Forward a receipt email to receipts@expensebot.ai from your ExpenseBot email address or a registered forwarding address. ExpenseBot can read receipt details in the email body and common image, PDF, Word (.doc, .docx), and Excel (.xls, .xlsx) attachments. It adds confirmed expenses to your spreadsheet and surfaces anything that needs a decision under View receipt activity. Make sure to add info@expensebot.ai to your safe sender list to receive processing notifications.
Check what happened
After forwarding, open ExpenseBot and select View receipt activity under Email a receipt to see what was added, what was already in your spreadsheet, and what needs your input. See the "How do I check what happened to a receipt I forwarded?" article for the status meanings and review actions.
Subject-line commands
You can override or annotate a forwarded receipt by adding commands to the email subject. Commands are case-insensitive, can appear anywhere in the subject, and stack — use as many as you need on a single email.
| Command | Effect | Example |
|---|---|---|
tag:tagname | Force a specific tag, bypassing AI matching | Fwd: hotel booking tag:Personal or Fwd: invoice tag:Realtor – Gifts |
paidby:name | Stamp "Paid by name" in Notes (Wedding flow) | Fwd: florist invoice paidby:bride's family |
for:client | Attribute to a client/project tag | Fwd: ad spend for:Acme Corp |
project:name | Same as for: — attribute to a project | Fwd: Canva project:Website-Redesign |
paidfor:recipient | Record the gift recipient (Realtor Gift Limit Checker) | Fwd: housewarming basket paidfor:Alice Johnson |
Why this is useful:
- AI tag matching is good but not perfect. Subject commands let you override when you know the right answer.
- Cash payments and receipts with generic merchant names ("Visa Direct", "Cash") have no signal for the AI — subject commands fill that gap.
- Per-client billing or per-recipient tracking (gifts, expenses) needs explicit attribution that the receipt itself doesn't always carry.
Order of precedence: subject commands are the highest-trust signal. They override AI tag matching, calendar bindings, and tag wizard rules. If you write tag:Trip – Toronto on a receipt the AI would otherwise have classified as Wedding – Vendors, the subject command wins.