---
canonical_url: "https://buildwithwave.com/docs/estimates/xactimate-import"
title: "Bring an Xactimate export into Wave"
description: "Drop an Xactimate export (.ESX) into Wave's chat to rebuild an estimate from it, talk it through, or load just its rooms and sizes."
group: "estimates"
lane: "how-to"
status: "published"
publishedAt: 2026-09-26
updatedAt: 2026-09-26
sidebarOrder: 40
tags: ["xactimate", "esx", "import", "rebuild", "how-to"]
relatedSlugs:
  - "estimates/xactimate-export"
  - "estimates/start-an-estimate"
  - "estimates/pdfs-in-chat"
  - "billing/estimate-credits"
sidebarLabel: "Bring in an Xactimate file"
---

Wave works with Xactimate in both directions. Besides sending estimates to Xactimate, you can bring an Xactimate export (.ESX) into Wave and have Wave rebuild the estimate from it, talk it through with you, or load just its rooms and sizes.

## Drop the file into the estimate's chat

1. Open the job and go to the **Estimates** tab, with the estimate you want to work on showing.
2. In Wave's chat beside it, click the **+** (**Add files**) button and pick the .ESX file, or drag the file onto the chat.
3. Send it, with or without a message.

An .ESX file can be up to 100 MB. If the estimate is locked, unlock it first.

## Choose what Wave does with it

If you send the file with no words, Wave asks what you'd like to do with it, and offers these choices:

- **Rebuild an estimate from it.** Wave recreates the estimate from the file.
- **Chat about it.** Wave tells you what the file holds (its rooms and line items) and answers your questions about it. It changes nothing unless you ask.
- **I'll tell you what to do.** Wave waits for your next message and does what it says.

If the estimate already has line items, Wave leaves the rebuild choice out (see below).

If you send the file with a message, such as "rebuild this" or "what's different from our estimate?", Wave skips the question and follows your words.

## What a rebuild keeps

A rebuild brings over the file's rooms, their sizes and every line item, at the file's own quantities and prices. Notes attached to lines in the file come along with them. Wave then tells you what landed.

A rebuild only lands on an estimate with no line items yet, such as one you just started. On an estimate that already has lines, Wave won't rebuild on top of them, because that would double the scope. It says so and changes nothing. You can still chat about the file or load just its rooms.

Starting a new estimate to rebuild into uses one estimate credit, like any new estimate.

A few things to know after a rebuild:

- **Totals can differ from the file's.** Wave doesn't recreate charges the file adds at the estimate level, such as sales tax or overhead and profit. When the file carries sales tax, Wave points it out.
- **New lines use Wave's pricing.** Lines you or Wave add later are priced the usual way for the loss address. The rebuilt lines keep the file's prices.
- **Drying equipment may need a detail.** If the file bills drying equipment as one combined quantity, Wave may ask how many units ran and for how many days, so a drying log can be planned from it.

## Lines Wave can't match

Wave doesn't drop the file's lines. A line Wave can't match to its own items comes in as a custom line with the file's description, unit, quantity and price, and Wave names these lines in its reply.

## Load just the rooms and sizes

If you only want the file's floor plan, ask Wave to load its rooms. Wave lists the rooms it found and asks which to load before writing anything. The sizes come straight from the file. If a room on the estimate already has a measurement that disagrees with the file, Wave asks which to use instead of overwriting it.

Loading rooms this way works on water, mold and asbestos estimates. On other kinds of estimates, Wave can read the file's rooms for reference.

## Where the file is kept

The .ESX stays with the job, on its **Files** tab, whatever you choose. Wave doesn't learn from your file on its own. It only saves a file as one of your company's examples if you explicitly ask it to, and that never changes the estimate you're on.

## Send it back to Xactimate

A rebuilt estimate can go back out as an Xactimate export (.ESX), including its custom lines. See [Send estimates to Xactimate](/docs/estimates/xactimate-export) for setup and plans.

## Related

- [Send estimates to Xactimate](/docs/estimates/xactimate-export): export any Wave estimate as an .ESX
- [Start an estimate](/docs/estimates/start-an-estimate): open a fresh estimate to rebuild into
- [PDFs in chat](/docs/estimates/pdfs-in-chat): work from a carrier's PDF estimate instead
- [Estimate credits](/docs/billing/estimate-credits): what uses a credit and what doesn't