Hi @JeanetteJohnson! Thanks for reaching out here. At the moment we do not have any plans for implementing forwarding for email receipts. I know that receipts can be long so I hope we have a feature that will allow for these to be captured in one go in the future!
He @lisapineau! Thanks for your feedback on this and for the additional suggestions you have provided. This insight is helpful for our team to have when building out new features!
+1 for email forwarding for email body receipts. 99% are text and not attachments. I specifically moved to wave for this feature as it was worded to sound like it was that easy: Hit forward, send to wave.
I’m sure there’s a very good reason you’ve changed a working convenient feature and continue to ignore your users, but what was it? I’m sure people would be more understanding if you actually said WHY.
@EmmaP Are you kidding me? Just look at the complaints on this thread. People are using wave to try and make their lives simpler, not more difficult. How can your company see all of this feedback and not realize that not being able to forward email receipts in ALL forms is not only a major functionality problem but a deal breaker for many. This function should be prioritized immediately! I am disappointed as I believed wave to be an innovative and forward thinking company. You will be overtaken by your competitors if you dont re-examine your development strategies and adopt a customer focused ideology.
If the receipt had to be downloaded to my computer. It is far easier to just upload it into my wave account at that point rather then upload it into a second email???
I'm sorry but this is a serious regression. One has to wonder what type regression testing process Wave is using. Additionally, I can't get any type of email receipt to work. Extracting to a some PDF document is absurdly short sided and time consuming.
Look I get it that the fix created an otherwise unintended consequence of an otherwise good design, but it might be time to consider rethinking that "Fix" to allow the forwarding of receipts. Personally, I've lost 9 months of receipt entry which I thought was there. (yes I should have been doing monthly closing but I didn't).
It's hard to believe that after 9 months the Wave engineers couldn't find an adequate fix to the problem. Even more disheartening is the ability to do any type of email receipts is broken. I'm not really sure what you are expecting us to do but it isn't working for me and obviously a majority of other users.
Wake up and get a fix. (And this is coming from some with 30+ years in Software and 10 years in Developer Community Building)
@JordanD said:
Thanks to all leaving their thoughts about the need for email forwarding functionality for receipt uploads. We hear you that the ease of use that this sort of a feature would add is extremely valued by you all. While I don't have any updates in terms of added functionality, we continue to track the amount of comments about this feature idea to ensure that our Product Team knows that this discussion continues. Thanks again!
And yet 9 months into it, and 3 moths since your post there is still no resolution to the regression. You say one thing but your actions say another.
Really appreciate your continued feedback, thoughts, and feelings here. While I totally understand why you're frustrated, I do want to reiterate that we are always reading comments like yours to get a better understanding of what our users needs and wants are. The truth of the matter in this case, is that a large majority of our resources are currently focused on some other larger and more substantial projects, and as a result, this particular feature request isn't currently on the horizon.
That doesn't mean that this is something that will never happen, only that it isn't currently the primary focus, and as a result, I don't have an updated ETA or status for you.
Having said that, you should be able to email your receipts according to our guide here. Can you confirm whether the receipt emails you've been attempting adhere to these guidelines and if so, could you clarify a bit more about how this function isn't working for you currently?
Seriously, the current email receipt process is akin to standing on your head and spitting wooden nickles. I could do it (under certain limited situations) but why in the world would I? Have you guys actually tried it? Have you tried it on a phone?
I just tried it on my phone. There is no default way to create a PDF. I could create an image, but it would only capture what is currently displayed on the phone. So right off the bat, the current email process doesn't work on the phone.
On the desktop the current process is as follows:
Open the message in the email client (1 Click)
Save the image to a PDF (5 Clicks along with unique labeling for the file)
Create a new message (9 clicks plus having to enter in a unique Subject title)
Process the Receipts Detail (At least one extra step as I may have to fix the date)
Previously the process was:
Open the message in the email client (1 Click)
Forward the message (3 Clicks and no Subject typing)
There isn't a usability engineer in the world that would approve the current email process.
On the regression side of the house, I'm surprised that you don't have any regression testing. Of course, if your test only involves the standing on head and spitting wooden nickles method above I would understand. But it is a hole, that isn't what people do.
