Send invoices and bills from awaiting approval back to draft: a guide for Xero users

You clicked Submit for approval when you meant to save, or an import or a colleague submitted a pile of documents too early. They now sit in Awaiting Approval and you want them back in Draft, where they can be edited freely. Xero's pages describe no revert for sales invoices, and for bills it is still in development. This guide covers what you can do today, step by step, where it stops being practical, and how to send a whole selection back to draft.

Checked against Xero Central and Xero Product Ideas on 12 October 2026.

What is on offer today

The request. On the Product Ideas thread Bills: revert from awaiting approval back to drafts (125 votes when read), Xero's reply of 22 September 2026 marks it "In development". It says the new bill approval workflow will let an approver reject a bill with a reason, returning it to Draft, and let an administrator return a stalled bill to Draft. A comment dated 8 October 2026 asks for the same for invoices; nothing on the thread says invoices are planned.

Bills, if you are in the beta.

• Xero's page on bill approval workflows says the feature is in beta for selected organisations, and that a rejected bill returns to the Draft tab with the status Rejected.
• To reject, open the Awaiting approval tab, click the menu icon on the bill and select Reject, then enter a reason. The page describes approving up to 20 bills at a time, but describes rejecting one bill at a time.
• It does not currently support bills on the Xero Accounting app or bills received through Xero's API.

Everyone else: edit, or delete and re-enter.

1. Bills. Xero's page on editing bills covers a draft or awaiting approval bill, and says that when you save you choose whether it stays a draft or goes for approval. Its mobile app steps for an awaiting approval bill end with a Save that saves it as a draft. The web steps are less explicit, so try one bill before you rely on it.
2. Sales invoices. The pages read describe no way to send an awaiting approval invoice back to draft. What they do describe is deleting it, singly or in bulk from the Awaiting Approval tab, and creating it again (Delete or void an invoice). Xero says you can reuse the number of a deleted awaiting approval invoice.
3. Bills again. The same delete is available in bulk for bills (Delete or void a bill).

Where the native way runs out

• Deleting means starting again. Xero says a deleted bill can't be restored, only copied to a new one, and its steps for copying a bill state that a file attachment isn't copied across (Add and approve a bill). A deleted invoice stays visible in search, but it stays deleted: you rebuild it and re-attach its files.
• The workflow route is narrow. It is a beta, for bills only, and Xero says it doesn't currently support bills on the Xero Accounting app or bills received through the API.
• Waiting is risky. If someone clicks Approve first, you are in void-and-copy territory. Xero's page says you can only edit or void approved invoices one at a time (Approve and send an invoice).
• Lock dates. Users can still create drafts and submit them for approval after a lock date is set, but can't add or edit transactions dated on or before it (Set up or remove lock dates).

The faster way: Unapprove

Unapprove is a web app that works with Xero. Its Send back to draft run changes the status of a whole selection of documents from awaiting approval to draft. Nothing is voided and nothing is copied, so each document keeps its number, its lines, its attachments and its history.

What it does

• You sign in at Xero and choose the organisation. Set the status filter to Awaiting approval, add any date, contact or number filter, and select the documents.
• A preview shows which can be sent back and which will be skipped, with the reason for each. It writes nothing.
• You confirm by typing the count, for example TO DRAFT 25.
• The documents are sent to Xero in batches of 50. The write response is not trusted: every document is read back, and only one that now reads as draft counts as done.
• A document Xero accepted but left awaiting approval is reported as failed and left exactly as it was. Xero has been known to do that with this kind of change, which is why the read-back exists.
• Each document that really is a draft again gets a history note.

What it skips, and tells you why: anything that is not awaiting approval, anything that is not a sales invoice or a bill, and documents dated on or before your lock date (why).

What it does not do: change anything about an approved document. If an approved batch is the problem, that is the unapprove run, which makes a draft copy and voids the original. For bills, whatever their status, moving bills back to draft says which route applies.

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.

Connect and preview free See pricing

By connecting, you agree to the Terms of service and the Privacy policy.

