Import Journal Voucher Using OCR
How to use Journal Voucher OCR to turn scanned supplier bills into accounting entries.
Navigate to Utilities\Import Scanned Documents Using OCR and click on "Import Journal Voucher Using OCR".
What this does for you
It types your bills in for you.
You select your scanned supplier bills — PDFs or photos — and the system reads them and prepares the accounting entries. You check what it produced, correct anything it could not work out, and save the whole batch in one go.
It reads the supplier's details, the bill number and date, the amounts, each item line with its HSN code, and the tax break-up. It then finds the matching supplier account, and works out which ledger each item and each tax should post to.
Whatever it can match, it fills in. Whatever it cannot, it marks in red and asks you — once. It remembers your answer, so the next bill from that supplier comes through with little or nothing to correct.
That last point is the one that matters. The first bill from a new supplier takes a few minutes of setting up. The tenth takes seconds.
Before you start
Three things need to be in place.
1. Your suppliers must already be on file. The system matches each bill to a supplier or customer account that already exists. It will not create a new account from a bill. If you are scanning a bill from someone you have never traded with, create their account first.
2. A configuration must be set up. This tells the system what kind of voucher to create and how to file things. It is a one-time job and needs a supervisor login — see the next section.
3. Your bills as files. PDFs or photos on your computer. Accepted formats are PDF, PNG, JPG, JPEG, TIFF and BMP.
You also need an internet connection. The reading is done as an online service, so the feature will not work if you are offline.
Where to find it
The screen is called Journal Voucher OCR. At the top is a dropdown listing your saved configurations. Below that are two empty lists, and the buttons you will use: Configuration, Scan Documents, Refresh Data, Save and Close.
Setting it up, once
Click Configuration. You will need to be logged in as a supervisor; a normal user gets a message asking them to log in with a supervisor account.
Journal Voucher Type
What kind of bills this batch is for — journal purchase, journal sale, sale return, purchase return, credit note, debit note, or plain journal. This decides which way round the supplier is posted and whether the taxes are treated as input or output
Journal Voucher Configuration
Which of your existing voucher setups the created entries should follow
Journal Voucher Series
Which voucher series the new entries are numbered in
Round Off Account
Where small rounding differences on a bill are posted. Set this — without it, any bill with a rounding line will be held back
Consolidate Document HSN Wise
Merge lines sharing the same HSN into one entry, rather than posting each line separately
Save Mapping As
How specifically your choices are remembered — see below
Pick Party Default HSN Mapping
When a bill has no HSN printed, fall back to the default items saved against that supplier rather than stopping
Save Mapping As — what to choose
When you tell the system which ledger a supplier's items belong to, it saves that. This setting decides how widely that answer applies:
By supplier and document type — the usual choice. Your answer applies to that supplier across all branches.
By supplier, branch and document type — each branch keeps its own answers. Choose this if different branches post the same supplier's items to different ledgers.
By supplier and configuration, or by supplier, branch and configuration — tie the answers to this particular configuration as well.
If you are unsure, the first option is the safe starting point.
Set up more than one
Create a separate configuration for each kind of bill you handle. Most businesses want at least two — one for purchase bills and one for credit notes — because they create different kinds of entries.
Pick the right one from the dropdown before each scan. Changing it clears whatever is on screen, so choose it first.
Scanning your bills
Pick your configuration from the dropdown, then click Scan Documents. A separate window opens, titled Logic ERP Content Analyzer.
Click + Add files and choose your bills. You can select several at once — this is designed for batches, not one bill at a time.
Each file appears as a card. Photos show a thumbnail; PDFs show a PDF marker with the file name.
Click any card to see that document in the large panel, so you can check you picked the right file.
Hover over a card and a small × appears in the corner if you want to remove it from the batch.
When you are ready, click Process files and confirm.
A progress bar runs through the stages while it works. How long it takes depends on how many bills you added and how complex they are — a handful of clean PDFs is quick, a large batch of photos takes longer. If it is taking a while the messages will tell you it is still working. Abort stops it.
