Set up, understand, keep working.

For a Microsoft 365 or Outlook account, you use the direct Microsoft sign-in. For other domains, Buchlio queries standardised autoconfiguration profiles and DNS SRV records. Outlook also knows its own provider profiles; if public details are missing for your domain, you enter your host’s server details manually once. This does not mean that your mailbox is broken.

Use your provider’s details: direct TLS access is often used with port 465, STARTTLS mostly with port 587. For IMAP, Buchlio uses encrypted TLS, usually on port 993. Unencrypted connections are not accepted.

First check the username, server and port. With two-factor sign-in turned on, an app password may be necessary. Over IMAP and SMTP, Gmail always requires an app password instead of your Google password; only an account already connected by signing in with Google doesn’t need one. With Google Workspace, the administration may have blocked IMAP or app passwords. You connect Microsoft 365 and Outlook by signing in directly with the provider; a normal password isn’t enough when Modern Auth is mandatory.

Account configuration, selected folders, passwords and sign-in tokens are stored encrypted in a file in the app configuration folder; the system keychain keeps the key to them. None of this is written to the Cloud Vault or to backups. Buchlio uses a saved password only for the server you entered it for; if you change the server, port or encryption, Buchlio asks for it again. Messages and attachments are checked locally; credentials belong neither in diagnostic logs nor in support requests.

The system keychain holds the key with which Buchlio encrypts your credentials. Because Buchlio reads only this one entry there, the system asks at most once instead of for every account. If you cancel or deny, Buchlio pauses automatic checks and shows “Email accounts are locked”. Only “Unlock email accounts” in the settings tries the access again.

Without signing in, a new workspace greets you with “Welcome to Buchlio”: “Look around first” opens it read-only, and “Sign in and try 7 days for free” takes you to the sign-in under Settings › Account & subscription. Sign-in happens in the browser; there you compare a code with the app. Then you subscribe; the subscription starts with a 7-day trial. With write access, “Set up Buchlio” guides you in five steps through “Your company”, “Your taxes” with the tax model and Ist-Versteuerung (VAT due when payment is received) or Soll-Versteuerung (VAT due when the supply is made), “Your invoices” with payment term and logo, and “Tax adviser”: if you work with a tax adviser who uses DATEV, you enter the Beraternummer (DATEV number of the tax adviser) and Mandantennummer (DATEV number of the client) and the chart of accounts there and, if you like, adopt the DATEV standard assignment; finally, “All set” sums everything up. “Continue” saves each step, and “Set up later” ends the setup; as long as there is no invoice profile yet, you start it again under Settings › Invoices & taxes with “Start setup”. After that, the Inbox shows “Up next”: connect an email account, connect another device, create the first backup and, with a tax adviser, enter their DATEV details. Completed items disappear, and the card can be hidden. Then check the sender, bank details, tax treatment, texts and invoice design in the preview under Settings › Invoices & taxes. By default, app data and originals are stored in Documents / Buchlio; you only ever choose another storage location or a Cloud Vault yourself. If a cloud service syncs your Documents folder, Buchlio asks for the location at first start and suggests a local folder.

The Inbox is called “To do” and lists every receipt with open tasks, the most urgent first: payment conflicts, filed invoices (Rechnung) from their due date, outstanding refunds, due instalments, your own overdue invoices, payments without a tax treatment or EUR value, unsent invoices, credit notes (Gutschrift) and cancellations (Storno), and new receipts to review. The button in a row does its most important task, such as “Record payment”, “Review: Dunning letter 1” or “Send”; further tasks are in the “…” menu. The filters All, Payments, Tax, Sending and Review narrow down the list. Under Sending, “Mark all as sent”, after a confirmation, marks all listed documents that you sent another way; Buchlio sends nothing in the process. Above the list are sync conflicts, due recurring invoices and missing receipts for recurring costs from the last two months, each with its action, such as “Add missing receipt”; the number on the Inbox counts them too. A receipt in a sync conflict only appears there until you resolve it with “Check conflicts”. Without write access, the tasks stay visible, but their actions don’t.

