How to Extract Data from Receipts & Invoices — Free OCR Scanner

The Receipt Problem

Expense reports need itemized data from paper receipts. Tax prep requires totals from dozens of receipts. Accounting software needs line items entered. Typing all of this manually is the worst part of expense tracking. OCR reads the receipt and extracts the data — merchant name, date, items, tax, total — so you can copy it into your spreadsheet or accounting tool.

How to Scan Receipts

1. Open the Receipt Scanner on your phone or computer
2. Take a photo of the receipt or upload an existing image
3. OCR extracts key fields: store name, date, line items, subtotal, tax, total
4. Copy the extracted data to your spreadsheet or accounting software

For best results: photograph on a flat surface with good lighting, no wrinkles or folds, dark text visible.

Invoices and Bills

The same workflow handles invoices, utility bills, and statements. Upload or photograph the document and OCR extracts the text. For invoices in PDF format, use the PDF OCR tool which handles multi-page scanned documents.

Batch Processing Multiple Receipts

Have a stack of receipts from a business trip? Use Batch OCR to process them all at once. Upload 10-20 receipt photos, get all the text extracted in order. Then paste into your expense tracking spreadsheet — or use the CSV to Excel tool to build a proper expense report.

Tips for Faded Receipts

• Thermal paper fades fast — photograph receipts the day you get them. A receipt that looks fine today may be unreadable in 3 months.
• Increase contrast — photograph in bright light against a dark background to maximize contrast
• Multiple angles — if part of the text is faded, try photographing at a slight angle to catch the remaining ink
• Flatten completely — creases create shadows that OCR misreads as text artifacts