Adding an invoice via the Mailbox menu
To add an invoice into Spend Cloud, you can utilize either the Mailbox or the Add feature. In the Mailbox of Invoice Processing, you will find all the invoices received through the designated email address. Attachments in PDF,
XML or UBL formats can be processed, and this also applies to PDF files added as ZIP files.
Application administrators can manage Mailbox settings through Application Management / Invoice Processing / Mailbox.
The incoming emails need to be checked for spam and assigned to an administration. Afterward, the emails can be processed, and the invoices will be forwarded to the Coding section. If messages are flagged as spam by the system, they will be automatically placed in the spam folder. Normally, the spam folder remains invisible unless there are messages in it. The button to access the spam folder will then be displayed at the top of the page with a red icon:

Checking emails and select the correct file type
By clicking on the email in the overview or the pencil icon at the end of the row, you can review and, if needed, edit an invoice.
On this page, you can verify whether the email actually contains an invoice. If it does, you indicate the fiscal year and, if applicable, the accounting administration the invoice belongs to. If a supplier does not submit invoices correctly, you can inform them of the correct invoicing method by clicking the 'Inform creditor' button.
Under ‘Files’, you can specify how the attachments should be processed. You can change the order by dragging the attachments—this allows you to place continuation pages directly after the first page of the invoice (PDF invoices only). See below for example images of XML invoice scenarios.
- New invoice: Choose this option if it’s a new invoice. A new invoice can be a PDF, UBL, or XML file.
- Digital reproduction invoice: When receiving a UBL/XML invoice, tag the corresponding PDF as 'digital invoice preview'. Sometimes, a PDF is embedded within the XML file—this is automatically tagged as a digital invoice preview. If the PDF has the same name as the XML, or if the message includes only one XML and one PDF file, the system automatically tags it as well. This way, you benefit from XML invoice data while retaining the familiar invoice layout.
- Follow-up: Use this for a continuation page of the invoice above. This only applies if the original invoice is a PDF.
- Attachment: This is a supplementary file, such as an image. You can find it later during coding or in the archive as a 'linked file'.
- Ignore: Use this if the file does not need to be processed.
Using the 'Ask for Opinion' button at the top, you can raise a question about the invoice to an employee or an external contact before the email is processed.
The XML-invoice has a pdf embedded, mark the PDF as preview digital invoice.
The XML invoice has a PDF embedded and the message contains a separate PDF. The separate PDF can be ignored because it's the same PDF as embedded in the XML. You could ask your supplier to remove the separate PDF as the XML already has a PDF embedded.
The message contains one XML and one invoice, therefore we automatically mark the PDF as digital reproduction invoice.
The message contains one XML and more than one PDF where neither have the same name as the XML, the Spend Cloud can't determine which PDF belongs to the XML invoice. Check the files, mark the PDF invoice as digital reproduction invoice and mark the other file as attachment or to ignore.
Processing emails
Invoices that have been reviewed will be labeled as 'To be sent.' You can recognize them by the paper airplane icon. By processing an invoice, it will be forwarded to the Coding section for further handling.
Processing emails faster
In the
application management of the Invoice Processing Mailbox, you can add senders to a list, which automatically sends invoices from these senders directly to the Coding section. You can also do this directly from the Mailbox itself. To do so, click the plus icon next to the sender's email address. This will add the email address to the list for automatically processing invoices and forwarding them directly to the Coding section.
Processing invoices faster
Please note that if your environment uses multiple administrations and/or assigns cost centers via the Mailbox, you need to supplement the 'fast processing rule' in the application management. Here, you can specify which administration/cost center the invoice from the respective sender should be assigned to.
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