The Scenario
You are an event caterer. You send 30 paper invoices at events, each with a PayPal QR code so guests can pay immediately. You have invoice IDs in an Excel workbook — the Invoices tab, column A. You need the QR image URL for each one written into the adjacent QR Code URL column so you can embed them in your printed invoice template before tomorrow's event.
The slow version:
- Open PayPal, navigate to each invoice by ID
- Generate the QR code individually
- Right-click the QR image, copy image address
- Paste into Excel
- Repeat 29 more times
- Spend 45 minutes on 30 URLs.
The fast version is one prompt.
The Easy Way: One Prompt in SheetXAI
SheetXAI is an AI agent inside your Excel workbook that reads the invoice IDs and calls PayPal's QR code API for each one.
Open the SheetXAI sidebar and type:
Read my Excel Invoices table, generate a PayPal QR code for each invoice ID in column A, and paste the resulting URL into the adjacent QR Code URL column.
SheetXAI calls PayPal's QR code generation endpoint for each ID and writes the URL into the QR Code URL column. Thirty URLs ready for your invoice template.
What You Get
A workbook with a QR code URL alongside every invoice ID:
- Column A — your invoice IDs, unchanged
- QR Code URL column — the PayPal QR code URL for each invoice
You paste the URLs into your invoice template and print. Guests scan at the table and pay directly. You do not open PayPal once.
If your template needs a specific image size, change the pixel dimensions in the prompt.
What If the Data Is Not Quite Ready
Invoice lists for QR generation always have edge cases. SheetXAI handles them inline.
When some invoice IDs are invalid or already cancelled
A few invoices from early in the event season were cancelled.
For each invoice ID in column A, generate a PayPal QR code at 300×300 pixels and write the URL into the QR Code URL column. If an ID returns an error, write "INVALID" into that column instead.
When you need two QR code sizes per invoice
Your printed template has a small QR in the corner and a large QR for accessibility on a separate page.
For each invoice ID in column A, generate two PayPal QR codes: one at 150×150 pixels (write into column B) and one at 500×500 pixels (write into column C).
When you also want the invoice total next to each QR code
Your template shows the amount due alongside the QR code.
For each invoice ID in column A, fetch the invoice total from PayPal and write it into column B. Then generate a QR code at 300×300 pixels and write the URL into column C.
When you want to create the invoices and generate QR codes in one pass
You do not have invoice IDs yet — you want to create the invoices from a client list first, then generate QR codes.
For each row in the Invoices tab, create a PayPal draft invoice using the email in column A and the amount in column B. Once created, generate a QR code at 300×300 pixels. Write the invoice ID into column C and the QR URL into column D.
The pattern: QR generation is a single API call per invoice ID. SheetXAI chains the fetch and the write in one prompt.
Try It
Get the 7-day free trial of SheetXAI and open any workbook with PayPal invoice IDs, then ask it to generate the QR codes and write the URLs back. The PayPal integration is included in every SheetXAI plan. See also how to bulk-create draft invoices from an Excel workbook or the PayPal in Excel overview.