When it finishes, the window closes and the two lists on the main screen fill with what it found.
A suggestion for your first go: try three or four bills rather than fifty. You will get a feel for what it reads well and what needs correcting, without a long list to work through.
Reading the screen
Two lists, one above the other.
The top list is your bills — one row each. It shows the bill number and date, the amount, the supplier name as printed on the bill, and the account it was matched to. Alongside are the GST number, PAN, email and mobile it read off the document, which are what it used to find the right account.
The bottom list is the lines of whichever bill you have selected above. Click a different bill and the lower list changes. Each line shows what it is — an item line, a tax line, or a rounding line — which side it posts to, the HSN code and description, the ledger it will post to, and the amounts.
The colours
This is all you really need to know to work the screen:
Green
This row is complete and will save
Red
Something is missing. The Invalid Remarks column tells you what
Blue text
The supplier's own summary line, added so you can see the full debit and credit picture
A bill turns red if any of its lines are red. Your job is to turn everything green.
Underneath, Total Dr/Cr shows the running debit and credit for the selected bill. They should agree, allowing for rounding. If they do not, something was misread and it is worth comparing against the original document.
Two useful buttons
Refresh Data re-reads everything using your latest answers, without scanning the documents again. Use it after you have corrected a few mappings.
Delete a row from the top list to drop that bill from the batch — useful if one document is unreadable and you would rather deal with it separately.
Turning red into green
You fix everything from the grid itself. Start typing in the red cell and a picker opens.
Always start with the supplier
If the supplier was not matched, the whole bill is red and so is most of what is under it. Fix that first and a lot resolves itself.
Start typing in the Mapped Account Name column on the top list. An account search opens, listing your suppliers and customers. Pick the right one.
The moment you do, the system re-reads that bill's lines using everything already known about that supplier. Several red lines often turn green at once. Deal with the supplier before touching anything else — it saves work.
If a supplier was already matched and you want to change it, it will ask you to confirm first.
Then the item lines
A line reading Mapped Account Not Found for HSN means that item has no ledger set against this supplier yet. Start typing in Mapped Account Name on that line and the mapping screen opens. Choose the ledger the item should post to, and optionally a cost centre.
Then the tax lines
Same thing on a tax line — it opens the same screen, switched to the tax side. Tell it which ledger that tax posts to.
A missing HSN
If a bill did not print an HSN on a line, that line is flagged. Start typing in the HSN Code column and search for the right one. Your choice is saved against that supplier, so the next bill from them will not ask again.
A rounding line that is flagged
That means no Round Off Account is set in your configuration. Open Configuration and set one. It is worth doing straight away, because almost every batch will hit it otherwise.
Debit and credit not agreeing
If the totals do not balance and rounding does not explain the gap, something on the bill was read incorrectly. Compare the lines against the original document. If the document is poor quality, it may be quicker to remove that bill and enter it by hand.
It remembers what you tell it
Every answer you give is saved against that supplier. You are not correcting the same things every month — you are teaching it once.
What it remembers:
The supplier itself. Once you have matched a supplier, it recognises them next time from their GST number, phone number, email or PAN — even if the bill layout is completely different.
Which ledger each item goes to, for that supplier.
Which ledger each tax goes to, for that supplier.
HSN codes you filled in by hand where the bill did not print one.
So a supplier who sends you the same kind of bill every month costs you a few minutes once, and almost nothing thereafter.
Reviewing what it has learned
The mapping screen is called Account Mapping OCR. It opens for one supplier at a time, with a Use For switch:
HSN to Account — which ledger each item or HSN from that supplier posts to, and the cost centre if you use one
Tax to Account — which ledger each tax posts to
You do not have to wait for something to be flagged. Once a bill has a supplier, you can type in its Party Name column to open that supplier's mappings and review or change them whenever you like.
The branch column shows which branch a mapping applies to, or ALL BRANCHES if it applies everywhere — that follows the Save Mapping As choice in your configuration.
If you ever change your chart of accounts, this is where you come to point the old mappings at the new ledgers.
