Reactivate access to SamBooks when your subscription has expired or is locked

If SamBooks shows "Subscription not active," your data stays safe: here's what remains reachable during the lock and exactly how to get out of it by subscribing to a plan.

What this is for

When a company is left without a valid subscription, SamBooks enters a locked state: most of the product stops responding until you subscribe to a plan. This isn't a malfunction — it's expected behavior, designed to never lose your data while still protecting the service. This guide explains when it happens, what stays usable even while locked, what's genuinely safe, and the exact steps to get back up and running.

When a subscription becomes "not active"

The locked state kicks in in these cases:

• the 7-day free trial ends without you having subscribed to a plan (there's no free fallback tier after the trial);
• you had canceled your subscription and the period you'd already paid for has genuinely ended (as long as the period hasn't expired, access stays full — see "Choose and change your SamBooks subscription plan" for the difference between canceling and actually being locked);
• a free promotional subscription you'd been given reached its end date without you subscribing to a paid plan in the meantime;
• no subscription has ever been set up for the company;
• you're on the Mini plan and your company has stopped being on the flat-rate regime (RF19): in this specific case the fix isn't necessarily paying more, but returning to the flat-rate regime or moving to a higher plan — see "Choose and change your SamBooks subscription plan" for the details.

In all of these cases, the Subscription page shows a red "Subscription not active" banner with the explanation "The platform is locked: subscribe to a plan to reactivate SamBooks. Your data is safe," and every other domain page (invoices, bookkeeping, bank, warehouse, projects…) shows a dedicated screen instead of its content: "Subscription not active — An active subscription is required to use SamBooks. Your data is safe and you'll be able to export it at any time," with a single button, "Subscribe to a plan."

What stays reachable while you're locked

Three areas of the platform remain always accessible, even while locked, because they're the ways to manage your account and get out of the lock:

• Subscription (Settings → Company settings → Subscription) — where you choose and subscribe to a new plan;
• Company settings, in the parts you need to manage the account and get out of the lock: Team, Company data and tax profile, Export, Customization. The operational settings pages — VAT codes, Numbering series, Archive and Integrations — stay locked, since they aren't needed to reactivate;
• your personal Profile (User settings) — your personal settings (security, notifications, consents) stay reachable at all times, regardless of the company's status.

Every other domain page (sales and purchase invoices, journal entries, bank, due dates, warehouse, projects…) is locked instead: you can navigate to it, but instead of the content you find the "Subscription not active" screen with the subscribe CTA.

Your data isn't lost

The lock doesn't delete or hide anything: nothing gets removed. Specifically, while you're locked:

• you can still export your data. Under Settings → Company settings → "Export" you'll find your data export in CSV or ZIP, reachable exactly as it is when your subscription is active;
• receiving purchase invoices from SDI never stops. Even while locked, if a supplier sends you an electronic invoice, SamBooks keeps receiving it and queuing it up — you don't lose incoming invoices just because you're locked;
• everything else — journal entries, records, documents, history — stays intact in the database; it's simply not browsable from the domain pages until you reactivate.

Sam pauses too

While the company is locked, Sam also stops processing requests: whatever you write in chat, it replies with a fixed message inviting you to upgrade, and doesn't carry out any action. In the chat drawer you'll also see a dedicated banner: "Sam is paused. Subscribe to a plan to reactivate it," with a button that takes you straight to the Subscription page. In practice, while you're genuinely locked you can't ask Sam to reactivate you — the first step out of the lock is always manual, from the Subscription page.

How to reactivate, step by step

1. Open the Subscription page

You can reach it even while locked: from the red banner at the top of any page, from the full-page lock screen, or from the Subscription entry in the left-hand menu.

2. Choose a plan

While locked, no plan shows as "current": every card displays the "Subscribe to {plan}" button, including a plan different from the one you had before. Pick the right one (Starter, Pro, or Mini if you're on the flat-rate regime) and the billing cycle, monthly or annual.

