you see The transfer is still running. The Lexware status will show on the order shortly.. The transfer then keeps running in the background. If it fails, the notice shows the reason.

Each order is only sent automatically once. If you later move it to another status and back, no second draft is created.

From the menuCopy Anchor Link

The actions menu in the header of the order page holds the Lexware entries. They only appear when Lexware Office is connected.

If your browser blocks the new tab, a notice with the Open in Lexware button appears instead.

Status badgeCopy Anchor Link

Once the order has been sent, the order page shows a badge like Lexware: Open · RE0042 with the status and invoice number from Lexware:

Clicking the badge shows Amount, the open amount, Paid on and Last synced, for an error the reason, and under Please check any notes about the transfer. From there you also open the invoice with Open in Lexware.

What gets sentCopy Anchor Link

• Customer – SimpliServ looks up the customer in your Lexware contacts, first by email address, then by name. Without a match, SimpliServ creates a new contact: a company if the customer has a company name (with the customer as contact person), otherwise a person, each with the billing address from the order. SimpliServ remembers the match, so the next order of the same customer lands on the same contact.
• Items – every item with a quantity above zero, with description, quantity, unit price and tax rate.
• Units – the item's unit becomes the Lexware unit, for example Stück, Stunde, AW, kg or Pauschale.
• Net or gross – if all items were entered as gross prices, a gross document is created, otherwise a net document. With mixed entry, a note asks you to check the cent amounts.
• Discounts – a percentage discount on an item is sent as an item discount. A fixed discount amount on an item is created as its own discount line with a negative amount directly below it. A discount on the whole order is sent as a total discount.
• Tax treatment – reverse charge, intra-community supply and export are sent as the matching tax type of the document. If your Lexware account is set up as small business or VAT-free, the document is VAT-free and the tax rates from the order are not applied.
• Working time – the time tracked on the ticket is appended exactly as for an invoice from the order: as an item with the working time product, if Add tracked time when creating an invoice is on in the order settings and the order does not contain the product yet. Running timers are not stopped, but the transfer points them out.
• Header – title "Rechnung", introduction "Auftrag <order number>". Invoice date and service date are the day of the transfer. Check the service date in the draft before you finalise it.

Payment status back to the orderCopy Anchor Link

Lexware reports payments and status changes directly to SimpliServ. On top of that, SimpliServ syncs all drafts and open invoices once an hour. With Write payment status to the order on, the payment status of the order is set to partially paid or paid. The payment status only moves forward: a paid order is never set back to unpaid.

LimitsCopy Anchor Link

• Euros only. Orders in another currency are rejected.
• German tax rates only: 0, 7 and 19 %. Lexware Office cannot accept orders with other rates, for example the Austrian 10 or 20 %.
• One tax treatment per invoice. If an order mixes, say, regular items with reverse charge items, split it or align the items.
• No margin scheme (§ 25a UStG) and no pass-through items. The Lexware interface cannot represent these items. Write the invoice for such orders directly in Lexware.
• No changing or deleting. Lexware allows neither through its interface. Changes after the transfer go through Send again plus deleting the old draft in Lexware.
• A customer is required. Orders without a customer are not sent.

TroubleshootingCopy Anchor Link

If a transfer fails, the notice and the Error badge show one of these reasons:

Notes under Please check do not block the transfer, but check them before you finalise the invoice in Lexware:

• Some items were entered as gross prices while Lexware works with net prices. Please check the cent amounts.
• Your Lexware account is VAT-free. Tax rates from the order were not applied.
• The amount in Lexware differs from the order.
• A time tracking was still running during the transfer. The working time may be incomplete.

DisconnectCopy Anchor Link

In the configuration you disconnect with Disconnect. SimpliServ then no longer sends invoices or fetches payment status. Invoices already sent stay in Lexware. You can then revoke the API key in Lexware under Add-ons → Public API.

Related topicsCopy Anchor Link