Vendor bills from e-mail and scans

This page covers the most common problems when vendor bills are sent into Odoo by e-mail, uploaded or digitized automatically, and when they are matched to purchase orders and receipts. For each problem you see what you can check and fix, and what Exigo needs from you if that is not enough.

A photo or receipt I sent by e-mail is not read

You send a photo of a bill or receipt to the vendor bills address, but Odoo does not read it: the vendor, amounts and lines are not filled in.

What could cause this

• The journal's address reads only PDF and XML files. Odoo accepts attachments of any type on the purchase journal's address, but reads the content of PDF and XML files only. Photos, such as JPG and PNG files, are not read when they arrive by e-mail.

What you can check

1. If you can save the bill as a PDF, for example on a scanner, send the PDF file to the journal's address.
2. To get a photo in, go to Accounting ‣ Vendors ‣ Bills, click Upload and choose the photo. Odoo creates a draft vendor bill from each file.
3. You can also drag the file onto the purchase journal on the Accounting dashboard.
4. Photos uploaded this way are digitized automatically when vendor bill digitization is set to Digitize automatically. Otherwise, click Digitize document on the bill.

[Screenshot: the vendor bills list with the Upload button]

When to contact Exigo

• A photo you upload with Upload is not read, or the Digitize document button is missing from the bill.
• A PDF file you send to the journal's address does not become a bill. See also the section on bills that do not arrive, below.

Include: the file type (for example JPG or PDF), when it was sent or uploaded, and the bill number if a draft was created.

I cannot find the purchase order on the vendor bill

You create a vendor bill and want to load the lines from a purchase order, but the order does not appear in the Auto-Complete field, or the lines come in with quantity 0.

What could cause this

• The vendor is not the same. Auto-Complete lists only orders from the same company as the one in the Vendor field on the bill.
• The order has not been confirmed. Only confirmed purchase orders appear, not requests for quotation.
• Everything billable has been billed. When the order's Billing Status is Fully Billed, it does not appear. Draft bills count, so if a draft has already been created from the order, the order disappears from the list.
• The receipt has not been validated. When the product's Control Policy is On received quantities, only what has been received can be billed. Before the receipt is validated, the lines come in with quantity 0. Services get On ordered quantities; other products get the default setting, which in Odoo is On received quantities.
• You do not have access to Purchase. Orders appear in Auto-Complete only for users with access to Purchase. Without it, the field shows only earlier vendor bills, and the Purchase Matching button is missing.

What you can check

1. Check that the Vendor on the bill is the same company as on the order.
2. Open the order in Purchase ‣ Orders ‣ Purchase Orders. The Other Information tab shows the Billing Status.
3. Compare the Received and Billed columns on the order lines. If nothing has been received, open the receipt with the Receipt smart button at the top of the order and click Validate when the goods have arrived.
4. If a draft bill already exists for the order, open it with the Vendor Bills smart button on the order instead of creating a new bill.
5. You can also create the bill from the order: on a confirmed order, click Upload Bill and choose the bill file. The bill is created with the order's lines and the file attached.
6. On the bill, you can also click the Purchase Matching smart button. It shows the vendor's open order lines; select the lines and the bill and click Match.

[Screenshot: draft vendor bill with the Auto-Complete field and the Purchase Matching smart button]

When to contact Exigo

• The order is confirmed, the goods have been received, the vendor is the same and no other bill exists for the order, but it still cannot be found.
• A user needs access to Purchase and nobody in your company can change access rights.

Include: the order number, the vendor's name, and screenshots of the draft bill and of the order's Other Information tab.

Wrong VAT or account on a line

A vendor bill line gets the wrong VAT or the wrong account, or the VAT comes back on the line after you changed it.