Finally, your comment I do want to reiterate that we are always reading comments like yours to get a better understanding of what our users(sic) needs and wants are. is falling on deaf ears. The same statement has been used a number of times on this very thread but It's been 9 months since the "fix"/regression occurred on or around June 24. "We're listening" comments are fine if you actually are but without any action they are meaningless.
Just one more thought. Having worked on software development for over 30 years and the first 5 doing accounting software, I find it hard to believe that while the main development team is focused on something else that there isn't a bug buster engineer whos sole job is to fix elevated problems like this one.
Just so you guys have an idea how painful this is. I've just spent the last 2 days recovering 218 messages that I had previously sent to be processed using the forward method which worked up until June 24, 2019. And I'm still not done. So quite honestly, the "fix" is a major flaw and a reason I would not choose Wave Apps if I wasn't already highly invested.
This is really surprising that you can't forward emails directly, but you support OCR and the like. Couldn't you just add something on the backend to convert emails to PDF and then use your existing system? It would be a huge quality of life improvement.
I love this process of emailing all my receipts and it is uploaded.
And for those having problems with forwarding your emails, I just removed the subject and email body and send the email. As easy as that, no need to save on your computer first.
Ugh, this is really disappointing. Wave used to be able to handle simply forwarding receipts (including plain text in the message body, which is how nearly all receipts arrive). It was great because I could see in my mail client if the receipt had been forwarded or not. Now, I find out that Wave has broken one of its most useful features? The worst part might be that it fails silently, without telling you your receipt was unable to be processed as sent! Now you're ending Etsy integration (my other business) too? What is going on over there? You guys used to be so great! Then, you got bought last year by H&R Block. And oh boy, does it show!
I've been using Wave since starting my business in 2013, and I've been recommending Wave that whole time. In good conscience, I can't recommend it anymore.
Hey @TELLC! Thanks for reaching out, and I'm sorry to hear about the difficulties you've been seeing here. Earlier in this thread, another user had a workaround for the new workflow as far as emailing receipts into Wave. Have you tried this, and have you found any success with it?
@Rita_Hattingh said:
I love this process of emailing all my receipts and it is uploaded.
And for those having problems with forwarding your emails, I just removed the subject and email body and send the email. As easy as that, no need to save on your computer first.
As far as the Etsy integration, there is another thread here in which our Product Manager has listed out the reasons for this change, as well as alternative methods for you to bring this data into Wave from Etsy.
With regards to the H&R Block acquisition, I hope I can address that statement holistically for you. This is an exciting new chapter for Wave, and we can confirm that our belief, brand, and product will remain unchanged. What this acquisition has done is allow is a level of stability for us to continue to build on what we started and take it to new heights. The team that manages the Community (myself included) are currently working on a better way to showcase the past, present, and ongoing changes that Wave has been making in order to bolster our product as a whole.
Many things are still being worked out but our mission remains the same. We're really excited for the future, and hope you are too.
Most of my receipts for purchases are just emailed to me in the body of the email, NOT as an attachment. How can I upload/email these, so they can be imported to Wave?
I have tried forwarding one of my non-attached receipts (just to see if it would work) as @Rita_Hattingh mentioned, but haven't heard anything in 2 days. Does this take longer or does it absolutely HAVE to be an attachment?
Hey @Brooke_SS , I'd recommend screenshotting the receipt in the email and adding it as a new attachment to a new email that you send to Wave. The system will then be able to pick it up.
AND the receipt must be in plain text format... sent two test messages as HTML (the default in my email program)... they never showed up. Sent text emails they showed up "processing" within 30 seconds.
Other "features" that may exist, i.e. the following may or may not cause problems, your mileage may vary...
Primary email addresses that include a display name may or may note work, e.g. "Guy Raymond" guy@company.ca may not work
Including a subject in the email may or may not be a problem
Including text in the body of the email may or may not be a problem
Geesh... not only does this functionality have some severe limitations... but Wave apparently doesn't know all the limitations to share with its users!
Another potential recommendation if you are on Windows 10. I am trialing this solution right now. It appears, on first blush, to make the Wave emailing receipts functionality worth using...
I am not associated with this company/product in any way.
On Windows 10, this print driver, NovaPDF (https://www.novapdf.com/), can be configured to do all the additional steps @Binky mentions in their message below.
