A Hubdoc migration moves a client’s document capture and coding to a new tool. The ledger stays where it is, because every published bill already sits in Xero with its document attached. What doesn’t move by itself is everything Hubdoc holds on the side: the document archive, the supplier rules your team has built up and the email address suppliers send to.
This checklist is for Australian accounting and bookkeeping practices running Hubdoc across client Xero files. By the end you’ll have each client’s archive exported, their supplier rules written down, the new tool live and no duplicate bills in Xero. Before you start you’ll need admin access to each client’s Hubdoc organisation and a list of the clients that use it.
If you’re still choosing where to move, our comparison of the best Hubdoc alternatives for accounting firms covers the options. This page is about the move itself.
Step 1. List what Hubdoc does for each client
Start with a spreadsheet, one row per client. Hubdoc connects one-to-one with a Xero organisation so a firm with 40 clients usually has 40 Hubdoc organisations, each with its own settings.
For each client, record:
- the Xero organisation it’s connected to
- how documents arrive (the Hubdoc email address, the mobile app, uploads, supplier emails)
- which suppliers have saved configurations and which are set to auto-sync
- any email forwarding rules sending published documents to the client or a third party
- whether Push to Xero Files is on
This is the step most firms skip and it’s where most of the surprises come from later. A supplier set to auto-sync publishes straight to Xero with no one looking at it. If that rule isn’t rebuilt in the new tool, bills from that supplier quietly stop turning up.
Step 2. Decide where each client goes
Sort your clients by what they need after Hubdoc, not by which tool the firm prefers. Some clients only need documents captured and attached. Others need line-item coding, approvals or checks before a bill is paid.
For simple clients, Xero’s own capture may be enough. Xero’s Australian page describes Smart Document capture as included at no extra cost: forward a bill to the client’s Xero email or snap it in the app and Xero extracts the details, matches them against bank records and warns about duplicate uploads. Xero’s product blog from 2 July 2026 says documents are read in about 30 seconds, down from a wait of up to 24 hours. It also says the feature was rolling out in beta for Australia and New Zealand, with GST extraction listed as coming next. Check what’s live in each client’s file before you rely on it.
Clients with product-heavy invoices, several approvers or a history of supplier fraud attempts usually need more than capture. That’s where a capture tool or a full AP tool comes in. Group clients into two or three buckets and migrate one bucket at a time.
Step 3. Export the archive before you disconnect
Export every client’s documents while Hubdoc is still connected to Xero. According to Xero Central, a Hubdoc organisation disconnected from Xero moves to a read-only state and getting it back means adding payment details or reconnecting.
Hubdoc gives you two exports, both documented on Xero Central. You can download a folder as a ZIP file that keeps Hubdoc’s folder structure and you can export a CSV of document data for a bill date range. The CSV carries the document ID, supplier name, bill date, invoice number, due date, currency, subtotal, tax and total.
Two things to check. Documents without a bill date don’t export to CSV so fix those first. And the published bills already have their documents attached in Xero so the export is your backup and your record of anything never published.
Save each client’s export to the client file in your document system, named consistently. Your audit trail shouldn’t depend on a tool you’ve stopped paying for.
Step 4. Record supplier configurations
Write down each supplier’s saved configuration before you switch. In Hubdoc, a supplier configuration sets how that supplier’s documents publish to Xero: status (draft, awaiting approval or awaiting payment), contact, account code and due date, plus anything else your team saved. None of it moves with the documents.
For most clients a table is enough: supplier, account code, tax rate, publish status and any notes on splits or tracking. Your team built these rules one invoice at a time. They’re the closest thing the client has to written coding policy and they’re what you’ll check the new tool against in step 6.
It’s also a good moment to tidy the client’s vendor master data in Xero. Duplicate contacts and old suppliers are easier to clean up now than after a new tool has learned from them.
Step 5. Move the inboxes
Point every document source at the new tool. That means the address suppliers email invoices to, any mailbox rules that forward bills and anything staff photograph or upload.
Leave the Hubdoc email address working until the parallel run ends. Xero Central notes that once you change a Hubdoc address the old one stops working. So don’t change it as a way of switching off. Instead, update suppliers in batches and keep an eye on what still lands in Hubdoc. Anything still arriving there after two weeks is a supplier you missed.
