How Smart Capture works
This article explains what Smart Capture is and how the functionality works. It also explains how to enable and disable the Smart Capture Unlimited add-on.
What is Smart Capture?
When you capture and save a photo of a receipt or upload a file into your FreeAgent account, FreeAgent’s Smart Capture functionality will attempt to automatically extract the date and amount. It will then attach the file to a ‘Money Out’ bank transaction, if one exists that is marked ‘For Approval’ and has a matching date and value.
You’ll need to have level 4 access or above to your FreeAgent account to use Smart Capture, and level 7 and above to mark a receipt that you have captured as private.
Please note that Guess will need to be enabled on the relevant bank account before the bank transaction is imported, in order for the bank transaction to have the status ‘For Approval’.
If no such transaction exists, FreeAgent will keep checking every 24 hours for seven days. The bank transaction must be dated between the receipt date and two days later in order for the receipt to be matched to it. Find out more about how FreeAgent automatically matches receipts to bank transactions.
Files that have had the date and amount automatically extracted will be added to the ‘Smart Capture’ tab in the Files area.
Alternatively, if there isn’t a matching bank transaction, you can convert the file into an out-of-pocket expense and Smart Capture will automatically extract the date and amount and suggest a cost category.
Please note that there are a few reasons why the data might not be extracted. For example, the file type may be unsupported or you may have exceeded the monthly allowance.
Which file types are supported by Smart Capture?
The Files area in FreeAgent can store up to 1GB of files in total and you can upload files of up to 5MB in size in a number of different formats. These include .jpg, .jpeg, .pdf, .png, .bmp, .tiff, .zip, .xls, .xlsx, .csv, .ofx, .qif.
Please note that Smart Capture will only extract the date and amount from .jpg, .jpeg, .pdf, .png, and .gif files.
How the monthly allowance works
You can use Smart Capture to extract the date and amount from 10 files each month for free as part of your FreeAgent subscription. If Smart Capture can’t extract the data from a file, or if you delete a file from the ‘Smart Capture’ tab in the Files area, this won’t count towards your monthly allowance.
If you need to extract the date and amount from more than 10 files per month, you can subscribe to the Smart Capture Unlimited add-on, which will allow you to extract the data from an unlimited number of files.
Please note that:
- The add-on will cost £5 per month plus VAT in addition to your FreeAgent subscription and the payments will be taken monthly.
- If your FreeAgent account is provided free by your bank, you’ll need to set up a payment method with FreeAgent directly.
- If you use FreeAgent with your accountant, they may agree to enable the add-on and pay for the subscription, and include the cost as part of their services.
- Discounts from the FreeAgent referral scheme won’t apply to the add-on subscription.
- If you’re currently on a 30-day free trial, you’ll be able to extract the date and amount from up to 10 files and will need to subscribe to FreeAgent before you can purchase the add-on.
- If you subscribed to FreeAgent via the Apple App store, you’ll need to switch to a FreeAgent subscription to subscribe to the add-on.
- Once you’ve extracted the date and amount from 10 files using Smart Capture in a month, you can capture or upload additional files but the date and amount won’t be automatically extracted if you haven’t purchased the Smart Capture Unlimited add-on. The additional files also won’t be automatically assigned to bank transactions and won’t be able to be converted into out-of-pocket expenses.
How to subscribe to the Smart Capture Unlimited add-on
Navigate to the drop-down menu at the top-right of the screen and select ‘Connections & Add-ons’.
Select 'Get started' in the 'Smart Capture Unlimited' section.
Select ‘Get Smart Capture Unlimited’.
Tick the box to confirm that you understand that the payment for the add-on will be taken on a monthly basis in addition to your FreeAgent subscription and select ‘Enable the Smart Capture Unlimited add-on’.
You can cancel the subscription to Smart Capture Unlimited at any time.
Please note that if you subscribe to the add-on and don’t extract the date and amount from more than 10 files for six consecutive months, the add-on subscription will be cancelled automatically.
Reasons why data might not be extracted from a file
There are several scenarios where the date and amount won’t be automatically extracted from a file. For example:
- If you capture or upload a file type that is unsupported by Smart Capture.
- If you’ve used your monthly allowance, i.e. you have already extracted the date and amount from 10 files using Smart Capture this month and haven’t purchased the Smart Capture Unlimited add-on.
- If the date and amount weren’t clearly visible enough on the receipt for Smart Capture to extract the data.
How to cancel the Smart Capture Unlimited add-on
Select 'Connections & Add-ons’ from the drop-down menu at the top-right corner of the screen and select ‘Manage’ in the ‘Smart Capture Unlimited’ panel.
Select ‘Cancel Smart Capture Unlimited’ in the top-right.
Select the reason for disabling the add-on from the 'Why didn't you find this add-on helpful?' drop-down menu and select ‘Cancel Smart Capture Unlimited’ to complete the process.
If you change your mind, you can enable the Smart Capture Unlimited add on again at any time by following these steps.