Submitting invoices from a scanner

Do you still receive paper invoices? With a scanner that can send emails, you can easily submit them to eConnect for automatic processing. The IDR (Intelligent Document Recogniser) recognizes the text on the scanned document and converts it into a validated e-invoice.

Scanner requirements

To submit invoices via a scanner, the scanner must meet two conditions:

The scanner must have its own email address with a working mailbox. This is needed so that error messages can be received.
The scanner's email address must be registered with your eConnect organization. The simplest way to arrange this is by setting up a trusted sender for the scanner's email address.

Setup in three steps

You have two options for the receiving address: you can use the standard COC address, or create a new address via the Email Receiver (trusted sender). Choose one of the two, you don't need to do both.

Step 1: Choose your receiving address

Option A: use your standard purchase invoices address (<chamber-of-commerce-number>@inkoopfacturen.econnect.eu) and add the scanner's email address as a known sender.

Option B: create a trusted sender in the platform. The platform then generates a unique email address with which you can configure the whitelist type, document type and other settings specifically for the scanner.

Step 2: Configure the email address on the scanner

Set the chosen email address (from step 1) as the recipient on the scanner.

Step 3: Check scan settings

Make sure the scanner saves documents as PDF or as an image (JPEG, PNG or BMP). Set the resolution to at least 300 dpi for the best recognition results.

Scan quality

The quality of the scan directly affects recognition. A few practical tips:

Scan at at least 300 dpi for a sharp and readable result.
Make sure the document is straight on the glass plate, so text is not recognized at an angle.
Avoid scans that are too light or too dark. The document should have good contrast.
Do not scan the back of a document if it contains no relevant information; a blank page can trigger an error message.

Note: always scan one invoice per file. If an invoice has multiple pages, save them as a single PDF. A PDF containing multiple invoices will be rejected.

Error messages

If a scanned document cannot be processed, eConnect sends an error message to the scanner's email address. Check the scanner's mailbox regularly for error messages. Common causes include poor scan quality (the document is unreadable) or a file that is too small (under 1 KB).

Would you rather receive error messages at a different email address? When setting up a trusted sender, you can specify a separate contact email address where rejection notifications are sent.

Want to know what technical requirements scanned files need to meet? Read the requirements for submitting invoices.

Submit your first invoice