Step 6. Run in parallel, with one tool publishing
Run the new tool alongside Hubdoc for one or two billing cycles but only let one of them publish to Xero. If both publish, the client gets two bills for every invoice. It’s an easy mistake to make and a slow one to clean up after a BAS period has closed.
The simplest setup is to keep Hubdoc publishing while the new tool processes the same invoices in draft, then compare. Check coding against the supplier table from step 4, check that duplicates and exceptions are caught and check the approval route sends each bill to the right person. Ardent Partners’ 2026 benchmark puts the average invoice exception rate at 19.9%, against 11.8% for the best teams. Count how many of the client’s invoices needed a human touch in each tool.
When the new tool’s coding matches your rules on repeat suppliers, swap: the new tool publishes and Hubdoc stops. Straight-through processing, where a clean invoice goes from capture to the ledger with no manual handling, should climb over the first month as the tool learns each supplier. Run our free duplicate invoice checker over the first month’s bills if you want a second look.
Step 7. Disconnect and check billing
Disconnect Hubdoc from the client’s Xero organisation once the new tool has published cleanly for a full cycle. In Xero, open Hubdoc from the organisation menu, go to settings, then the Integrations tab and click Disconnect.
Then check billing. Hubdoc is included with Xero business edition plans but, per Xero Central, billed separately when the Xero organisation is on a partner edition plan. Make sure nothing is still being charged for clients you’ve moved. Last, remove any email forwarding rules that still point at the old Hubdoc address.
The checklist
| Step | What to check | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| 1. List | Xero org, document sources, supplier configs, auto-sync and forwarding rules | One row per client, complete |
| 2. Decide | What each client needs after Hubdoc | Every client in a bucket |
| 3. Export | ZIP per folder, CSV by bill date, missing bill dates fixed | Export saved to the client file |
| 4. Record | Account code, publish status and due date per supplier | Supplier table saved |
| 5. Inboxes | Supplier emails, mailbox rules, app users | Nothing new arriving in Hubdoc |
| 6. Parallel | One publisher only, coding and exceptions compared | New tool publishing cleanly for a cycle |
| 7. Disconnect | Hubdoc disconnected, billing stopped, forwarding removed | Client closed off |
Common Hubdoc migration mistakes
Most Hubdoc migration problems come from moving too many clients at once. Start with two or three clients whose suppliers you know well, fix the process, then batch the rest.
Double publishing is the expensive one. Both tools create bills in the same Xero file and the client pays a supplier twice or someone spends a day voiding bills. Decide which tool publishes before the parallel run starts and write it on the client row.
Forgetting auto-sync suppliers is close behind. They never needed a person so nobody remembers them until the supplier chases an unpaid bill. Disconnecting before exporting is the one you can’t easily undo, which is why step 3 comes before step 7.
Where Pulsify fits
Pulsify is one option for clients who need more than capture. You forward documents to a Pulsify address and it works out whether each is a PO, an invoice, a credit note or a supplier statement. It codes account and GST per line from each supplier’s history. It flags duplicates, changed bank details and ABNs that are invalid or not GST registered, then sends bills for approval by supplier and amount before creating them in Xero or MYOB.
After a Hubdoc migration, every client entity sits in one Pulsify dashboard, covered on our multi-entity workflows page. Because coding is learned per supplier, your step 4 supplier table becomes the thing you check Pulsify’s suggestions against in the parallel run. Moving from Dext rather than Hubdoc? Our switching from Dext to Pulsify guide covers the Dext side.
Start a free 30-day trial with one client or book a demo to talk through a firm-wide move.
Sources: Xero Blog: Faster record-keeping with smart document capture · Xero AU: Smart Document capture · Xero Central: Download or export documents from Hubdoc · Xero Central: Connect or disconnect Hubdoc and Xero · Ardent Partners, AP Metrics that Matter in 2026 (Medius)
Further reading: Best Hubdoc alternatives for accounting firms · Hubdoc vs Pulsify · AP automation for accounting firms in Australia