---
key: set-up-email-in-receipts
title: Set up email-in receipts
audience: staff
section: bookkeeping
routes: ["/bookkeeping/receipts", "/bookkeeping/receipts/email-in"]
permissions: ["bookkeeping.settings.manage"]
features: ["bookkeeping"]
since: 0.0.1
updated: 0.0.1
status: published
summary: "Name the mailbox your team forwards receipts to, so Nova can pull forwarded receipts in as receipts waiting to be reviewed."
keywords: [forward receipts, receipt email, email receipts, receipts inbox, intake address, import from email]
related: [upload-a-receipt, record-an-expense, connect-a-microsoft-inbox]
---

In the sidebar, open **Bookkeeping**, then **Receipts**. The page address is `/bookkeeping/receipts`. The setup window opens at `/bookkeeping/receipts/email-in`.

## Before you start

- Decide which mailbox receipts should go to, for example an accounting address your team already forwards supplier emails to. That mailbox needs to be one Nova can read, so connect it first; see [[connect-a-microsoft-inbox]].
- Your role needs permission to manage bookkeeping settings to see **Email-in setup**. Pulling receipts in needs permission to manage receipts.

## Steps

1. Press **Email-in setup** at the top of the receipts list. The **Email-in receipts** window opens.
2. Under **Intake email address**, type the address your accounting mailbox receives forwarded receipts at. A check mark appears when it looks like a real address.
3. Press **Save**. The button reads **Saved** for a moment.
4. Tell your team to forward receipts to that address, with the receipt attached as a photo or PDF.
5. To pull in what has arrived so far, press **Import forwarded receipts now**. Nova tells you how many receipts it imported from email.
6. Imported receipts arrive with the status **Ready to read**. Choose **Run OCR** from a receipt's actions menu to have Nova read it, then review and confirm it the same way as an uploaded one; see [[upload-a-receipt]].

## What you see

- Imported receipts appear in the receipts list with the status **Ready to read** and no vendor yet. Unlike an upload, Nova does not start reading them on its own; you can also open one and type the numbers in yourself.
- Nova also checks the mailbox on its own every 30 minutes, so **Import forwarded receipts now** is only for when you do not want to wait.
- Each check looks at emails from the last three days sent or copied to the saved address, and takes every photo or PDF attached to them. The count in the message includes receipts already brought in by an earlier check; Nova does not add them twice.
- The window keeps showing the saved address, so you can check or change it any time. Clearing the box and pressing **Save** turns email-in off.

## If something looks different

- **Email-in setup** is missing: your role cannot manage bookkeeping settings. Ask your admin.
- **Import forwarded receipts now** is missing: your role cannot manage receipts, so it can set the address but not pull receipts in.
- Nothing is imported: check that the forwarded emails went to the exact address saved here, that the mailbox is connected to Nova, and that the receipt was attached rather than pasted into the message body. Nova can only take an attachment it has already downloaded from the mailbox, so open the receipt attachment once in Nova's email, then press **Import forwarded receipts now**. Emails older than three days are not picked up, so forward older receipts again.
- Nothing is imported and the address has a typo: Nova saves whatever you type without checking it. Correct it and press **Save**.

[[route:/bookkeeping/receipts/email-in|Open email-in setup]]