E-invoice export is now available in Light Blue

Some countries, especially in the European Union, have introduced requirements for B2B (business-to-business) and B2G (business-to-government) invoices to be issued in an e-invoice format that allows them to be used in 100% digital workflows.

Light Blue’s desktop app can now export electronic invoices that comply with the EN 16931 e-invoicing standard and be used to comply with many countries’ e-invoicing requirements. Depending on which country you work in, these e-invoices can either be sent directly to the buyer by you, or uploaded into an e-invoicing network that will send the invoice to the buyer.

What are e-invoices and who needs to use them?

E-invoices are a PDF version of an invoice that contain a machine-readable version of the invoice in a specific format. This XML representation of the invoice follows strict validation rules that are designed to make e-invoices compatible with a wide range of systems. There are overall rules for how the date in e-invoices is formatted, but individual jurisdictions can add extra requirements (e.g. extra information that is only required in a particular country).

E-invoices are required by some EU countries for specific types of transaction. As far as we are aware, requirements for e-invoicing in EU countries only apply to B2B (business-to-business) and B2G (business-to-government) invoicing. B2C invoicing (business-to-consumer, i.e. selling services and products to consumers rather than businesses, such as most wedding and portrait photography) are not affected. You need to check what the requirements are in your jurisdiction.

How to export e-invoices from Light Blue

E-invoice export is available in Light Blue 2026.2, which is currently available to all of our prerelease testers. If you’d like to start using this feature before Light Blue 2026.2 is released to the rest of our subscribers, please get in touch and we’d be delighted to add you to our list of prerelease testers!

Once you’ve installed Light Blue 2026.2, this help article tells you how to set up your Light Blue account for e-invoicing and start exporting e-invoices.