What counts as a bill or a receipt
Bills and receipts are both incoming purchase documents. They live in the Purchases subfolder of every Datamolino folder. The difference between them is the Document type set on the document.
Invoice - a supplier bill that you receive and pay later (for example, a contractor invoice with a due date).
Receipt - a paid-on-the-spot record (for example, a fuel receipt or a coffee shop till slip).
Both types follow the same upload and extraction flow. The Document type only changes the label and icon in the document list.
Learn more about uploading documents to a folder.
Where bills and receipts appear
Every bill or receipt you upload lands in the Purchases subfolder. From there it flows through the standard status tabs - Ready, Needs Review, Export Failed, and (if approval is enabled) Awaiting Approval and Awaiting Export.
👉 How do I change a document from invoice to receipt?
The document type is recognised and assigned automatically during processing. If you need to change it manually, open the document, select Receipt from the Document type dropdown, and save.
👉 Where does each document type show up in the list?
Both types appear in the same Purchases list. The icon and the Document type label tell you which is which.
How processing works
Once a bill or receipt is uploaded, Datamolino extracts the fields it needs - supplier, dates, totals, tax breakdown, line items, and invoice number. The data is captured the same way for both document types.
After extraction, the document moves to one of the status tabs:
Ready - everything was extracted cleanly and the document can be exported.
Needs Review - something needs your input before the document can be exported (for example, a missing field or a flagged data duplicate).
You can then code the document - assign the ledger account, tax code, tracking categories, and supplier - and export it to your accounting software.
How bills and receipts are exported
The export path depends on two things: the Document type set on the document and the accounting software your folder is connected to.
👉 Xero
Bills are exported through the Xero bill endpoint. Receipts are sent through the same endpoint - Xero does not have a separate receipt record type, so a receipt arrives in Xero as a bill.
👉 QuickBooks
Purchase documents can be exported as one of four QuickBooks record types: Bill, Supplier credit, Expense, or Check.
👉 FreeAgent
Bills are exported as FreeAgent bills. Receipts are not available as a selectable document type when the folder is connected to FreeAgent - all purchase documents are exported as bills.
What can block export
A bill or receipt can only be exported when the following is true:
The document is in an exportable state - it has finished processing and is not deleted, archived, or still being processed.
If the approval workflow is enabled on the folder, the document is either not yet submitted for approval or has been approved. Documents that are awaiting approval or were rejected cannot be exported.
The document has been coded and has all mandatory information selected (contact, ledger account, tax code)
If you try to export a document that does not meet these conditions, the export action is blocked until the issue is resolved.
Suppliers and automation
Datamolino learns from your coding. The first time you export a document from a specific supplier, Datamolino stores the coding in Supplier Automation Settings. Every subsequent document from that supplier is pre-coded with those settings automatically.
Learn more about [LINK-TODO: supplier automation]