Scan multiple receipts in one photo

Most receipt apps want one receipt per picture. If you have a shoebox, that means a hundred photos, a hundred uploads and a long evening. Bulk Receipt Scanner was built the other way round: spread the receipts out, take one photo, and every receipt in it comes back as its own record.

One photo can hold up to 8 receipts, and one bulk batch takes up to 15 photos, so a single batch can cover up to 120 receipts.

What happens to a photo with several receipts in it

When you add the photo, the scanner does three things:

1. Finds each receipt. It locates every receipt in the frame, even ones lying at an angle, and cuts each one out as its own upright image. You see that image beside the receipt's details in the review, so you are never squinting at the whole photo to check one line.
2. Reads each receipt separately. Vendor, date, subtotal, tax, total and payment method, every line item with its quantity and price, and the amount tendered and change due when the receipt prints them.
3. Checks the arithmetic. It confirms that the line items add up to the subtotal, that subtotal plus tax equals the total, and that the amount tendered matches the total plus any change. When something doesn't agree, the receipt is flagged for a look. It never quietly changes a number to make the sums work.

In your account, a second, independent check then looks again at each receipt's date and money fields. If it thinks a figure may be wrong, the review says so beside that field and highlights the spot on the receipt image, so you can confirm it at a glance.

How to take the photo

A good photo is the difference between a review you click straight through and one you have to correct. These habits matter most:

• Use a plain, contrasting surface. A dark table or a sheet of colored paper under white receipts makes the edges easy to find. Avoid busy patterns and wood grain that looks like print.
• Lay them flat, with a little space between. Receipts that overlap or touch can be read as one. Flatten curled thermal paper under a book for a minute first if it won't lie down.
• Keep every receipt fully in the frame. A total that falls off the edge can't be read.
• Light it evenly. Daylight from a window, or a room light behind you. Avoid your own shadow across the receipts and glare on glossy paper.
• Hold the phone straight above. Directly overhead keeps the text square. A slight tilt is fine; the scanner straightens each receipt, but a steep angle shrinks the text at the far end.
• Fewer for long receipts. 8 short receipts fit easily. Long grocery receipts are better two or three to a photo, so each one stays large enough to read.

Fixing a receipt that was read wrong

No reader is perfect, and receipts are hard: faded thermal print, coupons with their own dates, totals printed twice. When one receipt comes back wrong, you have three options:

• Correct it by hand. Every field is editable in the review, and line items can be added, changed or removed.
• Reread just that receipt. The Reread button reads that one receipt again, without rescanning the rest of the photo. You can reread a receipt up to 3 times.
• Turn the photo first. If a photo came out sideways or upside down, turn it before you start the scan; it takes a tap.

Why one photo of many receipts beats one photo each

• It's faster at the counter and at the desk. One photo instead of 8, and one upload instead of a queue of them.
• Nothing gets lost between photos. The receipts from one trip or one week stay together in one batch, and you review them in one sitting.
• You still get one record per receipt. Each receipt keeps its own vendor, date, totals, line items and image, so your books show what was actually bought, and duplicates are flagged before you send them anywhere.

Then send them on

Once the batch is reviewed, keep the receipts in your account and:

• Send them to QuickBooks Online on a paid plan, as expenses with the receipt image attached;
• Export a CSV on any plan: a QuickBooks-ready file, a general spreadsheet file, or one row per line item.

Questions about plans? See pricing .