Shadows are the number one enemy of AI transcription. Avoid overhead lights that cast a shadow of your hand or phone over the receipt. Snap photos in bright, even lighting, and use your flash in dark areas.

A crumpled or curled receipt distorts the text. Flatten the receipt on a dark, high-contrast surface such as a countertop or truck dashboard. Holding it in the air creates waves in the paper.

If the image is blurry, the AI has to guess at the numbers. Tap your phone screen to focus before snapping, and make sure the entire receipt is in frame and the text looks sharp.

Extra-long receipts from big-box stores become unreadable squeezed into one photo. If a receipt is longer than 12 inches, take multiple overlapping photos or use your phone's long document mode. For PDFs, the AI handles multiple pages automatically.

If you have scribbled notes or a job name across the price or vendor name, the AI can get confused. Write in the margins or the white space at the bottom.

Thermal receipts fade quickly in the heat of a truck. If the ink is very faint, enter the transaction manually or adjust the photo's contrast before uploading.

After two or three attempts, either enter the transaction manually in the Expense Tracker, or use the Feedback button in the Receipts Inbox to send us the image so our engineers can train the AI on that receipt type.

Read the full article: Tips to ensure a perfect scan every time