Overview
For purchasing teams processing high volumes of vendor invoices, manual reconciliation drains hours every week and introduces data entry errors that sometimes only surface when closing the month.
The Vendor Invoice OCR feature speeds up reconciling vendor invoices to Purchase Receipts by matching fields from uploaded PDFs. It uses optical character recognition (OCR) to scan invoice PDFs and match them to existing Purchase Receipts. You then confirm vendor charges and line-item details from a single side-by-side review screen. Because you upload PDFs of each invoice, using OCR also helps keeps a clean audit trail.
Things to know
Vendor Invoice OCR only works with PDF files.
Each PDF must contain a single invoice. Multi-invoice PDFs aren't supported.
Match Review only supports a 1-1 relationship. If a PR contains multiple invoices, then a partial receive/backorder flow can accomodate your additional invoices.
OCR matches invoices to Purchase Receipts in New or Received status only. Purchase Receipts that are in approval or already approved aren't eligible for matching.
OCR doesn't create new Purchase Receipts. Every match links an invoice to an existing Purchase Receipt your team has already created.
How it works
Invoices enter the OCR workflow in one of two ways:
A user with the Upload Invoice to OCR permission uploads up to 20 PDFs on the OCR Invoices page.
A PDF attachment arrives at a synced email inbox configured to send PDFs to the OCR list.
Aspire scans the invoice and extracts vendor details, dates, totals, and line items from the PDF and sets the invoice status to Scanning.
Aspire matches the invoice to an existing purchase receipt using vendor name, invoice dates, and line-item data. Only purchase receipts in New or Received status that have OCR Match turned on are considered.
After scanning, one of three things happens:
If a Purchase Receipt is a strong match, the status changes to Match Review, and the invoice is ready for human review.
If no Purchase Receipt is a strong enough match, the status changes to Unmatched and a reviewer can link it manually.
In the rare case when a scan fails due to a corrupted PDF or unreadable content, the status changes to Scan Failed, and the invoice can be rescanned or deleted.
A reviewer with the Edit PRs in Match Review Status permission opens the invoice in the side-by-side review screen, compares the PDF to the matched Purchase Receipt, and resolves any discrepancies on invoice information and line items.
The reviewer selects Confirm and Next. Aspire saves the changes to the Purchase Receipt, attaches the invoice PDF for the audit trail, and sets the invoice status to Complete. The Purchase Receipt stays in its current New or Received status. The reviewer is taken to the next invoice in the queue.
OCR status lifecycle
Every invoice in the OCR workflow moves through these statuses:
Scanning — The invoice has been uploaded or pulled in from email sync, and OCR is reading the PDF. No user action is available while the invoice is in this status.
Match Review — Aspire has matched the invoice to an existing Purchase Receipt. A reviewer with the right permission verifies and confirms the match.
Unmatched — OCR couldn't find a purchase receipt match. A reviewer can manually link the invoice to a purchase receipt or delete it.
Scan Failed — Aspire couldn't read the PDF. The invoice can be rescanned or deleted.
Complete — A reviewer has confirmed the match. The invoice PDF is attached to the Purchase Receipt and the Purchase Receipt is updated with the confirmed details. (Confirming does not change the Purchase Receipt's New/Received status.)
How this displays in Aspire
Vendor Invoice OCR settings and status are found in the following places in the Purchasing module:
All Purchase Receipts tab — The OCR Match column shows whether each purchase receipt is enabled for OCR.
Purchase Receipt details — The OCR Match setting on each purchase receipt controls whether OCR can match it to invoices. New purchase receipts have OCR Match turned on by default.
OCR Invoices tab — This is the page where you upload invoices and review matches. The invoice list shows Match Status, Document Name, Vendor, Uploaded On, Uploaded By, Linked PR (if confirmed). Bulk actions let you re-scan or delete multiple invoices at once. The Review button to the right of each invoice takes you to the match review screen.
Purchase Receipt – Review screen — This screen includes extra costs and unmatched items. It is also where you review the matched invoice details including Invoice Date, Invoice Number, Vendor, plus line item details including Item, Item Type, Category, Quantity, and Estimated Unit Price.
Get started
Ready to start saving time with Vendor Invoice OCR? Read our article about enabling Vendor Invoice OCR.