✨ Section 11
AI invoice scanning (OCR)
Take a photo or PDF of a supplier's bill, and ZaleBee reads it for you. OCR (optical character recognition) means "reading the text in a picture". You review what was read, match the lines to your products, and the purchase form is filled in.
On this page
What ZaleBee reads from a bill
| From the bill | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| Supplier name | Picks the matching supplier, if one exists with a similar name |
| Invoice / bill number | Reference No. |
| Invoice date | Purchase date |
| Line items | Product name, quantity and unit price per line. Advanced AI OCR also reads the item code (SKU) if printed. |
| Discount | Purchase discount (fixed amount) |
| Tax / VAT amount and rate | Shown so you can pick the matching purchase tax |
| Shipping / freight | Shipping charges |
| Subtotal and grand total | Shown for checking against your totals |
It does not read lot numbers or expiry dates. Add those yourself after applying the scan.
The three reading engines
You choose which engine reads the bill. They differ in accuracy, file types and how many scans you get each month.
| ✦ Advanced AI OCR | Google OCR | ZaleBee OCR | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | Highest | High | Good on clean bills |
| Best for | Complex layouts, bilingual bills (e.g. Arabic + English), handwritten bills, multi-page PDFs | Clearly printed bills | Simple, clearly printed English bills |
| File types | JPG, PNG, WebP, PDF | JPG, PNG, WebP. No PDF | JPG, PNG, WebP, PDF |
| Max file size | 20 MB | 20 MB | 1 MB |
| Languages | Any language | English (Latin) text only. Arabic and other scripts are skipped | English only |
| Reads item codes (SKU) | Yes | No | No |
| Free scans per month | 25 | 100 | 5,000 |
| More scans | Add-on packs: 50 scans for USD 5 | – | – |
Auto mode
Auto (the default) tries Advanced AI OCR → Google OCR → ZaleBee OCR in that order. It skips any engine whose monthly scans are used up, skips Google OCR for PDFs, and moves to the next engine if one fails. The result screen shows which engine was used ("Powered by …").
Choose your default engine
Set Default scanning engine to Auto, Advanced AI OCR, Google OCR or ZaleBee OCR, and click Save Settings. Every time anyone opens Scan Invoice, that engine is already selected. To use a different engine for one bill, just click it in the scan window. The next scan starts on the default again.
Auto uses Advanced AI OCR first, so its 25 monthly scans can run out early in the month. After that, if you have add-on packs, Auto keeps using Advanced AI and spends your paid credits. If most of your bills are simple and clearly printed, set the default to ZaleBee OCR and switch to Advanced AI only for the difficult ones.
A supermarket in Muscat gets about 200 bills a month. Most are printed in English, but a few suppliers send Arabic bills. The owner sets the default to ZaleBee OCR. Staff scan English bills as usual, and when an Arabic bill comes in they click ✦ Advanced AI OCR for that one scan. The 25 Advanced AI scans last the whole month.
Scan a bill, step by step
- Open Purchases › Add Purchase, choose the business location, and click Scan Invoice.
- Add the bill: drag and drop the file, click Browse File, or click Use Camera and Capture a photo.
- Your default engine is already selected under Extraction Engine. Click another one if this bill needs it, then start the scan. It takes a few seconds.
- The Review Extracted Data screen opens with the bill image next to what was read. Check the supplier. If it isn't found, choose another one or click Add New Supplier. Check the invoice number and date.
- For each line item, the "OCR Name" column shows what was read. Match it to one of your products: click Match to Product (the scanned name is already typed in) or Match by SKU, and pick the right product. Each matched line gets a green tick, and the counter shows e.g. 5 / 6 matched.
- For an item you don't stock yet, click Add as new product. The product form opens with the scanned name and code filled in.
- Correct any quantity or unit price that was misread.
- Under Financials, check the discount and shipping, and choose the purchase tax under Map to Purchase Tax to match the VAT on the bill.
- Leave Attach scanned invoice image to this purchase ticked to keep a copy of the bill with the purchase.
- Click Apply to Purchase Form. Check the purchase status (e.g. Received), add lot numbers or expiry dates if you use them, enter the payment, and Save.
Only matched lines are added to the purchase, and you need at least one. Unmatched lines, such as a "Delivery charge" printed as an item, are left out.
