invoice-organizer

• Preparing for tax season and need 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

1. Reads Invoice Content: Extracts information from PDFs, images, and documents:

- Vendor/company name

- Invoice number

- Date

- Amount

- Product or service description

- Payment method

1. Renames Files Consistently: Creates standardized filenames:

- Format: YYYY-MM-DD Vendor - Invoice - ProductOrService.pdf

- Examples: 2024-03-15 Adobe - Invoice - Creative Cloud.pdf

1. Organizes by Category: Sorts into logical folders:

- By vendor

- By expense category (software, office, travel, etc.)

- By time period (year, quarter, month)

- By tax category (deductible, personal, etc.)

1. Handles Multiple Formats: Works with:

- PDF invoices

- Scanned receipts (JPG, PNG)

- Email attachments

- Screenshots

- Bank statements

1. Maintains Originals: Preserves original files while organizing copies

Basic Usage

Navigate to your messy invoice folder:

```

cd ~/Desktop/receipts-to-sort

```

Then ask Claude Code:

```

Organize these invoices for taxes

```

Or more specifically:

```

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

```

When a user requests invoice organization:

1. Scan the Folder

Identify all invoice files:

```bash

# Find all invoice-related files

find . -type f \( -name ".pdf" -o -name ".jpg" -o -name "*.png" \) -print

```

Report findings:

- Total number of files

- File types

- Date range (if discernible from names)

- Current organization (or lack thereof)

1. Extract Information from Each File

For each invoice, extract:

From PDF invoices:

- Use text extraction to read invoice content

- Look for common patterns:

- "Invoice Date:", "Date:", "Issued:"

- "Invoice #:", "Invoice Number:"

- Company name (usually at top)

- "Amount Due:", "Total:", "Amount:"

- "Description:", "Service:", "Product:"

From image receipts:

- Read visible text from images

- Identify vendor name (often at top)

- Look for date (common formats)

- Find total amount

Fallback for unclear files:

- Use filename clues

- Check file creation/modification date

- Flag for manual review if critical info missing

1. Determine Organization Strategy

Ask user preference if not specified:

```markdown

I found [X] invoices from [date range].

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 I can use a default structure: Year/Category/Vendor

```

1. Create Standardized Filename

For each invoice, create a filename following this pattern:

```

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

Filename Best Practices:

- Remove special characters except hyphens

- Capitalize vendor names properly

- Keep descriptions concise but meaningful

- Use consistent date format (YYYY-MM-DD) for sorting

- Preserve original file extension

1. Execute Organization

Before moving files, show the plan:

```markdown

# Organization Plan

## Proposed Structure

```

Invoices/

├── 2023/

│ ├── Software/

│ │ ├── Adobe/

│ │ └── Microsoft/

│ ├── Services/

│ └── Office/

└── 2024/

├── Software/

├── Services/

└── Office/

```

## 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)

```

After approval:

```bash

# Create folder structure

mkdir -p "Invoices/2024/Software/Adobe"

# Copy (don't move) to preserve originals

cp "original.pdf" "Invoices/2024/Software/Adobe/2024-03-15 Adobe - Invoice - Creative Cloud.pdf"

# Or move if user prefers

mv "original.pdf" "new/path/standardized-name.pdf"

```

1. Generate Summary Report

Create a CSV file with all invoice details:

```csv

Date,Vendor,Invoice Number,Description,Amount,Category,File Path

2024-03-15,Adobe,INV-12345,Creative Cloud,52.99,Software,Invoices/2024/Software/Adobe/2024-03-15 Adobe - Invoice - Creative Cloud.pdf

2024-03-10,Amazon,123-4567890-1234567,Office Supplies,127.45,Office,Invoices/2024/Office/Amazon/2024-03-10 Amazon - Receipt - Office Supplies.pdf

...

```

This CSV is useful for:

- Importing into accounting software

- Sharing with accountants

- Expense tracking and reporting

- Tax preparation

1. Provide Completion Summary

```markdown

# Organization Complete! 📊

## Summary

- Processed: [X] invoices

- Date range: [earliest] to [latest]

- Total amount: $[sum] (if amounts extracted)

- Vendors: [Y] unique vendors

## New Structure

```

Invoices/

├── 2024/ (45 files)

│ ├── Software/ (23 files)

│ ├── Services/ (12 files)

│ └── Office/ (10 files)

└── 2023/ (12 files)

```

## 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 couldn't be extracted completely]

## Next Steps

1. Review the invoice-summary.csv file

2. Check files in "Needs Review" folder

3. Import CSV into your accounting software

4. Set up auto-organization for future invoices

Ready for tax season! 🎉

```

Example 1: Tax Preparation (From Martin Merschroth)

User: "I have a messy folder of invoices for taxes. Sort them and rename properly."

Process:

1. Scans folder: finds 147 PDFs and images
2. Reads each invoice to extract:

- Date

- Vendor name

- Invoice number

- Product/service description

1. Renames all files: YYYY-MM-DD Vendor - Invoice - Product.pdf
2. Organizes into: 2024/Software/, 2024/Travel/, etc.
3. Creates invoice-summary.csv for accountant
4. Result: Tax-ready organized invoices in minutes

Example 2: Monthly Expense Reconciliation

User: "Organize my business receipts from last month by category."

Output:

```markdown

# March 2024 Receipts Organized

• Software & Tools: $847.32 (12 invoices)
• Office Supplies: $234.18 (8 receipts)
• Travel & Meals: $1,456.90 (15 receipts)
• Professional Services: $2,500.00 (3 invoices)

Total: $5,038.40

All receipts renamed and filed in:

Business-Receipts/2024/03-March/[Category]/

CSV export: march-2024-expenses.csv

```

Example 3: Multi-Year Archive

User: "I have 3 years of random invoices. Organize them by year, then by vendor."

Output: Creates structure:

```

Invoices/

├── 2022/

│ ├── Adobe/

│ ├── Amazon/

│ └── ...

├── 2023/

│ ├── Adobe/

│ ├── Amazon/

│ └── ...

└── 2024/

├── Adobe/

├── Amazon/

└── ...

```

Each file properly renamed with date and description.

Example 4: Email Downloads Cleanup

User: "I download invoices from Gmail. They're all named 'invoice.pdf', 'invoice(1).pdf', etc. Fix this mess."

Output:

```markdown

Found 89 files all named "invoice*.pdf"

Reading each file to extract real information...

Renamed examples:

• invoice.pdf → 2024-03-15 Shopify - Invoice - Monthly Subscription.pdf
• invoice(1).pdf → 2024-03-14 Google - Invoice - Workspace.pdf
• invoice(2).pdf → 2024-03-10 Netlify - Invoice - Pro Plan.pdf

All files renamed and organized by vendor.

```

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/

```

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.

```

This creates a persistent solution that organizes invoices as they arrive.

1. Scan emails to PDF: Use Preview or similar to 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 period

Missing Information

If date/vendor can't be extracted:

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

Duplicate Invoices

If same invoice appears multiple times:

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

Multi-Page Invoices

For invoices split across files:

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

Non-Standard Formats

For unusual receipt formats:

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

• Creating expense reports for reimbursement
• Organizing bank statements
• Managing vendor contracts
• Archiving old financial records
• Preparing for audits
• Tracking subscription costs over time