NovaPDF give 30 day free trial. Personal / 1 computer licenses for the version with the required functionality is currently US$ 49.99 with support and minor upgrades.
So the steps with NovaPDF are:
1. Open the email containing in the body of the email the receipt
2. Choose print
3. Select the NovaPDF "printer" (if its not your default printer)
4. Click "OK/Print", the NovaPDF printer
5. Open Wave receipts to view the receipt
After you click OK/Print NovaPDF automagically, i.e. with no further intervention
1. Converts the email body to PDF (you can choose to have the file open in your PDF reader or not)
2. Saves the PDF with no intervention (you choose where and how the file name is constructed during configuration)
3. Attaches the PDF to an email
4. Addresses the email to receipts@waveapps.com
5. Sets the send email address to your Wave primary account email address
6. Sends the email via your local server or what ever email provider you have
Actually it appears NovaPDF can send anything you can print - including any attachments you receive, or scans of paper documents, etc. etc..
In other words NovePDF appears to make the Wave receipts functionality usable / practically useful.
I will report back if it turns out on stress testing over the coming days this product has any limitations.
If your receipts were imported into your primary business and you would like to move/assign them to a different business you have in Wave, you can do so by heading over to your Purchases > Receipts page and pressing the down arrow underneath the "Actions" section. A drop down menu will appear where you can select a business that you would like to move your receipt(s) to. Please note that this can only be done with receipts that have a "Ready" status.
I saved a receipt that was emailed to me as a PDF file on my computer. I then created a new, blank email with no subject and no message and attached the PDF of the receipt. I sent that to receipts@waveapps.com from my "primary" email. 24-hours later and still nothing in my "default" business (I assume Wave means "default" business and not "primary" since that's how it's actually labeled in Wave).
I think it's safe to say that emailing receipts to your Wave account is not a reliable method and you should probably stick to manual uploads. Up to this point, I've been using Expensify, which lets you just forward your receipts as they come in – no jumping through hoops at all.
I know this was been commented on many times, but for someone she manages a LOT of his business from a mobile device, not being able to forward receipts is a huge inconvenience. I’d pay for that service! I often can’t screen print then as they are too large for my phone’s screen as the original email. Please add this functionality.
As everyone else here has said, the inability to forward a receipt is ridiculous. Most email receipts don't have all the necessary information visible without scrolling, so you can't even take a screenshot and upload it. Prior to 11/30/20 forwarding receipts always worked for me, so I'm sure you USED to have this functionality and got rid of it. Why does every change you've made in the last year or two feel like a downgrade? Seriously considering paying for Freshbooks just to not have to deal with you anymore.
Hi @NWMedia
I'm sorry to hear that you've been having some difficulty emailing receipts to your account. It does sound like you've followed the steps in this Help Centre article on how to email receipts to your Wave account. If you are still having trouble receiving your receipts, please reach out to our Support team and we'd be happy to take a closer look for you.
@Gambrosi@AMB Thanks so much for your feedback here. Regarding the ability to forward receipts, earlier in this thread, another user suggested an interesting workaround. Have you had a chance to give this a try and were you able to find success with this method?
@Rita_Hattingh said:
I love this process of emailing all my receipts and it is uploaded.
And for those having problems with forwarding your emails, I just removed the subject and > email body and send the email. As easy as that, no need to save on your computer first.
Hi @NWMedia
I'm sorry to hear that you've been having some difficulty with emailing receipts. From your post, it does appear that you have followed the steps in this Help Centre article to email the receipts to your Wave account. If you are still having trouble receiving your receipts, please reach out to our Support team via email and we'd be happy to help.
@Gambrosi@AMB Thanks so much for your feedback here. Regarding the ability to forward receipts, earlier in this thread, another user shared an interesting workaround. Have you had a chance to give this a try and were you able to see any success with that?
@Rita_Hattingh said:
I love this process of emailing all my receipts and it is uploaded. And for those having problems with forwarding your emails, I just removed the subject and email body and send the email. As easy as that, no need to save on your computer first.
