Photo Invoice
Take a photo of a supplier's bill, or upload a scan, and Stockivio reads it into a draft purchase bill that you check, correct and confirm.
Why and when you use it
Typing a long supplier bill line by line is slow and error-prone. Photo Invoice reads the bill for you: supplier, bill number, date, items, quantities, rates and tax. You stay in charge: nothing is posted until you have reviewed it. Purchase clerks and accountants use it when goods arrive. Bill scans are counted on Plan & Usage; on the Growth and Business plans you can buy an OCR pack there when you need more scans.
Before you start
- Add the supplier first (Suppliers), with GSTIN
- Add the products you buy (Inventory), with HSN code and GST Rate %
- Check scans left on Plan & Usage
- Have the supplier's bill flat, in good light, all four corners visible
Step by step
- Open Photo InvoiceIn the left sidebar, under Stockivio ERP, open Photo Invoice.
- Upload or photograph the billUpload the scanned bill or take a photo with your phone. One bill per upload; for a multi-page bill, make sure every page is clear.
- Wait for the bill to be readStockivio reads the bill. If it does not finish, the scan appears in Stuck bills, where you can retry or enter it by hand.
- Review the header fieldsCheck the supplier, supplier bill number, bill date and bill amount against the paper. These become Supplier, Supplier Bill Number, Supplier Bill Date and Supplier Bill Amount (₹) on the purchase bill.
- Review every item lineCheck each product, quantity, rate and GST. Make sure each line is matched to the right product in your Inventory, not a similar-looking one.
- Correct anything misreadFix wrong digits, swapped quantities and rates, or an unmatched product. Common misreads are 1 vs 7, 0 vs 8, and decimal points.
- Confirm into a draft purchase billConfirm the reviewed bill. It becomes a draft purchase bill for you to check.
- Check and save the purchase billOpen the draft on the Purchases screen, compare the total with the supplier's figure, and press Save Purchase Bill. Stock and the supplier's balance update only when it is saved.
Worked example
On 12 Nov 2026 Sharma Traders (Jaipur) receives bill HF/2026/4821 from Hindustan Foods Pvt Ltd (Delhi): 40 bags of Chakki Atta 10 kg at ₹380 and 120 Refined Oil 1 L pouches at ₹135, both at 5% GST. Because the supplier is in Delhi and Sharma Traders is in Rajasthan, the tax is IGST.
- Open Photo Invoice and photograph the bill on the office desk.
- Review the header: supplier Hindustan Foods Pvt Ltd, bill number HF/2026/4821, date 12 Nov 2026, amount ₹32,970.
- Review lines: atta 40 × ₹380 = ₹15,200; oil was read as 170 pouches; correct it to 120, giving ₹16,200.
- Check tax: taxable ₹31,400, IGST 5% = ₹1,570, total ₹32,970, matching the paper bill.
- Confirm to create the draft purchase bill.
- Open Purchases, check the draft and press Save Purchase Bill.
Result: Stock goes up by 40 bags of atta and 120 oil pouches, Sharma Traders owes Hindustan Foods Pvt Ltd ₹32,970 (visible in Accounts Payable), and ₹1,570 of IGST input appears in the GST figures for November 2026.
💡 Tips
- Take the photo from straight above, without shadows or folded corners.
- Always match the read total to the Supplier Bill Amount on paper before saving; a mismatch means a misread line.
- Keep the paper bill until the purchase bill is saved and checked.
- If you are running out of scans, check Plan & Usage; Growth and Business plans can buy an OCR pack there.
⚠️ Common mistakes
- Confirming without reading the lines. Fix: check every quantity and rate; a single misread digit changes stock and money.
- Letting a line match the wrong product (for example atta 5 kg instead of 10 kg). Fix: change the product on that line before confirming.
- Uploading the same bill twice. Fix: check Purchases for the supplier bill number before uploading; delete the duplicate draft if it happens.
- Wrong tax type. Fix: an out-of-state supplier means IGST; a same-state supplier means CGST + SGST. Check the supply setting on the purchase bill.
Questions
Does Photo Invoice post the bill straight to my books?
No. It creates a draft purchase bill. Stock, the supplier balance and GST change only after you save the purchase bill.
What if the scan never finishes?
Open Stuck bills (all) to retry it or enter the bill by hand on the Purchases screen.
Which plans can buy more scans?
On Growth and Business you can buy an OCR pack from Plan & Usage.
🎬 Video walkthrough (script — recording coming soon)
- Scene 1: Paper bill from Hindustan Foods on a desk; open Photo Invoice.
- Scene 2: Photograph and upload the bill.
- Scene 3: Review the header fields against the paper.
- Scene 4: Spot the oil quantity misread as 170 and correct it to 120.
- Scene 5: Check the total ₹32,970 and confirm into a draft.
- Scene 6: Open Purchases and press Save Purchase Bill.
- Scene 7: Inventory stock up; Accounts Payable shows ₹32,970 owed.