Issue and download the journal ledger in SamBooks
7 min read
Download the PDF of your fiscal year's journal ledger, or just an extract for a chosen period: where to find it, what it contains, and how progressive numbering works.
What it's for
The journal ledger is the chronological list of every journal entry in a fiscal year, with its debit and credit lines. SamBooks builds it automatically from your journal entries and makes it available as a progressively numbered PDF, ready to keep or hand to your accountant. It doesn't live in its own menu item: it sits inside Filings, alongside the other periodic documents your company has to produce.
Before you start
You need a role with write access to accounting (Manager or Administrative); no prior setup is required — even a company that has never defined a custom fiscal year can issue the current year's journal ledger, because SamBooks defaults to the calendar year.
Step by step
1. Open Filings
From the left-hand menu open Filings. The first card on the page is "Journal ledger", : from there you issue and download the journal ledger for the whole fiscal year, or an extract for a period you choose.
2. Choose the fiscal year
In the "Fiscal year" field, pick the year you need. The list always shows at least the current year, marked "(current)" next to its name; if your company already has journal entries from previous years, or has defined non-calendar fiscal years from the Adjustments page, those show up too. You don't need to create anything up front to use the current year: it's already there, selected by default.
3. Choose a period (optional)
Below that you'll find "Period (optional)", a date range. The hint on the page is explicit: "Leave empty for the whole fiscal year. With a range you download only that period's extract." The range you can pick is bounded by the start and end of the selected fiscal year: you can't go outside those limits. If you switch fiscal year after setting a range, the period resets automatically, since a range from the previous year makes no sense on the new one.
4. Download the PDF
Click "Download PDF". Within seconds SamBooks generates (or retrieves, if it was already issued) the document and downloads it to your device. A confirmation message, "Journal ledger downloaded.", tells you it went through; if something goes wrong you'll see "I couldn't generate the journal ledger. Please try again."
5. Recognize the file
The file name depends on what you downloaded: libro_giornale_<year>.pdf for the whole fiscal year, or libro_giornale_<year>_<from-date>_<to-date>.pdf for a period extract. Either way, the PDF carries a header with your company's data and, at the bottom of each page, the progressive page number and the wording «Documento conservato digitalmente ai sensi del DM 17/06/2014, art. 3».
What the document contains
The journal ledger lists, in chronological order by registration date, every active journal entry of the fiscal year (or of the chosen period), with its debit and credit lines and its journal entry number. Voided entries — the ones marked with the red "Voided" badge in the Journal entries list — do not appear in the journal ledger: that's by design, because they represent operations that were withdrawn and shouldn't show up as if they were still live. At the bottom of the document you'll find the overall debit and credit totals: if the two totals match, the fiscal year's (or the extracted period's) double-entry books are balanced.
Reprinting and numbering
Every time you generate the journal ledger, SamBooks computes a fingerprint of its content and compares it against previous issues of the same fiscal year (or the same extract). If nothing has changed since last time, you get exactly the same PDF back, without generating a new one: you can re-download it as many times as you like without a new version of the document being created. If instead you've registered, corrected, or voided an entry that falls within that period in the meantime, the next download produces a new document, distinct from the previous one: the history of past versions isn't lost, a new one is simply added.
Ask Sam
You can ask Sam, in chat: "issue the 2026 journal ledger" or "download the March 2026 journal ledger extract". Sam uses the same engine as the Filings page and gives you the link to download the same PDF. There's also something only Sam can do: share the journal ledger's content directly in chat, without generating a PDF — handy if you just want to check one entry on the fly. On screen, on the other hand, only the downloadable document exists: there is no on-screen table of the journal ledger on the Filings page.
If something's not working
- I can't find the journal ledger in the menu: that's correct, it isn't a menu item of its own. It's inside Filings, the first card on the page.
- The Fiscal year field is empty, or I can't download: in the vast majority of cases the current year is already available with no setup needed. If you see "I can't load fiscal years right now.", that's a temporary loading issue: try again, or use the "Create a fiscal year" link, which takes you to the Adjustments page to define one explicitly (only needed if your company's fiscal year doesn't align with the calendar year).
- The PDF I downloaded today is different from yesterday's, for the same period: that means you've registered, corrected, or voided something falling within that period in the meantime. The new document is the up-to-date one; the old one remains valid as a historical version.
- The debit total doesn't match the credit total: in practice this shouldn't happen, because every journal entry is blocked at save time until debits and credits match line by line. If you notice it, first check Journal entries for an entry in an unexpected state, then confirm with your accountant.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I print the journal ledger? Inside Filings, in the "Journal ledger" card at the top of the page: pick the fiscal year and click "Download PDF".
Can I get the journal ledger for just one month, instead of the whole year? Yes: in the "Period (optional)" field set the date range you need, within the bounds of the chosen fiscal year.
Is the journal ledger certified? No, and it does not need to be. Article 2215 of the Italian Civil Code states that the journal ledger and the inventory book "must be numbered progressively and are not subject to stamping or certification": those formalities still apply to other books, such as corporate ones. Every PDF you download carries progressive page numbering and, in the footer, the wording on digital archiving under Ministerial Decree 17/06/2014, art. 3.
Does the journal ledger include voided entries too? No: only active entries are included in the document. Voided ones remain visible in Journal entries (Status filter = Voided) but don't appear in the journal ledger.
How do I check that debits and credits balance for the year? Look at the totals at the bottom of the PDF: if the debit total matches the credit total, the fiscal year (or the extracted period) balances.
What's the journal ledger file named?
libro_giornale_<year>.pdf for the whole fiscal year, or libro_giornale_<year>_<from-date>_<to-date>.pdf for an extract.
Can I view the journal ledger on screen instead of downloading it? Not from the Filings page: only the PDF download is available there. You can, however, ask Sam to share its content directly in chat.
The fiscal year selector is empty, what do I do? That's a rare case, caused by a temporary loading issue: try again, or use the link to define an explicit fiscal year from the Adjustments page.
If I download the same journal ledger twice, do I get two different documents? No: if the content hasn't changed, you get the same file back with the same fingerprint, not a new version.
Does the journal ledger also include entries from a different numbering series? Yes: the journal ledger is unique per company and includes every journal entry of the fiscal year, regardless of the source document or numbering series.