Automate your archiving process by enabling direct, seamless synchronization between bexio and your Document archive. Once configured, supported documents are automatically transferred to your secure archive as soon as they reach specific stages in their lifecycle. This eliminates manual upload efforts while ensuring continuous, GeBüV-compliant retention.
Content
- Benefits of Automatic Synchronization
- User Rights & Access
- Accessing the Archiving Dashboard
- Managing Automatic Synchronization
- Enabling and Disabling Synchronization
- Setting the Archive Duration
- Supported Document Types & Availability
- Past & Existing Documents
- Toggle History
- Folder Structure & Revisions
- Automatic Folder Structure
- Modifying System-Created Folders
- Adding Additional Documents
- Dashboard Overview
- Overview Tab
- Details Tab (List View & File Statuses)
1. Benefits of Automatic Synchronization
- Automated compliance: Ensures documents are archived promptly at critical lifecycle milestones without manual intervention.
- Real-time tracking: Offers complete visibility into synchronized files and their current archiving statuses via a dedicated dashboard view.
- Audit trail transparency: Provides an integrated history log tracking when automatic synchronization was turned on or off.
2. User Rights & Access
To access the Archiving dashboard and manage automatic synchronization settings, users must have at least one of the following permissions assigned in bexio:
- Document archive permission
- Document archive admin permission
3. Accessing the Archiving Dashboard
Once the Document archive has been initialized and enabled for your company, the Archiving management dashboard becomes available:
- Go to «Settings» - «All settings» - «Document archiving»
- The dashboard displays two primary tabs: Overview and Details.
4. Managing Automatic Synchronization
Enabling and Disabling Synchronization
Automatic synchronization is controlled via a simple toggle button located on the Overview tab of the Archiving dashboard under Automatic archiving:
- Switching On (Enabled): When active, the system automatically sends supported documents to the archive as soon as they hit their designated stage in the document lifecycle.
- Switching Off (Disabled): When disabled, any document that reaches its archiving stage will not be synchronized or transferred to the archive automatically.
Setting the Archive Duration
When enabling automatic synchronization, you must select the standard retention period that will apply to your synchronized documents:
- 10 Years (Default): Under Swiss law (GeBüV), business records generally must be retained for a minimum of 10 years.
- 20 Years: Select this option if longer retention periods are required for your specific industry, legal form, or document type.
Legal Tip: Retention requirements vary based on business circumstances and industry regulations. If you are uncertain which archive duration to select, please consult your fiduciary or legal advisor.
Handling Expired Retention Periods:
Reaching the end of an archive duration does not result in automatic deletion. Once a document reaches its designated expiration date:
- It is flagged within the archive as eligible for deletion.
- You can then review the document and decide whether to manually delete it or extend its archive duration if continued retention is required.
5. Supported Document Types & Availability
Not all document types are available for automatic synchronization from the start. The Overview tab explicitly lists which document types currently support automatic sync and which are marked as "Coming soon."
- Currently Supported Types: Only document types marked as available will sync automatically upon reaching their archiving lifecycle stages while the toggle is enabled.
- Upcoming Document Types: Any document types not yet available will only begin syncing automatically from the moment the feature becomes available for that specific type, provided the automatic archiving toggle is switched on.
Past & Existing Documents
Automatic synchronization only applies to documents reaching their archiving stages after the feature and toggle are enabled.
Important: The system cannot retroactively send previously created documents or files generated while automatic synchronization was disabled. If you have existing files on hand, you can upload them directly and manually to the archive, where you can specify their individual archive duration.
Toggle History
To maintain an auditable record of system changes, a history icon is displayed next to the Automatic archiving section. Clicking this icon allows you to view a log showing exact timestamps for when automatic synchronization was enabled or disabled.
6. Folder Structure & Revisions
Automatic Folder Structure
When automatic synchronization is enabled and documents are synced to the archive, they are automatically placed inside a root folder named bexio.
Inside the bexio folder, the system creates a standardized, nested folder hierarchy. All folder names generated by the system are always in English:
| Folder Name | Folder Description
| Placement |
| bexio | "bexio" (root) | Main Folder |
| Year | "2026" (year the document is created) | Sub-folder 1 |
| Document Type | "Invoice" (always in English) | Sub-folder 2 |
| Month | "5" (month in the year) | Sub-folder 3 |
| Day | "1" (day in the month) | Sub-folder 4 |
| Document name/reference | "RE-00001" | Sub-folder 5 |
| Revision date | "01.05.2026-10:15" | Sub-folder 6 |
Modifying System-Created Folders
If you rename or alter any of the folders automatically generated by bexio, the system will recreate the original folder path on the next sync event. To avoid unexpected duplicate folders, we strongly recommend leaving all system-created folders in their original state and location.
Adding Additional Documents
You are free to manually add additional files into any of the automated folders created by bexio if you wish to group related materials together.
Document Revisions & Attachments
- Revisions: If a document moves back and forth between certain lifecycle stages within bexio Office, a new version is sent each time it hits an archiving stage. The system handles this by creating a new revision sub-folder stamped with the date and time (e.g., 01.05.2026-10:15), preserving every version of the file.
- Multiple Attachments: If a single document contains multiple files (for example, a Bill or Expense in Purchase that includes multiple attachments), all associated files will be grouped and saved together inside the same revision folder.
7. Dashboard Overview
Overview Tab
The Overview tab serves as the central hub for monitoring archiving status and supported file categories:
- Status: Displays the real-time operational status of your archive synchronization (e.g., notifying you if documents are not currently being archived).
- Automatic Archiving: Contains the main enable/disable toggle switch, configuration options, and the history log shortcut.
- Supported Document Types: Visit the following page for information regarding which document types that are supported and at which stage in their document lifecycle they are synchronized to the archive.
Details Tab (List View & File Statuses)
Navigating to the Details tab opens a comprehensive list view showing all individual files that have been queued or sent to the Document archive.
From this list view, you can monitor:
- Every document sent via automatic synchronization.
- The processing and synchronization status of each file