Priya photographs a Fresh Farms bill with her phone and scans it with Auto. Advanced AI OCR reads it:
| OCR Name | Qty | Price | What Priya does |
|---|---|---|---|
| TEA PWDR 500G | 10 | 450 | Matches to Tea Powder 500 g ✓ |
| SUGAR 1KG | 20 | 42 | Matches to Sugar 1 kg ✓ |
| BASMATI 5KG | 5 | 520 | Matches by SKU BR005 ✓ |
| TOOR DAL 1KG | 10 | 135 | Matches to Toor Dal 1 kg ✓ |
| MANGO JUICE 250ML | 24 | 18 | New item: Add as new product ✓ |
| DELIVERY | 1 | 200 | Leaves it unmatched and checks that ₹200 is in Shipping |
The counter shows 5 / 6 matched. She picks purchase tax GST 5%, clicks Apply, sets status Received and saves. The whole bill took about a minute instead of ten.
Resume the last scan
If you close the review screen by mistake, click Scan Invoice again in the same browser tab. You'll see Previous scan available. Click Resume Last Scan to open the same results again. No new scan is used. Click Discard to start fresh. The saved scan is cleared when you close the browser tab.
Monthly limits and usage
- Limits are per business, per engine, per calendar month: 25 Advanced AI, 100 Google and 5,000 ZaleBee OCR scans.
- They reset on the 1st of every month. Unused scans don't carry over.
- A scan is counted only when it succeeds. Resuming a previous scan is free.
- See what you've used under Settings › Business Settings › OCR Settings: this month per engine, plus Show History for past months.
- When an engine's limit is reached, ZaleBee tells you. Pick another engine, or wait until the 1st. In Auto mode it simply moves on to the next engine. For Advanced AI OCR you can also buy an add-on pack.
Add-on packs: more Advanced AI OCR scans
Need more than 25 Advanced AI OCR scans a month? Buy add-on packs. Each pack gives 50 extra scans for USD 5.
| Rule | What it means |
|---|---|
| Which engine | Add-on credits are for Advanced AI OCR only. Google OCR and ZaleBee OCR stay free within their monthly limits. |
| When credits are used | Only after the 25 free scans of the month are used up. One successful scan uses one credit. Resuming a previous scan is free. |
| No monthly reset | Unused credits are not lost at the end of the month. They carry over from month to month. |
| Expiry | Each pack expires 6 months after its payment date. Packs bought on different dates expire on their own dates. |
| Which pack first | Credits are always taken from the pack that expires soonest, so none are wasted. |
How to buy a pack
- Pay ZaleBee by cash or bank transfer: USD 5 for each pack you want. Keep the receipt or transfer number.
- Open Settings › Business Settings › OCR Settings and scroll to Add-on packs for Advanced AI OCR.
- Enter the number of Packs. The total and the number of scans are shown next to it.
- Choose the Payment method, type the Payment reference (receipt or transfer number) if you have one, and click Request.
- The request appears in the list as Awaiting payment confirmation. As soon as our team confirms your payment it becomes Active and the credits are added to credits available. You don't need to do anything else.
Paid us directly? You don't have to send a request. If you pay our team in person or by transfer and tell them the number of packs, they can add the packs to your account. The packs then appear in your list as Active, valid for 6 months from your payment date.
The list shows every pack with its credits left and its expiry date, and the next expiry date is shown under the balance. A request we couldn't match to a payment shows as Rejected with the reason. A used-up pack shows 0 credits left, and a pack past its date shows as Expired.
The scan window shows add-on credits next to the Advanced AI count, e.g. 0 / 25 +80 add-on. Advanced AI OCR only shows as Exhausted when both the free scans and the add-on credits are used up.
A supermarket buys one pack on each of these dates:
| Pack | Paid on | Expires on | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 10 January | 10 July | 50 |
| B | 5 March | 5 September | 50 |
| C | 20 April | 20 October | 50 |
- Each month the first 25 Advanced AI scans are free. Only scans after that use credits.
- Extra scans use pack A first, because it expires first, then B, then C.
- If 10 credits of pack A are still unused on 10 July, those 10 expire. Packs B and C are not affected.
Buy only what you'll use within 6 months. If you scan about 40 Arabic bills a month, the 25 free scans cover most of them, and one pack (50 credits) covers the extra 15 a month for about three months.
Tips for good results
- Lay the bill flat, in good light, with no shadows or folds, and fill the photo with the whole page.
- Scan one bill at a time. For a bill with several pages, scan the PDF with Advanced AI OCR.
- For ZaleBee OCR, keep the file under 1 MB: lower the camera resolution or compress the image.
- For Arabic or bilingual bills, use Advanced AI OCR. The other two engines read English text only.
- Use the same product names as your suppliers, or record their item codes as your SKUs, to make matching faster.
Good to know
- Invoice scanning is for purchases (supplier bills). It isn't available for sales or expenses.
- It works on the web version. It isn't in the mobile app, but on a phone or tablet browser you can use Use Camera.
- ZaleBee never saves a purchase by itself. Nothing is recorded until you click Save, so always check the figures first.
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