Some senders lock their PDFs with a password, often banks, brokerages, and card or phone providers sending statements. A locked PDF can't be opened without its password, so ExpenseBot can't read the amounts, date, or vendor inside it.
If the email itself shows the amount and who it's from, as many utility and phone bill emails do, a Gmail scan reads the email instead of the locked PDF, so you won't see a password card for it.
Otherwise, when a Gmail scan finds one, ExpenseBot doesn't guess and doesn't add a blank or $0 expense. It shows a Password-protected PDF card in Action Needed with three choices:
- Open original email — see which message and attachment it is.
- Add manually — type in the expense details yourself if it's a real expense.
- Don't add — dismiss it if it isn't an expense, such as a statement you don't need to track.
To have ExpenseBot read it automatically instead, open the PDF with its password, save or print an unlocked copy, and forward or upload that copy. Uploads work the same way: remove the password before uploading.
ExpenseBot never asks for, stores, or tries to guess a PDF password. The other receipts and attachments in the same scan are processed normally; one locked PDF doesn't hold up the rest.