OCR invoice scanning lives or dies on the image you feed it. A sharp, flat, well-lit scan reads almost perfectly; a dim photo taken on a car seat produces wrong totals that someone has to fix by hand. This article answers the practical question: how do you get good scans from a team that collects invoices in the office, on site and on the road? It covers scanner and phone settings, a single route for every scan, and how to give staff a phone-friendly upload link on the levelpartner.ai platform.
Why scan quality matters more than the software
Every reading tool performs better on clean input. The common failures are predictable: shadows across the page, folds through the total, low resolution, and several receipts in one image. Each one turns an automatic read into a manual correction.
Fixing input is cheaper than fixing output. A one-page guide for staff on how to scan does more for accuracy than switching tools.
Scanner and phone settings that work
For office scanners:
- Scan at 300 dpi. Lower loses small print; higher makes large files with no gain.
- Use black and white or greyscale for typed invoices, colour only where stamps or highlights matter.
- Save as PDF, one invoice per file.
- Feed pages straight and remove staples.
For phone photos:
- Lay the invoice flat on a dark, plain surface.
- Shoot from directly above, in daylight or under a bright light, with no shadow from your hand or phone.
- Fill the frame with the page, edges visible.
- Use the phone's document scan mode if it has one, which flattens and crops automatically.
One route for every scan
The other half of scanning is where the file goes. If scans land in personal email, cloud folders and chat threads, your reading tool never sees half of them. Give everyone one route. On the platform, that route can be a form with an upload field that opens on any phone.
Before you start
- Agreement on which invoices and receipts staff must submit, and by when.
- A short guide to scan settings, based on the lists above.
- Access to Sites, Media Storage and Automation.
How to give staff a scan upload link
- Go to Sites, then Forms, click + Create New Form and title it Upload an invoice or receipt.
- Keep it short: name, date, amount, what it was for, and a file upload field.
- Open Notifications and set an Auto Responder and an Email Notification for finance.
- Save the form.
- Click Integrate and copy the direct form link.
- Go to Sites, then QR Codes, and click Create QR Code.
- Name the code, select Website as the type, paste the form link and click Next.
- Download it as a PDF and print it for reception, the post room and each vehicle.
- Add the form link as a bookmark on every team phone.
- Forward the files from finance to your reading tool's import address, or key them in.
The confirmation message matters. When staff see that their scan arrived, they stop sending a second copy by email to be safe, which is a common source of duplicates.
Imagine twelve agents collecting receipts for photography, signage and travel, photographing them at month end and emailing batches, many blurred or missing. Say about 30 images a month are unreadable. With a QR code in each car and a 24-hour submission rule, finance would get clean, single uploads through the month instead. If unreadable images fell to around three, that would be 27 fewer receipts to chase. The numbers are illustrative.
What it replaces and the time it takes
The upload link replaces month-end shoeboxes and email batches. Building the form and printing the QR codes takes about an hour. Each upload takes staff under a minute if they do it at the time.
The mistake most people make
Letting staff batch receipts. A month of receipts in one photo is unreadable by any tool, and by the end of the month the paper is faded or lost. Ask for each invoice to be scanned within a day of receipt.
When not to scan at all
If a supplier can email a PDF, do not print and scan it. A native PDF reads better than any scan. Ask your regular suppliers to send invoices to one accounts address and keep scanning for paper that genuinely arrives on paper. For the wider choice of whether to automate reading, see the guide to invoice OCR.
Troubleshooting
Uploads fail on phones. The file is too large. Ask staff to use document scan mode, which produces smaller files than the camera.
Pages arrive out of order. Ask for a single combined PDF from the phone's scan app rather than one photo per page.
Finance cannot tell what a receipt was for. Make the "what it was for" field required, and give examples in the field's help text.
Duplicates appear. Staff upload and email the same file. The confirmation message is the fix; once they trust the route, they stop emailing.
Frequently asked questions
What resolution should invoices be scanned at?
300 dpi is the usual standard for reading tools. It keeps small print legible without creating very large files.
Is a phone good enough for OCR invoice scanning?
Yes, for most invoices, if the photo is flat, well lit and uses the phone's document scan mode. Use a desk scanner for multi-page documents.
Should we keep the paper originals?
Check your accountant's advice and your local tax rules on record keeping. Many firms keep a clear digital copy and dispose of paper after a set period.
What happens after the scan is read?
The data needs checking, matching and approval. The guide to processing invoices once they are read covers that, and capturing the right invoice fields covers what to extract.