On the Mac, choose “Choose receipts” in the Inbox: files, ZIP archives and folders go together in one selection. On Windows, “Choose receipts” takes files and ZIP archives, and “Choose folder” whole folders. On the smartphone, choose “Take photo”, “From photo library” or “Files / ZIP”. You crop a photo directly on the image under “Check document”: drag the corner points and edges of the frame; everything outside it is darkened. With “Page”, you capture further pages, and “Use scan” creates the receipt. On the computer, you can also drag files and folders straight into the window, as well as attachments from Apple Mail or Outlook. A whole email from Apple Mail becomes a receipt itself and shows its text; Buchlio does not extract its attachments. Supported are PDFs, images including HEIC, XML e-invoices (E-Rechnung) and saved emails (.eml). XRechnung as UBL/CII and embedded ZUGFeRD or Factur-X data are read in structured form. In the receipt, you check the suggestions in the groups Receipt, Amount and tax, Booking and Payment, and decide on the supplier assignment; the date or period of supply is below the invoice date; if the receipt names neither, the field shows the invoice date. Only “Save & file” confirms the receipt. The original is kept unchanged.

A restaurant or hotel bill often contains amounts at 7% and 19%. In the receipt, choose “Several tax rates” and enter the gross amount per rate; Buchlio calculates net and tax per rate and shows what is still missing to reach the total price. The text recognition suggests the split from the receipt’s tax table, and e-invoices (E-Rechnung) bring it with them. In the DATEV posting batch, each rate is on its own line.

If you recorded a receipt without a document, such as a bank fee or a parking ticket, open it and choose “Add original”; on the smartphone, you can also photograph the receipt, and on the computer drag the file onto the window. Buchlio saves the original unchanged and syncs it with your devices. The recorded values stay, and an existing original is never replaced.

Start “Create invoice” and take the customer and the products or services from the master data or enter them anew. Under “Contact person (optional)”, you name a person who appears in the address field below the company. Check the date, payment term, items, tax treatment and texts in the live preview; on the phone, “Preview” in the dialog header switches between the details and the preview. If your IBAN is in the invoice profile, an EUR invoice carries a GiroCode for the amount payable. Buchlio assigns the invoice number when you issue the invoice, chronologically sortable like 261006-1430-K3M9; drafts don’t have one yet. With complete details, the issued PDF is also a ZUGFeRD/Factur-X e-invoice (E-Rechnung). It remains the unchanged original: email, “Save PDF” and exports use exactly this file.

Issued invoices (Rechnung) stay unchanged. If something is wrong, such as the recipient, choose “Correct invoice” in the invoice’s “…” menu: after a confirmation, Buchlio issues a cancellation invoice (Stornorechnung) and opens a copy as a new draft, which receives a new number when issued. You send the cancellation invoice to the recipient of the original invoice. You correct a partial amount with a credit note (Gutschrift): choose “Create credit note” in the invoice’s “…” menu. Buchlio opens a copy as a credit note that refers to the invoice; keep only the items to be credited, or change them to the amount to be credited. You remove a test or mistaken entry that was never sent in the “…” menu with “Remove test/mistaken entry”.

Create a new quote (Angebot) under Quotes and check it in the preview. Once issued, it stays unchanged; you send it by email like an invoice (Rechnung). When your customer accepts, you record the acceptance with a date and create the order confirmation (Auftragsbestätigung). There you can remove items or reduce quantities. “Create invoice” then takes the quantities still open into an invoice draft. At the top of Quotes, “No decision yet” shows which sent quotes are still awaiting an answer and when their validity ends. You move a quote to the bin via “…” or in the quote itself; an accepted quote and one with an order confirmation or invoice are kept.

Buchlio issues invoices (Rechnung), credit notes (Gutschrift) and cancellation invoices (Stornorechnung) as e-invoices (E-Rechnung) as soon as the details are complete. Required are, among other things, the country of the sender and the recipient as a code or name, such as DE or Germany, for an invoice your IBAN and, with Reverse Charge (the customer owes the VAT instead of the supplier, § 13b UStG) or an intra-Community supply (Innergemeinschaftliche Lieferung), the USt-IdNr. (VAT identification number for trade within the EU) of both sides. The embedded XRechnung additionally requires the sender’s email address and phone number, the recipient’s email address and a Leitweg-ID (routing ID that public-sector customers require on e-invoices) or order reference. If anything is missing, Buchlio names the detail before you issue; without it, a simple PDF is created. To a recipient with a Leitweg-ID, you only issue once the XRechnung is complete.

