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What is the Invoice Inbox in AP Automation?
Summary (TL;DR): The Invoice Inbox gives your Accounts Payable team a secure, unique email address that receives vendor invoices and uses AI invoice extraction to automatically convert each invoice attachment into a draft Bill in Procurify.
Definition
The Invoice Inbox is part of Procurify's AP Automation feature set. Each organization receives a unique email address that accepts invoice emails directly into Procurify. AI invoice extraction reads each attached invoice and converts the invoice into a draft Bill, which the Accounts Payable (AP) team can then review and pay.
Why does the Invoice Inbox matter to finance teams?
Benefit | Description |
End-to-end efficiency | Unbilled items are created at Purchase Order (PO) inception, so billing data exists before the invoice arrives. |
Automated intake | Invoices sent to the Inbox email address are converted into draft Bills without manual entry. |
Seamless data transfer | Item Account Codes from approved order requests carry over to the Bill automatically. |
Quick review | AI invoice extraction pre-populates header and line-level data, so reviewers verify rather than re-key. |
How does the Invoice Inbox work?
Forward the invoice: Send the vendor invoice email to your organization's Inbox email address.
AI invoice extraction: Procurify's AI invoice extraction scans each attachment and extracts the invoice data.
Draft Bill creation: Procurify creates a draft Bill for each attachment, with the original file attached and the Created By field set to Procurify Inbox.
Data transfer: Item Account Codes from the approved order request transfer to the draft Bill automatically.
Review: The AP team reviews the pre-populated draft Bill, makes any corrections, and processes payment.
How do I find my Inbox email address?
The Inbox email address is unique to your domain, non-guessable, and read-only. Copy the Inbox email address from the Manage Bills page:
On the left-hand navigation bar, select the Accounts Payable tab.
Select Manage Bills.
Click the copy icon beside the Inbox email.
The Inbox email address cannot be customized.
How should my AP team route invoices to the Inbox?
AP teams can use the Inbox in one of two ways:
Option | Workflow |
Option 1 (recommended) | Vendors send invoice emails to your existing shared AP email address, and the AP team forwards each email to the Inbox email address. |
Option 2 | The AP team instructs each vendor to send invoice emails directly to the Inbox email address. |
Procurify recommends Option 1 because Option 1 reduces changes to existing processes and keeps vendor communication simple. Once an email arrives in the Inbox, every email attachment populates in Procurify.
What data does AI invoice extraction capture?
AI invoice extraction parses each invoice to extract the following header information:
Extracted header field |
Invoice Number |
PO Number |
Vendor Name |
Due Date |
Invoice Date |
AI invoice extraction also extracts line-level data into the draft Bill for review.
What are the file and email requirements?
Requirement | Detail |
Accepted file types | PDF, JPG/JPEG, PNG only |
Maximum file size | 25 MB per file |
Attachments per email | 10 maximum; Procurify creates one draft Bill per attachment |
Attachment handling | Only email attachments are accepted; in-line images are not processed |
PO number format | PO numbers containing an underscore (_) are not detected |
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: If I enable an auto-forwarding rule to my existing AP email address/inbox and have it auto-forward to my PF invoice inbox, will that work, or will it break any of our automation?
A: Yes, it will work.
Q: If an invoice is forwarded to my PF invoice inbox and does not find an associated Purchase Order in PF, will AP Automation create a draft bill?
A: Yes, it will create a draft bill even if there is no Purchase Order in Procurify.
Q: If no items have been received, how will AP Automation process the invoice?
A: If you are using our legacy AP module, a bill draft will be created, but the AP automation will not be able to match it against a PO and populate the Bill Form since no receiving has occurred in Procurify.
Q: Will the system continuously try to read the invoice and try to match purchase orders?
A: No, AP Automation will only process the invoice upon receipt.
Q: If an invoice contains multiple Purchase Order numbers, what is the expected behaviour?
A: Our OCR will only pick up one PO number and associate one PO. The client can then choose other corresponding POs from the Draft Bill stage to pull in additional line items associated with the invoice.
Q: What happens when more than one attachment is sent to the invoice email address?
A: Our platform will create one draft bill for every attachment sent in an email, even if all attachments are sent in one email together. Please note there is a limit of 10 attachments per email.
Q: How does the OCR determine date formats (MDY vs. DMY), and why is it sometimes inconsistent for the same vendor?
A: Our OCR (Veryfi) infers the date format based on the language and country detected on the specific invoice. It analyzes regional cues like addresses and currency to decide if a date is MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY. If an invoice lacks clear regional markers or uses an ambiguous layout, the AI’s interpretation may vary between documents. To improve success rates, ensure vendor addresses and country details are clearly legible on the scan.
Additional Information
It is not possible to customize an invoice inbox email address.
Keywords: AP Automation, Invoice Inbox, AI Invoice Extraction, Draft Bill, Bill, Invoice, Email Forwarding, Purchase Order, PO Matching, Accounts Payable, Manage Bills, Attachment Limits, Date Format