How This Automation Works

If you need a fast, reliable Make.com automation to gather invoices from mailbox, here’s the playbook. The scenario watches your inbox, filters for invoice emails, downloads attachments, extracts key fields, and saves everything to a database like Airtable or Google Sheets—then notifies your team. You’ll get automated invoice processing with clear logs, retries, and GDPR-friendly controls.

Key Modules Used (Gmail/IMAP, Email Parser, PDF/Document Tools, HTTP, Airtable/Sheets)

  • Gmail/IMAP: Watch emails, read headers and attachments, and mark messages as processed.
  • Email Parser: Extract structured fields (vendor, invoice number, date, totals) from the body if no attachment exists.
  • PDF/Document Tools: Open, split, and convert PDFs; prep images for OCR; handle non-PDF formats.
  • OCR: Convert image-based or scanned PDFs into text for Make.com OCR invoice extraction.
  • HTTP: Call specialised invoice parsers or your internal parsing API if needed.
  • Airtable/Google Sheets: Store invoice headers and line items; power a searchable ledger.
  • Drive/Storage: Archive original files and normalized PDFs for audit and reconciliation.

High-Level Flow Diagram (Trigger → Filter → Parse → Store → Notify)

  1. Trigger: Watch mailbox using Gmail or IMAP.
  2. Filter: Allow only invoice candidates using sender, subject, and attachment presence.
  3. Parse: Download attachment(s); use native parsing or OCR; extract fields and line items.
  4. Store: Write headers and items to Airtable/Sheets; save files to storage; de-duplicate.
  5. Notify: Post a Slack/Teams message or send a confirmation email with links.

What You Need Before You Start

You need working access to the mailbox, a Make.com account, and a destination database. Confirm your data handling policy and permissions up front. Then prepare a handful of invoice emails to test different formats, languages, and attachment types.

Accounts & Permissions (Make.com, mailbox OAuth or IMAP, target app)

  • Make.com account with permission to create scenarios and manage connections.
  • Mailbox access: OAuth for Gmail/Google Workspace is preferred; IMAP for other providers.
  • Destination apps: Airtable base or Google Sheet with edit rights; optional accounting system access (Xero, QuickBooks, SAGE).
  • Storage: Access to Google Drive, OneDrive, or S3-equivalent for archiving source files.
  • Team visibility: Share scenario access with finance/admin stakeholders.

Required Make.com Modules And Connectors

  • Gmail or IMAP modules for “Watch emails,” “Get email,” and “Download attachments.”
  • Tools modules for text parsing and array handling; PDF tools for basic document operations.
  • OCR (via native module, HTTP to third-party OCR, or custom wrapper).
  • HTTP module for specialised invoice parsing services or your in-house endpoint.
  • Airtable or Google Sheets connectors for storage and de-duplication flows.
  • Optional: Slack/Teams/Email modules for notifications; Data Store for logs and retries.
  • Get started on the platform at make.com if you are new to scenarios and blueprints.

Recommended Test Data And Security Checklist

  • Test data: At least 10 emails with variety—PDF invoices, images, HTML body receipts, multiple attachments, and multilingual samples.
  • Security: Use a service mailbox, not a personal inbox; enable 2FA; restrict Make connections to least privilege.
  • Compliance: Create a data retention policy; tag PII fields; document lawful basis for processing.
  • Monitoring: Prepare a log sheet/table for scenario runs, errors, and reprocessing status.

Detecting And Filtering Invoice Emails

Smart filtering saves operations and prevents noise. Combine sender whitelists, subject/body keyword checks, and attachment validation. This is where you stop marketing newsletters and shipping notices from polluting your ledger.

Best Filters (sender whitelist, subject keywords, attachment presence)

  • Sender whitelist: Finance-friendly domains and vendors you trust (e.g., accounting@, billing@, noreply@trustedvendor.com).
  • Subject keywords: “invoice,” “factuur,” “receipt,” “reçu,” “nota,” “bonnetje,” “VAT,” “BTW,” “bill,” “payment due,” or PO numbers.
  • Attachment presence: Require at least one PDF, image, or spreadsheet attachment; fallback to parsing HTML body receipts.
  • Thread handling: Process only the newest message in a thread to avoid duplicates.
  • Date window: Limit to recent messages to reduce first-run noise; enable pagination for older backfills.

