Sage 50 and SFTP / Flat Files integration

What moves between them

Outbound flow: Sage 50 vendors, customers, invoices, payments, and general ledger transactions are queried on a schedule (hourly or per business cycle), converted to CSV or X12 EDI format, and uploaded to your SFTP outbound folder. Inbound flow: ml-connector polls your SFTP inbound folder for received invoices, payments, or vendor master files from trading partners; these are mapped and loaded into Sage 50 as purchase invoices or vendor records. The sync cadence is configurable and typically aligns with your accounting close cycle (daily, weekly, or on-demand).

How ml-connector handles it

ml-connector runs on a Windows machine with access to Sage 50 company data files and connects to both the local SDK and your SFTP server. On the Sage 50 side, ml-connector uses the US .NET SDK or UK SDO COM layer to query modified records since the last poll, filtering by LastModifiedDate or TransactionDate to find new transactions. On the SFTP side, ml-connector authenticates with SSH key or password and uploads the extracted data as CSV or X12 EDI files to your outbound folder on the agreed schedule. Inbound files are downloaded from your SFTP inbound folder, parsed according to your column mapping or EDI schema, and inserted as purchase records or vendor updates in Sage 50. Because Sage 50 requires exclusive access to company files, ml-connector ensures no interactive user session is active during SDK queries. File naming conventions and folder structure (inbound, outbound, processed, acks) are standardized per your trading partner. X12 acknowledgments are generated and deposited in the acks folder after successful receipt.

A real-world example

A mid-sized wholesale distributor runs Sage 50 US for accounts payable and general ledger, and receives purchase invoices and payment schedules from a dozen suppliers via SFTP. Before integration, the AP team downloaded EDI files from the supplier portal each morning, parsed them manually in a spreadsheet, and entered invoice details into Sage 50 one by one, introducing data-entry errors and late posting. With Sage 50 and SFTP connected, incoming invoices arrive in the inbound folder automatically, ml-connector parses the X12 810 format and loads them as purchase invoices in Sage 50 on an hourly schedule, and the team can post accruals and run cash-flow reports without waiting for manual entry. Vendor master updates flow the same way, so address changes and payment terms sync automatically.

What you can do

• •Export Sage 50 vendor, customer, and employee master files to SFTP as CSV or XML on a configurable schedule.
• •Ingest purchase invoices and payments from SFTP trading partners in X12 EDI (810, 820) or CSV format and load them as purchase records in Sage 50.
• •Query Sage 50 by LastModifiedDate or TransactionDate to identify new transactions since the last poll, ensuring incremental updates without duplicates.
• •Map inbound SFTP file columns and EDI segments to Sage 50 GL accounts, vendor codes, and cost dimensions based on your chart of accounts structure.
• •Generate X12 997 acknowledgments or EDIFACT CONTRL files after successful receipt of inbound data and deposit them in your SFTP acks folder.

Questions

Does ml-connector require a dedicated Windows machine to connect Sage 50 to SFTP?

Yes. Because Sage 50's SDK requires direct access to company data files on Windows and interactive exclusive session control, ml-connector runs on a Windows machine with Sage 50 installed. The machine polls SFTP on your schedule and transforms data between the local SDK format and flat files or X12 EDI for upload. This can be a dedicated integration server, a shared file server, or a desktop machine, as long as it has network access to both Sage 50 company files and your SFTP server hostname.

Which Sage 50 entities can ml-connector export to SFTP?

ml-connector can export vendors, customers, employees, purchase invoices, sales invoices, purchase orders, payments, GL accounts, inventory items, and general journal entries. Each entity is queried from Sage 50 by LastModifiedDate or TransactionDate, formatted as CSV or X12 EDI, and uploaded to your outbound folder. GL account write support is limited (creation is possible, but changes to fundamental account structure are restricted), so large account-structure migrations should be handled separately.

How does ml-connector handle incoming invoices and payments from SFTP?

ml-connector polls your SFTP inbound folder on a schedule (typically hourly or per business cycle), downloads new files, parses them according to your column mapping or EDI schema (X12 810 for invoices, 820 for payments), and inserts the records into Sage 50 as purchase invoices or vendor payments. After successful processing, an acknowledgment file (X12 997 or EDIFACT CONTRL) is generated and deposited in your acks folder. If parsing or insertion fails, the file is moved to the error folder and an alert is raised.