How does forwarding a bill into HelloBooks work?

Every workspace gets a unique, private HelloBooks email address. Forward a bill or receipt to it — or auto-forward from Gmail/Outlook — and the AI reads the attachment, drafts a categorized entry, and queues it for your approval.

Does it post the entry to my books automatically?

No — it is draft-and-confirm. The forwarded bill becomes a draft with a suggested account and tax treatment; you approve before it posts. Nothing is booked silently.

What if I forward the same bill twice?

HelloBooks detects duplicates, so the same bill is not double-booked even if it is forwarded more than once or arrives from both an auto-forward rule and a manual forward.

Can I just email the assistant a question instead of a document?

Yes. Email the assistant a plain-language question — a P&L, an outstanding balance, your tax liability — and it replies from your live data. Answers respect permissions, so figures only go to authorized senders.

Is email the only channel?

No. The same authenticated, credit-metered assistant also works over WhatsApp and Slack, so you can capture bills, approve entries and ask questions from whichever channel you prefer.

Email Accounting

Forward a bill, and it becomes a bookkeeping entry

Bills and receipts already arrive in your inbox. Forward them to your HelloBooks email address and the AI reads the vendor, amount, tax and date and drafts a categorized entry — or auto-forward your supplier invoices so they never need a second touch. You can also just email the assistant a plain-language question about your books. AI drafts, you confirm before anything posts.

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Your inbox is already where bills land — make it the start of bookkeeping

Most supplier bills, subscription receipts and expense confirmations arrive by email. The old workflow is to download each one, log into your accounting tool, and key it in. Email accounting removes that step: forward the email (or set up an auto-forward rule) to your unique HelloBooks inbox, and the attachment is read, drafted into an entry, and queued for your approval.

Because the entry lands in your real HelloBooks ledger — not a separate receipts app you reconcile later — your books, GST returns and reports stay current without a second system.

Forward once, or auto-forward forever

Forward a single bill when it arrives, or set an auto-forward rule in Gmail or Outlook so every invoice from a supplier flows in automatically. HelloBooks de-duplicates, so forwarding the same bill twice will not double-book it.

A unique, private HelloBooks email address per workspace
Reads PDF and image attachments — vendor, amount, GST/VAT, date
Auto-forward rules from Gmail/Outlook for recurring suppliers
Duplicate detection so the same bill is never booked twice

Drafted, categorized, and waiting for your approval

Each forwarded bill becomes a draft entry with a suggested expense account and tax treatment, learned from your history. You review and confirm — the AI proposes, you approve, and only then does it post. Nothing is booked silently, so the audit trail stays clean and your accountant stays comfortable.

Suggested ledger account and category from your past coding
GST/VAT read from the document and applied to the entry
Draft-and-confirm by design — no silent auto-posting
Confirmed entries flow into reconciliation, returns and reports

Email the assistant a question, too

Email accounting is not only inbound documents. You can email the HelloBooks assistant a plain-language question — “send me this month’s P&L”, “what’s outstanding from Acme?”, “what’s my GST liability?” — and it replies from your live, authenticated data. Answers respect permissions, so figures are only sent to people allowed to see them.

Authenticated, and metered on usage — not per seat

Your HelloBooks inbox is private to your workspace, and the assistant only acts on mail from authenticated, authorized senders — it is not an open address anyone can post into. It is billed on credits — a usage meter covering the AI work (OCR, drafting, answering) — rather than a per-user licence. Email is one of three channels for the same assistant; WhatsApp and Slack work identically.

How it works

How to do accounting by email with HelloBooks

Forward bills and receipts into HelloBooks and email the assistant questions about your books.

Step 1
Find your HelloBooks inbox address
In Settings → Integrations, copy your workspace’s unique, private HelloBooks email address.
Step 2
Forward a bill or set an auto-forward rule
Forward a supplier bill to the address, or create an auto-forward rule in Gmail/Outlook so every invoice from a supplier flows in automatically.
Step 3
Approve the drafted entry
HelloBooks reads the attachment and drafts a categorized entry with the right tax treatment. Review and confirm — only then does it post.
Step 4
Email the assistant a question
Email the assistant for a P&L, an outstanding balance, or your GST liability, and it replies from your live, authenticated data.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How does forwarding a bill into HelloBooks work?: Every workspace gets a unique, private HelloBooks email address. Forward a bill or receipt to it — or auto-forward from Gmail/Outlook — and the AI reads the attachment, drafts a categorized entry, and queues it for your approval.
Does it post the entry to my books automatically?: No — it is draft-and-confirm. The forwarded bill becomes a draft with a suggested account and tax treatment; you approve before it posts. Nothing is booked silently.
What if I forward the same bill twice?: HelloBooks detects duplicates, so the same bill is not double-booked even if it is forwarded more than once or arrives from both an auto-forward rule and a manual forward.
Can I just email the assistant a question instead of a document?: Yes. Email the assistant a plain-language question — a P&L, an outstanding balance, your tax liability — and it replies from your live data. Answers respect permissions, so figures only go to authorized senders.
Is the email address secure?: The inbox is private to your workspace, and the assistant only acts on mail from authenticated, authorized senders. It is not an open address that anyone can post documents into.
Is email the only channel?: No. The same authenticated, credit-metered assistant also works over WhatsApp and Slack, so you can capture bills, approve entries and ask questions from whichever channel you prefer.