--- title: "How Does Receiptor AI Work?" description: "Receiptor AI is an AI agent that handles your entire receipt and invoice workflow — from capturing documents to exporting them to your accounting software — with as little manual work as possible." url: https://help.receiptor.ai/en/articles/9885883-how-does-receiptor-ai-work collection: "General/FAQ" updated: 2026-11-07 language: en --- # How Does Receiptor AI Work? Receiptor AI is an AI agent that handles your entire receipt and invoice workflow — from capturing documents to exporting them to your accounting software — with as little manual work as possible. Receiptor AI is an AI agent that handles your entire receipt and invoice workflow — from capturing documents to exporting them to your accounting software — with as little manual work as possible. Here is the full picture from start to finish. * * * ## Step 1: Connect Your Sources Receiptor AI works by monitoring the places where your documents arrive. You connect one or more sources and the AI watches them automatically. - **Emails** — connect Gmail, Outlook, or any IMAP inbox. Receiptor AI scans incoming emails continuously and extracts receipts and invoices as they arrive. - **Mobile Scanners (WhatsApp & iMessage)** — connect a mobile number and send photos or documents via WhatsApp or iMessage. Each mobile scanner is assigned a name (persona), so documents and interactions are attributed to the right person. - **Quick Upload** — drag and drop PDF or image files directly into Receiptor AI for one-off uploads. You can connect multiple sources of each type — for example, three different email accounts and two mobile scanners — all feeding into one workspace. Go to **Collect** in the left sidebar to manage your connected sources. * * * ## Step 2: AI Extracts Your Documents Once a source is connected, extraction runs automatically. Here is how the email extraction process works: 1. **Filter** — Receiptor AI checks each incoming email against your sender rules (Allowed/Blocked Senders list) and scans for signals that the email contains a financial document. 2. **Analyze** — Emails that pass the filter are analyzed for document content: attached PDFs, embedded HTML receipts, images, and forwarded messages. 3. **Extract** — The AI reads the document and pulls out every data field: vendor name, date, total amount, tax, line items, currency, payment status, due date, and more. * * * ## Step 3: AI Processes and Categorizes Documents - **Auto-categorization** — if you have a default chart of accounts set, the AI assigns the best-matching expense category to every document automatically. - **Duplicate detection** — the AI flags documents that appear to be duplicates of ones already in your workspace, so you do not double-count expenses. - **Anomaly detection** — unusual amounts, missing fields, or inconsistencies are flagged for your review. - **Business entity assignment** — if you manage multiple entities, the AI assigns each document to the correct one based on the billing details and patterns it has learned. * * * ## Step 4: Manage Your Documents Every extracted document appears in the **Documents** section. From here you can review, edit, filter, search, label, and bulk-act on documents. * * * ## Step 5: Export and Integrate - **CSV export** — download a spreadsheet of any set of documents with all fields included. - **PDF or ZIP export** — download the original files for record-keeping or sharing. - **Forward by email** — send documents directly to your accountant or any email address. - **Xero or QuickBooks**: match an existing purchase first, attach the source document, and create the right accounting record only when needed. If Receiptor cannot make a safe decision, the export pauses for your review. - **Google Drive or Dropbox** — save documents to a named folder structure in your cloud storage. - **Mercury** — attach documents directly to the matching Mercury bank transaction, automatically matched by the AI. * * * ## Common Questions **Q: How quickly are documents extracted after an email arrives?** A: Extraction typically happens within a few minutes of an email arriving in a monitored inbox. **Q: Does Receiptor AI access all emails in my inbox, or just the ones with documents?** A: Receiptor AI scans for financial documents only. It applies your Allowed/Blocked Sender filters before analyzing anything and does not read or store content from emails that do not contain relevant documents. **Q: Is my data secure?** A: Yes. Receiptor AI uses OAuth 2.0 for email connections (no passwords stored), encrypted connections for all integrations, and stores your documents securely. * * * ## Support Contact us via the in-app chat or at [info@receiptor.ai](mailto:info@receiptor.ai).