Construct a ZUGFeRD Invoice with Encodian and Power Automate

As electronic invoicing becomes increasingly standardised across Europe, many businesses are adopting ZUGFeRD to meet compliance requirements and enable end-to-end invoice automation.

What is ZUGFeRD?

ZUGFeRD (Central User Guide of the Forum for Electronic Invoices Germany) is a hybrid e-invoice format that embeds a machine-readable XML file inside a human-readable PDF.

This dual structure enables:

• Automated invoice ingestion and validation
• Standardised data extraction
• Full auditability and versioning
• Human-friendly visual review

This tutorial demonstrates how to automatically:

• Combine ZUGFeRD-compliant XML files with a PDF invoice
• Convert the output into the PDF/A-3 archival standard
• Produce a compliant, automation-ready hybrid invoice

All using Encodian’s ‘PDF – Add Attachments‘ and ‘Convert – File to PDF‘ Power Automate actions

For a deeper dive into the ZUGFeRD format and Germany’s invoicing regulations, see Stripe’s guide to ZUGFeRD invoices.

If you need to process (rather than create) ZUGFeRD invoices, please see our related guide:
Automating ZUGFeRD Invoice Processing in Power Automate with Encodian Flowr →

Before You Begin

Download the sample files for testing:

• factur-xml.xml
• Invoice.pdf

Step-by-Step Tutorial: Build the Power Automate Flow

1. Create a new ‘Instant cloud flow‘.

1.a. Flow name: Provide a name for your flow

1.b. Trigger: Select the SharePoint ‘Manually trigger a flow‘ trigger action

1.c. Click ‘Create‘.

2. Configure the ‘Manually trigger a flow’ trigger action.

2.a. Create two ‘File‘ inputs named ‘Invoice‘ and ‘XML‘

We now need to add the XML file as a PDF attachment.

3. Add the Encodian ‘PDF – Add Attachments‘ action.

3.a. File Content: Select ‘Invoice contentBytes’ from the outputs of the ‘Manually trigger a flow’ trigger action.

3.b. Attachments: Select ‘Add new item’.

3.c. Filename-1: Select ‘XML name‘ from the outputs of the ‘Manually trigger a flow‘ trigger action.

3.d. File Content-1: Select ‘XML contentBytes‘ from the outputs of the ‘Manually trigger a flow‘ trigger action.

Now we need to convert the PDF file to the PDF/a-3a standard.

4. Add the Encodian ‘Convert – File to PDF‘ action.

4.a. Filename: Select the ‘Filename’ output from the Encodian ‘PDF – Add Attachments’ action.

4.b. File Content: Select the ‘File Content’ output from the Encodian ‘PDF – Add Attachments’ action.

4.c. PDF Filename: Enter ‘Invoice.pdf’.

4.d. Remove Markup: Select ‘No’.

4.e. PDF/A Compliant: Select ‘Yes’.

4.f. PDF/A Compliance Level: Select ‘PDF_A_3A’.

4.g. Generate Bookmarks: Select ‘No’.

4.h. Return File: Select ‘Yes’.

Finally, we will send the output PDF via email.

5. Add the Power Automate ‘Send an Email notification (V3)’ action.

5.a. To: Enter a recipient email address.

5.b. Subject: Enter a suitable subject line message.

5.c. Body: Enter a suitable body message.

5.d. Attachment: Select the ‘File Content’ output from the Encodian ‘Convert – File to PDF‘ action.

5.e. Attachment File Name: Select the ‘Filename’ output from the Encodian ‘Convert – File to PDF‘ action.

6. Test the flow

6.a. From the Power Automate designer, select ‘Test’ > ‘Manually’.

6.b. Invoice: Select the test invoice PDF file supplied.

6.c. XML: Select the test XML file supplied.

6.d. Run Flow

Review the email received

Review the PDF Invoice

The PDF will demonstrate compliance with the PDF/A standard, with factur-x.xml embedded as an attachment.

Next Steps and Extensions

Once you’ve automated ZUGFeRD invoice creation, you can further expand the solution to include:

• Extract invoice data automatically
  Using the Encodian’s ‘AI – Process Invoice‘ action to read invoice details and automatically generate the XML content required for ZUGFeRD.
• Validate ZUGFeRD compliance
  Call a third-party ZUGFeRD validation API using the Encodian ‘Utility – HTTP Request‘ action to ensure regulatory compliance before distribution.

Finally…

We hope this guide helps you automate the creation of ZUGFeRD-compliant invoices using Power Automate and Encodian Flowr.

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