Invoice Organizer

Overview

This skill transforms chaotic folders of invoices, receipts, and financial documents into a clean, tax-ready filing system. It reads each file to extract vendor, date, amount, and description, then renames everything consistently and sorts into logical folders -- turning hours of manual bookkeeping into minutes of automated organization.

When to Use

• Preparing for tax season and needing organized records
• Managing business expenses across multiple vendors
• Organizing receipts from a messy folder or email downloads
• Setting up automated invoice filing for ongoing bookkeeping
• Archiving financial records by year or category
• Reconciling expenses for reimbursement
• Preparing documentation for accountants

What It Does

1. Reads Invoice Content -- Extracts vendor name, invoice number, date, amount, description, and payment method from PDFs, images, and documents
2. Renames Files Consistently -- Format: YYYY-MM-DD Vendor - Invoice - ProductOrService.pdf
3. Organizes by Category -- Sorts by vendor, expense category, time period, or tax category
4. Handles Multiple Formats -- Works with PDFs, scanned receipts (JPG, PNG), email attachments, screenshots, and bank statements
5. Generates Summary CSV -- Creates a spreadsheet with all invoice details for accounting software import

How to Use

Basic Usage

Navigate to your invoice folder and ask:

Organize these invoices for taxes

Detailed Request

Read all invoices in this folder, rename them to
"YYYY-MM-DD Vendor - Invoice - Product.pdf" format,
and organize them by vendor

Advanced Organization

Organize these invoices:
1. Extract date, vendor, and description from each file
2. Rename to standard format
3. Sort into folders by expense category (Software, Office, Travel, etc.)
4. Create a CSV spreadsheet with all invoice details for my accountant

How It Works

1. Scan the Folder

Identifies all invoice-related files (PDFs, images) and reports:

• Total number of files
• File types found
• Date range (if discernible)
• Current organization state

2. Extract Information

From PDF invoices -- Looks for patterns:

• "Invoice Date:", "Date:", "Issued:"
• "Invoice #:", "Invoice Number:"
• Company name (usually at top)
• "Amount Due:", "Total:", "Amount:"
• "Description:", "Service:", "Product:"

From image receipts -- Reads visible text, identifies vendor, date, and total.

Fallback -- Uses filename clues and file modification date. Flags unclear files for manual review.

3. Determine Organization Strategy

How would you like them organized?

1. **By Vendor** (Adobe/, Amazon/, Stripe/, etc.)
2. **By Category** (Software/, Office Supplies/, Travel/, etc.)
3. **By Date** (2024/Q1/, 2024/Q2/, etc.)
4. **By Tax Category** (Deductible/, Personal/, etc.)
5. **Custom** (describe your structure)

Or default: Year/Category/Vendor

4. Create Standardized Filenames

YYYY-MM-DD Vendor - Invoice - Description.ext

Examples:

• 2024-03-15 Adobe - Invoice - Creative Cloud.pdf
• 2024-01-10 Amazon - Receipt - Office Supplies.pdf
• 2023-12-01 Stripe - Invoice - Monthly Payment Processing.pdf

5. Execute (After Approval)

Shows the plan first:

## Sample Changes

Before: invoice_adobe_march.pdf
After:  2024-03-15 Adobe - Invoice - Creative Cloud.pdf
Location: Invoices/2024/Software/Adobe/

Before: IMG_2847.jpg
After:  2024-02-10 Staples - Receipt - Office Supplies.jpg
Location: Invoices/2024/Office/Staples/

Process [X] files? (yes/no)

6. Generate Summary Report

Date,Vendor,Invoice Number,Description,Amount,Category,File Path
2024-03-15,Adobe,INV-12345,Creative Cloud,52.99,Software,Invoices/2024/Software/Adobe/...
2024-03-10,Amazon,123-4567890,Office Supplies,127.45,Office,Invoices/2024/Office/Amazon/...

This CSV is useful for importing into accounting software, sharing with accountants, expense tracking, and tax preparation.

7. Completion Summary

# Organization Complete

## Summary
- Processed: [X] invoices
- Date range: [earliest] to [latest]
- Total amount: $[sum]
- Vendors: [Y] unique vendors

## Files Created
- /Invoices/ -- Organized invoices
- /Invoices/invoice-summary.csv -- Spreadsheet for accounting
- /Invoices/originals/ -- Original files (if copied)

## Files Needing Review
[List any files where information could not be extracted]

Common Organization Patterns

By Vendor (Simple)

Invoices/
├── Adobe/
├── Amazon/
├── Google/
└── Microsoft/

By Year and Category (Tax-Friendly)

Invoices/
├── 2023/
│   ├── Software/
│   ├── Hardware/
│   ├── Services/
│   └── Travel/
└── 2024/
    └── ...

By Quarter (Detailed Tracking)

Invoices/
├── 2024/
│   ├── Q1/
│   │   ├── Software/
│   │   ├── Office/
│   │   └── Travel/
│   └── Q2/
│       └── ...

By Tax Category (Accountant-Ready)

Invoices/
├── Deductible/
│   ├── Software/
│   ├── Office/
│   └── Professional-Services/
├── Partially-Deductible/
│   └── Meals-Travel/
└── Personal/

Handling Special Cases

Missing Information

• Flag file for manual review
• Use file modification date as fallback
• Create "Needs-Review/" folder

Duplicate Invoices

• Compare file hashes
• Keep highest quality version
• Note duplicates in summary

Multi-Page Invoices

• Merge PDFs if needed
• Use consistent naming for parts
• Note in CSV if invoice is split

Non-Standard Formats

• Extract what is possible
• Standardize what you can
• Flag for review if critical info is missing

Pro Tips

1. Scan emails to PDF -- Save email invoices as PDFs first
2. Consistent downloads -- Save all invoices to one folder for batch processing
3. Monthly routine -- Organize invoices monthly, not annually
4. Backup originals -- Keep original files before reorganizing
5. Include amounts in CSV -- Useful for budget tracking
6. Tag by deductibility -- Note which expenses are tax-deductible
7. Keep receipts 7 years -- Standard audit retention period

Automation

For ongoing organization:

Create a script that watches my ~/Downloads/invoices folder
and auto-organizes any new invoice files using our standard
naming and folder structure.