Oh yes, and the issue is that the bevaviour is consistent. Sometimes it works when I forward, sometimes when I reply (always removing the orginal subject and any forwarding/replying kind of text in email too)
@KristenV Honestly, it's frustrating that we even need to try to find a workaround! It worked perfectly well before, and now it takes extra steps that weren't required previously. To catch up on last year, I ended up screenshotting all my plain text email receipts (many in multiple screenshots due to length) and uploading them manually, which took probably a collective 30 minutes longer than it would have if I could have just hit forward like I used to.
The point is, it doesn't matter if there are other ways to upload receipts. You have an entire forum full of unhappy customers who were happy with the original functionality. As a business, why wouldn't you want to go back to that?
I'm still planning to leave Wave as soon as I wrap up all the reports I need for this tax year.
Comments
Hi @JeanetteJohnson! Thanks for reaching out here. At the moment we do not have any plans for implementing forwarding for email receipts. I know that receipts can be long so I hope we have a feature that will allow for these to be captured in one go in the future!
He @lisapineau! Thanks for your feedback on this and for the additional suggestions you have provided. This insight is helpful for our team to have when building out new features!
I’m sure there’s a very good reason you’ve changed a working convenient feature and continue to ignore your users, but what was it? I’m sure people would be more understanding if you actually said WHY.
@EmmaP Are you kidding me? Just look at the complaints on this thread. People are using wave to try and make their lives simpler, not more difficult. How can your company see all of this feedback and not realize that not being able to forward email receipts in ALL forms is not only a major functionality problem but a deal breaker for many. This function should be prioritized immediately! I am disappointed as I believed wave to be an innovative and forward thinking company. You will be overtaken by your competitors if you dont re-examine your development strategies and adopt a customer focused ideology.
If the receipt had to be downloaded to my computer. It is far easier to just upload it into my wave account at that point rather then upload it into a second email???
I'm sorry but this is a serious regression. One has to wonder what type regression testing process Wave is using. Additionally, I can't get any type of email receipt to work. Extracting to a some PDF document is absurdly short sided and time consuming.
Look I get it that the fix created an otherwise unintended consequence of an otherwise good design, but it might be time to consider rethinking that "Fix" to allow the forwarding of receipts. Personally, I've lost 9 months of receipt entry which I thought was there. (yes I should have been doing monthly closing but I didn't).
It's hard to believe that after 9 months the Wave engineers couldn't find an adequate fix to the problem. Even more disheartening is the ability to do any type of email receipts is broken. I'm not really sure what you are expecting us to do but it isn't working for me and obviously a majority of other users.
Wake up and get a fix. (And this is coming from some with 30+ years in Software and 10 years in Developer Community Building)
And yet 9 months into it, and 3 moths since your post there is still no resolution to the regression. You say one thing but your actions say another.
Hey @Binky!
Really appreciate your continued feedback, thoughts, and feelings here. While I totally understand why you're frustrated, I do want to reiterate that we are always reading comments like yours to get a better understanding of what our users needs and wants are. The truth of the matter in this case, is that a large majority of our resources are currently focused on some other larger and more substantial projects, and as a result, this particular feature request isn't currently on the horizon.
That doesn't mean that this is something that will never happen, only that it isn't currently the primary focus, and as a result, I don't have an updated ETA or status for you.
Having said that, you should be able to email your receipts according to our guide here. Can you confirm whether the receipt emails you've been attempting adhere to these guidelines and if so, could you clarify a bit more about how this function isn't working for you currently?
Kristian,
Seriously, the current email receipt process is akin to standing on your head and spitting wooden nickles. I could do it (under certain limited situations) but why in the world would I? Have you guys actually tried it? Have you tried it on a phone?
I just tried it on my phone. There is no default way to create a PDF. I could create an image, but it would only capture what is currently displayed on the phone. So right off the bat, the current email process doesn't work on the phone.
On the desktop the current process is as follows:
Previously the process was:
There isn't a usability engineer in the world that would approve the current email process.
On the regression side of the house, I'm surprised that you don't have any regression testing. Of course, if your test only involves the standing on head and spitting wooden nickles method above I would understand. But it is a hole, that isn't what people do.
