A plain-English glossary of e-invoicing and document terms

Each time you hand a job to the AI in Clivio, it counts as one action. Analyzing a document when it arrives is one, and so are a question in the chat, a translation, a comparison, a rewrite in Write or a task added in one line. Regular searches and calculation questions (“total for one supplier”) don’t count. You get 50 actions a month on the Free plan and 500 on Pro, and the counter resets on the 1st of each month.

PricingAI actions in the FAQ

Software that can do things we used to think only people could, like reading a text, summarizing it or answering a question about it. In Clivio, the AI (Google’s Gemini model) reads each document, suggests a title, a type and a summary, and picks out dates and amounts. It can get things wrong, so you can correct the title, type, date and tags, or run the analysis again.

A rule that runs by itself when a condition is met. In Clivio it reads “when, if, then”. For example, when a document is added, if it’s an invoice over €1,000, then tag it “To check” and create a task. You can also describe the rule in your own words and let the AI build it. The Free plan allows three rules, and Pro has no limit.

Automations

One of the two XML syntaxes for e-invoices under the EN 16931 standard, the other being UBL. Opened as is, a CII file is just a long list of tags, but our free reader displays it in plain language.

Read a CII invoice

Keeping your files on remote servers instead of your own computer. A drive only stores them. Clivio also reads each file, summarizes it and files it, so you can find it later by typing what you’re looking for. You get 500 MB of storage on the Free plan and 10 GB on Pro.

Pricing

In France, e-invoicing means that invoices between VAT-registered businesses based in the country are issued, sent and received as structured data, from one accredited platform (PA) to another. All of these businesses must be able to receive e-invoices since Sep 1, 2026. Large and mid-sized companies issue them from that same date, and small and micro businesses will from Sep 1, 2027.

Our 2026 guide (in French)

The European standard that defines what an electronic invoice must contain and which formats are accepted. Factur-X, UBL and CII all follow it. Our free reader checks that seven basic fields are present (invoice number, issue date, seller, totals, currency), without going as far as validating compliance.

Invoice reader

Turning data into code that can’t be read without the key. At Clivio, your data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and on the servers (Google Cloud), and your files open through short-lived temporary links.

Trust and security

Spotting specific items in a text, such as names of people or companies, dates, amounts or contact details. When a document arrives in Clivio, the AI picks out its date, its amount and currency, its main due date, and the people or organizations it mentions, with their contact details. On an invoice it also records the invoice number, the VAT, the supplier’s SIRET number and the line items.

The main e-invoice format in France. It’s a PDF you read as usual (to the PDF/A-3 standard), with a structured XML file inside it. France and Germany share the format, and in Germany it’s called ZUGFeRD. Clivio reads Factur-X invoices straight from their XML and marks them “Factur-X certified data”.

Read a Factur-X invoiceConvert it to PDF

The French standard file for accounting entries, in a format set by the tax authority. Accounting software can read it too. Clivio’s Finance module (beta, Pro) exports your transactions as CSV and as FEC.

Finance

The EU regulation on personal data. Among other things, it gives you the right to access your data, correct it, take it with you and have it erased. In Clivio, you can export all your files and data as a ZIP archive from the settings, and delete your account from the app. The deletion takes effect after 30 days.

Privacy

When an AI model confidently states something false or made up. To help you spot it, Clivio’s chat answers from one specific document, cites its sources and highlights the passage in the PDF, so you can check it at a glance. Documents that come from outside also wait for your approval before they’re filed.

How data gets into a system. In Clivio, a document can come in by drag and drop, by email to your drop address, through the phone scanner, through your public drop page, or from Google Drive and Dropbox. A direct connection to Gmail and Outlook is in the works.

Getting documents in

An AI model trained on huge amounts of text to understand and write language. In Clivio, an LLM summarizes your documents and answers the questions you ask about one of them.

Information that describes a file, such as its title, type, date or tags. When a document arrives, Clivio suggests a clear title, a type out of 34, a two- or three-sentence summary, five to ten tags and its date. That’s what lets you find it again later.

The technique that turns an image of text (a scan, a photo) into text you can search and copy. Clivio has no separate OCR engine. Scans and photos are read directly by the AI model, which transcribes all of their text for search. In the PDF editor (Pro), “Clean up scan” also adds a text layer to the file.

An accredited platform: a private operator registered with the French tax authority, through which e-invoices must be issued, sent and received. Until the 2026 Finance Act made “plateforme agréée” (PA) the official name, they were called PDP (plateforme de dématérialisation partenaire), and you’ll still see both. Clivio is not one. It files what your platform and your other channels send you.

Choosing a platform (in French)

Hiding part of a document before you show it to someone, for legal or privacy reasons. When you share a document by link in Clivio, you can hide amounts, IBANs, ID numbers and addresses. The PDF editor (Pro) also lets you black out a specific area.

Sharing without showing everything

Search based on the meaning of a query rather than its exact words. Search in the Clivio library works differently, with rules that understand everyday phrasing. It recognizes a type of document (“invoices”), an amount (“over 1,000 euros”), a period (“this year”, “2025”) or a known sender, so you can type “EDF invoices 2025”.

The first level of electronic signature defined by the EU eIDAS regulation. With Clivio (Pro), the signer gets a link, enters a six-digit code received by email, then signs without creating an account. A proof page keeps the document’s SHA-256 fingerprint and a log of each step.

French company identification numbers. The SIREN (9 digits) identifies a company, and the SIRET (14 digits) each of its establishments. Under the e-invoicing reform, the customer’s SIREN becomes a required field on invoices. Clivio reads the SIRET on the invoices it processes.

A folder whose contents follow a rule you set, like “invoices over €500 that are overdue”. You choose from sixteen criteria, such as type, amount, due date or organization, and combine them with AND or OR. Dates can be relative (“last 30 days”, “overdue”), and you can also describe the rule to the AI in a sentence. You get three smart folders on the Free plan, with no limit on Pro.

Documents

Information stored in clearly defined fields (number, date, amount, VAT) that software can read without guessing. E-invoicing relies on it, since the XML part of a Factur-X, UBL or CII invoice is structured data.

An XML syntax for e-invoices that follows the EN 16931 standard. A UBL file contains only XML, with no layout. To read one, drop it into our free reader or convert it to PDF.

Read a UBL invoiceConvert to PDF

A database that stores text as series of numbers, called embeddings. It’s used to find passages with a similar meaning even when the words differ. Many assistants that answer questions from documents rely on one.

The name used in Germany for the format France calls Factur-X, a PDF with a structured XML file inside. Clivio reads ZUGFeRD invoices from their XML, the same way it reads Factur-X.

Read an invoice