Scanning receipts

Turn a photo of a receipt or invoice into a draft transaction.

What you'll do: photograph a receipt and let Accountant fill in the transaction for you to check.

Scan a receipt

1. Tap the + button, then Scan receipt or invoice. You can also tap the Scan button in the transaction editor's toolbar.
2. Point the camera at the receipt and take the photo, or tap the gallery button to choose an existing picture. Long receipts are supported.
3. Wait while the app shows Reading receipt….
4. On Review scanned receipt, check the Payee, Date, Type, Total and the accounts. Then choose:
   • Use these to fill in the transaction editor
   • Rescan to take the photo again
   • Enter manually to type the details yourself
5. The editor opens with the reminder "Check amounts, dates, and accounts before saving." Review everything, then tap Save.

The receipt photo is attached to the transaction automatically.

How the receipt is read

• Text recognition runs on your phone. A second reader handles faint and dot-matrix print.
• If you've set up an AI provider, it turns the receipt into a transaction: payee, date, items and accounts.
  • Cloud provider: the photo and the recognized text are sent to that provider, if its model can read pictures. Otherwise only the text is sent.
  • On-device model: everything stays on your phone.
• The app checks what was read against the receipt itself, such as the total against the item lines, and matches the payee to names already in your ledger.
• Income or expense? A receipt issued under your Owner or business name (in Settings) is recorded as income; all others are purchases.
• Without AI, or if AI can't help, the app uses a basic reader (Using the basic reader…) that finds the total and date. You choose the accounts yourself.

When no account fits

If no account matches the receipt, the review screen says "You'll choose the accounts next."

To let AI suggest a new account instead, turn on Settings › AI features › Automatically add missing accounts. Suggested accounts appear as New draft account and are labelled Draft. They're only added to your chart of accounts when you post the transaction.

If the scan fails

"Couldn't read this receipt." Try again in better light with the whole receipt in the frame, rescan it, or tap Enter manually.