For services, you choose the tax treatment “Reverse Charge” (the customer owes the VAT instead of the supplier), for supplies of goods “Intra-Community supply” – Buchlio does not accept goods going abroad as Reverse Charge. Both cases need your USt-IdNr. (VAT identification number for trade within the EU) and your customer’s. For an intra-Community supply (Innergemeinschaftliche Lieferung), Buchlio prints the statutory note on the tax exemption and marks the e-invoice (E-Rechnung) with category K; in the Voranmeldung (advance VAT return, filed monthly or quarterly in ELSTER), the sale is in Kz 41 (Kennzahl: numbered field on a tax form in ELSTER).

In the invoice draft, turn on the Recurring section and choose Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly and the next date. If the series only starts later, for example with a customer’s next billing year, set the invoice date to that day and save the draft: on that day, Buchlio reminds you to issue it. Buchlio detects due dates at app start and during use and shows “recurring invoice is due” with “Open draft” in the Inbox. Issuing and sending remain your decision; Buchlio sends nothing automatically.

Unsent invoices (Rechnung) are in the Inbox under the Sending filter. Choose “Send”, check the recipient, sender, subject and message and confirm sending; Buchlio attaches the issued PDF itself. Whether the salutation names the company or the contact person, you set in the invoice profile under Email templates with “Salutation in emails”; it also applies to payment reminders (Zahlungserinnerung) and dunning letters (Mahnung). You mark invoices already sent outside Buchlio in the “…” menu with “Mark as sent”, and several at once under the Sending filter with “Mark all as sent”. Under Sent & received, you see everything sent with its recipient and route. When Buchlio fetches the mailbox you send from, it reports an email that came back as undeliverable, and the invoice is listed under Sending again; a reply from your customer appears there with its date.

Under Sent & received › Sent is the sending log: everything sent in the selected year with its recipient and route, such as via SMTP or Gmail, including documents you marked as sent. Next to it is its status: “Sent”, “Reply on …” or “Undeliverable” with the mail server’s message. Under Received, you see for each mailbox when Buchlio last checked and how many messages it imported; “Fetch now” checks immediately. The fetch log names the emails that brought receipts on this device, as well as recognised bounces and replies. “Manage accounts” takes you to your email accounts.

In the invoice profile under “Email design”, you set how directly sent emails arrive: as an HTML email with your logo at the top and a signature at the bottom with name, address, phone, email and website. The profile’s accent colour, the same as on your invoices (Rechnung), frames the email and colours the background and links. You add the Steuernummer (tax number the Finanzamt, the local tax office, assigns to the business) and USt-IdNr. (VAT identification number for trade within the EU) as well as the bank details with a tick, and choose the font from Modern, Classic and Neutral. Under “Mandatory details in the signature”, you enter what a GmbH, a UG and registered merchants (eingetragene Kaufleute) must state in business emails, such as the register court, register number and managing directors. A preview shows the result immediately, and before you send, you see under “How the email arrives” exactly what the recipient receives. The logo is embedded in the email itself; nothing is loaded when it is opened. If you prepare an email in your mail app instead, Buchlio appends the signature as text.

If Buchlio finds entries under Master data that were created twice, it names them above the list as possible duplicates. “Compare and merge …” shows both entries side by side: which one stays, which one is archived, when they were created and all details. Differing details are marked; those of the remaining entry apply, Buchlio fills empty ones from the archived entry, and for contacts it merges the roles. “Keep the other entry” swaps the sides; on the phone, each detail is shown above its two values. “Merge” archives the second entry. Existing invoices (Rechnung) and receipts stay unchanged, and the archived entry can be restored from the archive.

You record a full payment directly on the receipt via “Paid in full on”. For part payments, a financing or an advance payment, you open “Record part payment or financing”; in the “Payments” dialog, you save all entries together. From these, Buchlio derives open, partly paid and paid; an invoice date alone is no proof of payment.

In the “Payments” dialog, choose a financing and enter the lender, the financed amount, the day on which the lender pays the merchant (usually the purchase date), the number of instalments and the monthly instalment or total repayment according to the contract, and, if you like, “First instalment on”. The invoice (Rechnung) counts as paid from the payout. In the same dialog, Buchlio shows the instalment plan with due dates and interest parts; you record the next instalment with “Record as paid”, and several due instalments together too. Due instalments are also listed under “To do” and in Due dates, each one once as a notification too; “Record instalment” opens the form with the date, amount and interest part of the instalment, and it is only saved when you confirm. In the bank statement reconciliation, Buchlio suggests debits from the lender as the due instalment. You record a special repayment with “Special repayment (not a regular instalment)”: the open instalments then share the rest of the contract; if the lender recalculates, you adjust the contract under “Edit contract”. Only the interest paid counts as an expense; the repayment reduces the outstanding balance.