What could cause this

• VAT follows the product, not the account. On a line with a product, Odoo takes the VAT from the product's purchase tax. The account's default VAT is used only if the product has no purchase tax.
• Changing the account updates the VAT only under two conditions. When you choose a different account, Odoo updates the line's VAT only if the new account has default VAT and the line has no product or its product has no sales tax. Otherwise the previous VAT stays on the line, for example when you choose an account without default VAT.
• Odoo suggests an account and VAT from the line description. On a line without a product, Odoo proposes an account and VAT based on earlier bills from the same vendor with a similar description. The suggestion comes back every time the description changes, so a wrong account on earlier bills repeats itself.
• The account comes from the product or its category. On a line with a product, Odoo uses the product's Expense Account, otherwise the product category's expense account, and finally the company's default expense account.
• A fiscal position replaces taxes and accounts. If the bill has a Fiscal Position, it replaces the product's taxes and accounts with others.

What you can check

1. Choose the product or type the description first, then the account, and the VAT last. If you change the product or description afterwards, check the account and VAT again.
2. When you change the account, also change the VAT in the line's Taxes column.
3. If the same error keeps coming back with the same product, open the product and fix its purchase tax and the Expense Account field on the Accounting tab.
4. Check the Fiscal Position on the bill's Other Info tab.

[Screenshot: a vendor bill line with product, description, account and VAT]

When to contact Exigo

• The VAT or account changes back after the product has been corrected.
• The purchase tax or expense account needs to change on many products at once.
• Odoo unexpectedly adds a VAT difference line when you post.

Include: the bill number, the line concerned, which account and VAT you expected, and a screenshot of the line.

Vendor, date or lines missing or wrong after digitization

A bill that arrived by e-mail or was uploaded is empty, or Odoo has filled in the wrong vendor, the wrong date, or fewer lines than the document has.

What could cause this

• Digitization is not automatic. The Vendor Bills setting in the Digitization section decides whether Odoo digitizes documents automatically (Digitize automatically), only when a button is clicked (Digitize on demand only), or never (Do not digitize).
• The digitization credit has run out. Digitization uses prepaid credits, one per document. When they run out, Odoo does not read the documents.
• The e-mail's sender became the vendor. Odoo sets as vendor the contact that owns the sender's address. If an employee forwards the e-mail, Odoo uses a contact whose address appears in the e-mail's text. Digitization does not change a vendor that is already on the bill, so if a scanner's or bookkeeping service's address is registered on a contact, every bill from that address gets that contact as vendor.
• The vendor does not exist in Odoo. The Vendor field is then empty after digitization.
• One line per tax. When Single Invoice Line Per Tax is enabled, digitization creates one line per VAT rate instead of one line per line on the document.

What you can check

1. Go to Accounting ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings and check the Vendor Bills setting in the Digitization section. If it is Digitize on demand only, click Digitize document on each bill.
2. Review Vendor, Bill Reference, Bill Date and the lines before you click Confirm. Click a field to correct it.
3. If the vendor does not exist, click in the Vendor field and select the vendor's name in the document preview. A new vendor opens with the name filled in.
4. If the same wrong vendor keeps coming back, find the contact that owns the address the bills come from and correct the address on it.
5. If you want each line of the document as its own line, disable Single Invoice Line Per Tax in the Digitization section.

[Screenshot: the Digitization section in Accounting settings, with the Vendor Bills setting]

When to contact Exigo

• A message says the digitization credit has run out.
• The Digitize document button is missing, or digitization returns nothing.

Include: the bill number, the document itself and a screenshot of the bill.

Data from an e-invoice changed or disappeared

A vendor bill that came in as an e-invoice was correct, but later lines are missing, or the vendor, date or amounts have changed.

What could cause this

• The bill was digitized afterwards. An e-invoice comes in with the vendor, lines and VAT from the e-invoice and does not need digitization. If someone clicks Digitize document and then Reload AI Data, the fields and lines are cleared and Odoo fills them in again from the PDF.

What you can check

1. Do not click Digitize document or Reload AI Data on bills that came in as e-invoices.
2. Compare the bill with the e-invoice itself using the E-Invoice PDF button on the bill.

When to contact Exigo

• Data from an e-invoice has changed or disappeared.

Include: the bill number, the vendor's name and the date of the e-invoice.

Bills I send to the journal's address do not arrive

You send or forward a PDF bill to the vendor bills address, but it does not appear as a draft in Accounting ‣ Vendors ‣ Bills.

