Scanning a receipt so it reads and files itself
Free to attach · Premium to read
Aim the camera at a receipt and the app reads it while you aim — supplier, tax number, document number, date and amount — before the photo is even taken. The reading happens on the phone, and the app learns each supplier's layout. This guide covers how, what is free, and where the files end up.
How it works
- Tap +, choose Expense (or open a document), and tap Scan.
- Point the camera at the receipt. The app reads it live and tells you when it has what it needs; take the photo when you are ready.
- The fields are filled in: supplier, tax number, document number, date and amount. Check, correct if needed, save.
A file already on the phone — a PDF invoice received by email — goes in with Attach instead. Each movement takes up to two files.
Read on the phone
The receipt does not leave the device to be read. For an app that handles customer and supplier invoices, that is not a detail. An optional AI reading exists for receipts the on-device reader cannot make out; it is switched on in Settings › Premium, asks for consent, and sends only that image, which is not stored.
It learns each supplier
From the second invoice of the same supplier on, the app knows where the fields sit on that layout. Correct a reading once and the following ones come out right — the templates are learned per supplier, on the phone.
Where the files go
- On the phone, attached to the movement (and to the document created from it — the movement's first attachment, the invoice, travels with the document; a receipt placed as the second attachment stays with the payment).
- With cloud sync on (Premium): from version 1.5.0, also in the cloud — a data centre in Europe — and downloaded on any of your devices that opens them.
- In the accountant package (Premium): one PDF per movement, with or without a strip of the movement's details on top, and the invoice documents in their own folder.
Tips for a clean reading
- Fill the frame with the receipt and keep the phone still for a moment — the live reader tells you when it is done.
- Thermal receipts fade: scan them the day you get them.
- A crumpled receipt reads better flat; the app straightens and crops, but cannot invent what a fold hides.
Questions
- Is the receipt photo sent anywhere?
- No. Reading happens on the phone. Only the optional AI reading — which asks for consent first — sends the image to be analysed, and it is not stored.
- Is scanning free?
- Attaching the photo or PDF is free on every plan. The automatic reading of the fields is Premium.
- What if the reading gets a field wrong?
- Correct it once. From the next receipt of the same supplier on, the app knows where that field sits on that layout and gets it right far more often.
- Do the receipts reach my other phone?
- With cloud sync on (Premium), yes — from version 1.5.0 attachments are stored in a data centre in Europe and downloaded on whichever device opens them.
Related guides
Checked against ZeniCash 1.5.0 on 2026-09-10. Where a feature is Premium, it says so.