Questions

Related guides

• Unapprove an invoice or bill, one or many: a guide for Xero users
  No unapprove button: the void, copy and re-attach routine, where it stops being practical, and running it on a whole batch.
• Bulk void approved invoices and bills, or delete drafts: a guide for Xero users
  Which documents can be deleted or voided in bulk, which only one at a time, and how to void a batch.
• Download all attachments and receipts: a guide for Xero users
  The one-file-at-a-time routes, what they leave out, and how to get every attachment as dated ZIP folders.
• Bulk unapprove bills: a guide for Xero users
  No unapprove for bills: when to edit instead, the manual route back to draft, and running it on a whole selection.
• Export all receipts and attachments before you cancel: a guide for Xero users
  The notice period, what the exports leave out, a checklist, and how to get every file out with an index.
• Year-end clean-up checklist for duplicate and misposted invoices: a guide for Xero users
  Find duplicates and misposted lines before the lock date, then void or redo a large batch.
• Void paid invoices in bulk: a guide for Xero users
  Remove the payment, then void: the manual steps, what to check first, and doing it for a batch.
• Undo a bad CSV import of invoices: a guide for Xero users
  No undo button: delete the drafts, void or unapprove the approved ones, and what happens to the numbers.
• Write off many invoices and bad debts at once: a guide for Xero users
  The credit-note method, its tax and lock-date catches, and clearing a whole selection with an undo.
• Invoice number already exists? Reuse the number of a voided invoice: a guide for Xero users
  Find which invoice holds the number, why a voided number stays used, the rename-first order, and keeping numbers across a batch.
• Should you void an invoice or issue a credit note? A guide for Xero users
  Edit, void or credit: what Xero says for each case, and what can be done in bulk.
• Repeating invoices approved or sent by mistake: a guide for Xero users
  Fix the template first, then clear what it created, and why a sent email cannot be recalled.
• Duplicate invoices after a Shopify, Amazon, A2X or Link My Books sync: a guide for Xero users
  Why sales syncs post twice, removing the copies by hand, and voiding a whole batch of approved ones.
• Invoices posted twice after a migration or conversion: a guide for Xero users
  Conversion balances, open invoices that came across twice, and clearing the extra copies.
• Duplicate bills from Dext, Hubdoc or the bills inbox: a guide for Xero users
  Xero's duplicate bill review, where it stops with paid bills, and clearing a large batch.
• An app sent invoices or bills in as approved instead of draft: a guide for Xero users
  Change the app setting first, then take what it approved back to draft with the same numbers.
• Delete all invoices, or start over: a guide for Xero users
  No reset button: delete the drafts, void the approved ones, or start a new organisation.
• Move invoices entered in the wrong organisation: a guide for Xero users
  Export from one organisation, import into the other, carry the files across, void the originals.
• Wrong tax rate on approved invoices and bills: a guide for Xero users
  Edit, find and recode, credit note or return adjustment for a wrong VAT or GST rate, and redoing a batch as drafts.
• Wrong contact on an approved invoice or bill: a guide for Xero users
  What can be edited after approval or payment, what to do when Edit is blocked, and redoing a batch as drafts.
• Void an invoice that has a credit note allocated: a guide for Xero users
  Why the void is blocked, taking the allocation off by hand, what to do with the credit note, and doing it for a batch.
• POS daily sales posted twice: a guide for Xero users
  What Square, Lightspeed, Zettle, Epos Now and SumUp say they post, how a day goes in twice, and how to void the copies.
• Redo a migration whose open invoices and bills landed as approved: a guide for Xero users
  Why migrated documents arrive approved, what the conversion balances need, the manual redo, and redoing a batch with the same numbers.
• Export receipts and supporting documents for an audit: a guide for Xero users
  What Xero exports for an auditor, what it leaves out, and pulling every attached file for a period with a manifest.
• Move bills back to draft, whatever their status: a guide for Xero users
  Awaiting approval, approved or paid: which way back to draft applies, what Xero offers, and moving a batch.
• Pricing · Support