Void paid invoices in bulk: a guide for Xero users

You can't void a paid invoice in Xero until its payment is removed, and Xero voids approved invoices one at a time. So many paid invoices means taking each payment off, then voiding each invoice. This guide covers the manual way, the points where it hurts at volume, and how to do the removal and the void for many documents in one run.

Checked against Xero Central on 12 October 2026 (the delete-or-void invoice page again on 24 October).

The native way, for one invoice

Xero's rule is that you can only void an invoice that is awaiting payment; if it is paid, you remove the payment before you can void it, and you can't void awaiting payment invoices in bulk (Delete or void an invoice). For each invoice:

1. Check the payment before changing it. Review lock dates, bank reconciliation and any batch payment first. A batch needs separate handling in Xero; removing it can affect other documents (batch payment options). If the invoice and its payment are correct, consider a credit note instead of removing a valid payment.
2. Remove the payment. Sales > Invoices, Paid or Awaiting Payment tab, open the invoice, click the "Less payment" line, then Options and Remove & Redo. An overpayment applied to the invoice is removed with the remove icon next to the amount credited (Delete an invoice or bill payment). The invoice goes back to awaiting payment and the bank statement line stays in the bank account, ready to be reconciled to something else.
3. Remove a credit note allocation, if one is applied (Remove a customer credit note allocation).
4. Distinguish unreconciling from removing a payment. Xero's page on unreconciling explains how to break the link to the bank statement line without deleting the payment. Unreconciling alone does not remove the payment from the invoice; the payment must still be removed before voiding.
5. Void the invoice. Open it, click the menu icon, select Void and confirm. If you want to reuse the number, change it before you void.

For bills the same steps apply, but bills can be voided several at a time from the Awaiting Payment tab (Delete or void a bill).

Check before you remove a payment

• Reconciled? The bank statement line comes back for reconciling.
• Part of a batch payment? Deal with the batch first: delete it, or edit it to take the document out.
• In a locked period? Users can't change the payment or the invoice until the lock date moves.
• Credit note allocated? See the credit note guide.
• Invoice right, payment wrong? Fix the payment and keep the invoice. A void is permanent; ask your accountant when in doubt.

Where the native way runs out

• Everything is one at a time. Xero's bill page says you can remove only one payment from one bill at a time, and the invoice page says awaiting payment invoices cannot be voided in bulk. For 200 invoices with one payment each, that is 200 payment removals and 200 voids, each with several clicks.
• A removed payment cannot be restored. Xero's warning is explicit: if Remove & Redo is used in error, you recreate the payment. The new one is a new payment, not the old one back.
• The bank side is left for you. Every statement line that was matched to a removed payment reappears for reconciling.
• Voids are permanent. Voided invoices cannot be reinstated or restored, and a voided invoice's number is used up unless you changed it first.
• Lock dates. Users cannot add or edit transactions on or before a lock date (Set up or remove lock dates). A payment dated inside a locked period is as stuck as the invoice.
• Keep a record before removal. Save the payment date, amount, account and reference so you can recreate it if it was removed in error.

The faster way: Unapprove

Unapprove is a web app that works with Xero. Its basic void run voids a whole batch of approved invoices and bills, 50 per request, without making copies. Documents with a payment on them are skipped in that run (why).

Remove payments and void

This is the run for documents that have payments. You choose it, filter the status to Paid or Any status, select the documents and preview. For each approved or paid invoice or bill it:

It does not create a draft copy. For an editable replacement with the same invoice number, see the unapprove guide; that run requires payments and allocations to be cleared first.

1. Reads every payment first. Nothing is written until each payment on the document has been read and judged.
2. Removes the payments, then any credit note allocations. Each removal is read back from Xero to confirm it took effect. A credit note whose allocation was removed is available again, and gets a history note saying so.
3. Voids the document and reads it back to confirm it shows as voided.
4. Writes a history note on the document listing each payment removed, with date, amount, account and reference.

What it leaves alone, and tells you why: a payment that is reconciled with a bank statement line (removing it would undo your reconciliation), a payment that belongs to a batch payment (it would come off every document in the batch), a prepayment or overpayment allocation, a document or payment dated on or before your lock date (why), a document for an archived contact (why) and anything processed in the last 24 hours. A document with one of these is skipped whole, not half done. Reconciled payments are the biggest group in practice: unreconcile them in Xero first, using the page above, and run again.

No undo, and what you get instead. A removed payment cannot be recreated automatically, so the run does not promise that. What you get is a record: the preview offers a CSV backup of the selection first, the run file lists every payment removed, and the history note repeats it, so you can recreate any payment you need to.

Confirmation is typed: for example VOID PAID 40. Each run has a ceiling on the number of documents; if you select more, the preview asks you to select fewer and run again. If Xero's daily API limit is reached, the job pauses and carries on the next day (details).

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. The payments permission is requested only when you choose "Remove payments and void".

What it never does: see your Xero password, write anything before you type the confirmation, remove a reconciled or batch payment, or undo a void. Nobody can undo a void.

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.

The paid plans also include the read-only attachment ZIP export if you want an archive of supported files before the clean-up.

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Related reading: the guide to bulk void or delete for documents without payments, and the year-end checklist for deciding what to void.

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