Different Names For An Invoice (Bonnetje, Factuur, Invoice, Receipt, Reçu, Nota)

Don’t forget to use different names for an invoice in your filters and parsing logic. Include variants like bonnetje, factuur, invoice, receipt, reçu, and nota to capture Dutch, English, and French receipts across the EU. Weave these terms into subject/body checks and file naming to improve recall.

  • Recommended list to start: bonnetje, factuur, invoice, receipt, reçu, nota, Rechnung, facture, fattura.
  • In Make.com email parsing, use OR conditions across these keywords for robust detection.
  • Add common vendor-specific phrases (e.g., “Tax Invoice,” “BTW factuur,” “VAT receipt”).

Handling Inline Receipts And Non-PDF Attachments

  • Inline HTML receipts: Parse the email body with the Email Parser; extract totals and vendor; save a rendered PDF copy for audit.
  • Images (JPG, PNG, HEIC): Run OCR; deskew and convert to high-contrast grayscale first for better accuracy.
  • Spreadsheets (XLSX/CSV): Read directly to extract line items; validate totals and tax.
  • ZIP/RAR: Unpack with a file utility step; iterate files; retain the original archive in storage.

Extracting Data From Attachments (OCR And Parsers)

The right parser depends on the file type. Use native PDF parsing when text is selectable; switch to OCR for scans and photos. For complex layouts, a specialised invoice parser can deliver higher accuracy and line-item detail with less maintenance.

When To Use OCR vs Native PDF Parsing

  • Use native PDF parsing when copy-paste works from the PDF; it is faster and more accurate.
  • Use OCR for scanned PDFs, photos, and images; enable Make.com OCR invoice steps only after testing native extraction.
  • Hybrid approach: Attempt native first, fall back to OCR on low-confidence or empty results.
  • Structured sources (portals): If vendors send consistent templates, favor regex or anchored parsing for reliability.

Recommended Parsers (Google Vision, Tesseract via wrapper, specialised invoice parsers)

  • Google Cloud Vision OCR: Strong multilingual support and layout detection; good for EU languages.
  • Tesseract via wrapper: Cost-effective; tune with language packs (eng, nld, fra, deu); requires preprocessing.
  • Specialised invoice parsers: Purpose-built for invoices; often return JSON with invoice_number, dates, VAT, totals, currency, and line items.
  • Fallback logic: If parser confidence is below threshold or fields are missing, route to manual review or a secondary parser.

Tips For Improving Extraction Accuracy (preprocessing, language settings)

  • Preprocessing: Convert to 300 DPI, grayscale, increase contrast, deskew, and remove borders before OCR.
  • Language packs: Specify expected languages (e.g., nld, eng, fra) to reduce misreads in totals and VAT fields.
  • Anchors: Use vendor names or “Invoice/Factuur/Receipt” anchors to locate nearby fields.
  • Validation: Cross-check subtotals + tax = total; reject if mismatched; request human review.

Putting It Together: Make.com Scenario Template (Step-By-Step)

Here’s a practical Make automation invoices scenario that you can deploy in under an hour. It covers email watching, filtering, attachment handling, parsing, storing to Airtable or Sheets, and notifications—plus de-duplication and logging for reliability.

1. Trigger: Watch Emails (Gmail/IMAP) — exact settings and sample filters

  • Module: Gmail “Watch emails” or IMAP “Watch emails.”
  • Folder/Label: Finance/AP or a dedicated “Invoices” label to reduce noise.
  • Date from: Now for new runs; move older invoices into the folder when backfilling.
  • Sample search (Gmail): has:attachment (invoice OR factuur OR receipt OR reçu OR nota) -category:social -category:promotions.
  • Load attachments: Yes; include metadata for file types and sizes.

2. Filter: Identify Invoice Candidates — sample conditional logic

  • Sender check: Email domain in whitelist OR message body contains vendor identifiers.
  • Subject/body keywords: Contains any of bonnetje, factuur, invoice, receipt, reçu, nota.
  • Attachment presence: Attachment count ≥ 1 OR body contains “Total”/“VAT”/“BTW.”
  • Dedup: Skip if Message-ID exists in a log table; this prevents repeats.