The original invoice amount is kept. For each payment, you confirm the EUR amount actually paid; Buchlio suggests the ECB reference rate for the payment date. If the invoice (Rechnung) shows German VAT (Umsatzsteuer), also with Reverse Charge (the customer owes the VAT instead of the supplier), Buchlio needs its EUR value: taken from the invoice or, with “Use BMF-Monatskurs”, from the monthly average of the month of supply (BMF-Monatskurs: official monthly exchange rate for VAT, published by the Federal Ministry of Finance). Your own invoices in a foreign currency ask for the value before issuing.

In the accounting profile, you add further payment accounts besides the standard bank account, such as PayPal, each with its own DATEV account. When recording a payment, you choose the matching account under “Paid through”; the DATEV posting batch then books the payment to it.

In the Inbox, choose a whole folder or a ZIP archive of up to 200 MB – on the Mac with “Choose receipts”, on Windows with “Choose folder” or “Choose receipts” – or drag the folder into the window. Buchlio guides you through the receipts one by one with “Receipt x of y”: “File & next” confirms the current receipt and opens the next one, and “Save & next” leaves it to review. Buchlio recognises files that already exist as duplicates.

The Due dates area brings together open incoming invoices that you have to pay, the next instalment of each running financing and overdue outgoing invoices. Part payments already confirmed are deducted from the open amount. Filed invoices (Rechnung) from their due date, due instalments and your own overdue invoices are also listed in the Inbox under “To do”. Below, “Coming up” shows what’s ahead in the next 14 days: sent invoices that fall due then, the next dunning stage and new invoices from your series; the recurring costs follow.

Under Due dates › Recurring costs, Buchlio shows expenses that a supplier charges weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly, with the next expected date and an approximate total per month. If the receipt for a date this year or last year is missing, “Receipt missing” is shown with the month; missing receipts from the last two months are also listed as a task in the Inbox. A click on the series, or in the Inbox on “Add missing receipt”, opens a window for adding it: choose the file, drag it onto the window or photograph the receipt, as in the Inbox. If no invoice (Rechnung) comes for a date, for example because the supplier doesn’t bill below its minimum amount, choose “No receipt needed” there; “Show as missing again” undoes this. Via “…”, you open the last invoice or mark the series as cancelled; cancelled series are listed collapsed below until a new receipt picks them up again. Both markings apply on all your devices. Buchlio recognises a series from three receipts from one supplier at the same interval, and already from two if the receipts are almost identical or you marked them as “Recurring regularly”. Small differences in name, amount or day don’t matter. If a supplier is suddenly called something completely different, assign its receipts to the same contact. If three dates are missed without a cancellation, the series counts as ended.

In the invoice profile, set your dunning schedule: after how many days the payment reminder (Zahlungserinnerung) and the 1st and 2nd dunning letters (Mahnung) become due and which fees apply. Due dates, the Inbox and notifications then show which letter is due for an overdue outgoing invoice, and open it pre-filled. For business customers in default, Buchlio includes interest of 9 percentage points above the base interest rate (§ 288 Abs. 2 BGB) and, instead of a dunning fee (Mahngebühr), the €40 lump sum, for private customers 5 percentage points; the letter shows the calculation. For business customers, default begins at the latest 30 days after the due date and receipt of the invoice (Rechnung; § 286 Abs. 3 BGB); if the invoice came back as undeliverable, only the later delivery counts. Check the recipient, sender, deadline and amounts. Buchlio attaches the original invoice and only sends after your explicit confirmation, through a selected email account of your own; it sends nothing automatically. If your customer pays the dunning amount, you record it as one payment – also in the bank statement reconciliation: Buchlio books the invoice as paid and late payment interest (Verzugszinsen), lump sum and dunning fee as separate, non-taxable income (no VAT (Umsatzsteuer); Kz 103 – Kennzahl: numbered field on a tax form in ELSTER – in the Anlage EÜR, the form for the cash-basis profit statement, income minus expenses, filed with the tax return).

In your online banking, export the transactions as CAMT (XML, also as ZIP) or CSV and choose “Reconcile bank statement” in Due dates. Buchlio reads the file only on your device and does not save it. For each booked euro transaction, it suggests the matching open receipt (invoice number, amount, name, date) and recognises payments already recorded. It suggests debits from your lender as the oldest open instalment of the financing (“Instalment 4 of 12 · Lender”) and records them as repayment with the interest part from the instalment plan. Accept suggestions individually or all safe ones at once, or assign transactions yourself. If your bank offers CAMT, that is the most reliable way; Buchlio recognises CSV by its header row.

