selfdesk
Billing & payment
Task

Connect Lexware Office

With Lexware Office as the invoicing method, the month-end run creates its invoices directly in your accounting system instead of in Selfdesk.

There are three invoicing methods. With Selfdesk, Selfdesk produces number and PDF. The third is sevDesk, see Connect sevDesk. With Lexware Office, the same month-end run creates the invoice in your accounting system, fetches number and PDF from there and shows them to your members like any other. Selfdesk computes the positions in every case, so Selfdesk and your accounting cannot disagree about the amount.

You need an API key from your Lexware Office account. Only the XL plan has one: create it there at app.lexware.de/addons/public-api with API-Schlüssel erstellen. Copy it right away, Lexware Office does not show it again. The method only changes with Connect: as long as no key is saved, Selfdesk writes the invoices. The wizard that creates the space does not ask for the key; you connect Lexware Office afterwards, here, under Invoicing.

In the app

  1. Open Billing in the management section.
  2. Under Invoicing method, tap the tile Lexware Office with From version XL. The Lexware Office card appears below.
    Billing with the two tiles Selfdesk and Lexware Office
    Billing with the two tiles Selfdesk and Lexware Office
  3. Enter the API key in the card. Where do I find the API key? below the field also says where you create it.
  4. Tap Connect. Selfdesk checks the key with Lexware Office and saves it only if Lexware Office accepts it. It then reads Connected at the top, and the invoicing method is Lexware Office. Test connection checks the key beforehand without saving it.
  5. Tap Sync contacts so your members are created as customers.
  6. Under Recent syncs you see every run. Failed (…) expands the reasons.
    Lexware Office card connected, with Recent syncs below
    Lexware Office card connected, with Recent syncs below

On the web

  1. Under Setup, open the page Invoicing.
  2. Pick the tile Lexware Office with From version XL under Invoicing method. The integration card appears below.
  3. Enter the API key there. Where do I find the API key? below the field also says where you create it.
  4. Click Connect. Selfdesk saves the key only if Lexware Office accepts it, and sets the invoicing method to Lexware Office. The card then reads Connected at the top.
  5. Click Sync contacts.
  6. Under Recent sync activity you see every run and the failures with their reason.

What applies here

  • An invoice is never sent twice. If an invoice already exists for that member, month and kind, the run refuses it. A finalised invoice at a real customer cannot be un-sent.
  • The contact sync only pushes changes. A second click with nothing changed does not call Lexware Office and reports that everything is up to date.
  • A member never gets two contacts. Before creating one, Selfdesk searches for the email address and adopts a single exact hit. If several match, the address is reported as failed and you link it by customer number yourself.
  • What you maintain in Lexware Office survives. A sync writes only the customer, the billing address and the email address; phone numbers and notes stay. The email address goes into a free slot (business, office or other), never next to an existing one.
  • Contacts with two entries of one kind stay as they are. If a contact has, say, two business email addresses, Lexware Office does not let other software change it. Selfdesk links it anyway, the log lists it under Notes, and every invoice carries the billing address from Selfdesk.
  • No invoicing address, no invoice. If it is missing, generation stops for that member beforehand. The member adds it in their profile.
  • There is no draft mode. Invoices go out finalised. The check happens beforehand. See Check an invoice before sending.
  • Lexware Office prints the payment term and the bank details. Selfdesk sends neither; the invoice shows the payment conditions and bank details set up in Lexware Office. If they are missing there, they are missing on the invoice. That is why the mail to a member who pays by transfer points to the app rather than to the PDF: the app shows the IBAN and QR code from Legal details.
  • The sync log covers contacts. What happens to each invoice, including every error from Lexware Office, is in its delivery history. See Invoices are delivered after they are created.
  • Disconnect deletes the key and sets the invoicing method back to Selfdesk. Invoices Lexware Office is issuing right now wait until you connect again or discard them.

When it does not work