Email a file to Smart Capture
This article explains how to email files from your device directly to the Smart Capture area in your FreeAgent account.
Instead of downloading a file, such as a PDF or image, and uploading it again to FreeAgent, you can set up automated forwarding rules that enable you to send files directly from your inbox to your FreeAgent account, saving you valuable time.
Please note:
- The email to Smart Capture functionality is being rolled out to all users gradually. If you don't see this functionality in your account, please check back by 23rd November 2026.
- You’ll need to have level 4 access or above to your FreeAgent account to use Smart Capture.
- You’ll need to subscribe to the Smart Capture Unlimited add-on in order to access the functionality to email directly to Smart Capture.
Enable email to Smart Capture
Navigate to the drop-down menu at the top-right of the screen and select ‘Connections & Add-ons’.
If you haven’t subscribed to Smart Capture, select 'Get started' in the 'Smart Capture Unlimited' section. If you’ve already subscribed to Smart Capture, select ‘Manage’.
If you haven’t subscribed to the Smart Capture add-on, select ‘Get Smart Capture Unlimited’ and follow the prompts to subscribe to Smart Capture.
Select ‘Set up Email to Smart Capture’.
If you’ve already subscribed to Smart Capture, you can also navigate to your business name and select ‘Smart Capture’ from the drop-down menu.
Then select the ‘Settings’ button.
Once you’ve navigated to the Smart Capture Settings area, toggle the ‘Email to Smart Capture’ setting to ‘On’.
When the ‘Email to Smart Capture’ setting is set to ‘On’, FreeAgent will generate a unique randomly assigned email address for you to email your files to.
If you’re receiving unwanted emails in Smart Capture, you can generate a new email address to send your files to.
Choose who can email files to Smart Capture
You can choose which email addresses you allow to email files directly to Smart Capture.
The default will be to accept files from ‘Only allowed sender addresses’.
To change this setting, select ‘Edit’.
You can choose to accept files from:
- Only allowed sender addresses
- Allowed sender addresses and those associated with users of your FreeAgent account
- Any email address
Please note that allowing any email address to send files to your FreeAgent account carries risks, so be careful with any files received.
Add an allowed sender address
If you choose to accept files from ‘Only allowed sender addresses’ or ‘Allowed sender addresses and those associated with users of your FreeAgent account’, you’ll need to add an allowed sender address.
To do this, select ‘Add address’.
Enter the email address and select ‘Add sender address’.
Repeat this step for each allowed sender address you want to add.
Email files to Smart Capture
When an email is sent to your unique Smart Capture email address from an email address that has been chosen to accept files from, it will appear in the Smart Capture area.
Please note that If an email is sent from an email address which is not included in your list of allowed sender addresses, it won’t be processed by FreeAgent and won't appear in the Smart Capture area. We'll automatically discard the email, so there won’t be a record of it having being sent within FreeAgent.
FreeAgent’s Smart Capture functionality will attempt to automatically extract key details from the file sent via email. It will then attach the file to a ‘Money out’ bank transaction, if one exists that is marked ‘For approval’ or has already been approved or explained, and has a matching date and value.
You can convert the file into an out-of-pocket expense by selecting ‘Create expense’, or a bill by selecting ‘Create bill’.
Unconfirmed sender
There may be situations where FreeAgent is unable to confirm an email definitely came from an allowed email address, for example if there are issues with the email domain or authentication settings. In these situations, we will add a notice that the email has come from an unconfirmed sender. Users should check that they were expecting this file before opening it or creating an expense or bill from it.
Email errors
If we receive an email that is from an allowed email address but there is an issue, it'll appear in the ‘email errors’ tab (this is only available on the web app and can’t be viewed within the mobile app).
There are a few reasons files from emails could end up here:
- If the file type of an attachment isn’t a supported type. The Smart Capture area supports a number of different formats, including .jpg, .jpeg, .pdf and .png.
- If the attachment is over 5MB
Email not received
If users send an email with an attachment which they aren’t seeing appear in Smart Capture as a file, they should check:
- Email to Smart Capture setting is enabled in their account
- The email address they have sent from is on their allowed list
- The attachment is less than 5MB and is a supported file type
- If over 100 emails have been sent to the same Smart Capture email address in an hour.