How to install fiscaldoo and what it requires

What is it for?

To get fiscaldoo working in Odoo 20 Community. Installation has two parts: on the server, you add the fiscaldoo code to the Odoo module folders; in Odoo, you install a single entry package, fiscaldoo · Installation — Entry point and packages. The other packages (certified invoicing, payroll, Copilot…) are switched on afterwards in Settings.

This article is for whoever administers the Odoo server: consultant, partner or technical administrator.

When to use it?

• In a new database, before any other work.
• In an existing Odoo 20 Community that is going to start using fiscaldoo.
• To confirm whether a server has what fiscaldoo needs.

The fiscaldoo version for Odoo Enterprise is not yet available to customers. The “Community and Enterprise” badge at the top of this article says which Odoo editions the steps apply to (compatibility), not that the Enterprise version already exists: see What the “Community and Enterprise” badge means.

Where to find it?

• On the server: the Odoo configuration file (the addons_path line).
• In Odoo: Apps, search fiscaldoo, card fiscaldoo · Installation — Entry point and packages.

Before you start

The server must have:

Requirement	What is needed	Why
Odoo	Odoo 20.0, Community edition	fiscaldoo is built for this version.
Python	3.12 to 3.14	These are the versions Odoo 20 accepts.
PostgreSQL	16 or newer	This is the minimum version for Odoo 20.
Python libraries	lxml, qrcode, xlsxwriter, cryptography, requests and xmlschema, in the same Python environment as Odoo	These are the ones the fiscaldoo packages require (signature, QR code, SAF-T, Excel exports and communication with the AT).
Barcode and QR library	rl-renderPM==4.0.3 (pip install rl-renderPM==4.0.3), in the same Python environment as Odoo, and a service restart	Odoo 20 only requires it for Windows. Without it, on Linux, anything that draws a barcode or QR code as an image fails with “Oops! Something went wrong”: the QR code of a vendor payment, labels and product barcodes. The certified invoicing QR code does not depend on it.
PDF engine	wkhtmltopdf installed on the server	The certified invoicing package uses Odoo's wkhtmltopdf-based PDF engine to print documents.
Code	fiscaldoo for Odoo 20 (version 20.0), with the addons and community folders	These are the folders that go into a Community database.

You also need administrator access to Odoo, to use Apps, Settings and the developer mode in step 5.

Pending validation on screen: the requirements come from the Odoo 20 files and the fiscaldoo packages. Installing on a new server was not done in this batch: the demo database comes already installed, and the project rule does not allow installing anything on servers.

How to use it

1. Copy the fiscaldoo addons and community folders, version 20.0, to the server. Do not copy the enterprise folder to a Community database: the packages in that folder need Odoo Enterprise apps.

2. In the Odoo configuration file, add the two folders to the addons_path line, after the Odoo addons folder and with the full path of each, for example <odoo>/addons,<fiscaldoo>/addons,<fiscaldoo>/community. Save the file.

3. Restart the Odoo service, so that it reads the new folders.

4. For a new database, create it with the European Portuguese language and the country Portugal, without demo data.

5. In an Odoo that already existed, tell it to read the new packages. This is an installation step and only the administrator does it:

   • open Settings and, in the Developer Tools group, click Activate the developer mode;
   • open Apps and, in the top menu, click Update Apps List;
   • in the Module Update window, click Update.

   Developer mode shows technical menus that everyday work does not use. At the end of the installation, leave it: on the bug icon, in the top bar, click Leave Debug Mode. In a database created after step 3, the list already includes the fiscaldoo packages and this step is not needed.

6. Open Apps and type fiscaldoo in the search. The cards of the fiscaldoo packages appear.

7. On the fiscaldoo · Installation — Entry point and packages card, click Activate (at the bottom of the card, to the left of Learn more; once installed, the card only shows Learn more). Install this package first and on its own.

Pending validation on screen: steps 1 to 4 were not observed in this batch (the Activate button of step 7 was seen on a package not yet installed), for the same reason. In the demo database, step 5 was observed up to the Module Update window (without clicking Update) and step 6: with the Apps filter, the fiscaldoo search shows 14 cards, among them fiscaldoo · Installation — Entry point and packages, already installed.

Expected result

• fiscaldoo · Certification appears in the list on the left of Settings, with one toggle per package. That is where you choose what to install next: continue with How to activate invoicing and the fiscaldoo apps.
• Odoo is also set to European Portuguese, because the other fiscaldoo packages need this language.
• At the bottom of the About group, in Settings, it reads “Odoo 20.0 (Community Edition)”.

Important notes

• Install the entry package before accounting. In a new database with a single company that has no country yet, the entry package sets the company to Portugal and euros, so that the accounting installed next brings the Portuguese chart of accounts. A company that already has a country, a second company or an accounting already installed are not touched. Pending validation on screen: behaviour read in the entry package code; it could not be observed in a new database.
• The demo package is not installed for customers. l10n_pt_arxi_demo creates a fictitious company with sample data and test keys. It is for training and testing.
• Before updating fiscaldoo, back up the database and rehearse the update on a copy.

Common problems

The fiscaldoo packages do not appear in Apps

• Cause: the fiscaldoo folders are not in the addons_path line, Odoo was not restarted after saving the file, or, in an Odoo that already existed, Update Apps List was not used.
• What to do: check the full paths of the addons and community folders, restart Odoo and do step 5: with developer mode, Apps › Update Apps List › Update. In the search, remove the Apps filter if you are looking for a package that is not an app.

Odoo does not start or refuses to install a package because a library is missing

• Cause: one of the libraries in the table under “Before you start” is missing from Odoo's Python environment.
• What to do: install it in the same Python environment Odoo runs in and restart Odoo.

Pending validation on screen: the messages for these two problems were not triggered, because that would have required changing the server.