Scanning purchase invoices

Summary

Send a supplier invoice in by email, upload or phone camera and Torqueflow reads the supplier, document number, dates, totals and line items for you. You check what was read on a side-by-side review screen, fix anything wrong, and click Confirm to create the purchase invoice. Suppliers and parts can be created from the same screen if they are not already in your records.

This guide covers the three ways in, the scan inbox, the review screen, clearing dead scans out of the inbox, and what to do when something goes wrong.

Prerequisites

At least one scan address has been created. See Scan addresses.
You have the finance.purchases.scan_review permission to open the inbox and review screens. Owner, Manager and Service Advisor have it by default. On its own it is read-only.
To confirm a scan (create a purchase invoice), you also need finance.purchases.scan_confirm. Owner and Manager have it. Service Advisor does not.
To discard or restore a scan, you need finance.purchases.scan_dismiss. Owner and Manager have it. Service Advisor does not, so a service advisor can review scans but cannot bin them.
To retry a failed extraction, you need finance.purchases.scan_retry. Owner and Manager have it.
Currently GBP only. Non-GBP invoices cannot be confirmed.

Steps

Send a scan in (three ways)

By email. Forward or send directly to one of your scan addresses (<token>@scan.torqueflow.app). Each attachment becomes a separate scan. PDF, JPG, PNG, WebP and HEIC (iPhone) files are accepted.

By desktop upload.

Go to Finance > Purchases > Scan Inbox.
Click New scan in the top right.
On the Upload file tab, drag files in or click to pick them. You can add several at once, and each file becomes its own scan. Multi-page PDFs are fine.
Optionally pick a Document type hint (Auto-detect, Purchase invoice, Delivery note or Supplier statement).
Click Upload. For a single file, Torqueflow takes you to the review screen as soon as it has been read.

By phone camera.

On a phone, tap New scan and switch to the Take photo tab.
Tap the camera button. Your phone camera opens.
Take the photo of the invoice. One photo per scan. For a multi-page invoice, upload a PDF from a desktop instead. Phone multi-page capture is not available yet.
Optionally pick a document type hint.
Tap Upload.

Track scans in the inbox

The inbox at Finance > Purchases > Scan Inbox has five tabs:

Pending: waiting for review.
Confirmed: you have already created a purchase invoice from this scan.
Failed: reading did not work, or someone discarded the scan while reviewing it.
Duplicate: matches an earlier scan.
All.

The number on each tab is the total for the whole inbox, not just the page you are looking at.

Each row shows:

The status: Processing… (still being read), Ready to review, Confirmed, Failed or Duplicate.
The supplier the scan appears to be from, or the filename if nothing has been read yet.
The supplier’s document number.
Net and gross totals.
Where it came from: Email (with the sender’s address on hover), Upload or Camera.
A Review action, and a Discard action on failed and duplicate scans if you are allowed to discard. Scans awaiting review are discarded in bulk, with a reason. See Clear dead scans out of the inbox.

Most scans go from Processing… to Ready to review in 5-15 seconds.

The inbox opens with the newest scans first, so something you have just sent is at the top of page one. It shows 50 scans a page. Use Previous and Next at the bottom to move between pages. The line beside them reads, for example, “Showing 51-100 of 212”. Your browser’s Back button takes you to the page you were on before. The page controls only appear when there is more than one page, or when a search or filter is on.

Find a scan

Search by supplier name, filename or document number. The search covers the whole inbox, not just the current page.
If nothing matches, select Clear search to go back to the full list.
Sort by clicking a column heading. Click it again to reverse the order.
If a scan is still being read it cannot be searched yet, and the page says how many are in that state. Clear the search to see them.
If your search matches scans on other tabs, a hint says which tabs and how many, so a scan that is already confirmed does not look lost.
From the Confirmed tab you can jump straight to the invoice a scan created, and back again.

Two sorts behave in a way worth knowing:

Document sorts scans with a supplier name first, then scans with no supplier name yet (still being read, failed or unreadable) after them, ordered by filename. That holds in both directions.
Status sorts in the order a scan moves through: processing, ready to review, confirmed, failed, duplicate.

