AnnexOffice – Getting started (Tutorial)

A hands-on walkthrough ("your first hour with AnnexOffice"). Whitepaper format, PDF-ready. Screenshots are captured according to the shot list at the end.

Goal of this tutorial

By the end you will have created a customer and a project, tracked time, created a quote and converted it into an invoice with one click – all in a single .axoffice document, which you save and from which you produce a DATEV export.

Step 1: Launch the app and open the dashboard

Start AnnexOffice from AnnexHub. A new document starts with German sample data; open an existing .axoffice via File ▸ Open… (⌘O). On the dashboard you see the metrics – customers, projects, open tasks, open invoices and revenue.

Step 2: Create a customer

Switch to "Customers" in the sidebar and create a customer via the plus button. The customer base holds a contact person, email, phone, address, VAT ID, payment terms and a default discount.

Step 3: Create a project

Under "Projects" create a project linked to your customer. A project has a status workflow, a budget, an hourly rate, a start date, a deadline and notes.

Step 4: Track tasks and time

Under "Tasks" create tasks for the project (with status, priority and deadline). Under "Time tracking" book working time with a start/end time – the hours are calculated automatically and summed per project.

Step 5: Create a quote

Under "Quotes" create a quote – quickly via File ▸ New Quote… (⌥⌘N). The quote gets a number from its own range (ANG-…), a validity date and free line items with automatic totals (net, VAT, gross).

Step 6: Convert the quote into an invoice

Once the quote is accepted, convert it into an invoice with one click (File ▸ Convert Quote to Invoice). A real invoice is created with the same line items and a new number from the invoice range (RE-…); quote and invoice are linked, and double conversion is locked.

Step 7: Save as .axoffice

Save the document with File ▸ Save… (⌘S). If saving fails, AnnexOffice reports this as an error alert – your changes then remain in memory.

Step 8: Produce a DATEV export

Via the DATEV export you produce a booking batch of the outgoing invoices. In the dialog you choose the period, the chart of accounts (SKR03/SKR04), the debtor start account and the consultant/client numbers. The result is a real EXTF CSV file.

Result & next steps

You have walked through the core office workflow: customer, project, time, quote, invoice, saving and DATEV export. More on all areas, formats and MCP automation is in the manual (docs/manuals/en/AnnexOffice.md) and in the authoritative feature list .

Shot list (for screenshot capture)