Software tutorial Applies to: Community

Getting started with SEPA Generator Community

Last updated: 25 October 2026

SEPA Generator Community is a free, open-source desktop application that turns a CSV, XLS or XLSX file of payments into a SEPA Credit Transfer XML file (pain.001) for upload to your bank. It needs no license, no account and no activation, and it processes your payment data locally on your computer.

This page covers the setup and your first file. For the reasoning behind each step — preparing data, choosing a version, testing with your bank — read How to create SEPA XML files from CSV or Excel.

1. Install

Download the package for Windows (MSI), macOS (DMG) or Linux (DEB) from the Community download page and install it. Each package bundles its own Java runtime.

2. Enter your debtor settings

Your own account details are stored once, in the settings, rather than in every input file. Click the gear icon (Settings) and fill in:

Field	What to enter
Debtor name	Your company or legal name.
Debtor IBAN	The account the payments are taken from.
Debtor BIC	Your bank’s BIC.
Initiating party name	The legal entity submitting the payment file.
SIRET	The 14-digit French company identifier. The current version requires it.

Click Save. Settings are kept in a local file in your home folder (.sepa-generator-config.json).

3. Prepare the input file

Click Get input template… and save one of the templates:

• Basic CSV template or Basic Excel template;
• CSV + optional addresses (.03/.09) or Excel + optional addresses (.03/.09), if you want to include the beneficiaries’ postal addresses.

Each row is one payment. The column order does not matter:

Column	Content and example
name	Beneficiary name: Brightline Cleaning BV
IBAN	Beneficiary IBAN: NL91ABNA0417164300
BIC	Beneficiary bank BIC: ABNANL2A
amount	Positive amount, at most two decimals, dot separator: 620.00
end_to_end_id	Your reference for the payment, up to 35 characters: NOV26-001
information	Remittance text shown to the beneficiary: Invoice 2026-114

For pain.001.001.03 and .09, you can add street, building_number, postcode, town and country columns. When a row has any address field, town and a two-letter ISO country code are required. See SEPA structured addresses for why this matters.

4. Generate the XML

1. Click Browse and select your CSV, XLS or XLSX file.
2. Choose the execution date. It must be in the future.
3. Choose the format: pain.001.001.09 is the modern recommended version; choose .03 or .02 only if your bank asks for it. Not sure? Read pain.001.001.02 vs .09.
4. Click Generate and choose where to save the XML file.

Community validates the input before writing the file. It helps detect common errors such as invalid IBANs or BICs, badly formatted amounts, missing required fields, overlong references and incomplete addresses. If it reports a problem, fix it in your spreadsheet or export, not in the XML.

After a successful run, a summary shows the number of transactions, the total amount and the execution date. Compare them with your source file.

5. Upload and test with your bank

Upload the XML through your bank’s channel (online banking, EBICS or another upload service). The file is designed to follow the standard, but final acceptance depends on your bank, upload channel, account configuration and bank-specific rules. Test your first file with a small batch. If it is rejected, common SEPA XML rejection errors lists the usual causes.

Command line

Community also runs from the command line, using the same settings file, for scripted or scheduled exports. The usage guide on GitHub documents the arguments. See CSV to SEPA XML for typical recurring-export workflows.

When Community is not enough

Community is focused on generating Credit Transfer files from CSV and Excel. If you need SEPA Direct Debit, saved beneficiaries and customers, repeatable batches with an export history, or validation of XML files you already have, those are part of SEPA Generator Pro, a separate paid application. You do not need Pro to keep using Community.