Delivery notes and supplier statements do not stay in this inbox. A chip at the top says how many were identified and moved, for example 2 delivery notes, and links to the Delivery Inbox or Supplier statements. If something was sent without its type set and was read as the wrong kind of document, that is where to look for it.

Show only the scans that do not add up

If any scans on the current tab could not be reconciled when they were read, a chip at the top says how many, for example 4 unreconciled. These are the ones where the figures on the document do not add up, so they are worth looking at first.

Select the chip. The list now shows only those scans, and the chip reads Showing only scans that need attention.
Select the chip again to show everything.

If the filter is on and nothing on the tab needs attention, the page says “No scans on this tab need attention” with a Show all button.

Review and confirm a scan

Click Review on a row.
The review screen splits into the original document on the left and a form on the right. On phones, the form comes first with a View original link.
The top of the form says where the scan came from (“Received from supplier@...”, “Uploaded by Steve”, or “Captured by Chloe”).
Pick the supplier. The supplier picker groups results into:
- Matched (green): the AI is confident this is your existing supplier.
- Likely (amber): probably the right supplier. Double-check it.
- Unmatched (grey): search results plus an Add new supplier button.
If the supplier is not in your records, click Add new supplier, fill in the name, choose VAT-registered Yes or No, add the VAT number if registered, and save. The supplier is created straight away and selected for this scan.
Check the header fields: supplier document number, document date, due date, document type (Invoice, Credit note or Proforma), nominal code (required), optional work-order link and optional notes.
- The nominal code list leaves out sales codes, because a purchase is never income. See Why sales codes are not offered on a purchase.
- The document number is left empty if the reader picked up your account number. Some suppliers print your account number where an invoice number would be. When the number read matches the account number saved on the supplier you have picked, the field is left blank with a line explaining why. Type the number printed on the document. This follows the supplier currently picked, so picking a different supplier checks again. If the check cannot run, a line says “We could not check whether this number is your account number”. Check it by eye before confirming.
- The document number is left empty if the PDF prints its numbers without labels. Some suppliers send PDFs where the numbers are printed but the labels saying which is which are missing. Rather than guess, Torqueflow leaves the field blank and says: “The numbers on this PDF are printed without their labels, so we could not tell which one is the document number. Check the printed copy and type the document number.” This is expected, not a failed scan.
- An emailed invoice that prints a reference next to the invoice number pre-fills the invoice number alone. The two numbers are no longer run together into one long number.
- If the same number is on many other scans, a warning says so. A number shared by many documents is usually your account or customer number. If it is, select Save [number] as our account number with [supplier]. From then on, that supplier’s scans stop pre-filling it. Owners, managers and anyone who can create purchases can do this.
- If the supplier has no default nominal code, a one-click set as default appears beside the field. Using it pre-codes that supplier’s future scans. It never overwrites an existing default, and it only appears if you can create purchases.
- Each line also has its own nominal code, showing Same as invoice until you change it. While you are reviewing, lines follow the header code. Override one and the override survives a header change. Line codes apply to invoices and proformas, not credit notes.
Review the lines. Each line has its own match badge:
- Matched (green): the part is in your catalog. Click Change if it is wrong.
- Likely (amber): a probable catalog match. These are accepted automatically when you confirm, so you do not have to click each one. If a line looks wrong, click Review to flag it (flagged lines block Confirm) and then Pick different or Accept.
- Unmatched (grey): not in your catalog. Click Pick from catalog to search, or Add to catalog to add the part now. The line flips to matched.
Edit any line field the AI got wrong: part number, description, quantity, unit price, line net. The line net is calculated for you. If you override it, a small warning chip shows.
Skip lines that are not parts by toggling the line off (for example a non-itemised admin charge). Or use Skip catalog matching for all lines at the top of the lines section if the whole invoice is utilities, rent or tools that have nothing to do with your parts catalog.
Click Confirm. The button label tells you what is about to happen, for example “Confirm 8 matched, 3 likely (accepted as-is)”. Flagged lines must be resolved first, and the button then reads “Resolve 2 flagged lines before confirming”.
After confirming, the scan moves to the Confirmed tab and a purchase invoice appears in the purchase invoices list.