Finally, your comment
I do want to reiterate that we are always reading comments like yours to get a better understanding of what our users(sic) needs and wants are.is falling on deaf ears. The same statement has been used a number of times on this very thread but It's been 9 months since the "fix"/regression occurred on or around June 24. "We're listening" comments are fine if you actually are but without any action they are meaningless.Just one more thought. Having worked on software development for over 30 years and the first 5 doing accounting software, I find it hard to believe that while the main development team is focused on something else that there isn't a bug buster engineer whos sole job is to fix elevated problems like this one.
Just so you guys have an idea how painful this is. I've just spent the last 2 days recovering 218 messages that I had previously sent to be processed using the forward method which worked up until June 24, 2019. And I'm still not done. So quite honestly, the "fix" is a major flaw and a reason I would not choose Wave Apps if I wasn't already highly invested.
This is really surprising that you can't forward emails directly, but you support OCR and the like. Couldn't you just add something on the backend to convert emails to PDF and then use your existing system? It would be a huge quality of life improvement.
Just get the attachment part working. This is very critical and is causing me to look at other avenues
I love this process of emailing all my receipts and it is uploaded.
And for those having problems with forwarding your emails, I just removed the subject and email body and send the email. As easy as that, no need to save on your computer first.
@Rita_Hattingh Wow thank you so much for that advice! I'm hoping others can benefit from this
Ugh, this is really disappointing. Wave used to be able to handle simply forwarding receipts (including plain text in the message body, which is how nearly all receipts arrive). It was great because I could see in my mail client if the receipt had been forwarded or not. Now, I find out that Wave has broken one of its most useful features? The worst part might be that it fails silently, without telling you your receipt was unable to be processed as sent! Now you're ending Etsy integration (my other business) too? What is going on over there? You guys used to be so great! Then, you got bought last year by H&R Block. And oh boy, does it show!
I've been using Wave since starting my business in 2013, and I've been recommending Wave that whole time. In good conscience, I can't recommend it anymore.
Hey @TELLC! Thanks for reaching out, and I'm sorry to hear about the difficulties you've been seeing here. Earlier in this thread, another user had a workaround for the new workflow as far as emailing receipts into Wave. Have you tried this, and have you found any success with it?
As far as the Etsy integration, there is another thread here in which our Product Manager has listed out the reasons for this change, as well as alternative methods for you to bring this data into Wave from Etsy.
With regards to the H&R Block acquisition, I hope I can address that statement holistically for you. This is an exciting new chapter for Wave, and we can confirm that our belief, brand, and product will remain unchanged. What this acquisition has done is allow is a level of stability for us to continue to build on what we started and take it to new heights. The team that manages the Community (myself included) are currently working on a better way to showcase the past, present, and ongoing changes that Wave has been making in order to bolster our product as a whole.
Many things are still being worked out but our mission remains the same. We're really excited for the future, and hope you are too.
Most of my receipts for purchases are just emailed to me in the body of the email, NOT as an attachment. How can I upload/email these, so they can be imported to Wave?
I have tried forwarding one of my non-attached receipts (just to see if it would work) as @Rita_Hattingh mentioned, but haven't heard anything in 2 days. Does this take longer or does it absolutely HAVE to be an attachment?
Hey @Brooke_SS , I'd recommend screenshotting the receipt in the email and adding it as a new attachment to a new email that you send to Wave. The system will then be able to pick it up.
AND the receipt must be in plain text format... sent two test messages as HTML (the default in my email program)... they never showed up. Sent text emails they showed up "processing" within 30 seconds.
Other "features" that may exist, i.e. the following may or may not cause problems, your mileage may vary...
Primary email addresses that include a display name may or may note work, e.g. "Guy Raymond" guy@company.ca may not work
Including a subject in the email may or may not be a problem
Including text in the body of the email may or may not be a problem
Geesh... not only does this functionality have some severe limitations... but Wave apparently doesn't know all the limitations to share with its users!
Another potential recommendation if you are on Windows 10. I am trialing this solution right now. It appears, on first blush, to make the Wave emailing receipts functionality worth using...
I am not associated with this company/product in any way.
On Windows 10, this print driver, NovaPDF (https://www.novapdf.com/), can be configured to do all the additional steps @Binky mentions in their message below.
NovaPDF give 30 day free trial. Personal / 1 computer licenses for the version with the required functionality is currently US$ 49.99 with support and minor upgrades.
