How the PDF to CII conversion works
A PDF invoice carries no structured data a machine can process. CII (Cross Industry Invoice) is the opposite: the UN/CEFACT XML syntax of the EN 16931 European invoice model, the payload inside every Factur-X and ZUGFeRD file and a valid standalone format of the French socle. The converter above bridges the two in one step: AI extraction reads your PDF the way a human would, the data is mapped to the EN 16931 model, and the result is re-serialised as a CII D16B invoice, validated against the business rules before you download it.
One honest rule comes with the AI step: always review the output. Validation proves the file is well-formed and consistent, but it cannot tell a correctly extracted total from a plausible misreading of an unusual layout. The review mode above opens every extracted field in the guided editor before anything is generated; in Brave Mode, open the result next to your PDF instead. Read the CII file in the viewer →
Who needs standalone CII, and why
The raw XML is what machines actually consume. Accounting systems and platforms ingest CII directly; archives want the data without a presentation layer; integrations and tests need the file the hybrid formats are built around. And because CII is a socle format, a standalone CII invoice is a legally valid e-invoice in the French network.
When your recipient wants something readable too, wrap the same XML later: the CII to Factur-X converter embeds it unchanged into a PDF/A-3 container. And for partners on Peppol asking for the other syntax, the CII to UBL converter transposes it field by field. Everything the syntax itself can do is in the CII format guide.