How to attach Receipt to account transaction
Famoso
Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
Hi
My problem in this..
I have a business account connected to me waveapp. Every time I make a purchase with my business card which is connected with waveapp it syncs my transactions, great!
Now, I want to do is upload my receipt/invoice of purchase to waveapp and attach to the purchase record but when I do that via my app on my phone or on my computer it creates another transaction which in turn duplicates the transaction. I have to manually go into transactions and delete the sync transaction from my account and leave the receipt upload i have done.
All i want to to is upload the receipt/invoice to that transaction.
When i go to the transactions page there is no link to be able to attach a photo of the invoice or receipt.
I know you can do this via the phone app and it uploads but my problem is it then duplicates the transaction, on transactions when waveapp syncs with my business account and another transaction when i upload the invoice/receipt.
I know of other accounting software that are basic that allows you to attach a photo of the invoice/receipt to the transaction for tax purposes.
can you help pleas.
Comments
Let's start with an admission: we know our system can be better with this workflow. The duplication is frustrating and the situation is actually common. The solution hasn't always been easy, but we're now actively working towards making improvements this year. Our intent is to first ensure that we do a better job detecting duplicates and merging them for you automatically. Thereafter, we're going to look at shifting towards an "attach receipt" model, and that will permeate throughout Wave. I know it doesn't solve your problems immediately, but know that we feel your pain.
Mani, do you know when the 'attach receipt' model is expected to be available (even a rough estimate)? I too face this problem -- I really want to be able to just attach receipts to existing transactions.
no problems thanks. I have resorted to removing my business account so it doesn't sync. Like I said there are other smaller small business accounting software that have this feature and is not a massive feature, really just a basic.
Duplication of transactions is not good in business accounting.
I look forward to the update.
Thanks again for replying.
Hi all,
I too will be very relieved when Wave incorporates both the two basic features mentioned in Mani's comment.
In the mean-time, as I like to keep a copy of all my receipts in Dropbox, I am adding Dropbox links in the notes box to my receipts.
I am in shock. Each feature that I would believe is basic to accounting...making things easier instead of more difficult...are not on Wave. I cannot even believe a receipt app would be released without having a way to sync it to a current transaction. It duplicating things makes for very poor accounting, and just like I said about the lack of auto categorization (and terrible estimations by the software) quite frankly, I am not seeing the advantage over my simple spreadsheet....I have to categorize each transaction and record the receipt separately...I am seeing NO advantage and if anything, I fear a disadvantage that this could be doing things automatically, like duplicating expenses, without my awareness. If these foibles are so obvious on basic features, what less obvious mistakes and issues is this software making that could prove terrible should I get audited.
Hi @Evee.
We actually just launched a Merge feature last week, which makes the whole process of matching transactions from bank connections and from receipts, or invoices that much easier.
As for the ability to attach pictures to transactions, there have been other discussions on the subject, and while there's currently no plan to add a feature like this one, our product team has been paying attention and is always listening for feedback.
As for the advantages of Wave over simply using spreadsheets, well, we believe there's quite a few. Our various systems are interconnected to allow for easier accounting, you can invoice your clients directly from Wave, and even receive payments through our platform, we offer an easy-to-navigate interface and extensive reports which can give you quick insight on various facet of your business. Our goal is to make accounting easier for our users, but Wave still does require input from our users, and occasional reconciliation.
If you are looking for something more hands-off, we do also offer a bookkeeping service, which might answer your needs.
Or perhaps there could be a QR code in the invoices issued and with it we can scan with the "Receipts Apps" and it gets attached to the invoice.
Hi, @Kenj.
This thread is not about attachments to invoices, but about linking transactions generated from a receipt upload to one generated from a bank connection.
We do appreciate the continued dialogue. Please don't stop, and know that we are referencing your thoughts and concerns as we plan our product improvements.
In the meanwhile, the new merge feature will get further enhanced with automatic merging for situations like receipt uploads matching imported transactions from your bank account. Again, no timeline on this enhancement, but we do intend to get there as soon as we can.
Hi all,
I have this problem too. I'm no expert but it's created quite a mess of things with duplicate entries for me. I would have thought the only point of uploading a receipt was to associate it with a transaction, however this just creates loads of duplicates when transactions are pulled through from my bank account. I would say this is a much needed "enhancement". In fact I'm totally shocked you can't link a receipt to a transaction, that rules wave out completely as a means of keeping receipts organised. Having used wave to account by pulling in all my transactions from my bank account I now have to finish my accounting outside of wave in order to link all the transactions to receipts. The Wave workflow seems to make no sense? Can someone explain exactly what the intended workflow is supposed to be regarding transactions and receipts? Has this even been thought through?
