# How to approve bill records in bulk in Xero

Xero Central describes bulk approve on the Draft tab only. Tick the bills there and click Approve. It does not describe bulk approve on the Awaiting approval tab, so approve those one at a time.

Bulk approval means approving many bills at once instead of opening each one. It saves time on routine bills.

## Before you start

- A role that can approve bills (Administrator, Standard, Sales and purchases or Purchases)

## The Xero way

Where to find it: Purchases > Bills > Draft tab

1. In the Purchases menu, select Bills, then open the Draft tab.
2. Tick the checkbox for each bill to approve.
3. Click Approve, then click Approve to confirm.
4. For one bill at a time, open it and click Approve & next.

## Limits in Xero

- Xero Central describes bulk approve on the Draft tab. It does not describe bulk approve on the Awaiting approval tab.
- Xero has one approval step.

## Good to know in Xero

- Approve & next moves you to the next bill in the list.

## The Pulsify way

1. Open the Invoices queue in Pulsify. Filter to bills waiting on you.
2. Open anything flagged and fix or reject it.
3. Tick the clean bills and use bulk approve.
4. Pulsify creates each bill in Xero with the file attached.

Pulsify connects to Xero in one click. Approved bills are created in Xero with the source file attached.

What Pulsify does not do here:

- Bulk approve is per bill. If one bill fails, the others still go through.
- A bill with a warning may need to be approved from its own page.

## Example in Xero

Example Pty Ltd has 12 bills on the Draft tab. Nine are routine.

- Nine routine drafts, ticked together: $4,180.00 (Approve, then Approve to confirm)
- Draft from a new supplier: $1,100.00 (Open it and use Approve & next)
- Draft with a missing attachment: $640.00 (Open it and fix first)

Nine bills approved with one click. The other drafts are opened one at a time.

## Common mistakes

- Looking for bulk approve on the Awaiting approval tab. Xero Central documents it on the Draft tab.
- Ticking drafts you have not opened.

## Common questions

### Where do I bulk approve bills in Xero?

Go to Purchases > Bills and open the Draft tab. Tick each bill, click Approve and then click Approve to confirm.

### Can I bulk approve from the Awaiting approval tab?

Xero Central describes bulk approve on the Draft tab only. It does not describe it on the Awaiting approval tab.

### What does Approve & next do?

Open one bill and click Approve & next. Xero approves it and moves you to the next bill in the list.

### Does Pulsify let me bulk approve?

Yes. Pulsify supports bulk approve, bulk reject and bulk archive.

## Sources

- https://central.xero.com/0/article/Add-and-approve-bills
- https://central.xero.com/0/article/Edit-bills

Source: https://www.pulsify.tech/how-to/approve-bills-in-bulk-in-xero/ (last checked 2026-10-19)