When Torqueflow thinks you already have this purchase

Some suppliers print one number on the counter slip and a different one on the emailed VAT invoice. Without a check, the same purchase can go into your books twice. So before you confirm, Torqueflow looks for a purchase you already hold from the same supplier that looks like this one.

If it finds one, a warning appears: This may be a purchase you have already recorded. It lists each possible match with its supplier number, date and amount, and says why it matched. The reasons are:

The same number written differently, with the same total, such as with or without a dash, a space or a leading zero.
One number contains the other, with the same total. This is common when a supplier adds a branch code or a reference to the front of the invoice number.
The same parts and quantities, with the same total.
The same total from a counter slip and an invoice a few days apart.
The parts were received and are already invoiced on the other purchase.

Deal with it before you confirm. Confirm stays off until you do.

If it is the same purchase, select Same purchase - discard this scan. The discard reason is filled in for you as “Duplicate of” the invoice it matches.
If the parts need booking in, use Book the goods in from the Delivery Inbox instead.
If they really are different purchases, tick These are different purchases - record this one anyway. The tick is recorded against the new invoice so there is a trail.

If your role lets you review scans but not confirm them, you see the warning and its links, but not the tick box or the discard button. Someone who can confirm deals with it.

It does not fire on your ordinary repeat buying. Buying the same filter every week, paying rent or a run of DVLA fees at the same amount does not trigger it on its own. A match needs a number that corresponds and the same total, or the same parts, or a counter slip and an invoice close together with the same total. Two receipts numbered by their date (for example 23/06/26 and 23/06/26.) at different totals are not flagged.

If the check itself fails, a line says “Could not check for a possible duplicate of this purchase”. If someone records a matching purchase while you are reviewing, confirming is refused with “Another purchase that may be the same one has just been found”. Check the new match, then confirm again.

This check runs on scan review, on the itemised entry page and in the Quick entry New Purchase Invoice dialog. The dialog has no lines, so only the two number reasons apply there. See When the dialog thinks you already have this purchase. Booking goods in from a delivery note does not run this check. Deliveries have their own protection against the same delivery note being recorded twice.

One thing changes the moment you confirm, and nothing on screen says so. While reviewing, the lines follow the invoice’s nominal code. Once confirmed, they stop. Changing the header code on a confirmed invoice moves nothing, and the lines of a confirmed invoice cannot be edited, so a miscoded line means voiding the invoice and entering it again. See Correcting a purchase mistake.

Clear dead scans out of the inbox

Discarding takes a scan out of the inbox. Nothing is deleted. The scan keeps its failure reason, its audit history and any links to other records, and it can be brought back. Only Owners and Managers can discard. Service advisors do not see the Discard control anywhere.

You can discard from the inbox (one scan or several at once) or from the review screen. They do slightly different jobs.

Scans awaiting review that are not purchase invoices

Use this to clear a batch of documents that were read correctly but were never purchase invoices, such as a pile of supplier advice notes.

On the Pending or All tab, tick the scans to clear. Select all awaiting review shown ticks every scan awaiting review on the current page.
To clear everything that matches a search, search first (for example by the number the documents share). Then select Select all [N] awaiting review that match. That picks up every match, not just this page. Up to 200 can be discarded in one go. If more match, the page tells you, and you discard a page at a time.
Select Discard [N] with reason….
Enter a reason, for example “Supplier advice notes”. It is recorded on every scan.
Select Discard. The message says how many were discarded. Any scan that is linked to another record, has changed or is no longer awaiting review is kept and stays ticked so you can see which.

If the matching set changes while the dialog is open, the dialog says so and keeps your reason, so you can press Discard again.

A single failed or duplicate scan

Click Discard on the row, on the Failed, Duplicate or All tab.
The confirm step reads Discard this scan? and explains that it will disappear from every tab and from search. No reason is needed, because the failure reason is already on the scan.
Confirm. A message says Scan discarded and offers Undo for a few seconds.

Several at once (desktop)

On the Failed and Duplicate tabs, each row has a tick box.

