Software tutorial Applies to: Pro

Getting started with SEPA Generator Pro

Last updated: 25 October 2026

SEPA Generator Pro is a desktop application for preparing SEPA payment files on your own computer. It keeps your beneficiaries, customers, mandates and batches between sessions, and it writes standards-based SEPA XML files that you then submit through your usual bank channel (online banking, EBICS or a host-to-host connection). Pro does not connect to your bank, and it does not send, schedule or execute payments.

This guide takes you from installation to your first exported file.

What you need

• A Windows 10/11, macOS or Debian/Ubuntu-compatible Linux computer.
• The IBAN (and the BIC, if your bank asks for it) of the account you pay from or collect into.
• For Direct Debits: your creditor identifier and the signed mandates of the customers you collect from. See SEPA Direct Debit mandates explained if these terms are new.
• For the trial: nothing else. No credit card, no account and no email address.

1. Install Pro

Download the installer for your operating system from the Pro download page and install it like any other desktop application. Each package bundles its own Java runtime.

2. Start the 14-day free trial

On first launch, the Welcome to SEPA Generator Pro screen offers a choice:

• Start 14-day free trial unlocks every Pro feature for 14 days: Payments, Collections, the File Generator, XML Tools and the command line. The trial starts only when you click this button.
• Enter license key is for when you have already bought a license.
• Buy Pro opens the checkout in your browser.

While the trial runs, the header shows when it ends. When the trial is over, Pro asks you to buy a license or enter a license key to continue. Nothing is charged automatically, and none of your data is deleted: Access my local data… on that screen shows where your files are stored, so you can still open or copy them.

3. Find your way around

The bar at the top of the window switches between five workspaces:

Workspace	Use it to
Home	Open a workspace and see the backup status (Data protection).
Payments	Pay saved suppliers, contractors and other beneficiaries by SEPA Credit Transfer (pain.001).
Collections	Collect from saved customers by SEPA Direct Debit (pain.008), CORE or B2B.
File Generator	Turn a CSV, XLS or XLSX file into Credit Transfer or Direct Debit XML, with saved column mappings.
XML Tools	Validate an existing SEPA XML file, check Address Readiness, or migrate a supported older format.

The first launch opens Home; later launches reopen the workspace you used last. The gear icon (Settings) holds Company profiles…, Column mappings…, Backup & Restore… and Appearance…. The Help menu links to these guides and to What’s new…, Check for updates and Support.

4. Create your company profiles

Pro stores your own account details in company profiles, so you do not retype them for every file. Open Settings → Company profiles…:

• Debtor profiles are used for payments you send. Enter the Name, IBAN and BIC of the paying account, an optional postal address, and the Initiating party (the party submitting the file).
• Creditor profiles are used for collections. Enter the Name, IBAN, BIC and Creditor ID (your SEPA creditor identifier) of the receiving account.

Give each profile a recognisable Profile name, such as “Operating account”. Profiles are shared by Payments, Collections and the File Generator. In Payments and Collections, Manage debtors… and Manage creditors… open the same lists.

5. Prepare your first file

Choose the workflow that matches your task:

• Paying suppliers or contractors regularly: follow Prepare recurring supplier payments. You add beneficiaries once, then build each payment batch from them.
• Collecting from customers by Direct Debit: record your customers and mandates as described in Manage customers and mandates, then follow Create your first collection.
• Converting a one-off spreadsheet: open the File Generator, select a CSV, XLS or XLSX file, map its columns (you can save the mapping for next time) and generate the XML.

In Payments and Collections, each batch goes through Review before export. Errors block generation. Warnings, such as changed bank details or a possible duplicate, need your explicit confirmation.

6. Generate and save the XML

Click Generate & Save XML… and choose where to save the file. Pro validates the XML against the bundled official schema, keeps an archived copy of the original file and adds an entry to the workspace’s Export History tab.

You then upload the file through your bank’s channel yourself. A schema-valid file does not guarantee that your bank accepts it: banks apply their own rules per channel and account, so test your first file with your bank. After you have uploaded it, Mark as uploaded to bank in Export History records your own note. Pro never contacts a bank, so it cannot confirm that a payment or collection was made.

7. Know how your data is saved

Everything you create — profiles, beneficiaries, customers, mandates, batches and export history — is saved automatically in local files on your computer as you work. Nothing needs to be configured for this, and the data is still there after you close Pro or after a trial or license ends.

That local workspace is not encrypted by the application, and it is not a backup: if the computer is lost or its disk fails, so is the data. Encrypted backups are the optional extra described next.

8. Optional: set up encrypted backups

After your first saved change in Payments or Collections, Pro offers once per session to Protect your business data. You can also open Settings → Backup & Restore… at any time:

1. Choose a Backup folder, for example a OneDrive, Dropbox or company network folder.
2. Set a Recovery password. You need it to restore your data, for example on a new computer, so keep it somewhere safe.
3. Pro then writes an encrypted backup automatically after changes and after each export. Back up now writes one immediately.

The Home page and the header show the backup status. A backup contains your business data, company profiles, column mappings and settings, but not your license activation. Restore… replaces the current data with the backup’s content; Pro then closes and must be restarted.

9. Activate your license

To keep using Pro after the trial, buy a license through Buy Pro or on the Pro page: €119/year, an annual subscription with three device activations. Lemon Squeezy, our Merchant of Record, handles checkout and sends your license key.

In Pro, click Enter license key, paste the key, check the Device name and click Activate. Everything you prepared during the trial stays as it was. The license panel shows the activation status and offers Deactivate this device when you move Pro to another computer.

Next steps

• Prepare recurring supplier payments
• Create your first Direct Debit collection
• Manage customers and mandates
• Common SEPA XML rejection errors