How to capture and code a multi-line supplier invoice

Start with the lines on the invoice

An invoice total tells you what was billed. Individual lines tell you what was bought. When those purchases need different accounting treatment, capture their descriptions, quantities and amounts instead of entering them again.

Datamolino lets you work with Invoice Total, Tax Summary or Line Items. Line-item extraction is included in eligible plans. The accounts, tax codes and other coding choices come from your connected accounting software. Your team chooses how to use them.

Reuse a description, or match a keyword

If the same line description returns from the same supplier, Datamolino reuses its last exported coding. That is useful for recurring purchases with consistent descriptions.

A service described as Hosting September becomes Hosting October the next month. An exact match will not cover that change. A keyword rule can match the word Hosting and apply the account, tax and other supported fields you specify.

Use contains, begins with or ends with conditions to suit the description. Test Rules lets you try a description against your rules before relying on them. These are explicit saved instructions that you can inspect and change.

Create allocations when the printed lines are not what you need

Sometimes you need to allocate a shared bill rather than copy its printed lines. Bill Split creates accounting lines from fixed amounts, percentages or both. For example, allocate £200 of a £1,000 bill first, then split the remaining £800 equally between two departments.

Preview the resulting lines before applying them. Apply a split once, save a named rule for reuse in the folder, or automate the split for future bills from that supplier. Any amount you leave unallocated becomes a remainder line.

One-off Bill Split is available with Xero and QuickBooks Online. Recurring supplier splits also support FreeAgent. Bill Split replaces the captured line detail with the allocations you define; choose the method that fits that supplier’s invoices.

Edit several invoice lines at once

Open the fullscreen editor to select several lines and apply their coding together. This is useful when many purchases need the same account, tax treatment or tracking value.

Compare the sum of the coded lines with the amounts on the original invoice. Check missing lines and tax codes when they differ. For a small rounding difference in net or total, adjustment lines are available with Xero and non-US QuickBooks Online. You can set a threshold for automatic rounding adjustments.

A difference in tax may need a different correction. Xero’s exact-tax option lets you supply the invoice’s tax amount when recalculating it does not reproduce the source. The relevant controls depend on your accounting connection.

Keep document splitting separate from bill allocation

A scan can contain several invoices, including invoices spanning more than one page. Automatic PDF splitting separates that batch into documents for processing. Keep complete invoices together and their pages in order.

Bill Split works later, inside one document. It creates accounting allocations. The two tools solve different problems: separating the paperwork and dividing the cost.

Check one complete journey with your own invoice

Choose a detailed invoice from a recurring supplier. Check its captured lines, apply your accounting instructions and inspect the result in your ledger. Then try the next invoice from the same supplier to see which instructions are reused.

If a client or manager must approve the purchase, include that decision in the workflow. Approval is optional. You can use invoice capture and coding without adding approval stages.