Documentation/ Uploading documents/ Uploading by hand
Uploading documents by hand
The document upload screen takes files off your machine, lets you look them over before anything is processed, and lets you decide which pages actually go through.
On this page
Getting to the screen
Documents › the list for the type you are uploading › the upload button › document upload screen
You start the upload from the button on the list for the type of document you are putting in.
The list you start from decides what the document is. Files uploaded from the delivery notes list are filed as delivery notes, even if what is on them is an invoice. Putting that right afterwards means moving the document to another type.
Putting the batch on a project
At the top, the Select project section lets you put the whole batch on one project. It is optional.
The documents are then tied to that project and can be filtered by it in the list. Doing it here saves doing it afterwards, document by document.
Adding the files
Two ways, and they amount to the same thing:
- Drag the files onto the upload area.
- Press Upload and pick them off your machine.
You can select many at once and mix PDFs, images and ZIP files in the same batch. ZIP files are unpacked and replaced by what was inside them.
Once they are in, the system looks at each file to work out how many pages it has.
What each file's status means
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Counting pages | The count is still running. |
| Ready to process — N pages | The file is fine. N is how many pages will be processed. |
| Worth a look — N pages | That is a lot of pages. Check what is on them before you process. |
| Edited | You have changed which pages are selected. It will process as you have set it. |
| Processed | Sent off. |
| Error | The file could not be read. Usually because it is damaged or protected. |
Each line has Edit pages and Remove.
Choosing the pages
Edit pages gives you two things:
| What it does | Effect | When you want it |
|---|---|---|
| Select pages | Only the pages you tick are processed. | Documents with cover sheets, terms and conditions, annexes or blank pages. |
| Split automatically | Every page becomes a document of its own. | Files holding several documents, one to a page. |
This is what your usage turns on. On accounts counted by the page, the system counts the pages actually processed. Throwing away pages with nothing useful on them cuts what you spend by exactly that much.
Auto-merge for documents of several pages
Every PDF is read page by page, which is what makes the extraction reliable. Auto-merge all, at the top of the file list and on by default, then puts the pages of one document back together, so an invoice running to several pages ends up as a single record again.
Turn it off when one PDF holds several different invoices: in that case each page has to stay a document of its own.
If the merging did not happen at upload time you do it later from the list, by hand, with Merge selected. There is no automatic merge on the list any more: that decision is taken here, at upload.
Grouping photographs
When the batch has images in it, the screen offers Group. It lets you say that several photographs are one document, for instance the pages of a delivery note shot one at a time.
- Tick the photographs that make up the document. You need at least two.
- Press Group N photo(s).
The images you ticked are merged into one document once they have been processed. It works on the phone upload too, which uses this same screen.
Accountancy practice accounts
On an accountancy practice account the rule is the other way round: put the whole document in and leave the pages alone. The system works out for itself which pages matter, the first and the last two, and counts one invoice rather than every page.
If one file holds several invoices, tick Multiple invoices so each page is processed as its own invoice. The limit is 250 pages or documents a batch.
Sending them off
With the list as you want it, press Send documents. The system reads, extracts and checks, and drops each document into its list with whatever status it has earned.
Before you send there is Cancel on each file and Cancel all for the batch. Once it has gone, undoing it means deleting the documents from their list.
Processing carries on in the background, so you can go to other screens while it finishes. The activity bar at the top shows how far along it is.
If the allowance runs out mid-upload
If your allowance is used up during an upload, the system stops and shows the limit reached notice. What has already gone in stays in; the rest is not processed.
Usage and buying more allowance are handled on the plan screen.