Tick the scans to clear, or use Select all shown to tick every scan on the current page.
Click Discard 12 (the number is how many you ticked).
Confirm. Any scan that is linked to another record is kept rather than discarded. The message says how many were discarded and how many were kept, and leaves the kept ones ticked so you can see which.

A selection stays with the page it was made on. Ticks on page one are still there when you come back to page one, but they are not carried to page two. On a phone, discard scans one at a time.

A scan you are reviewing that should not be entered

Use this for a stray page, or something that is not a purchase invoice at all.

On the review screen, click Discard.
Enter a short reason (1-500 characters), for example “Stray page from a multi-doc PDF” or “Not a purchase invoice”.
Confirm. The scan is hidden from the inbox, with your reason recorded.

Where discarded scans go

A discarded scan disappears from every tab and from search, so you will not find it by looking. A line under the list says how many are hidden on that tab, for example “3 discarded scans are hidden”. Everyone who can see the inbox sees that line, including people who cannot discard, so a hidden scan never reads as a lost one.

Bring a discarded scan back

Straight away: select Undo on the message that appears after you discard. It lasts a few seconds.
Later: open the scan by its direct link (for example from an email, or the audit log). A banner at the top says “Somebody discarded this scan, so it is hidden from the inbox”, with the reason if one was given. Select Restore to inbox.

A restored scan comes back awaiting review, on the Pending tab, with everything the reader found still in place. This also applies to scans discarded in the past, so an old scan you restore now lands on Pending, not Failed. That is expected. A scan Torqueflow had read as a delivery note or a statement still comes back on Failed.

While a scan is discarded it cannot be confirmed into an invoice. Restore it first. If you do not have permission to restore, the banner says so and asks you to get a manager to do it.

Retry a failed scan

If reading failed, the review screen shows a banner explaining why. Owners and managers see a Retry button on it. Retrying runs the reader again and uses credits. Service advisors see a banner asking them to find an owner or manager.

Expected Outcome

The scan moves from Pending to Confirmed in the inbox. A purchase invoice appears in Finance > Purchases with the supplier, document number, dates, totals and lines filled in. New parts you added show in Settings > Parts > Catalog. New suppliers you added show in Settings > Suppliers. The Failed and Duplicate tabs only hold scans somebody still needs to deal with.

Banners and edge cases

You may see one of these banners on the review screen.

Non-GBP invoice. “This is a EUR invoice. Non-GBP invoices aren’t supported yet. Discard this scan and re-upload as GBP.” The Confirm button is disabled. Click Discard and ask the supplier for a GBP version.

Read as a counter invoice, filed as a purchase invoice. A line near the top of the form says, for example: “Read as a counter invoice (“SALES INVOICE”), but it prints no counter-sale marking, so it was filed as a purchase invoice. If the goods were collected at the counter, record the goods receipt by hand.” An invoice only counts as a trade-counter invoice, and so also lands in the Delivery Inbox, when it is titled RECEIPT, SALES RECEIPT or CASH SALE, or prints a counter-sale marking such as “COUNTER SALE”, “CARRIED OUT BY CUSTOMER” or “Invoice generated from receipt” as a heading, stamp or sale-type field. Wording in the terms or small print does not count. This one did not, so it was treated as an ordinary supplier invoice. Confirm it here as normal. If you did collect the goods at the counter, select record the goods receipt by hand in that line to book them into stock. See Recording a delivery without a scan. There is no button to reclassify the scan yet.

Trade-counter receipt. “This is a trade-counter receipt (parts collection). Confirming creates the Purchase Invoice only. Record the goods receipt in the Delivery Inbox to update stock levels.” This is a counter document that is itself the invoice or receipt, whether you paid at the counter or on account. Confirm here posts the financial side (the purchase invoice). The goods-receipt confirm in the Delivery Inbox handles stock and work-order allocation. The two confirms are independent. See Scanning delivery notes.