3. Download Attachment(s) — multi-attachment rules

  • Iterate attachments: Keep only pdf, jpg, jpeg, png, heic, xlsx, csv; ignore signatures and logos.
  • Max file size rule: Skip files over your chosen threshold; log and alert if exceeded.
  • Priority order: Prefer PDFs; if none, allow images; if spreadsheet, extract directly.
  • Archive originals: Save each attachment to storage with a timestamp and vendor folder.

4. Parse/Extract Text — suggested modules and field mappings

  • Native parse: If PDF is text-based, extract content; use regex/anchors for invoice_number, date, vendor, currency, subtotal, VAT, total.
  • OCR fallback: If text is empty, route to OCR; specify language packs; run validation rules.
  • Line items: Use table detection where available; otherwise parse rows separated by tabs/spaces; map description, qty, unit_price, line_total, tax_rate.
  • Confidence: Compute a score; if below threshold or totals don’t reconcile, flag for review and keep the record in a “Needs attention” view.

5. Map Fields To Destination — invoice_number, date, total, VAT, vendor

  • Header fields: invoice_number, issue_date, due_date, vendor_name, vendor_vat, buyer_vat, currency, subtotal, tax_total, total, payment_ref, PO.
  • Normalisation: Convert date formats to ISO; numeric fields to decimal; currency to ISO 4217.
  • De-duplication: Upsert by vendor_name + invoice_number + issue_date; prevent double booking.
  • Provenance: Store email Message-ID, sender, subject, attachment filenames, and a link to archived files.

6. Store And Notify — Airtable/Sheets/Xero + notification step

  • Airtable: Create or update records; link line items via a related table; store file URLs.
  • Google Sheets: Append rows for headers and items; consider a second sheet for items.
  • Accounting: Optionally create a draft bill in Xero/QuickBooks/SAGE; attach the invoice PDF.
  • Notify: Send Slack/Teams notification with vendor, invoice_number, total, and a link to the stored record.

How To Copy And Test The Template Quickly

  • Duplicate the scenario: Import a Make blueprint; connect Gmail/IMAP and Airtable/Sheets.
  • Use a test label: Forward a few sample invoice emails; run the scenario in manual mode.
  • Verify mappings: Check totals, VAT, and currency; adjust regex and anchors for outliers.
  • Enable scheduling: Start at low frequency (every 15 minutes), then tighten once stable.
  • Add logs: Write each run to a log table with status, error messages, and retry links.

Storing And Syncing Extracted Data (Airtable, Sheets, Accounting)

Your destination should make review, reconciliation, and reporting effortless. Airtable and Google Sheets are great for a lightweight ledger; accounting tools keep the official books. Choose based on team workflow and audit needs.

Lightweight Storage Options (Google Sheets / Airtable)

  • Google Sheets: Simple, familiar, and perfect for small teams. Add validation, drop-down vendors, and protected ranges.
  • Airtable: Relational structure for headers and items; views for “Needs attention,” “Ready to sync,” and “Posted.”
  • Best practice: Store both header and line-level detail; keep the original file URL and email metadata.
  • Use cases: Inbox receipts Make to Airtable for a quick searchable archive; turn email receipts into database records in minutes.

Integrating With Accounting Systems (Xero, QuickBooks, SAGE)

  • Draft bills: Create drafts to keep finance in control; attach PDFs and set due dates.
  • Vendor matching: Use a canonical vendor table; implement fuzzy matching with review for new vendors.
  • Tax handling: Map VAT rates from the parser to accounting tax codes; validate totals before posting.
  • Sync direction: One-way create from Make; updates happen in accounting and reflect back via nightly sync to prevent conflicts.

File Storage And Naming Conventions (include invoice name variants)

  • Naming scheme: YYYY-MM-DD_vendor_invoiceNumber_total_currency.pdf.
  • Language variants: Allow “invoice/factuur/receipt/bonnetje/nota/reçu” in folder names or tags for quick discovery.
  • Structure: /Finance/Accounts Payable/{Vendor}/{Year}/{Month}/files.
  • Immutable archive: Keep originals plus a normalized PDF; never overwrite—add versions with suffixes.

Error Handling, Monitoring And Troubleshooting

Expect edge cases: empty OCR, misread totals, malformed PDFs, or encoding issues. Build graceful fallbacks, human review loops, and clear alerts. Your goal is zero silent failures and fast reprocessing.

