Receipt recognition (OCR and e-invoice)

What is this?

Receipt recognition automatically reads the most important data from an uploaded receipt and pre-fills the entry form. So you save typing date, amount and issuer. Chorilo supports two methods:

• OCR (text recognition) for scanned or photographed receipts and invoices (PDF, JPG, PNG, HEIC)
• E-invoice parsing for XRechnung XML and ZUGFeRD PDF — the official German e-invoice standards

E-invoices are increasingly mandatory in B2B since 2025, so they are also relevant for many clubs.

How to use receipt recognition

1. Upload a receipt — either when creating a new entry or directly in the Receipt recognition area.
2. Chorilo automatically detects whether it is an e-invoice or a normal scan.
3. The recognized fields are pre-filled in the form: date, amount, issuer, invoice number.
4. Check all values — especially with OCR there can be reading errors.
5. Choose account and category — Chorilo does not detect these automatically.
6. Save the entry.

Process e-invoices

E-invoices are particularly reliable since they contain structured data:

• XRechnung — XML file with all invoice data in a standardized format
• ZUGFeRD — PDF with embedded XML, visually like a normal invoice

Chorilo detects these formats on upload automatically and reads all fields without text recognition. For e-invoices you also see line items, if present.

OCR recognition for scans and photos

For normal receipts and scanned invoices Chorilo uses OCR. Recognition works best with:

• Clearly legible receipts — at least 200 dpi resolution
• Straight shots — no skewed photos
• Standard fonts — receipt printer font, normal invoice layouts
• German and English language

Permission

You need cashbook.edit to use receipt recognition.

Tips

• Prefer e-invoices where possible — they are faster, more accurate and the standard for many business transactions from 2025 onwards anyway.
• Photograph receipts straight and with good lighting — that significantly improves the OCR hit rate.
• Always check the recognized amount — comma shifts are the most common OCR error.
• Upload the receipt even on recognition errors and complete manually — the receipt must be stored for compliance anyway.