Repeating invoices approved or sent by mistake: a guide for Xero users

A repeating invoice template was set to approve, or to approve and send, when it should have saved drafts. Now a run of invoices is sitting in Awaiting Payment, and some may already be in customers' inboxes. This guide covers stopping the template, tidying what it created, where Xero's tools stop being practical, and how to take a whole batch of approved invoices back to draft.

Checked against Xero Central on 12 October 2026.

The native way: stop the source first

Xero's page on repeating invoice templates describes three settings for what a template does with each invoice it creates:

• Save As Draft: for transactions that vary, or that you need to approve separately.
• Approve: each invoice goes straight to the Awaiting Payment tab, and you still send it yourself.
• Approve for Sending: each invoice is approved and emailed to the customer on the date it is created.

1. Edit the template. On the Repeating tab, open it, switch to Save As Draft and save. Xero says changes apply to all subsequent transactions.
2. Or pause it. Xero says that to stop a template temporarily you add an end date, and remove it to start again. Deleting the template stops new invoices for good and leaves the ones already created alone (Delete repeating invoice templates).
3. Delete invoices that are still draft. In the Invoices screen, tick them on the Draft or Awaiting Approval tab and click Delete (Delete or void an invoice).
4. Deal with the approved ones. Edit each one, void each one, or, if it has been sent, issue a credit note. Xero says that for an invoice you've sent, a credit note leaves an audit trail for you and your customer.

Three points on the template page are easy to miss. If you move a template's Next Invoice Date to a past date, transactions are created again from that date, and Xero suggests deleting or voiding the originals. A start date in the past creates a series of past-dated transactions. And if your plan's monthly approval limit is reached, repeating transactions set to approve are saved as drafts.

Where the native way runs out

• Approved invoices can't be sent back. Xero's pages describe no unapprove. The routes are edit, void or credit, and Xero says you can only edit or void approved invoices one at a time (Approve and send an invoice).
• Voiding is one at a time too. Xero says awaiting payment invoices can't be voided in bulk, and that voided invoices can't be restored. A voided number can't be reused either, unless you changed it first.
• A sent email can't be taken back. The pages read describe no way to recall an invoice Approve for Sending has already emailed. Editing an invoice doesn't notify the customer, and a PDF you sent stays as sent (Edit an invoice).
• Attachments don't travel. Files on a template aren't added to each invoice it creates, and files on an invoice aren't copied to a template, so check what each invoice actually carries.
• Lock dates. Users can't edit transactions dated on or before a lock date (Set up or remove lock dates).

The faster way: Unapprove

Unapprove is a web app that works with Xero. Once the template is fixed, it takes the invoices the template already created back to draft in bulk. It treats them like any other approved sales invoice: it does not read or change repeating templates, so fixing the template first matters.

What it does

• You sign in at Xero and choose the organisation. Filter approved invoices by date, contact, number or reference, select them and preview. The preview writes nothing.
• You confirm by typing the count, for example UNAPPROVE 24. A CSV backup of the selection is offered first.
• For each invoice it creates a draft copy with the same lines, tax and tracking, carries the attachments across, renames the original with a -V suffix, voids it, and gives the copy the original number.
• Each document gets a history note naming the other.

If you would rather cancel them, the void-only run voids a batch without making copies. Voiding is permanent.

What it cannot do: recall an email. A draft copy replaces the invoice in Xero, but a customer who was sent the original still has it. For invoices that went out, talk to your accountant about whether a credit note is the right route.

What it skips, and tells you why: invoices with a payment applied or a credit note allocated (why), invoices inside a locked period (why), and invoices for an archived contact (why). For US organisations Unapprove only voids; it does not make copies.

What access it asks for: your name and email to sign you in, read and write on invoices and bills, read and write on attachments, and read-only on organisation settings and contacts.

Price: free for 14 days, with unlimited previews and three documents processed in total. After that, $29 per month per connected organisation, or a one-off $49 Clean-up Pass for 7 days and up to 500 documents. Prices are in US dollars and exclude VAT and sales tax (added at checkout); the pricing page has the details.

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Related reading: the full routine in the guide to bulk unapproving invoices and bills, and whether to void or issue a credit note for the ones already sent.

Questions

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