Receipt Capture

Keep your receipts organized by capturing them in Curl Budget. Receipts are automatically processed to extract merchant, amount, and date information, then matched to your imported transactions.

Why Capture Receipts?

Tax Documentation

Keep digital copies of tax-deductible expenses:

• Business expenses
• Medical receipts
• Charitable donations
• Home office purchases

Use tags like tax-deductible or business-expense to organize.

Return Tracking

Save receipts for items you might return:

• Major purchases
• Gifts with uncertain sizing
• Electronics with warranties

Expense Verification

Have proof of purchases when needed:

• Reimbursement requests
• Warranty claims
• Dispute resolution

Capturing a Receipt

From the Stream Screen

1. Tap the "+" button
2. Select "Capture Receipt"
3. Choose your capture method:
   • Take Photo - Use your camera to photograph a receipt
   • Choose from Library - Select an existing photo or screenshot

Using the Camera

When you select "Take Photo":

1. Position the receipt within the viewfinder
2. The camera will auto-focus and enhance:
   • Automatic cropping to receipt edges
   • Perspective correction
   • White balance adjustment
   • Contrast enhancement
3. Capture the image
4. Review and confirm

From Screenshots

Perfect for digital receipts:

1. Screenshot an email receipt or online order confirmation
2. Open Curl Budget
3. Tap "+" then "Capture Receipt"
4. Select "Choose from Library"
5. Pick the screenshot

Automatic Processing

After capturing, Curl Budget automatically:

OCR Extraction

Extracts key information from the receipt:

• Merchant name - Who you paid
• Amount - Total purchase amount
• Date - When the purchase occurred
• Order number - For tracking (when present)

Transaction Matching

Searches for matching imported transactions:

• Looks for similar amounts (within tolerance)
• Compares dates (within a 7-day window)
• Matches merchant names using fuzzy matching

If a match is found, the receipt links to that transaction. If no match exists, Curl Budget creates a receipt-based transaction that appears in your transaction list.

Receipt Status

After upload, receipts show their current status:

Status	Meaning
Pending	Waiting for OCR processing
Processing	OCR extraction in progress
Matched	Linked to an imported transaction
Unmatched	No matching transaction found (receipt-based transaction created)

Viewing Receipts

From Transaction Details

Transactions with receipts show a receipt indicator. To view:

1. Tap any transaction
2. Look for the receipt badge
3. Tap "View Receipt" to see the image

Using the Receipt Filter

To see all transactions with receipts:

1. Go to the transaction list
2. Tap the filter icon
3. Enable "Has Receipt"

This shows both matched transactions and receipt-based transactions.

Searching by Receipt Content

You can search for text that appears on your receipts:

• Item descriptions
• Store addresses
• Order numbers
• Any text the OCR extracted

Use the search bar on the transaction list to find receipts by their content.

Receipt-Based Transactions

When no matching imported transaction exists, Curl Budget creates a receipt-based transaction:

• Appears in your transaction list like any other transaction
• Includes all extracted information (merchant, amount, date)
• Fully functional: assign categories, add tags, include in budgets
• AI categorization works automatically

If the bank transaction later imports and matches:

• The receipt links to the imported transaction
• The receipt-based transaction is hidden (to avoid duplicates)
• All your categorization carries over

Manual Matching

If automatic matching doesn't find the right transaction:

1. Open the receipt (from an unmatched transaction)
2. Tap "Match to Transaction"
3. Browse candidate transactions
4. Select the correct one

Unlinking a Receipt

If a receipt was matched incorrectly:

1. Open the transaction with the receipt
2. Tap "View Receipt"
3. Tap "Unlink"

The receipt-based transaction becomes visible again.

Tax Notes

Add notes to receipts for tax purposes:

1. Open a transaction with a receipt
2. Tap "View Receipt"
3. Scroll to "Tax Notes"
4. Add relevant information:
   • Business purpose
   • Client/project name
   • Expense category for accounting

These notes are searchable and included in exports.

Best Practices

Capture Promptly

The sooner you capture:

• Better chance of automatic matching
• Receipt paper doesn't fade
• Fresh memory of purchase context

Good Lighting

For paper receipts:

• Use natural or bright indoor light
• Avoid shadows across the receipt
• Flatten crumpled receipts before capturing

Complete Capture

Ensure the full receipt is visible:

• Include the total amount
• Capture merchant name/logo
• Include date if visible

Use Tags for Organization

Create tags for common receipt purposes:

• tax-deductible
• business-expense
• medical
• reimbursable
• warranty

Apply to receipt transactions for easy filtering at tax time.

Storage and Limits

Storage

• Receipts are stored securely in encrypted cloud storage
• Images are compressed for efficient storage (max 2000px dimension)
• Original quality preserved for readability

Rate Limits

To ensure service quality:

• 10 receipt uploads per minute
• 60 receipt-related requests per minute

Retention

Receipts are retained for the lifetime of your account. Consider this your permanent digital receipt archive.

Technical Details

Supported Formats

• JPEG
• PNG
• HEIC (iPhone photos)

HEIC images are automatically converted to JPEG for compatibility.

Matching Algorithm

The automatic matching uses weighted scoring:

• Amount match (40%) - How close the amounts are
• Date proximity (30%) - Days between receipt and transaction
• Merchant similarity (30%) - Fuzzy name matching using Levenshtein distance

A match requires a minimum 70% confidence score.

OCR Quality

If OCR extraction confidence is low:

• You'll see a quality warning
• Consider recapturing with better lighting
• You can manually edit extracted information

Reprocessing Receipts

You can re-run OCR extraction on an existing receipt image to get updated or improved results.

How to Reprocess

1. Open the transaction with the receipt attached
2. Tap "View Receipt"
3. Tap the menu icon (⋮)
4. Select "Reprocess Receipt"
5. Confirm when prompted

What Happens

• OCR runs again on the original image
• Merchant, amount, and date fields are re-extracted
• New extraction replaces previous values
• The receipt image itself is unchanged

When to Reprocess

OCR got it wrong: If the extracted amount, date, or merchant name is incorrect, reprocessing may yield better results—especially if OCR technology has improved since the original capture.

Initial quality was poor: If the first extraction had low confidence due to image quality, reprocessing can sometimes produce better results on a second pass.

After image enhancement: If you've edited the receipt image externally to improve clarity, re-import and reprocess for better extraction.

Important Notes

Overwrites previous data: Reprocessing replaces previously extracted information. If you've manually edited the merchant name, amount, or date, those edits will be lost.

Confirmation required: Because reprocessing overwrites existing data, you'll be asked to confirm before proceeding.

Original image preserved: The receipt image itself is never modified—only the extracted text data is updated.

May not improve results: If the original image quality is fundamentally poor (blurry, faded, partial), reprocessing won't help. Consider recapturing the receipt with better lighting and focus.

Related Features

• Manual Transactions - Add transactions without receipts
• Tags - Organize receipts for tax purposes
• Searching & Filtering - Find specific receipts
• Viewing Transactions - Work with all transactions