Online Connect for Sage 50 Accounts

Learn how to set up and use Online connect for Sage 50 Accounts.

ReadSoft Online Connect is a program you can install on a local computer and use to perform a number of tasks, such as uploading invoices to ReadSoft Online. It is an alternative to uploading invoices using the web interface in ReadSoft Online. Using ReadSoft Online Connect, you can upload invoices automatically, lessening the effort of uploading invoices one by one.

ReadSoft Online Connect runs as a service in the background, so it is not necessary to start a program each time you want to upload invoices. Instead, you simply move the files you want to upload to the folders you specify during the installation setup.

ReadSoft Online Connect can be beneficial if you want to:

Upload large numbers of invoices.
Automate the process of uploading invoices.
Download output data from Online Connect.
Automatically register supplier invoices in external systems.

Note that the user interface for ReadSoft Online Connect is currently only available in English.

Other flavors of Online Connect

ReadSoft Online Connect can display different settings, depending on which target system you use. Before you continue reading, make sure you choose the Online Connect guide that matches your target system. If you don't find a match, read the generic guide for Online Connect.

Online Connect System requirements

ReadSoft Online Connect supports the following operating systems:

Windows 10
Windows 8.1
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2

ReadSoft Online Connect requires the following:

Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (always required).
An HTTPS connection which uses port 443 (always required).

The integration for Dynamics AX requires WCF Activation components.

Creating a customer account

In order to use Online Connect you must make sure that your account in ReadSoft Online is set up properly.

After you have created a new customer account, check the following:

In order to send invoices to Sage 50 Accounts, make sure Sage 50 Accounts is specified in the target system service (Services > Target system) for the account.
Make sure the account does not have buyers defined. Sage 50 does not support the buyers feature in ReadSoft Online.

After you create a customer account with appropriate services, you are ready to install ReadSoft Online Connect.

Installation

Note If you use a proxy connection to connect to the Internet, make sure you specify the Windows proxy settings before you install ReadSoft Online Connect.

To install ReadSoft Online Connect:

Download and run the setup file from the URL that corresponds to your location. Note that an HTTPS connection on port 443 is required to download the installation. After the installation, the connection is required to receive program updates.
Specify the installation folder and click Next to continue:
Click Install to confirm your settings and install ReadSoft Online Connect.
After the installation, click Finish to launch ReadSoft Online Connect and run the setup wizard.

Troubleshooting the installation

When running the installation, some computers display a message that states, "Installation directory must be on a local drive." If you receive this message, run this command as an administrator in Windows Command Prompt:

msiexec /i "C:\[path]\ReadSoft.Online.Connect.Setup.msi" WIXUI_DONTVALIDATEPATH="1"

Automatic updating

ReadSoft Online Connect routinely downloads and installs updates automatically. This is required in order to ensure that ReadSoft Online Connect works properly and stays synchronized with the latest functionality and features in ReadSoft Online.

In order for automatic updating to work properly, computers running ReadSoft Online Connect must have access to the local installation folder as well as the contents of the URL that corresponds to your location:

You can click the links above to test if you have access.

Online Connect Setup for Sage 50 Accounts

Be sure to specify the target-system settings correctly before you begin.

The first time you run ReadSoft Online Connect, a setup wizard appears to help you configure the initial settings. If you see the ReadSoft Online Connect dialog instead of the wizard, click Configure to display the wizard.

The steps that appear in the wizard can vary, depending on the services that are enabled in ReadSoft Online.

1. Click Next to begin.

2. Use the information provided in your account-information email to fill in the Login address, Authorization key, User name and Password.

Login address	https://services.readsoftonline.com – for customers in Europe. https://services-us.readsoftonline.com – for US customers. https://services-au.readsoftonline.com – for customers in Australia.
Authorization key (API Key)	You can obtain the key from your account-information email or from an administrator, who can find the key in the Target system view in Admin Center.
User name	The user name you use to log in to ReadSoft Online.
Password	The password for User name.

3. Configure optional dialogs that can appear, depending on the services that are enabled in ReadSoft Online:

4. After you complete the required procedures from step 3 above, click Save to save the settings and exit the wizard.

Note Online ConnectOnline Connect, you must run the configuration wizard again and specify the new upload locations.

If you want to change the Output image format from TIF to PDF (Target system configuration settings), you must process all of the invoices in the system before you change this setting. Failure to do so will result in output errors.

Windows users that run ReadSoft Online Connect must have Read, Write and Modify permissions on all of the folders you specify in the setup.