Counter advice note. “This looks like a counter advice note, not an invoice.” The banner says whether it spotted this from the printed title or because the slip carries your account number where an invoice number would be. An advice note is the slip handed over when you collect on account. The supplier sends the real VAT invoice separately. Record that invoice, not this slip. Use the slip to book the goods in via the Delivery Inbox (the link is shown if you can review deliveries). New advice notes go straight to the Delivery Inbox as delivery notes and should not reach this screen. Clear any old ones with a bulk discard. See Scans awaiting review that are not purchase invoices.

Duplicate. “This scan matches an earlier scan. Review the original to avoid double-booking the invoice.” Click View original to compare. Click Discard this scan if the duplicate is the bad one. There is currently no “this is not a duplicate, force it through” option. Contact support if you genuinely have two different invoices that look the same to the AI.

Discarded. “Somebody discarded this scan, so it is hidden from the inbox. It cannot be confirmed into an invoice while it stays discarded.” Select Restore to inbox to bring it back. See Bring a discarded scan back.

Extraction failed. The banner explains why and what to do. Each reason has its own advice:

Timed out: “This usually fixes itself, try again.” Owners and managers get a Retry button.
Too large: the banner shows the file size and the limit. There is no Retry, because the file will fail again at that size. Discard the scan and send the photo again at a smaller size (most phone mail apps offer a smaller size when attaching), or enter the invoice by hand.
Something went wrong on our side: a problem at our end, not your photo. Retry is offered.
Out of credits: top up, then retry.

After a scan has failed twice, the banner stops pushing Retry and points you to support and manual entry instead. It also shows how many times the scan has failed and when. To enter the invoice by hand, see Entering an itemised parts invoice by hand.

Most phone photos read fine now, including large ones, because Torqueflow resizes them first. A “too large” failure is rare and only happens with very large files.

Supplier is not VAT registered. Appears as soon as you pick a supplier marked not registered. The Confirm button is disabled until every line’s tax is set to 0. There is a one-click Zero out all tax action to do this for you.

Credit note linking required. When you set the document type to Credit note, an Original invoice picker appears. Pick the original purchase invoice this credit note relates to. Confirm is disabled until you pick one.

Processing… The scan is still being read. The page refreshes every 3 seconds for up to 15 seconds. After that, click Refresh to check.

Notes

Extraction accuracy has improved, and old invoices were not re-read. If you learned to work around a spurious line on a particular supplier’s invoices, new scans should not need it. Invoices you already confirmed were not re-read, so they keep whatever was read at the time. Correct any that matter by amending the lines. See Correcting a purchase mistake.
The “Likely” match colour means good but not certain. The system accepts these on confirm by default to keep big invoices fast. Flag a line with Review if you want to block it from confirm and inspect it yourself.
“Skipped” lines are left out of the purchase invoice. They appear nowhere in the totals and are not posted.
Surcharge lines (core charges, delivery, restocking fees) are shown indented under their parent charge and labelled with a chip. They post to the same purchase invoice.
Each scan stores how it arrived (email, upload, camera) and who handled it. You can see this in the review screen header.
If a scan fails, the person who sent it is emailed automatically the first time, with the reason and what to do. Whoever forwarded it by email gets the reply, or whoever uploaded it gets it at their account email. You do not have to keep checking the scans page.
A scan that is the source of another record cannot be discarded. If a purchase invoice, goods receipt, supplier credit note or supplier statement was created from it, the discard is refused with a message naming that record: “This scan cannot be discarded - it is the source document for … Remove or void that record first.”
Custom roles. Discarding used to come with the permission to review scans. It is now a separate permission. If you built a custom role that should be able to discard or restore scans, give it finance.purchases.scan_dismiss as well.

Troubleshooting

Problem: A scan has disappeared from the inbox. Cause: Somebody discarded it. Discarded scans are hidden from every tab and from search. Fix: Check the “discarded scans are hidden” line under the Failed, Duplicate or All tab. Open the scan by its direct link and select Restore to inbox. If you only just discarded it, use Undo on the message.

Problem: A service advisor says the Discard button has gone. Cause: Discarding is limited to Owners and Managers. Service advisors can review scans but not discard or restore them. Fix: Ask an owner or manager to clear the scan. If a custom role should be able to discard, add finance.purchases.scan_dismiss to it.

