Switching from Excel, QuickBooks or Zoho without losing unpaid invoices
How to move to Envoice.mu from Excel, QuickBooks, Xero, Zoho or Sage without losing track of unpaid invoices, including the 7-day undo.
What keeps most owners on a system they've outgrown usually isn't the new software. It's the switch itself: the fear that somewhere between the old spreadsheet and the new app, an unpaid invoice drops through a crack and nobody chases it. That fear is reasonable, because unpaid invoices are the part of your records that is still money.
What has to move, and what can stay
Not everything needs to come with you. Trying to carry eight years of records across usually makes the move slower and messier, and it doesn't help you get paid.
What has to move:
- every invoice that's unpaid or part-paid, with the balance still owed;
- your client list, with correct names, phone numbers, addresses, and BRN and VAT numbers for business clients;
- your products and services, with current prices and VAT treatment.
Suppliers and opening stock can come too if you track them. What can stay where it is: fully paid invoices from past years. Keep the old system or the old files read-only so you and your accountant can look things up, and don't touch them.
How Move to Envoice works
Move to Envoice is in Settings, under Data. It brings your clients, suppliers, products, unpaid invoices and opening stock across in one go, and nothing is saved until you press Import on the last step. Only the owner or an admin can run it.
It knows the export columns of QuickBooks, Xero, Zoho, Sage or Pastel, Loyverse, Shopify, WooCommerce and Google Contacts, so most columns are matched for you. Coming from Excel, Word or paper? Download the Envoice starter workbook, which has a tab each for clients, products, suppliers, unpaid invoices and opening stock, and fill in the tabs you need. Any other spreadsheet works as well; you match the columns yourself. Files can be .xlsx or .csv, each under 15 MB, with up to 5,000 rows per sheet.
Before anything is saved, a check screen lists what needs a decision: the same client or product twice, invoice numbers already used, and dates that could be read either way, such as 08/09/2026, where Envoice asks whether your file puts the day or the month first.
What your unpaid invoices become
You set a start date in Envoice. Unpaid invoices issued before that date come in as opening balances, each keeping its original number, dates, client, total and the amount still owed. A client who had paid part of an invoice before you moved starts with that part remembered. Invoices that are already paid are left out on purpose, and the check screen lists them.
Then they behave like any other invoice where it matters. They show in Who owes you and on client statements, and when a client pays you open the invoice and record the payment as usual.
A few things they don't do, so nothing surprises you or your accountant:
- They aren't sent to the MRA.
- They don't count in your VAT return or your sales reports.
- They don't use up your plan's monthly invoices.
- They're locked. To remove one, undo the import.
- Payment reminders are off for imported invoices, so old clients aren't chased by surprise. You can switch them on in Settings under Payment reminders.
The 7-day undo
If something comes in wrong, you can undo the whole import for 7 days. That gives you a week to check the figures against your old records and try again, instead of fixing a bad import line by line.
One condition: undo only works while nothing has been built on the imported records. A payment recorded on an imported invoice, or a new quote or invoice for an imported client, blocks it, and Envoice lists exactly which records are in the way. So do your check before you start working on those records.
Plan the cut-over
The safest switch has one clear date. Pick it, ideally the start of a month so your VAT period and your records line up, and use it as your start date in Envoice.
Before the date. Clean your client list in the old system. Merge duplicates (the same client typed three ways is common in Excel), fill in missing BRNs, and delete clients you'll never invoice again. Then list every unpaid invoice with its balance and total it. Write that total down; you'll check against it.
On the date. Stop raising invoices in the old system. From this day, every new quote and invoice goes through Envoice. Running two systems side by side for new sales is how invoices get missed or sent twice.
After the import. Look at the Who owes you card on your dashboard and compare the total with the figure you wrote down. If they match, you're done. If they don't, find the difference while the undo window is still open.
Tell your clients, briefly
Your next invoice will look different, and a careful client may ask about it. A short WhatsApp to your regular clients saying you've moved to new invoicing software, and that their balance is the same, heads off the question. It's also a polite nudge on anything overdue.
What about your accountant?
Tell them the cut-over date before you switch. They'll want to know which system holds which months, especially for VAT. Give them their own login with the accountant role in Envoice, and keep the old system readable for them until the year's accounts are closed. They can't run the import themselves, since that stays with the owner and admins, so agree the check figures together first.
Checklist
- ☐ Pick a single cut-over date, ideally the 1st of a month
- ☐ Clean the client list in the old system before you move
- ☐ List every unpaid and part-paid invoice and total the balances
- ☐ Stop raising invoices in the old system on the cut-over date
- ☐ Run Move to Envoice from Settings, under Data, and read the check screen
- ☐ Compare the opening-balance total with your written figure
- ☐ Keep the old system read-only for lookups
- ☐ Tell your accountant and your regular clients
Try it with your own file
Start your free trial at www.envoice.mu, no card needed, and bring a copy of your unpaid-invoice list to see how it comes across. To talk through your setup, WhatsApp +230 5881 9999.