Configure settings for uploading documents

Note Admin users must have the Process documents privilege to see this dialog and upload documents using ReadSoft Online Connect.

If the Image upload service is enabled, you can use ReadSoft Online Connect to upload invoices to ReadSoft Online. Customers can upload their own invoices for processing, and partner administrators can upload images on behalf of all of their customers.

Ideally, you specify the Root folder, and then click to automatically generate the subfolders. Subfolder are created for each buyer defined in ReadSoft Online. If no buyers are defined, the subfolder has the same name as the organization (customer). These subfolders determine which buyer the documents are connected to when they are uploaded to ReadSoft Online. Additional subfolders are created for each document type, if the buyer has more than one document type.

In this example, the Folder containing scanned images is named “Upload."

Note If you add new customers or buyers to the system after you configure Online Connect, you must run the configuration wizard again and specify the new upload locations.

Configure settings for registering invoices in Sage 50 Accounts

If Sage 50 Accounts is specified as your target system, you can use ReadSoft Online Connect to automatically register invoices with Sage 50 Accounts. You can also use ReadSoft Online Connect to import supplier, account currency and coding information from Sage 50 Accounts to ReadSoft Online.

See how to configure Sage 50 Accounts for use with ReadSoft Online.

Select Register invoices in Sage 50 and specify the other settings.

Register invoices in Sage 50	Enables the integration between ReadSoft Online and Sage 50 Accounts
Authentication
Company data path (ACCDATA)	Specifies the Accdata folder where the SETUP.DTA file for the company is located. You must share the Sage Accounts version folder (example: C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2017). The folder must be a shared network folder which Online Connect can access. Note that this folder is two levels above the folder that you specify in this setting. When specifying this setting, type the path as a network location. Example: \\some-computer\shared-folder\Company\ACCDATA\
User name	The Sage 50 Accounts user you want to use to authenticate Sage 50 Accounts. Note This cannot be logged into Sage 50 Accounts at the same time Therefore, we recommend that you create a dedicated user in Sage 50 Accounts for the integration.
Password	The password for the Sage 50 Accounts user.
Customizations
Image file name pattern	Specifies the image file name that is displayed on the Memo tab in Sage 50 Accounts.
Transaction header details template	Specifies the detail value for the document header when creating a transaction in Sage 50 Accounts. See help for information about Sage 50 data templates.
Transaction row details template	Specifies the detail value for the document rows when creating a transaction in Sage 50 Accounts.
Include tax codes not "In Use"	The term, not in use, indicates that there is no tax. Note that this is not the same as 0% tax. If you select this setting, not in use tax codes are also uploaded to ReadSoft Online. Tip All tax codes, including not in use codes, must have a description in Sage 50 in order to be uploaded to ReadSoft Online.
Enforce tax amount TaxCode	When you code invoices, this setting lets you use the tax amount in the header to calculate the tax instead of using automatic calculation. To use this feature: Enable a tax code in Sage 50 that is not already in use, and give it an appropriate description, such as "ReadSoft enforce VAT amount" or "Use header field tax." In the Enforce tax amount TaxCode setting in ReadSoft Online Connect, specify the tax code that you enabled in step one. After you save the settings, the tax code appears in the list of other tax codes that are available during account coding. If you select this tax code, the value of the tax field in the header is used to calculate the tax instead of using the automatic calculation. Note After you apply this tax code to a coding row, multiple coding rows are not allowed because the header tax amount cannot be split across multiple coding rows.
Coding field mapping – these settings only appear if the Workflow service is enabled in ReadSoft Online.
Coding field type	Specifies the internal name of a field in ReadSoft Online. Note The tax -code coding field is mandatory. You must map the “TaxCode” field in ReadSoft Online to the tax code field in Sage 50.
Sage 50 field	Specifies the field in Sage 50 Accounts that corresponds to Coding field type.
Archive – this setting only appears if the Storage service is enabled in ReadSoft Online. If the Storage service is not enabled, imvoice images are always saved locally in Sage 50.
Store image files for supplier invoices locally	Determines whether invoice images are saved in subfolders in the Sage 50 application folder. The image files are saved in: ATTACHMENTS\Supplier\Supplier code ...where Supplier code is the supplier code that the invoice belongs to.

For the Image filename pattern, Transaction header details template, and Transaction row details template settings, you can use variables to specify the values. You specify dynamic values by enclosing the internal name of a document header field in percent characters (%). For the Transaction row details template setting, you can also use the internal names for line-item fields.

