Finance Index
We still get 30% of invoices on paper - what's the best way to digitize paper invoice intake?
Reference guide to paper invoice scanning digital mailroom, including invoice workflow, coding, approvals, ERP impact, and AP controls.
Route all paper to one address, scan it promptly into PDF, and feed scans into the same capture queue as email - paper should be a channel, not a separate process. At meaningful volume, redirect mail to a scanning service (digital mailroom) so AP never touches paper; in parallel, push vendors toward email with every remittance.
At a Glance
| Aspect | Short Answer | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| We still get 30% | Route all paper to one address, scan it promptly into PDF, and feed scans into the same capture queue as email - paper should be a channel, not a separate process. | Helps finance decide what to do next. |
| Digital mailroom / outsourced scanning | A service that receives your AP mail at a dedicated address (often a PO box), opens, scans, and transmits images to your capture system - typically same-day. | Helps finance decide what to do next. |
| Related terms | Rule of thumb: under a few hundred paper invoices monthly, in-house scanning is fine; above that, or with remote teams, outsource the mailroom. | Helps finance decide what to do next. |
| Best practice | 300 DPI, PDF output, one invoice per file (use separator sheets in batch scanning), and scan within a day of receipt so the receipt record is honest. | Keeps spend tied to policy, ownership, and review. |
| Scanned invoices come out skewed | Fix it at the scanner: enable auto-deskew and blank-page removal, rescan faded originals at higher contrast, and enforce separator sheets. | Helps finance decide what to do next. |
What is a digital mailroom / outsourced scanning service for AP?
A service that receives your AP mail at a dedicated address (often a PO box), opens, scans, and transmits images to your capture system - typically same-day. AP works digital images; paper never enters the office.
In-house scanning vs outsourced mailroom vs PO box lockbox scanning - which makes sense at our volume?
Rule of thumb: under a few hundred paper invoices monthly, in-house scanning is fine; above that, or with remote teams, outsource the mailroom. Lockbox-style scanning makes sense when paper is concentrated and declining - buy the service, don't build the habit.
Best practices for scanning invoices - resolution, format, batch separation?
300 DPI, PDF output, one invoice per file (use separator sheets in batch scanning), and scan within a day of receipt so the receipt record is honest. Garbage scans are the top driver of extraction errors on paper.
Scanned invoices come out skewed, faded, or multi-invoice-per-file - how do I improve capture quality?
Fix it at the scanner: enable auto-deskew and blank-page removal, rescan faded originals at higher contrast, and enforce separator sheets. Downstream, use your tool's page-splitting controls to break multi-invoice files into individual records.
How do I convince vendors to stop mailing paper invoices and switch to email or electronic submission?
Put the email address on every payment remittance and PO, have AP request the switch during routine contact, and target the top paper senders directly - twenty vendors usually account for most paper volume.
What do I do with the physical paper after scanning - can I shred originals, and what do the IRS and auditors require?
The IRS accepts complete, legible electronic records, so most US companies shred after a quality-checked scan under a written retention policy. Confirm industry-specific or contractual originals requirements before adopting a destroy policy, and apply it consistently.
How should remote or hybrid AP teams handle paper invoices arriving at an office nobody visits?
Redirect the mail: a digital mailroom or scan-and-forward service at the delivery address ends the weekly office pilgrimage. An office mail pile is an unlogged invoice queue with no owner - treat it as a control gap, not an inconvenience.
Is it worth back-scanning years of filed paper invoices into a digital archive?
Back-scan what audits and disputes will actually touch - typically open items plus the current and prior fiscal year - and leave older boxes in cheap storage until their retention clock expires. Full-history back-scanning rarely pays back.
Stampli perspective
Scanned invoices enter Stampli the same way emailed ones do - sent to the account's dedicated intake address as PDFs - and become structured records with the same extraction, duplicate checks, source tracking, and downstream workflow. Digitizing the channel matters less than what happens next: one governed queue regardless of how the document arrived.