Hi, @ralphonz.
What you are looking to do is merge your receipt transaction with the one uploaded from your bank. To do this, just select both transactions and click on the "Merge" button.
As @Mani said, we do intend to automate this process in the future.
I am looking for this feature too.
I am not sure why this very simple feature won't be shortlisted. But I cannot complain as I am evaluating the free version. But I prommis if you don't have such a feature in one month I'll leave Waveapps because I cannot keep all of my invoices.
I am trying Waveapps for two months. I am happy with that overally but I prefer to hear something like "okay, we informed PM and based on the plan the feature will be ready in one/two months" rather than hearing "...there's currently no plan to add a feature like this one,...".
Hi, @Hesam.
What do you mean when you say that you won't be able to keep all of your invoices? You can't currently put attachments to individual transactions, but you can save your receipts, bills and invoices to Wave. Those are never removed without you deleting them. You can't attach files to transactions on the Transactions page, but there's still quite a few record-keeping tools in Wave.
If you'd like to learn more about how we choose what to build next for Wave, and about what we have in the works right now, I encourage to read this post.
Hi Alexia and thanks for your reply.
I normally look at how stuff/tools simplify my works.
I am comparing your service with Intuit (that I am using for more than a year). You both help me to pull my transaction from my biz account. In Intuit, I am able to upload my docs (such as invoice) into transactions and save it (as expense). Then I am done.
Unless you have different deffinitions for Transactions and Expenses, It doesn't make sense to me to spend more time on record-keeping tools. Thanks.
Hi @Hesam.
You can do this with the receipts upload feature in Wave, you just won't be able to see those attachments directly on the Transactions page. Those receipts are stored on your Wave account (on the Receipts page, under Purchases) and do create matching expenses.
I would like the ability to attach receipts to the transactions, but, more importantly for me, I want to be able to store the receipts in the system without duplicating transactions. I use a cloud service that charges me many times during the month. I like the transaction importing feature because I would have to key in all of those transactions without it or total them up manually and key in a lump sum for the month. Attaching the receipts to the transactions is not as big of a deal in this case because I would have to associate the monthly invoice with each one of the charges I get throughout the month. I would like to be able to upload the receipt with an option to not post the transaction so I can use it as a document repository in case my client asks for an invoice for verification.
Hi, @brianswart.
We're actually working on ways to automate the merging of transactions uploaded by your bank and transactions created by Wave automatically! That feature is still some ways away, but we do have plans in that regards.
For now, you can just select the duplicated transactions and click the Merge button that appears on top of your screen. This will combine both transactions into one. I recognize that it isn't exactly what you're asking for, but it is the easiest way, at the moment, to keep your Transactions page clean while uploading your receipts and having an active bank connection.
I tried that, but for some reason you can only do that with transactions that have the same dollar amount. These transactions are different each time.
Hi, @brianswart.
Then there's a different problem elsewhere. The transactions should match up if they are duplicates. The amount deposited in your account should match what's on your receipt.
Can you give me an example of two matching transactions that have different amounts?
I use Twilio as a cloud provider and they use a prepay type system that charges my account when it gets below a certain threshold. This month, they charged me 40.21, 41.32, and 40.30. They aren’t duplicate charges but I would like to merge them monthly into a single charge and associate an invoice I get from them monthly to that transaction.
Hi, @brianswart.
I misunderstood. The merge feature is not what you're looking for. The merge feature allows you to take duplicate transactions and combine them into a single transaction. So if you recorded a payment to an invoice for $40, and your bank connection uploads the same transaction of $40, you can merge them into a single $40 transaction instead, making sure they are recognized as the same transaction in the real world.
In your case, you would want to create that invoice as a Bill, in Wave, rather than a receipt. You could then assign all three of these payments as payments to that bill. You won't, however, be able to attach a copy of that document on Wave. It'll exist as you transcribed it to your Bills page.
I find it hard to believe that the energy and time to create automatic merging is easier than creating the ability to upload a picture to a transaction.
Whether manually or automatically merging, both processes are pretty substandard to just finding the correct transaction and attaching a receipt. It sounds like the time and energy for this user requested feature is being spent elsewhere and a long way off.