3. Complete the payment

Click "Subscribe to {plan}": you're redirected to the secure payment portal (Stripe Checkout) for card or SEPA direct debit. This is a new subscription, at the full price of the plan you chose — not a proration, because you don't have a paying subscription to adjust.

4. Back in business

Once payment succeeds, you land back on the Subscription page with the confirmation "Payment received. We're activating your subscription and issuing the invoice: everything will update shortly." The lock is lifted and every domain page becomes browsable again immediately, with all your data intact — nothing to re-import or rebuild. You also receive the electronic invoice for your SamBooks subscription.

If you'd only canceled and the period hasn't expired yet

There's a different situation from an actual lock, and it's important not to confuse the two: if you clicked "Cancel subscription" but the period you'd already paid for hasn't ended yet, access stays full — you're not locked. In this case the Subscription page shows "Your subscription will end on {date}. You keep full access until then; you can undo the cancellation anytime." along with an "Undo cancellation" button, which restores automatic renewal without needing to pay again. This is an action on the page: Sam doesn't do it for you. Only once that period genuinely ends, without you having undone the cancellation, does the real lock kick in — and that's when you need the reactivation procedure described above, with a new payment.

If a Stripe payment fails

An automatic charge (monthly or annual renewal) can fail due to insufficient funds, a revoked SEPA mandate, or a wrong IBAN. This doesn't lock access right away: you receive an email notification about the failed payment, and Stripe automatically retries the charge over the following days (known as dunning). The full lock only happens if these retries also fail and the subscription ends up genuinely canceled on the payments side — at that point the company enters the "Subscription not active" state, same as the other cases described above.

If you receive the failed-payment notification, the fastest way to avoid the lock is to update your payment method before the retries run out: go to Subscription → "Manage subscription" section → "Manage payment & invoices," which opens Stripe's customer portal where you can replace your card or debit method.

Ask Sam

If the company isn't locked yet (for example, you've only canceled and the period hasn't expired), you can ask Sam for your current subscription status and this period's usage; undoing the cancellation stays an action on the Subscription page. If the company is already locked, as explained above Sam only gives you a fixed message pointing you to the Subscription page — from there on, payment always stays a manual action; there's no way to subscribe or reactivate by writing in chat.

Frequently asked questions

SamBooks says my subscription isn't active, what do I do? Go to Subscription (reachable even while locked), pick a plan, and complete the payment — access returns immediately after, with nothing lost.

I can no longer access my data. Your data hasn't disappeared: it's all still in the database, the domain pages just stay locked until you subscribe. In the meantime you can still export it from Settings → Company settings → Export.

My free trial ended and now I'm locked. That's expected: the trial lasts 7 days and, if it expires without a subscription, there's no free fallback plan. Subscribe to a plan from the Subscription page to unlock access.

My subscription payment failed, am I going to lose my data? No. A failed payment doesn't lock access right away: you get a notification and Stripe automatically retries over the following days. The lock only kicks in if all the retries fail, and even then it never touches your data.

How do I reactivate the subscription I canceled? It depends on when you ask. If the period you'd already paid for hasn't expired yet, use "Undo cancellation" on the Subscription page — no need to pay again. If the period has already expired and the lock has appeared, you need a new subscription with a new payment.

Do I still receive invoices from suppliers while I'm locked? Yes — receiving electronic purchase invoices from SDI never stops, even while locked.

Can I export my data if my subscription has expired? Yes, at any time, from Settings → Company settings → Export: that page stays reachable even while locked.

Which pages can I still use if my account is locked? Subscription, your user Profile, and the Company settings you need to manage the account and get out of the lock (Team, Company data, Export). VAT codes, Numbering series, Archive and Integrations stay locked like the other pages. Every other domain page (invoices, bookkeeping, bank, warehouse, projects…) stays inaccessible until you subscribe.

Related guides

• Choose and change your SamBooks subscription plan — the four plans, prices, quotas, and how upgrading works while your subscription is active.