What could cause this

• The e-mail went to the wrong address. Each purchase journal has its own address (alias). Bills are created only from e-mail sent to exactly that address.
• Outlook changed the recipient when forwarding. Outlook can change the address in the To field when a bill is forwarded, and the e-mail then does not go to the journal's address.
• The e-mail did not reach the mailbox Odoo fetches from. The journal's address works only if e-mail to it reaches the mailbox Odoo fetches e-mail from. If that route stops, no incoming e-mail reaches Odoo.
• No address is set up for the journal. If the journal shows only Configure Alias Domain instead of an address, no domain has been set up for addresses in Odoo.

What you can check

1. Go to Accounting ‣ Configuration ‣ Accounting ‣ Journals and open the purchase journal. The address is on the Advanced Settings tab, in the Emails section, in the Email Alias field. Compare it with the address the e-mail was sent to.
2. Look through draft bills in Accounting ‣ Vendors ‣ Bills, including those registered on a vendor you did not expect, for example the one who sent the e-mail.
3. If you forwarded from Outlook, check in the sent items folder that the address in the To field is exactly the journal's address. Try sending the bill as a new e-mail with the PDF file attached.
4. If no incoming e-mail reaches Odoo, for example customer replies as well, follow the instructions on incoming e-mail on the Emails that do not arrive page.

[Screenshot: purchase journal, Advanced Settings tab with the journal's address in the Emails section]

When to contact Exigo

• The address is correct, the e-mail went to it, and no bill was created.
• The journal has no address, or you want a new address for vendor bills.

Include: the sender's address, the address the e-mail was sent to, when it was sent, whether it was forwarded and, if possible, a copy of the e-mail saved as an .eml or .msg file.

Amounts on the bill and the purchase order do not match

The vendor bill total differs from the purchase order total, or the order shows Waiting Bills although a bill has been posted.

What could cause this

• Only the received quantity is billed. With On received quantities, only received goods go on the bill. If part of the order has not arrived, the bill is lower than the order.
• Something is still unbilled. Billing Status shows Waiting Bills while some quantity is waiting for a bill: the received quantity with On received quantities, the ordered quantity with On ordered quantities.
• There is more than one bill for the same order. A vendor can send several bills for one order, for example when the goods arrive in parts.
• The price on the bill differs from the order. If the vendor has changed a price, the price on the bill differs from the order line.
• The order and the bill are not in the same currency. Totals in different currencies do not match.

What you can check

1. Compare Received and Billed on each order line.
2. Open all the order's bills with the Vendor Bills smart button and compare their total with the order.
3. Check the product's Control Policy in Purchase ‣ Products ‣ Products, on the Purchase tab in the Vendor Bills section. The field is visible only to users with administrator access to Purchase.
4. Check that the order and the bill are in the same currency.

When to contact Exigo

• The price on the order was wrong and the goods have already been received, so the stock valuation does not match.
• An order is registered twice, or with the wrong quantity after receipt.

Include: the order and bill numbers, which lines do not match and a screenshot of the order lines.

The accounting date differs from the bill date

A bill is posted on a different date from the one on it, or Odoo does not let you confirm it and shows the error The Bill/Refund date is required to validate this document.

What could cause this

• The accounting date is a separate date. A vendor bill has two dates: the Bill Date, which is the date on the document, and the Accounting Date, which decides which period the bill is posted in. When a bill with an earlier date is registered, Odoo moves the accounting date forward so that the journal's numbering stays in date order.
• The period is locked. If the bill date is in a period that has been locked, for example after a VAT return, the accounting date moves to an open period.
• The bill date was changed afterwards. Odoo recomputes the Accounting Date every time the Bill Date changes.
• The bill date is missing. A vendor bill cannot be confirmed unless the Bill Date is filled in.

What you can check

1. Fill in the Bill Date first.
2. Check the Accounting Date before you click Confirm, and change it if it should be different. The field can be edited while the bill is a draft.
3. If the bill has already been posted, click Reset to Draft, correct the date and confirm again.
4. If the period is locked, read the section on VAT periods on the VAT returns page before you do anything else.

When to contact Exigo

• The accounting date changes back after you have corrected it, and the period is not locked.

Include: the bill number, both dates and when the bill was registered.