Under “Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung (preparation)” (advance VAT return, filed monthly or quarterly in ELSTER), the annual report shows, per month or quarter, the Kennzahlen (numbered fields on a tax form in ELSTER) of the form with tax base, tax and amount payable or surplus to be refunded (Kz 83). VAT (Umsatzsteuer) counts the way you set the VAT accounting in the accounting profile: under Ist-Versteuerung when payment is received, under Soll-Versteuerung in the month of the supply, even if unpaid. Input VAT (Vorsteuer) counts as soon as the invoice (Rechnung) and the supply are there, even before payment; Reverse Charge (the customer owes the VAT instead of the supplier) counts with the supply or the invoice respectively, even if unpaid. For intra-Community supplies (Innergemeinschaftliche Lieferung; Kz 41) and services to businesses in other EU countries (Kz 21), Buchlio lists the Zusammenfassende Meldung (EC sales list of supplies and services to businesses in other EU countries) per USt-IdNr. (VAT identification number for trade within the EU) in whole euros, with L for supplies of goods and S for services; supplies of goods count in the month of their invoice, at the earliest with the supply and at the latest in the month after it, and services in the month they are performed – paid or not. The accounting package contains it as a CSV for import into Mein ELSTER. As a Kleinunternehmer (small business under the small-business VAT exemption, § 19 UStG: no VAT on invoices, no input VAT deduction), you don’t file a Zusammenfassende Meldung. Anything that can’t be assigned clearly is shown alongside as a note. You transfer the values to Mein ELSTER yourself; “Accounting package …” next to the period selection creates the package for the period.

Choose “Record tax payment” in Finance and enter the tax, period and amount, for VAT (Umsatzsteuer) also Dauerfristverlängerung (permanent one-month extension of the advance VAT return deadline) and direct debit. Payments and refunds count neither as income nor as an expense. VAT appears in the Anlage EÜR (form for the cash-basis profit statement, income minus expenses, filed with the tax return) in Kz 186 (Kennzahl: numbered field on a tax form in ELSTER) or 141 respectively; a prepayment for a month or quarter up to the end of the Wirtschaftsjahr (fiscal year) that is due and paid no later than ten days after it – by 10 January for a calendar year – counts in the old Wirtschaftsjahr (§ 11 Abs. 2 S. 2 EStG). Gewerbesteuer (municipal trade tax on business income) is not deductible, and income tax stays private; both reduce the estimated tax reserve. You convert a receipt already recorded as an expense in the receipt by setting the receipt type to “Tax payment”.

Open the expense, for example for a laptop, and choose “Depreciate as a fixed asset”. Buchlio suggests the useful life for each asset category, such as one year for computers and software. Up to €800 net, the fixed asset counts as a GWG (low-value asset, deducted in full in the year of purchase) – except computer peripherals such as a monitor or printer, which cannot be used without a computer and, with a useful life of one year, likewise count in full in the year of acquisition – otherwise it is depreciated straight-line from the month of acquisition. When it is disposed of, you enter the date and, if applicable, the sales invoice. The annual report shows the depreciation and the annual package the asset register; your tax adviser books the AfA (depreciation of an asset over its useful life) in their fixed-asset accounts. Buchlio does not handle pooled items or declining-balance AfA. For acquisitions from July 2025 to the end of 2027, Buchlio points out declining-balance AfA so that you can choose it with your tax adviser before the first tax return.

You enter the private share of mixed costs, such as a mobile phone or internet, in the receipt: only the business share counts as an expense, and only it carries deductible input VAT (Vorsteuer) – also with subscriptions from EU providers under Reverse Charge (the customer owes the VAT instead of the supplier). You record flat rates without a receipt – home office, meals when travelling, trips in your private car and to the first place of business – in the annual report under “Annual details”.