Saving
When everything is green, click Save and confirm.
Three things will stop the save, each with its own message:
No voucher configuration chosen in your setup — open Configuration and pick one.
No voucher series chosen — same.
A bill still marked red. Nothing saves while any bill in the batch is incomplete.
That third one is worth understanding. It is all or nothing: you cannot save the good bills and leave one for later. Either fix the problem bill or remove it from the list, then save the rest.
The same applies while it is running. Every bill in the batch is saved together, so if something goes wrong part-way, nothing is saved at all. You will never be left with half a batch imported and no way of knowing which half.
What gets created
One voucher per bill, carrying the supplier account, your voucher series and its next number, your branch and financial year, each item and tax line against its mapped ledger, any rounding line, and a narration built from the item description plus the bill number and date.
If TDS applies
On purchase and plain journal batches, TDS is worked out as each voucher is created. Where TDS applies to that supplier, the usual TDS details window appears for you to confirm — exactly as it does when you enter a voucher by hand. Deal with it as you normally would.
After a successful save the screen clears, ready for your next batch.
Common questions
What do the red messages mean?
Party Account Not Mapped
It could not find the supplier. Match it by hand on the top list
HSN Not Found in database
The HSN on the bill does not exist in your system. Add it, or pick a different one
HSN Can not be Blank
The bill printed no HSN on that line. Pick one from the search
Mapped Account Not Found for HSN
That item has no ledger set for this supplier yet. Set it in the mapping screen
Mapped Account Not Found for Tax
That tax has no ledger set for this supplier yet. Same screen
Account Not found / Cost Center Not found
The ledger or cost centre no longer exists. Re-map it
Rounding Account Not Set
Set the Round Off Account in Configuration
Debit/Credit not matched
Check the bill against what was read
Invalid Document found, Can not Import!
One or more bills are still red. Fix or remove them
It could not find a supplier I definitely have on file.
It matches on GST number first, then mobile, then email, then PAN. If none of those are on the supplier's account in your system, or the bill prints different ones, it has nothing to match on. Match it by hand once and it will recognise them from then on.
It matched the wrong supplier.
Type in the Mapped Account Name column and pick the right one. It will ask you to confirm the change, and will remember the correction.
Can it create a supplier account for me?
No. Create the account first, then scan the bill.
Some of my bills read better than others.
That is normal. A clean PDF from the supplier's own system reads best. A good scan reads well. A photo taken at an angle in poor light reads least well. See the tips below.
Can I save just the bills that are fine?
No — it is all or nothing. Remove the problem bill from the list, save the rest, and handle that one separately.
Do I have to check what it read?
Yes. Nothing is posted without you looking at it and pressing Save. Treat it as a very fast typist whose work you still review.
Getting good results
The documents
A PDF beats a photo. If your supplier emails a PDF invoice, use that file rather than printing it and photographing it. It reads far better.
If you must photograph, do it properly. Flat on a table, good light, square to the page, whole bill in frame. A creased bill photographed at an angle is the hardest case.
Scan at a reasonable quality. A cheap fax-quality scan loses the small print, and the small print is where the HSN codes and tax break-ups live.
The routine
Group by supplier when you start. Working through one supplier's bills together means you set up their mappings once and the rest of their bills sail through. Much less stop-start than a mixed batch.
Do your suppliers in order of volume. Set up the supplier who sends you forty bills a month before the one who sends you one. That is where the time is saved.
Expect the first fortnight to be slower. You are teaching it your suppliers. It gets quicker every week as the mappings build up, and after a month or two most batches go through with little to correct.
Scan in batches on a regular day rather than one bill at a time. The feature is built for batches, and you will get through them faster in one sitting.
Check before you save, always. Look down the amounts against the bills. It is quick, and it is the only check between a misread figure and your accounts.
And keep in mind
It is doing the typing, not the accounting. It proposes entries from what it read and what you have taught it. The judgement — whether this bill should be posted at all, whether the ledger is the right one, whether something looks wrong — is still yours. The gain is that you spend your time checking rather than keying.