Examples

%TransactionNumber% - specifies the transaction post number for the invoice.
%InvoiceNumber% - specifies the invoice number of the current invoice.
%LIT_ArticleIdentifier% - specifies the article identifier for a line item. Note that you can only use variables for line-item fields in the Transaction row details template setting.

After you complete the configuration wizard, a dialog appears which prompts you to validate the Sage 50 Accounts integration by providing a Serial Number and Activation Key. This dialog does not appear if you have already validated the integration.

Setup for multiple customers

If you log in to ReadSoft Online Connect as a partner administrator, you can configure settings for each customer that uses Sage 50 Accounts as the target system. The feature saves you time because you do not have to log in to different accounts to configure multiple customers.

Troubleshooting the setup

If you encounter problems validating the integration:

Open the Windows command prompt using an administrator account.
Type “cd C:\Windows\SysWOW64” and press Enter.
Type “regsvr32 sgregister.dll” and press Enter. Then close the dialog and run the ReadSoft Online Connect setup wizard again.

Using Online Connect with PROCESS DIRECTOR AP

After following the procedures above to setup Online Connect, you are ready to use it in production.

Uploading documents using Online Connect

You can upload documents to ReadSoft Online in these supported file formats using Online Connect:

JPEG, JPG
PDF version 1.3 to 1.7
PNG
TIFF, TIF
XML

Note Admin users must have the Process documents privilege to upload documents using ReadSoft Online Connect.

Automatic uploading

If you selected Upload documents automatically when configuring ReadSoft Online Connect for uploading documents, no interaction is required. When files are moved to the subfolder(s) of the location you specified in the configuration, they are automatically uploaded.

ReadSoft Online Connect runs continuously in the background as a Windows service and periodically checks (every 15 minutes by default) for new files to upload. When new files are found, they are uploaded automatically. Even if you restart the computer, ReadSoft Online Connect runs automatically in the background with no need for interaction. If a problem occurs during the upload, the upload operation will timeout after 10 minutes.

Most users use automatic uploading, and set up their scanners to save files directly in the appropriate subfolders that are created during the configuration.

Note If you have more than one document type, but you place files in the parent folder of the document type folders, the files are uploaded and processed using the Default document type specified in the Extraction service settings.

Manual uploading

If you did not select Upload documents automatically when configuring ReadSoft Online Connect, you can upload files manually at your convenience:

Start ReadSoft Online Connect from the Windows Start menu.
Move or scan invoice image files to an appropriate subfolder of the location you specified in the configuration, and click Refresh so you can see the files in the list. You can also click the Event log tab to check for errors.

Note If you do not see files in the list, make sure you place the files in a subfolder that corresponds to an organization or buyer in ReadSoft Online.
Click Upload documents. You can click Refresh to see that the images have uploaded or use the Event log to monitor the progress of your uploads.

Troubleshooting Online Connect for Sage 50 Accounts

Generic issues

If you have problems running ReadSoft Online Connect:

Make sure you have access to the URL that corresponds to your location:

You can click the links above to test if you have access. Click the links using the same computer that runs ReadSoft Online Connect. If you receive a 404 error, you do not have access.

Make sure you can download the files that are listed in the page that is displayed when you click one of the links above. To do this, replace Deployment.manifest in the URL with one of the file names in the list.
Log in to ReadSoft Online using the same computer that runs ReadSoft Online Connect to make sure you can connect to ReadSoft Online.
If you use a proxy connection, make sure the settings are applied to the same user/account that runs ReadSoft Online Connect. By default, this is a local System account. To test this, access ReadSoft Online using a location above, then change the ReadSoft Online Connect user to the same Windows user you tested with.

Sage Data Objects Engine

You must install the Sage Data Objects Engine (SDO) on every computer that uses ReadSoft Online Connect. This engine is necessary to allow ReadSoft Online to communicate with the Sage 50 Accounts database.

The SDO is included with the Sage 50 installation, though it might not be installed by default. You can also download the SDO from the Sage developer community: https://signon.sage.co.uk/

We recommend that you use the SDO tester provided by Sage Development Services to check the SDO configuration. For your convenience, you can download the tester here.

You cannot run different versions of the SDO on the same computer. Therefore, if you use Online Connect to process invoices for multiple customers that use different versions of Sage 50 Accounts, you must use separate computers for each Sage 50 Accounts version.

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