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Make an E-Invoice Readable

An Italian e-invoice is an XML file, often wrapped in a digital signature envelope, and neither shape opens as a document. Drop what you received: the envelope is unwrapped if there is one, and the invoice is laid out as a PDF you can read, print or send, with the XML original kept as the legal one.

01/ 02P7M to PDF
drop your files anywhere in this area

Your files never leave your device. This tool even works offline.

P7M XML

01 / Fast steps

  1. Drop the invoice exactly as you received it, signed as .xml.p7m or plain as .xml.
  2. The signature step runs only if your file is signed, and says so when it is not.
  3. Download the readable PDF. The XML original stays available on the first step.

02 / Best for

  • Read an invoice a supplier sent you as a raw XML that nothing on your computer opens.
  • Check the amounts and the VAT on an e-invoice before approving it for payment.
  • Send a client or an accountant a version of the invoice a human can read.
  • Keep both shapes of the same document: the XML that is the legal original and the PDF that can be read.

03 / Why here

  • One drop covers both cases, signed and plain, so you do not have to know which one you are holding before you start.
  • The XML is never altered: it is extracted from the envelope byte for byte, which is what keeps it the legal original.
  • The PDF is generated from the XML fields, not scraped from a preview, so the numbers on it are the numbers in the invoice.
  • Invoices are financial records and none of it is uploaded: both steps run on the engines already in your browser.
  • Each step keeps its own files, so you always leave with at least the XML even if the layout step cannot handle an unusual invoice.

04 / Keep in mind

  • The PDF is a readable rendering, not the official courtesy copy your supplier may have issued. The legal document is always the XML.
  • Simplified and foreign invoice schemas carry different fields, and anything outside the standard Italian schema may render partially.
  • This page does not verify the signature. Extracting the XML from an envelope is not the same as proving who signed it.
  • Attachments embedded inside an invoice XML are not rendered into the PDF.

Tool connections

Related tools

Just converted a file here? Click a tool that reads it and your new file is handed over automatically, no re-upload needed.

Good to know

Questions & answers

01

Why is an Italian e-invoice an XML file?

Because the invoice the tax authority receives is structured data, not a document. Since 2019 every invoice between Italian businesses travels through the SDI as an XML file following a published schema: fields for the supplier, the customer, each line, the VAT rates and the totals. That is what makes it machine readable and automatically checkable, and it is also why nothing on your computer opens it as a document. Any PDF you may have seen of the same invoice is a courtesy rendering generated from that XML, not the invoice itself.

02

What is the difference between fattura.xml and fattura.xml.p7m?

The second one is the first one inside a digital signature envelope. The .p7m is a PKCS#7 or CAdES wrapper holding the XML, the signatures and the signing certificates, which is how an invoice is signed when the sender uses signed delivery. The XML inside is identical to the unsigned one: unwrapping it does not change a byte. Both shapes of the same invoice are accepted here, and the signature step simply reports that it had nothing to do when the file is not signed.

03

Which file should I keep for my records?

The XML, and the signed envelope if you received one. That is the document with legal value and the one that matches what the tax authority holds. The PDF this page generates is for reading, sending and printing: convenient, and not a substitute. Keep both and you have covered the two different jobs.

04

Is my invoice uploaded to generate the PDF?

No. The envelope is opened and the PDF is laid out by JavaScript in your browser tab, and the XML is never sent anywhere. An invoice names your suppliers, your customers and your amounts, which is exactly the kind of data that should not leave your device to be made readable.

05

The invoice is signed but the amounts look wrong in my accounting software

Read the XML rather than trusting an import. Convert it here and compare the rendered PDF against what your software shows: the PDF is built from the XML fields directly, so a difference tells you the import misread something rather than the invoice being wrong.

06

Can I do this if the invoice arrived inside a PEC message?

Yes, but start one step earlier. A certified email delivers a postacert.eml holding the attachment, so open that first and you get the .xml.p7m to bring here. Open PEC

07

Is making an e-invoice readable free?

Yes, completely free, with no sign-up and no file size limits. Both steps run on your own hardware.