How do you extract data from invoices automatically?
By Tim White · How-to · Last updated
To extract invoice data automatically, send invoices to an extraction tool by email forwarding, upload or API. Let it read and check the fields. Review only the fields it flags, then export a CSV or JSON file or push the data onward by webhook. With InvoiceJet each invoice takes about 30 seconds, and clean ones need no review.
1. Get invoices in
Use whichever route matches how bills reach you. Most small businesses get them by email, so forwarding is the easiest place to start: every InvoiceJet account has a private address that extracts any attachment sent to it. You can also drag in PDF, JPEG, PNG, HEIC or HTML files up to 15 MB, or post them through the REST API. A PDF with several invoices in it is split into one record per invoice.
2. Let it read and check
The tool pulls vendor, invoice number, dates, tax, totals and line items. InvoiceJet has two models read each invoice, checks the math, and gives every field a confidence level along with the text it was read from.
3. Review only what's flagged
Don't re-check fields marked high confidence. That's the manual work you were trying to get rid of. Open the review queue, confirm or fix the flagged fields, and move on. InvoiceJet's queue is keyboard-driven and puts the fields that matter most first.
4. Export or push onward
Export CSV or JSON, filtered by date, paid status or client tag, or receive signed webhooks in your own system. Clear the review queue before you export. Otherwise a flagged total can land in your books unconfirmed.
Common questions
Can I automate this without writing code?
Yes. Email forwarding needs no code. Set a rule in your inbox to forward bills to your InvoiceJet address and attachments are extracted as they arrive.
What file formats can I send?
PDF, JPEG, PNG, HEIC and HTML up to 15 MB. Scans and phone photos go through OCR first.
How does it avoid getting fields wrong?
Two models must agree and the math must hold (line items sum to the subtotal, subtotal plus tax equals the total) before a field is marked high confidence. Anything less certain goes to review with its source shown.
Sources
Keep reading
- What is invoice data extraction?
- What is invoice OCR, and why is it not enough?
- How do you stop paying the same invoice twice?
- How do you forward invoices in by email?
- How do you use AI to convert invoices to Excel?
- How do you export invoice data to CSV?
- What is accounts payable automation?
- InvoiceJet for bookkeepers
- InvoiceJet vs Nanonets
- InvoiceJet pricing
Try it on your own invoices
10 invoices a month free, no card. Every field comes back with a confidence level and the text it was read from.