Got a UBL invoice? Glimps reads the XML.
Does your supplier send an XML file along with the PDF? Then Glimps takes the data from the XML, puts it next to the PDF and posts the invoice in Exact Online. No retyping, and no guessing what a blurry scan says.
UBL 2.1 and SI-UBL, invoices and credit notes
2 lines read, ready to be coded
What is a UBL invoice?
UBL invoice
UBL (Universal Business Language) is a fixed XML format for invoices, where every detail has its own field: supplier, lines, VAT, total. In the Netherlands that is usually SI-UBL, based on UBL 2.1. The file often comes as an .xml attachment next to the PDF: the PDF is for people, the XML for software.
More background, including how it differs from Peppol? Read the term UBL invoice
PDF and XML together, the rest follows
The PDF and the XML arrive together
Upload both, or let them arrive in your connected Microsoft 365 mailbox, where the Inbox Agent picks them up. One condition: the same file name, such as factuur-123.pdf and factuur-123.xml.Glimps reads the XML and puts it next to the PDF
The data comes from the XML. Glimps reads the PDF too, and flags it when the two do not say the same thing.The normal route to Exact Online
After that it is an invoice like any other: coding, the checks for duplicates, a changed bank account and the math, approval, and posting in Exact Online.
Which route reads the XML?
Not every way into Glimps takes the XML along. This is how it works:
Upload: PDF and XML together
Both the XML and the PDF are read
Connected Microsoft 365 mailbox
Both the XML and the PDF are read, when they share a name
The Glimps mail address
Only the PDF is read
Only an XML, without a PDF
Does not become an invoice
Mailing through the Glimps mail address? Then the invoice still comes in through the PDF. If you want the XML to count, upload the PDF and the XML together.
What Glimps takes from the UBL file
In an XML everything sits in its own field. So Glimps has nothing to guess, it simply picks up the value.
The supplier
Name, VAT number and Chamber of Commerce number, as the supplier filled them in.
The IBAN
The bank account from the XML goes through the same bank account check as any other invoice.
Invoice number and dates
Exactly as the supplier recorded them. No 0 that turns into an O.
Lines, amounts and VAT
Every invoice line with its amount and VAT, ready to be coded.
Order references per line
When the XML carries an order number per line, Glimps takes it along. Handy if you use PO matching.
Service periods
When a line covers a period, such as a subscription for a quarter, Glimps reads that period too.
That goes for invoices and credit notes, in UBL 2.1 and the Dutch SI-UBL.
The XML counts, the PDF checks along
Glimps goes by the values in the XML. But it reads the PDF too, because sometimes the supplier says something different in the PDF than in the XML. You want to know that before you pay.
- An amount that differs by more than 5 cents stands out.
- A different invoice number on the PDF stands out too.
- Glimps flags the difference on the invoice, so someone takes a look.
factuur-VD-2026-0412
The total on the PDF is €9.00 off from the XML. Worth a look.
What Glimps does not do with UBL
Better clear now than disappointed later.
No Peppol
Glimps is not a Peppol access point. It does not send or receive anything over the Peppol network.
No UBL output
Glimps reads UBL files, but does not create or export them.
No XML without its PDF
A UBL file on its own does not become an invoice. Send the PDF along, under the same file name.
Only have an XML? Ask the supplier for the PDF as well, or mail just the PDF to your Glimps mail address.
Questions about UBL invoices
An invoice as an XML file in a fixed format, where every detail has its own field: supplier, lines, VAT and total. In the Netherlands that is usually SI-UBL, based on UBL 2.1. The file often comes as an .xml attachment next to the PDF.
Yes, when the XML comes together with the PDF of the same invoice, under the same file name. Upload both, or let them arrive in your connected Microsoft 365 mailbox. Glimps reads the XML, compares it with the PDF, and then the invoice follows the normal route: coding, checks, approval and posting in Exact Online.
No. Glimps is not a Peppol access point and does not send or receive anything over the Peppol network. Glimps reads UBL files that you upload or that arrive in your connected Microsoft 365 mailbox, together with the PDF.
No. A UBL file without a PDF does not become an invoice. Upload the PDF and the XML together, under the same file name, such as factuur-123.pdf and factuur-123.xml. Or mail just the PDF, which Glimps always reads.
Glimps goes by the XML, but reads the PDF too. When an amount differs by more than 5 cents, or the invoice number is different, Glimps flags that difference on the invoice, so someone takes a look.
Through the Glimps mail address Glimps only reads the PDF. So the invoice does come in, but the XML is skipped. If you want the XML to count, upload the PDF and the XML together, or connect your Microsoft 365 mailbox.
To Glimps a government body is a supplier like any other. When a government body sends you a UBL file with the PDF, and you upload both or they arrive in your connected Microsoft 365 mailbox, Glimps reads them like any other invoice. Sending e-invoices to the government, or receiving them over Peppol, is something Glimps does not do.
No. Glimps reads UBL files, but does not create or export them.
Yes. Glimps reads a credit note as a UBL file the same way, again together with the PDF.
When the XML carries an order number per invoice line, Glimps takes it along. That helps with PO matching, where Glimps puts the invoice next to your purchase order. PO matching is an add-on.
- Format: UBL 2.1, including the Dutch SI-UBL. Invoices and credit notes.
- The XML is only read together with the PDF of the same invoice, under the same file name: factuur-123.pdf and factuur-123.xml.
- Routes that read the XML: uploading, and a connected Microsoft 365 mailbox where the mail carries the PDF and the XML under the same name.
- Through the Glimps mail address only the PDF attachment is read.
- Each uploaded file can be at most 10 MB.
- When the XML and the PDF differ (an amount by more than 5 cents, or a different invoice number), Glimps goes by the XML and flags the difference.
Read on
Term: UBL invoice
What UBL is, where SI-UBL comes from, and how it differs from Peppol.
Inbox Agent
Invoices, with PDF and XML, straight from your Microsoft 365 mailbox.
Automated invoice processing
What happens to an invoice after it is read.
PO matching
The invoice next to your purchase order, line by line.