Unapprove multiple sales invoices, step by step: a guide for Xero users

Xero has no unapprove button for an approved sales invoice, and it does not let you void awaiting payment invoices in bulk. Xero's own reply on the request suggests voiding the invoice and copying it to a new draft. That works, one invoice at a time. The steps are below, with the point where it stops being practical.

Based on Xero Central pages last read on 12 October and 5 November 2026, and the Product Ideas request as read on 24 October 2026.

What the reply on the request says

On the invoice unapprove request (more than 500 votes), Xero's reply of 11 August 2025 marks it "Not in pipeline" and says it has no plans to develop it in the foreseeable future. Among its interim suggestions is voiding the invoice and copying it to a new draft. So the route below is the one Xero itself points to.

Check the status first. An invoice in Awaiting Approval is a different case, and a Draft needs nothing. This route is for invoices in Awaiting Payment, and for paid ones once the payment is off.

The native way, one invoice at a time

1. Clear what blocks a void. If a payment is applied, remove it first with Remove & Redo (Delete an invoice or bill payment). If a credit note is allocated, remove the allocation (Remove a customer credit note allocation).
2. Change the number. Xero says that to reuse the number of an approved invoice you must change it before you void it (Delete or void an invoice). Open the invoice, edit the number, for example by adding "-V", and save (Edit an invoice).
3. Download the attached files. Open the invoice and download each file (View, download and delete files in transactions).
4. Void it. Sales > Invoices, open the invoice, click the menu icon, select Void and confirm. Xero says voided invoices can't be reinstated or restored.
5. Copy it to a new draft. Xero's articles say a voided invoice can be copied to a new one.
6. Re-attach the files and restore the number on the draft (Attach a file to a transaction).
7. Edit what was wrong and approve it again. Add a note on both invoices so the next person knows what happened.

Where the native way runs out

• It is one invoice at a time. Xero's invoice article says awaiting payment invoices can't be voided in bulk; you void them individually. Copying, renumbering and re-attaching files have no bulk version in the help pages.
• The seven steps repeat for every invoice. Forty invoices is forty rounds of them.
• A void is permanent, so a mistake in step four stays.
• Lock dates block it. Users can't add or edit transactions dated on or before a lock date (Set up or remove lock dates).

The same route, for a selection

Unapprove is a web app that works with Xero. It runs the steps above for a selection of invoices. You filter approved invoices by date, contact, number or reference, and the preview shows what would happen to each one. You confirm by typing the count, for example UNAPPROVE 37. For each invoice it creates the draft copy first, carries the attachments across, renames the original with a -V suffix, voids it, and writes a history note on both.

What it skips, and what it will not do

Documents with a payment applied or a credit note allocated are skipped (why), as are documents inside a locked period (why) and documents for an archived contact (why). A document with a file over 10 MB, or more than 10 files, can only be voided, because no complete copy can be made. For US organisations it only voids and makes no copies. A void is permanent. It never sees your Xero password and never stores your files.

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 30 days with unlimited documents. Prices are in US dollars and exclude VAT and sales tax (added at checkout); the pricing page has the details.

Questions

Written by Atesen Software, an independent developer. Unapprove works with Xero through Xero's public API; Xero does not make it and has not endorsed it.

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