If you also use a company car privately, you enter it in the annual report under “Annual details” – one car per year. Buchlio calculates the private use under the 1% rule with the cost cap or according to your logbook, books it month by month with VAT (Umsatzsteuer) and shows it in the profit, the Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung (advance VAT return, filed monthly or quarterly in ELSTER) and the Anlage EÜR (form for the cash-basis profit statement, income minus expenses, filed with the tax return) in Kz 106 (Kennzahl: numbered field on a tax form in ELSTER) – for electric and hybrid cars with half or a quarter of the list price. The 1% rule requires more than 50% business use. If you are a Kleinunternehmer (small business under the small-business VAT exemption, § 19 UStG: no VAT on invoices, no input VAT deduction), no VAT arises on the private use. You record the car costs in the categories “Car leasing”, “Car tax & insurance” and “Car running costs”. Car receipts have no private share of their own; the private use only counts through the company car in the annual details. For the cost cap, only costs in these three categories and the depreciation and interest of “Asset: car” count.

In the receipt, choose the category “Business gifts” (Geschenke) and enter one person per line under “Recipients”. Buchlio splits the amount evenly and enters gifts of up to €50 per person and Wirtschaftsjahr (fiscal year) in the Anlage EÜR (form for the cash-basis profit statement, income minus expenses, filed with the tax return) in Kz 174 (Kennzahl: numbered field on a tax form in ELSTER), and those above that, including the non-deductible input VAT (Vorsteuer), in Kz 164. For input VAT, the limit counts per calendar year.

In the annual report, “Accounting package” opens the check. Choose the year, quarter or month; Buchlio names what needs resolving before the export and creates a ZIP file with the DATEV posting batch, Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung (advance VAT return, filed monthly or quarterly in ELSTER), check report and original receipts, and in the annual package also the preparation of the Anlage EÜR (form for the cash-basis profit statement, income minus expenses, filed with the tax return) and the asset register. Under “Previous exports”, you see earlier exports from this device; Buchlio points out when a period has already been exported unchanged or has changed since, because importing it again creates a second batch in DATEV.

Open Support in the app and choose Report a bug or Suggest a feature. With a bug, you can voluntarily attach cleaned diagnostic and device information after checking it first. Credentials and receipt contents are not attached automatically. You can write in your own language; you will receive the answer in the same language.

The Support area contains short guides for the most important workflows. For topics such as email servers or app passwords, you can also open this help in the browser.

Buchlio stores everything locally first, in your visible workspace. You only connect a Cloud Vault yourself. Originals stay unchanged, while changes to your records are merged between your devices based on versions.

Under Settings › Storage & sync, choose iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Nextcloud/WebDAV or a folder you sync. When connecting for the first time, you decide whether Buchlio opens an existing Vault or takes over the current workspace. Differing versions of a receipt or its payments are shown and not silently overwritten; Buchlio merges settings that you change on two devices setting by setting. Buchlio syncs in the background; if you tap “Cloud Vault · live” at the top of the bar, it syncs immediately. When connecting, syncing, moving or disconnecting, the Cloud Vault card says what is currently happening. The first sync of a connected Vault first shows that the Vault is listing its files, then a progress bar with the files read from your other devices; Buchlio stays usable in the meantime.

Under Settings › Data & backup, “Create backup” produces a ZIP file with app data and originals in a place you choose. “Restore” checks the backup and shows a preview first; before taking it over, Buchlio creates a safety backup of the current state. If originals are missing in the workspace or in the backup, the preview names the affected receipts, and “Restore anyway” takes them over without these originals; the safety backup contains every existing original. In the receipt, “Add original again” adds the same file back, and a connected Vault supplies it at the next sync. Restoring disconnects a cloud connection, which you connect again afterwards; email accounts and other credentials are not part of the backup. Backing up and restoring also work without signing in or an active subscription. Also keep important backups in a separate place.

If Buchlio does not find the workspace at start, for example because the folder was moved or a cloud service has not delivered it yet, it shows “Buchlio could not be started” with the reason. “Try again” restarts as soon as the folder can be reached again. On the computer, “Choose folder” opens the workspace in its new location. “Restore from backup” recreates it from a backup file, on the computer, if you like, with “Choose another folder” in an empty folder.

If Buchlio reports “Another device uses a newer Buchlio format”, update Buchlio on this device. If the update for this device has already been released, Buchlio requires it with “App update required”: until you install it, only viewing, export and backup are possible. If it is not yet available, for example during review in the App Store, you can keep editing; until then, Buchlio applies nothing from the Vault and uploads nothing. After the update, sync continues by itself. If Buchlio reports a different version of an entry in the Vault, don’t edit any files in the Vault folder and follow the guide “Sync stopped: different version in the Vault” under Support in the app.