Problem: I cannot find the scan I uploaded yesterday. Cause: The inbox is paged, newest first, and yesterday’s scan may be on a later page or a different tab. Fix: Search by supplier, filename or document number. The search covers every page. If it matches on another tab, the hint tells you which.

Problem: Status is stuck on “Processing…” for more than a couple of minutes. Cause: Either an unusually busy queue or reading has stalled. Fix: Refresh the page. If it does not move within 5 minutes, ask an Owner or Manager to retry from the review screen, or discard and re-upload.

Problem: Confirm button greyed out and I cannot find why. Cause: A line is flagged for review, the supplier is not VAT registered but a line still has tax, the document type is Credit note with no original invoice linked, a possible duplicate purchase has not been dealt with, or the scan has been discarded. Fix: Read the Confirm button label, which tells you what to do. Check for amber Review flags on lines, the supplier banner, the credit-note picker, the duplicate-purchase warning and the discarded banner.

Problem: The document number is blank, with “The numbers on this PDF are printed without their labels”. Cause: The PDF prints its numbers but not the labels that say which is the document number. This happens on some printer-generated supplier PDFs, including some Euro Car Parts counter documents. Torqueflow leaves the field blank rather than guess. Fix: Type the document number from the printed copy before confirming.

Problem: A counter invoice I collected went to the Scan Inbox only, not the Delivery Inbox. Cause: Its marking was not one Torqueflow recognises as a counter sale, so it was filed as an ordinary purchase invoice. The line near the top of the review form says so. Fix: Confirm the invoice as normal, then use the link in that line to record the goods receipt by hand.

Problem: The document number is my account number with the supplier. Cause: On some supplier paperwork the reader picks up your account number. Newer scans of PDFs printed without labels leave the field blank instead, but older scans and some other documents can still carry it. Fix: Save your account number on the supplier record, or use Save [number] as our account number when the warning offers it. Scan review then leaves the field blank for that supplier. Always check the document number against the paper before confirming. If the supplier on the scan is not matched automatically, the field stays filled in until you pick the supplier, so pick it first.

Problem: “This may be a purchase you have already recorded” and Confirm is off. Cause: A purchase from the same supplier looks like this one. Fix: Open the match and compare. Discard this scan if it is the same purchase. Tick These are different purchases - record this one anyway if not.

Problem: I restored a scan and it went to Pending, not Failed. Cause: Restored scans now come back awaiting review, with what was read still in place. Fix: Nothing. Review it, or discard it again with a reason.

Problem: Supplier picker shows three “John Smith Motor Factors” entries. Cause: Duplicate suppliers in your records. Fix: Pick the right one for now and confirm the invoice. Then clean up the duplicates, or contact support.

Problem: A few lines came in with wrong prices. Cause: Small or skewed images sometimes lose a digit or misread a decimal point. Fix: Edit the line directly on the review screen. The line net recalculates as you change quantity or unit price. The original is still on the left so you can check.

Problem: “We couldn’t read the extraction result. Discard this scan and re-upload to try again.” Cause: The reader returned something the system could not use. Usually a very poor-quality scan. Fix: Discard and re-upload a clearer file. PDFs from supplier portals usually beat phone photos for messy invoices.

Problem: I confirmed but the purchase invoice is missing a line. Cause: That line was probably toggled off (Skipped). Fix: Open the saved purchase invoice and add the line by hand, or discard the scan, re-upload, and review again.

Permissions

finance.purchases.scan_review to view the inbox and open scans (read-only). Held by Owner, Manager and Service Advisor.
finance.purchases.scan_confirm to confirm a scan into a purchase invoice or create suppliers from the review screen. Held by Owner and Manager.
finance.purchases.scan_dismiss to discard a scan (from the inbox or the review screen, one at a time or in bulk) and to restore one. Held by Owner and Manager. Custom roles can be given it. Service advisors do not have it.
finance.purchases.create to use Save as our account number from scan review. Held by Owner and Manager.
finance.purchases.scan_retry to retry a failed extraction. Held by Owner and Manager.
parts.manage_catalog to add a part to the catalog from a scan line. Held by Owner and Manager.