How to bulk export attachments from Xero
Last updated: September 2026
Short answer: in Xero, attachments are downloaded per document. The files clipped to your invoices, bills and credit notes — supplier PDFs, receipts, credit adjustments — are retrieved by opening each document and downloading each file. Bulk export is one of the most-supported requests on Xero's product idea board (nearly 700 votes). If you need a whole date range today, here are the manual steps and how BulkOps exports it as one ZIP.
The manual process (one file at a time)
- Open Business → Invoices (or Bills, or Credit notes) and open a document.
- Click the attachment icon to list its files.
- Open each file and download it.
- Rename the download so you can tell later which document it belonged to.
- Repeat for every document — and every file on it.
At audit or handover time this stops being a chore and becomes a project: a year of trading with attachments on even a third of your documents means hundreds of clicks, and the renaming step is where files quietly lose their link to the transaction they support.
What about Xero's file library or exports?
Xero's Files library only covers files uploaded to the library itself — not the attachments living on individual invoices and bills. And Xero's data exports (CSV, reports) cover transaction data, not the attached documents. Continuous backup services exist that mirror your whole organisation on a subscription; they solve insurance, not the "give me this year's source documents as files, today" problem.
Exporting every attachment for a date range as one ZIP
BulkOps (built by us) connects through Xero's official OAuth, using a read-only attachment permission:
- Pick a date range and document types (invoices, bills, credit notes) — it scans for every document that has attachments and shows you the list before anything runs.
- The export runs server-side as a queued job, paced under Xero's API rate limits — you can close the browser, and big exports email you when they finish.
- Files keep their link to the source document (each file is grouped under its invoice or bill number) and download as one ZIP, or individually.
- Nothing in Xero changes — the operation is read-only. Exported copies stay available for 7 days and are then deleted from our servers automatically.
Previews are unlimited and free, and your first 25 exported documents are free — no card required.
Related: our data on Xero's most-requested repetitive-work fixes — bulk attachment export is the fourth most-supported idea in the set we measured.
FAQ
Can you download all attachments from Xero at once?
In Xero’s own interface, attachments are downloaded per document: open the invoice, bill or credit note and download each file. Bulk export is one of the most-supported requests on Xero’s idea board (nearly 700 votes); BulkOps provides it as a read-only export grouped by document.
Does exporting attachments change anything in Xero?
No. Reading and downloading attachments is a read-only operation — documents, amounts and the files themselves stay exactly as they are in Xero.
What do auditors usually ask for?
Typically the source documents (supplier invoices, receipts, credit adjustments) for a date range or a sample of transactions. That means the files attached to specific invoices, bills and credit notes, which live on each individual document in Xero.
Does the Xero API support reading attachments?
Yes — Xero’s official Attachments API lists and serves the files on invoices, bills, credit notes and other documents, under a read-only permission scope. Tools built on it never see your Xero password and cannot modify the files.