Photograph a receipt and turn it into a bill

Capture a receipt from Purchases → Receipts and it is saved immediately, image and all, whether or not anything can read it. If automatic reading is on, the figures are transcribed in the background as suggestions — never as verified — and the list says while a read is running. Review shows the image beside the figures with checks that must pass first: a supplier is chosen, subtotal and tax add up, and you tick to say they match the image. That tick is the confirmation; saving alone does not confirm. A receipt charged in another currency also needs the rate you paid at. Only then can it become a DRAFT bill, which still needs approval.

Receipt capture turns a photograph of a receipt into a draft bill, with a person checking the figures in between.

Capture a receipt {#capture}

Purchases → Receipts → Capture receipt. On the phone you can photograph it directly; on either surface you can choose an image or upload a PDF.

The receipt is saved the instant the file uploads, whether or not anything can read it. That is deliberate: a reader that is switched off, out of allowance, or simply wrong should never cost somebody the paper in their hand.

Review what was read {#review}

Opening a receipt shows the image beside the figures, so each one can be checked against the paper.

Values read by AI are shown as suggestions, never as verified. Three checks must pass before a bill can be created:

1. a supplier is chosen
2. subtotal and tax add up to the total
3. you tick to say the supplier, date and total match the image

That tick is the confirmation. Saving alone does not confirm anything — it is the one signature in the flow, and nothing else can stand in for a person having looked.

A receipt in another currency {#currency}

The currency comes from the receipt itself, or from the merchant’s address where the paper does not state one — a receipt from a US address printing only $ is US dollars.

If it differs from your own currency, you are asked for the rate you were charged before a bill can be created. Gridbind does not look a rate up: the one that matters is the rate on your card statement, spread and fees included, and a mid-market figure would look authoritative while being wrong on every line.

The bill keeps the amounts exactly as charged and records the rate alongside them.

Units of measure {#units}

Each line carries a unit read from the receipt and matched against your own measurement units — KG becomes kilogram, Hrs becomes hour, m3 becomes cubic meter, 2 EA becomes each.

A unit that cannot be matched falls back to quantity rather than being invented, because a wrong unit on a stock line moves stock that never moved.

If a unit you routinely buy in is missing from the list entirely — tonnes, for instance — it cannot be selected until it is added to your measurement units. Nothing on the receipt screen can conjure a unit the system does not have.

Turn it into a bill {#bill}

Creating a bill produces a draft bill that goes through your normal approval. Capturing a receipt posts nothing and pays nothing.

The bill is three-way matched exactly like one typed by hand, and it links back to the receipt image, so an approver can open the photograph and check the figures against the paper before authorising anything.

It could not be read {#failed}

A failed read leaves the receipt in the queue with its image intact, and the details can be typed in by hand. Nothing is lost.

Reads that fail because of our provider are not counted against your monthly allowance. If the allowance is spent, capture still works normally — only automatic reading stops until it resets.