Payroll export filenames explained

What a downloaded payroll file is named, and how to tell the four export formats apart on disk.

Every payroll file you download from the Payroll reports page follows the same naming pattern, so you can tell the month and the format apart at a glance once a few files are sitting in your downloads folder. This article explains what each part of the name means and why re-downloading the same month gives you an identically named file.

The naming pattern

A downloaded payroll file is named like this:

year-month-service-report.extension

For example, the Excel export for March 2025 is 2025-03-excel-report.xlsx. Reading left to right:

• year and month identify the report period (2025-03 is March 2025).
• service is the export format you chose.
• report is a fixed word that ends every payroll filename.
• extension is the file type your payroll system opens.

How to tell the formats apart

The Download menu on the Payroll reports page offers four formats. Each one produces a different filename ending, so you never have to open a file to know which format it is:

• Excel ends in -excel-report.xlsx
• Fortnox ends in -fortnox-report.xml
• Flex HRM (xlsx) ends in -flex-xlsx-report.xlsx
• Flex HRM (dta) ends in -flex-dta-report.dta

Note that the two Flex HRM formats both start with flex but differ in the middle (flex-xlsx versus flex-dta) and in their extension, so they never collide on disk.

The date comes from the report month

The year-month at the start of the name always reflects the period the report covers, not the day you pressed Download. If you download April's report in May, the file is still named 2025-04-.... This keeps a folder of past exports in tidy chronological order regardless of when each one was pulled.

Why re-downloading gives the same filename

The name depends only on the month and the format, so every download of the same month and format has the same name. Whether the contents are the same depends on the month: if nothing has changed since the last download in that format you get the same file again, and if something has changed (a new cutoff, a corrected payroll code, a late approval) you get a new file built from the data as it is now, under the same name. Earlier files are kept under History next to Download in the month's preview on the Reports page, marked Replaced, so keep that in mind if you save several downloads of one month in the same folder.

Troubleshooting

• Two files have the same name. Your browser usually adds a (1) suffix when a file with that name already exists in your downloads folder. That suffix comes from your browser, not from CLVR. The two files can differ if the month changed between downloads; History on the Reports page shows which one is current.
• I cannot tell two .xlsx files apart. Check the middle of the name: -excel-report is the Excel export and -flex-xlsx-report is the Flex HRM spreadsheet.
• The month in the name looks off by one. The number is the calendar month of the report period (03 is March). It is not tied to the download date.