How do I connect my Lexware Office account?

Lexware Office (the software used to be called lexoffice) is one of the most widely used accounting solutions in Germany. With this connection you transfer an issued invoice into your accounting with a single click — with all line items, tax rates and the recipient as a contact. Nothing is maintained twice and no amounts are retyped.

Connect your account

Lexware Office is included from the Growth plan. On smaller plans the card shows an upgrade notice instead of the connection — Lexware Office can then be connected after an upgrade.

1. Open Integrations in the left sidebar.
2. Click the Accounting category on the left (or type the name into the search field).
3. Click Lexware Office.
4. Click Connect with Lexware Office. You are redirected to Lexware Office.
5. Sign in there and confirm access.
6. You land back in Univents and the card now shows Connected.

You need neither a client ID nor a client secret — sign-in runs through our access.

If the card shows Configuration pending instead, technical credentials for this connection are still missing on our side — a rare special case that has nothing to do with your plan. Get in touch via the help button in the app.

Connecting and disconnecting requires settings permissions in the workspace.

Transfer an invoice

1. Open the invoice you want to transfer.
2. Click Transfer to accounting at the top.
3. Confirm with Transfer now in the dialog.

Transferring requires the edit permission in the Finance area.

Good to know:

• Only issued invoices can be transferred. Drafts and cancelled invoices have no transfer button.
• Lexware Office assigns its own document number. Your Univents number is in the invoice title so you can match both documents.
• Supported tax rates are 0%, 7% and 19%. If a line item carries a different rate, the transfer stops with a notice — correct the line item and transfer again.
• Small-business invoices under § 19 UStG work. If the document is flagged as a small-business invoice and every line item is at 0%, Univents transfers it as tax-exempt under the small-business scheme. Lexware Office is the only one of the three direct connections that handles this tax case.
• Reverse charge (§ 13b, intra-community supply) cannot be transferred yet. Create those invoices manually in Lexware Office.
• The recipient is created as a contact in Lexware Office or — if they already exist unambiguously — reused. The next document for the same customer does not create a second contact.
• Invoices are transferred. Quotes and delivery notes stay in Univents.

Take over payments automatically

If a transferred invoice is marked fully paid in Lexware Office, you can have that applied on our side automatically.

1. Open Integrations → Accounting → Lexware Office.
2. Turn on Take over payments.

From then on we check hourly whether a transferred invoice counts as paid in Lexware Office and mark it as paid in Univents too. Invoices that are already paid or cancelled on our side are never touched.

Important:

• Do not use this switch together with the bank statement import (payment matching) for the same invoices. Otherwise the same payment is recorded twice — once from the statement, once from Lexware Office.
• Only fully paid invoices are taken over. Partial payments are not considered yet.
• The switch is off by default and applies per connection.

Turning it on and off requires settings permissions in the workspace.

Transfer customer contacts

Instead of creating every customer one by one while transferring an invoice, you can also transfer your customers to Lexware Office in one go.

1. Open Integrations → Accounting → Lexware Office.
2. Click Transfer customer contacts.
3. Univents shows how many contacts will be transferred. Confirm with Transfer now.

Good to know:

• Only contacts that are the recipient of at least one quote or invoice are transferred. Plain address book entries without a document — everyone who once sent you an email, for instance — are deliberately left out.
• Contacts already linked to Lexware Office are skipped and counted as "already linked" — no second contact is created.
• Univents only creates new contacts, existing contacts in Lexware Office are never changed.
• The transfer runs in the background with a progress indicator. You can leave the page while it runs.
• If you cancel the transfer, contacts already created in Lexware Office remain — that cannot be undone.

Starting and cancelling requires settings permissions in the workspace.

When something goes wrong

On the page Integrations → Accounting → Lexware Office you find the most recent documents under Transfers, with status and, if something failed, the reason in plain language. Typical reasons:

• Tax rate not supported — the named line item carries a rate other than 0%, 7% or 19%. Correct the line item and transfer again.
• Tax case not supported — the invoice uses reverse charge, or a line item sits at 0% without the small-business flag. Correct the document or create it manually.
• Connection expired — the authorisation at Lexware Office has run out. Click Reconnect on the card.
• No recipient — the invoice has no customer assigned. Add one and transfer again.

Transfer an invoice again

If you open the dialog for an invoice that has already been transferred, you see the document number from Lexware Office and an extra checkbox. Only tick it if you really want a second document in Lexware Office — you then have to delete the first one there yourself.

Disconnect

Click Disconnect on the card. Invoices already transferred stay in Lexware Office; new transfers are only possible after connecting again.

Frequently asked questions

Are invoices transferred automatically? No. Every transfer is a deliberate click. That is intentional: you decide what ends up in your accounting.

Are my contacts synced in the background? Not automatically. When you transfer an invoice, only its recipient is sent. To create several contacts at once, use Transfer customer contacts above.

Are quotes or delivery notes transferred? No, only invoices.

Are payments reported back from Lexware Office? Only if you turn that on. Not by default — activate Take over payments (see above).

Can I connect several Lexware Office accounts? No, one connection per workspace.

I only see an upgrade message on the card — why? Lexware Office is included from the Growth plan. On smaller plans Univents shows an upgrade notice there instead of the connect function.

I currently use the DATEV export — do I still need it? Both work side by side. The DATEV export is a file for your tax advisor, the Lexware Office connection is a live link into your own accounting. Details are in the article Accounting exports & integrations.

What about BuchhaltungsButler? BuchhaltungsButler is still in preparation. Lexware Office, sevdesk and bexio can be connected; DATEV and BMD are available as file exports.