Common Failures And How To Fix Them (empty OCR, parser mismatches, encoding)

  • Empty OCR: Preprocess images; increase DPI; switch language packs; try a second OCR engine.
  • Parser mismatches: Tighten anchors around “Invoice/Factuur/Receipt” labels; add vendor-specific templates.
  • Encoding/locale: Normalize commas vs dots; force UTF-8; standardize date formats (DD-MM-YYYY to ISO).
  • Totals off: Recalculate line totals; confirm VAT rate; flag if subtotal + VAT ≠ total within a tolerance.
  • Duplicate records: Upsert with a composite key (vendor + invoice_number + date); store Message-ID.

Reprocessing, Logging And Alerts (raw email archive + retry button)

  • Logging: Write each run to a log table with scenario ID, message ID, status, and error notes.
  • Raw archive: Save original EML or full body/headers reference for audit and reparse options.
  • Retry pathway: A “Retry” checkbox or button in Airtable triggers a Make webhook to reprocess.
  • Alerts: Post errors to Slack with diagnostic links; escalate after repeated failures from the same vendor.

Performance And Make.com Operation Limits (optimization tips)

  • Reduce operations: Filter early; watch a dedicated label/folder; skip large non-invoice attachments.
  • Batch writes: Use upserts and array aggregators to cut API calls to Airtable/Sheets.
  • Selective OCR: Run OCR only when native parsing fails; cache vendor templates for recurring formats.
  • Scheduling: Increase interval during off-hours; run heavy backfills at night.
  • Resilience: Add timeouts and retries on network calls; implement idempotency keys on write steps.

Costs, Limits And GDPR Considerations For EU Companies

Control costs by minimizing operations and running OCR only when needed. For GDPR, document your legal basis, sign processor agreements, and define retention. Keep sensitive data encrypted and access-scoped.

Make.com Cost Drivers And Ways To Reduce Operations

  • Cost drivers: Every module execution, frequent triggers, OCR calls, and multi-attachment parsing.
  • Savings: Filter aggressively; label triage at the mailbox; shortcuts for known vendors.
  • OCR strategy: Native parse first; OCR only on scans; stop after the first successful parse.
  • Writes: Upsert instead of create-then-update; batch line items; avoid unnecessary lookups.

Mailbox Access, Data Retention And Processor Agreements (GDPR checklist)

  • Lawful basis: Document purpose (contract/legal obligation); limit scope to finance tasks.
  • DPA: Execute a Data Processing Agreement with your providers; review subprocessor lists.
  • Data transfers: Assess cross-border transfers; use SCCs where applicable; conduct a Transfer Impact Assessment.
  • Retention: Define how long to keep emails and files; set automatic deletion or archiving.
  • Data subject rights: Make records retrievable and deletable; log access requests.

Security Best Practices (least privilege, audit logs, encrypted storage)

  • Least privilege: Separate connections for prod vs test; read-only mailbox where possible.
  • Secrets: Store API keys in Make connections; never hardcode; rotate regularly.
  • Encryption: Use encrypted storage for files; restrict sharing links; avoid public URLs.
  • Auditing: Enable scenario change history; log who accessed which invoices and when.

Next Steps And How 6th Man Can Help

Want this running without babysitting? We design robust Make automation invoices pipelines that extract receipts from email, store the data cleanly, and keep finance moving. From Make.com email parsing to inbox receipts Make to Airtable, we build it, test it, and maintain it.

Quick Audit Offer — what we check and deliver

  • Inbox analysis: Volume, vendors, languages, attachment types, and noise sources.
  • Scenario review: Filters, parsers, de-duplication, logging, and error handling.
  • Data model: Field mapping to Airtable/Sheets/Accounting with validation rules.
  • Security & GDPR: Access, retention, DPA readiness, and risk controls.
  • Deliverables: A prioritized fix list, a hardened scenario blueprint, and a rollout plan.

Implementation & Maintenance Options — timeline and contact link

  • Week 1: Discovery, test data collection, and pilot scenario.
  • Week 2: Parser tuning, de-dup logic, and storage model finalization.
  • Week 3: Accounting integration, QA, and go-live with monitoring.
  • Ongoing: Vendor template additions, error triage, and performance tuning.

If you want a senior team that moves fast and builds right the first time, explore our automation services and browse relevant case studies. For deeper learning, check our SEO and automation articles. Ready to automate your AP? Talk to 6th Man and we’ll tailor a Make.com automation to gather invoices from mailbox for your workflow—clean, compliant, and reliable.