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Scan a supplier invoice

Photograph the invoice or upload its PDF, let FourFoxes read it, review the extracted lines, and save. The result is a normal ingredient purchase.

Invoice scanning turns a photo or PDF of a supplier invoice into a filled-in ingredient purchase, so receiving day is less typing.

  1. Open Supply Chain, then Ingredient Purchases, and click Scan invoice.
  2. Take or choose a photo of the invoice, or choose the invoice PDF. JPEG, PNG, WebP, and iPhone HEIC images work, and so does a PDF of up to 10 pages, up to 10 MB. Password-protected PDFs can't be read; save an unlocked copy and scan that.
  3. Click Analyze invoice and wait a moment while it is read.
  4. On the Review invoice screen, check the highlighted values against the original: supplier, date, and each line's ingredient, amount, price, lot number, and expiration date. For a PDF, click Open invoice PDF to view it in a new tab.
  5. If a line did not match one of your ingredients, resolve it: Use existing to map it to an ingredient you already have (optionally remembering the mapping for next time), Create ingredient to add it, or Skip for this save.
  6. Click Save ingredient purchase.

Packages are read as packages. When an invoice line sells packages, such as 3 BG GARLIC 3LB @ 10.94, the line opens with Enter by set to Packages and the Packages (3), Pack size (3), Pack unit (lb) and pack price ($10.94) filled in, so the saved purchase has the right stock and cost. Lines without a package open in Total amount with the quantity and price per unit, as before. If the invoice gives no pack size, the size and unit fill in from your last purchase of that ingredient from the same supplier. If the invoice's size differs from last time, the size is highlighted with the earlier one shown, for example Last time: 3 lb; the invoice's size is kept until you change it. A pack unit the scanner could not recognise leaves the size and unit empty and highlighted for you to fill in. This applies to lines you resolve with Use existing or Create ingredient too. Invoices scanned before packages were read keep their quantity and price as they were.

Nothing is written until you save. A confirmed scan creates a normal ingredient purchase, the same as one entered by hand, and the batch linking and recall tracing work identically. A scanned PDF is kept on the purchase with the invoice, the same as a scanned photo. If you do not want to keep a scan, click Discard scan. If a scan fails or the image is unreadable, you can retry the same image or upload a new one. Past scans are listed under Scan history.

Scan limits. Each plan includes a number of scans per month: 3 on Free, 20 on Maker, and unlimited on Producer. The upload page shows how many you have left, and the count resets on the 1st. Only scans that are read successfully count; a failed or unreadable scan does not. A PDF counts as one scan, whatever its page count. Lot label scans use the same monthly allowance. Separately, each account can run up to 200 scans per day.

Code mappings make repeat scans faster. When you resolve an unmatched line with Use existing, tick Remember this supplier code. Next time, the same code matches your ingredient automatically. Admins can review these under Account Settings, then Supplier Code Mappings, where a mapping can be re-pointed at a different ingredient or deleted.

Lot labels. The same scanner reads a supplier's lot label. On a saved purchase, click Scan lot label to fill in a line's lot number, expiration date, and manufacture date. Lot label scans read photos only; to keep a lot label PDF, attach it on the purchase line. See Scan a supplier lot label.

Review invoice screen The Review invoice screen shows the ingredient purchase details read from the invoice, with the invoice date flagged Needs check, an unmatched item with Use existing, Create ingredient and Skip for this save buttons, one ingredient ready to save, and the Save ingredient purchase button. Review invoice Ingredient purchase details Supplier Valley Pepper Farm Invoice Date 10/14/2026 Needs check Ingredient quality Good Resolve unmatched items 1 item GARLIC PEELED 5LB Qty: 4 bag · Supplier code: GP-5 Use existing Create ingredient Skip for this save 1 Ingredients to save 1 ready Ingredient Quantity Price per unit Supplier lot Expiration date Habanero peppers 25 3.40 L2410-03 12/15/2026 Save ingredient purchase Resolve 1 unmatched item to save. 2
Resolve each unmatched item (1). Save ingredient purchase unlocks once nothing is left to resolve (2).
You are the reviewer

The scanner reads the invoice for you; it does not approve it. Check quantities and prices against the paper before saving, the same as you would when typing them in.

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