For urgent fixes, Buchlio can set a minimum version. Older versions are then read-only until you update: data, reports, exports and backups stay available, and changes and sync pause. In the store versions, “Update now” takes you to the store, and in the website version to the app updates under Settings › General.

Buchlio announces a new version once in the notifications, with what it brings; tapping it opens the update. The store versions are updated by the respective store. In the Mac version from buchlio.de, you can also check yourself via the menu Buchlio › Check for Updates … or under Settings › General › App updates and install from there; Buchlio checks the signature before installing and then restarts. This version only installs updates from the “Applications” folder: if you start Buchlio directly from the download or the DMG window, it offers to move itself there.

If a new version changes the storage format, Buchlio takes over your data automatically the first time you open it. Before that, Buchlio saves a copy of the previous database in the folder Sicherungen / Migrationen in your workspace. Older entries in the Vault are read and taken over during sync without changing the files in the Vault.

Buchlio also opens your workspace without signing in or an active subscription, but read-only; this way, you can also try the app beforehand. A notice below the title bar names the reason and leads back to write access with “Sign in” or “Subscribe”. You see all data, tasks, overviews and reports, open originals, export CSV files and the accounting package, create and restore backups, share documents, disconnect email and cloud accounts, change the appearance, install updates and reach support. Creating, changing, deleting, imports (files, sharing, camera, email, bank statements), sending emails, cloud sync, mailbox fetching, due date notifications and automatic changes need a sign-in and an active subscription; the 7-day trial and grace periods for payment problems count as an active subscription. Three days before a trial or a cancelled subscription ends, a notification reminds you. Local changes not yet synced are kept and synced after reactivation. With a subscription, an offline proof confirms write access for up to seven days without an internet connection. “Sign out” removes the session and the offline proof from your device immediately.

First sign in as usual with an email code, Google or Apple. Then, under Settings › Account & subscription, choose “Open account in browser” and choose “Add passkey” under “Sign-in and security”; this works within the first ten minutes after signing in. Confirm with Face ID, fingerprint or your device’s PIN. From then on, you choose “Sign in with a passkey” on the sign-in page, without an email code. Buchlio doesn’t ask for the authenticator app either, because the passkey already ties together the device and Face ID, fingerprint or PIN. Synced passkeys, for example in iCloud Keychain or Google Password Manager, work on all devices with the same account. You remove a passkey in the account portal; you delete it from your password manager yourself.

You remove an account under Settings › Email accounts. Credentials and check status are deleted from this device; receipts already confirmed are kept. You also revoke the approval at the provider yourself: you delete an app password in the security area of your mail account, for Gmail under App passwords. You disconnect an account connected by sign-in at Google under Third-party apps & services, and for personal Microsoft accounts under App permissions.

You disconnect the provider under Settings › Storage & sync. Your local data is kept, and so is the data at the provider; with Dropbox, Buchlio also revokes the approval. If you no longer need the Vault, you delete it at the provider: with Google Drive, it is in a hidden app area that you remove in the Drive settings under “Manage apps” for Buchlio with “Delete hidden app data”; with Dropbox, it is in Buchlio’s app folder; with iCloud Drive, Nextcloud/WebDAV or a synced folder, it is in the Vault folder you chose. You revoke app access at Google under Third-party apps & services, at Dropbox under Connected apps and at Nextcloud by deleting the app password in the security settings.

Open the contact under Master data. If no receipt, invoice (Rechnung) or quote (Angebot) refers to it, you choose “Delete permanently”, for example if a contact requests the deletion of their data. Buchlio removes it, including earlier versions, on this device, in the Cloud Vault and, at the next sync, on your other devices; this cannot be undone. Older backups still contain it until you delete them. If receipts or invoices belong to it, you can only archive it because of the retention obligation; the editor then names the reason.

Under Settings › Account & subscription, choose “Delete account”; the account portal opens directly at the deletion. If you signed in there more than ten minutes ago, you sign in again, and the deletion then opens again. A website subscription is cancelled immediately in the process; you cancel Apple and Google subscriptions separately in the respective store. Deleting the account deletes neither your local workspace nor your Cloud Vault.

Beforehand, note the statutory retention periods for invoices (Rechnung) and receipts. Your data is in the workspace, by default in Documents / Buchlio. First remove email accounts and cloud connections in the app and sign out. Then delete the workspace folder, the Vault at your cloud provider (see “How do I disconnect my Cloud Vault?”) and your own backup files.