How to search receipts and invoices

A client says invoice INV-2041 was never paid. Your accountant wants every receipt over $75 for the home office. A laptop has stopped charging and you need proof of purchase to claim the warranty. Each request comes down to the same job: finding one document by a number, a name or an amount that’s printed inside it.

This guide covers how to search receipts and invoices with Fabric. It explains how to get PDFs, emailed receipts and paper slips into one library, then search for exact invoice numbers and amounts, filter the results, and ask the AI assistant to pull figures together across a folder.

How people usually look for a receipt or invoice

Email search is the first stop, and for receipts that arrived by email it often works. Searching Gmail or Outlook for the shop’s name or the word receipt turns up most online orders. It gets harder when the receipt was a PDF attachment with a generic name, or when the invoice you sent came from accounting software rather than your inbox.

Accounting and expense apps such as QuickBooks, Xero and Expensify keep invoices and receipts that went through them, with good search inside each app. Paper receipts are the gap: they sit in a drawer, a wallet or a shoebox, and the print on thermal paper can fade before you need it.

Many freelancers and households keep a folder per year on their computer or cloud drive. It works when files are named carefully, such as 2025-03 Acme invoice 2041.pdf. When they aren’t, finding one means opening files one by one.

Step 1: Collect receipts and invoices in one library

Forward emailed receipts and invoices, with their attachments, to your Fabric email address. It accepts mail from your verified account address, and on a team you can approve extra senders, so a bookkeeper or partner can send things in too.

For paper receipts, take a photo with your phone and add it through the Fabric mobile app. If you already photograph receipts with the camera, automatic camera roll backup can bring them in, and you can limit it to specific photo folders. PDF invoices on your computer can be dragged in or added with Upload a file.

If your receipts already sit in Gmail or Outlook, a connection lets Fabric’s search and AI assistant reach them without forwarding each one. Connections need a paid plan.

Step 2: Search for the invoice number, amount or supplier

Click Search or press Cmd+F (Mac) / Ctrl+F (Windows). For anything precise, put it in quotes for strict matching: “INV-2041”, “1,240.00”, or a supplier’s name. Fabric search reads the text inside PDFs, documents and images, including text in a photo of a paper receipt, and returns only items with that exact string.

When you don’t know the number, describe the purchase instead: hotel in Lisbon in May, or the router I bought last autumn. Search matches by meaning and by keyword, and Fabric writes a summary of each item when it arrives, so a receipt can come back for a description of what it’s for, even when your wording doesn’t match the text printed on it. If the first results miss, add a detail you’re sure of, such as the shop or the month, and search again.

Results open at the exact page, which helps with multi-page statements and long supplier invoices where the line you need is on page three. Opening the result there means you can confirm the amount and date straight away and copy the reference you were asked for.

Step 3: Filter by folder, tag or type

Narrow results with filters for tags, location or kind of item. Searching “Adobe” limited to a 2025 Business expenses folder separates the subscription invoices from every other mention of Adobe in your files.

Fabric suggests tags from each document’s content, and smart collections can gather receipts and invoices together by what they contain, without you filing each one. How to keep receipts for tax time covers a simple yearly setup if you’d like folders as well.

Step 4: Ask the AI assistant to add things up

Open a folder of receipts or invoices and ask the AI assistant. It’s automatically limited to that folder, and its answers cite the documents they came from with clickable references. Questions like which invoices to Northwind are dated after 1 March, or what did I spend on software subscriptions this year, work well.

Check each figure against the cited document before it goes into a tax return or a payment chase. The references make that quick, since each one opens the source receipt or invoice. Answers can be saved as notes, which gives you a short running record, such as Unpaid invoices, Q2, alongside the documents themselves.

Step 5: Share what you’ve found

Once you’ve found the right documents, you can share a folder with your accountant with view or comment permission, so they can open the files and leave questions on them. To send a client a copy of an unpaid invoice, publish it as a link with downloads turned on. How to get your receipts ready for your accountant goes through the hand-off step by step.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find an invoice by its number?

Open search and type the invoice number in quotes, such as “INV-2041”. Fabric returns only items containing that exact text and opens them at the right page.

Can I search the text on a photo of a paper receipt?

Yes. Search covers text in images, including photographed text, so a receipt photo can be found by the shop name, amount or date printed on it.

Can I search for a receipt by amount?

Put the amount in quotes exactly as it appears on the receipt, for example “89.99”, for strict matching.

How do I get emailed receipts into Fabric?

Forward them to your Fabric email address, or connect Gmail or Outlook on a paid plan. How to save email bills and receipts automatically covers both routes.

Can AI total up my receipts?

Ask the AI assistant inside the folder that holds them. It cites each receipt it used, so check the figures against the sources before relying on them.

Can my accountant see my receipts?

Share the folder with them as a viewer or commenter. External people can use shared links without signing up.

Do I need to rename receipt files?

No. Search reads what’s inside each file, so a receipt named IMG_4821.jpg can be found by its contents.

Can I search receipts on the free plan?

File uploads and limited AI use are on the free plan. Connections to Gmail and Outlook need a paid plan. See pricing for details.