How do I scan my expense receipts?

Receipt scanning is provided by one of our partners, Sensibill, to allow you to keep track of your expense receipts by scanning them while you’re on the go and reviewing them later in your Uploads. Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), details are automatically extracted from the scanned documents and filled out for you when reviewing so you can quickly create expenses.

 

Note: Receipt Scanning for expenses is only available for users in Canada, United States, and United Kingdom, on trials as well as Plus, Premium and Select plans only. Ensure the correct country is selected in Basic Information settings.

 

Heads Up: For businesses in the United States, if you’d like to scan, manage, and pay your bills from within your FreshBooks account with bank transfers and mailed checks, review What is Bill Pay?.

 

 

Upload a Document

Use either option to upload your expense receipts: 

  • Select the Expenses section, then select the Uploads sub-section underneath, and select the Upload Documents button or drag and drop the file into the Uploads area
    Uploads sub section in navigation menu.
  • Select the Expenses section, then select the down arrow next to the New Expense button, and select Upload Receipt


From there, choose your JPEG, PNG, or PDF files to upload. It takes anywhere between 30 minutes to several hours for the document to be scanned, depending on image type and number of files.
Scanning documents banner above list of uploads.
Once the documents are scanned, you can find them in the Uploads sub-section, where they'll remain indefinitely until made into an expense or deleted.

 

Review a Document

Access all scanned documents in the Uploads section and begin reviewing them with the below steps:

  1. Select the Expenses section
  2. Then select the Uploads sub-section underneath
  3. Select Review next to any scanned document
    Review link next to a scanned document.
  4. If your account has any expenses that match the amount, currency and is within 0-2 days of the date of your uploaded document, the document being reviewed will be on the Attach (#) sub-tab by default
    Review section with attach sub-tab selected.
    1. For Potential Matches in the Attach (#) sub-tab, select the expense you want to attach the document to
      Review page with receipt uploaded on the attach sub-tab with an existing expense selected as a potential match.
    2. Then select the Attach button and the expense will be updated with this new receipt attached to it
  5. If your account has no matching expenses, the document being reviewed will be on the Create New sub-tab by default
    Review section with create new sub-tab selected.
  6. Review any populated fields in the Expense Details and ensure they are correct, or if missing, add them in
  7. If needed, include details in the Add description field
  8. If needed, select the More Actions button, and under Assign to Client/Project, select a client or project
  9. Select Create and a new expense will be created with this document attached as a receipt. The document will also be moved out of your Uploads into the list of expenses.

 

While reviewing a scanned document, select either:

  • Download - Use the down arrow button to download a copy of the document
  • Zoom - Use the minus and plus buttons to zoom in and out of the document while you’re looking over the details

 

Uploads Actions

While on the Uploads section, you can delete individual or multiple documents in bulk using either option:

  • Hover over any document and select the trash can icon to quickly delete the document
  • Check off multiple boxes, select Bulk Actions, and then select Delete to delete several documents in bulk

 

Send by Email

Email or forward documents to your unique email address and these documents will automatically be scanned for you to review in your Uploads later. To find your unique email address for email forwarding, use the below steps:

  1. Select the Expenses section
  2. Then select the Uploads sub-section underneath
  3. In the Uploads section, select Upload Documents and select Send by Email
    Upload documents button in uploads section with option to upload documents or send by email.
  4. Select Copy to copy the unique email address, and paste it in your preferred email client as a new contact for future use.

 

Send By Email Notes:

  • Only one document containing one receipt image can be emailed at a time, multiple attachments are not supported
  • The document must be in the body as an inline JPEG, PNG, or PDF image, or attachment of the email, not in a link to download outside of the email
  • Remove any other images in the email, including email signatures, which can be accidentally scanned and uploaded instead of the document
  • It can take anywhere between 30 minutes to several hours after emailing for the document to be scanned and ready to review in the Uploads section

 

FAQs

Why did my document not scan successfully? 
Receipt scanning depends on having a clean and well-lit photo to extract information from. There are several reasons why the scan may fail:

  • Incorrect file type - Only JPEG, PNG and PDFs are accepted file formats
  • Temporary error - Try uploading the document again at a different time
  • Receipt is blurry - Ensure camera isn’t shaking or too far away from receipt
  • Receipt is too crumpled - Try to smooth out the wrinkles and ensure receipt is flat as possible
  • Receipt is too faded - The print ink may have faded, try taking the photo of the receipt with a higher contrast
  • Receipt is taken on light background or odd angle - Try a darker background, or arrange the receipt so edges align with the screen of your camera’s preview image

 

Can I scan and upload bills?

The Uploads section is only available to scan and upload expense receipts. This is not automatically shared with the Bill Pay sub-section. If you’d like to scan bills, pay bills, and schedule bill payments in advance, use Bill Pay instead.

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