For free software this is really good but for the receipt reason alone it's worth it for me to pay money each month with a different platform.
@Erik1 Thank you for the candid feedback. We certainly don't want our users or potential users to think "oh, it's free software so it may be subpar." Offering our software for free is part of our ethos to help entrepreneurs all over the world run effective businesses without being hampered by their tools. We monetize through our deeply integrated financial services, which are optional to use but have very large uptake. By aligning ourselves with the needs of our users, and the pulse of their business, we ourselves become successful.
That's a long winded way of saying we'll never hide behind free. We'll take your feedback and consider it with all of our other research to ensure we build the right experiences for you and millions of others. Thanks for sharing.
I have read through this discussion which started in Febr. and I understand that there is possibly some improvement on the ability to attach a receipt to an account transaction. I am evaluating Wave which I like so far a lot but I really would like this feature. Is there any progress yet ?
Hi, @JakobAkl,
While this isn't directly possible as things stand, you can merge a transaction uploaded to your bank to one created when you uploaded your receipt. This will make both transactions into a single transaction which will be linked to your receipt. This process takes only around 5 clicks and is very reliable.
I have a slightly different problem. While its nice we can merge similar transactions, I would like to be able to merge a receipt transaction I have uploaded with a journal entry ( I buy discounted gift cards to then buy supplies for my business, and the only way to properly record it is to do a journal entry) which does not seem to be possible. Is there a way to do this?
Yep - I have actually been asking for this feature too, would be so much easier to manage things.
This is a very basic remittance requirement.
I have purchases on amazon that are paid in bulk (for 1-3 invoices).
Also I have a EUR Current Account, and the invoices are in GBP. The app will not allow me to merge different currencies and amounts.
This is VERY common in business and you guys should really think about making it possible. In very many cases invoices and transactions are not 1-1 relation. Or not in same currency.
Simple attachment function of bill--transaction would make most sense.
Even ability to add urls to transactions would be amazing
@Mani: I can see the path you're heading down with the interim solution of manual merge. It is a step in the right direction, but I think you agree that it's not sufficient. IMHO, you should keep in mind that while Wave segregates the receipts functionality from the transactions functionality, your users don't think that way.
For example (even with the merge feature), I can't view the receipt that created a transaction from within the transactions screen, even though the transaction proudly states it was created from a receipt; I seemingly have to switch to the receipts screen, and manually find the receipt for the transaction I was just looking at.
Receipts are simply supporting documents that we want to attach to transactions for record keeping purposes. Receipts are nothing without the underlying transaction; they have no meaning on their own. I find the receipts screen to be completely devoid of context. As a status indicator of receipt scanning progress, it's fine; but again, a big list receipts on their own, outside of the transaction log, has no real meaning.
I have used Quickbooks, Freshbooks, and Xero extensively. Wave has a lot going for it against all of them (even disregarding the price tag). However, I think you need to take a cue from each of them on how receipts (or any supporting documents, for that matter) fit into your users' workflow. A virtual box stuffed full of receipts is not the goal. A well organized register of transactions, with supporting documents easily attached and readily accessible, should be the goal.
Oh holy cats this can't be done at all? And it's nearly a year since the original post? Wave, it's not hard. I'm a UX specialist. I eat this stuff for breakfast. Please never act like "this isn't easy." When you have great UX specialists (and not artists trying to make wireframes) this isn't difficult.
If I've imported transactions from an import or a connection, you add Attach Receipt to the detail area. Not hard.
If I'm uploading receipts, try to match them by vendor name, amount, or date. Say I use the app to upload a receipt for 1000 Swiss Francs from Park Inn Zurich. You OCR that. My Amex transactions sync over. You see a transaction for 895.78 EUR to Park Inn Zurich for the same day. Well that's darn close and probably a victim of currency exchanges.
A great user experience would try to match those up and ask me if this receipt for [amount] on [date] to [vendor] (show thumbnail with enough detail so I can make it out!) goes with this transaction.
So perhaps, in my quickly thought out world, you have two CTAs for the detail of an imported transaction relating to receipts. Attach Receipt (from my hard drive) or Match Receipt (to see if it matches any unclaimed receipts I've uploaded through the browser or app).
Thanks and please ping me if you need UX specialist help. This shouldn't take a year and it shouldn't be treated as UH OH we are not sure how to do this.