So the steps with NovaPDF are:
1. Open the email containing in the body of the email the receipt
2. Choose print
3. Select the NovaPDF "printer" (if its not your default printer)
4. Click "OK/Print", the NovaPDF printer
5. Open Wave receipts to view the receipt
After you click OK/Print NovaPDF automagically, i.e. with no further intervention
1. Converts the email body to PDF (you can choose to have the file open in your PDF reader or not)
2. Saves the PDF with no intervention (you choose where and how the file name is constructed during configuration)
3. Attaches the PDF to an email
4. Addresses the email to receipts@waveapps.com
5. Sets the send email address to your Wave primary account email address
6. Sends the email via your local server or what ever email provider you have
Actually it appears NovaPDF can send anything you can print - including any attachments you receive, or scans of paper documents, etc. etc..
In other words NovePDF appears to make the Wave receipts functionality usable / practically useful.
I will report back if it turns out on stress testing over the coming days this product has any limitations.
so.... the receipts end up in your primary business. How can you move/assign them to the right business?
Scoper: thank you SO much for your solution to forward receipts in emails! That just save me probably hours of trying to find a workaround!
Hey @j_HK !
If your receipts were imported into your primary business and you would like to move/assign them to a different business you have in Wave, you can do so by heading over to your Purchases > Receipts page and pressing the down arrow underneath the "Actions" section. A drop down menu will appear where you can select a business that you would like to move your receipt(s) to. Please note that this can only be done with receipts that have a "Ready" status.
Below I attached a screenshot for reference:
I saved a receipt that was emailed to me as a PDF file on my computer. I then created a new, blank email with no subject and no message and attached the PDF of the receipt. I sent that to receipts@waveapps.com from my "primary" email. 24-hours later and still nothing in my "default" business (I assume Wave means "default" business and not "primary" since that's how it's actually labeled in Wave).
I think it's safe to say that emailing receipts to your Wave account is not a reliable method and you should probably stick to manual uploads. Up to this point, I've been using Expensify, which lets you just forward your receipts as they come in – no jumping through hoops at all.
As everyone else here has said, the inability to forward a receipt is ridiculous. Most email receipts don't have all the necessary information visible without scrolling, so you can't even take a screenshot and upload it. Prior to 11/30/20 forwarding receipts always worked for me, so I'm sure you USED to have this functionality and got rid of it. Why does every change you've made in the last year or two feel like a downgrade? Seriously considering paying for Freshbooks just to not have to deal with you anymore.
Hi @NWMedia
I'm sorry to hear that you've been having some difficulty emailing receipts to your account. It does sound like you've followed the steps in this Help Centre article on how to email receipts to your Wave account. If you are still having trouble receiving your receipts, please reach out to our Support team and we'd be happy to take a closer look for you.
@Gambrosi @AMB Thanks so much for your feedback here. Regarding the ability to forward receipts, earlier in this thread, another user suggested an interesting workaround. Have you had a chance to give this a try and were you able to find success with this method?
Hi @NWMedia
I'm sorry to hear that you've been having some difficulty with emailing receipts. From your post, it does appear that you have followed the steps in this Help Centre article to email the receipts to your Wave account. If you are still having trouble receiving your receipts, please reach out to our Support team via email and we'd be happy to help.
@Gambrosi @AMB Thanks so much for your feedback here. Regarding the ability to forward receipts, earlier in this thread, another user shared an interesting workaround. Have you had a chance to give this a try and were you able to see any success with that?
Oh yes, and the issue is that the bevaviour is consistent. Sometimes it works when I forward, sometimes when I reply (always removing the orginal subject and any forwarding/replying kind of text in email too)
@KristenV Honestly, it's frustrating that we even need to try to find a workaround! It worked perfectly well before, and now it takes extra steps that weren't required previously. To catch up on last year, I ended up screenshotting all my plain text email receipts (many in multiple screenshots due to length) and uploading them manually, which took probably a collective 30 minutes longer than it would have if I could have just hit forward like I used to.
The point is, it doesn't matter if there are other ways to upload receipts. You have an entire forum full of unhappy customers who were happy with the original functionality. As a business, why wouldn't you want to go back to that?
I'm still planning to leave Wave as soon as I wrap up all the reports I need for this tax year.