Automating Invoice Processing with AI
Difficulty: Journeyman — Requires Zapier or Make.com setup. About an hour to configure.
Invoice comes in by email. You open it, figure out which project it's for, rename the file something useful, save it to the right folder, maybe update a tracking sheet. Now multiply that by 200 invoices a month.
This is exactly the kind of repetitive task that automation handles well. Set it up once, it runs forever.
What We're Building
An automation that watches your inbox for invoices, reads the PDF to extract vendor name and invoice number, renames the file with a consistent format, and saves it to the correct folder. No copying, no renaming, no dragging files around.
You'll need three things: an automation platform (Zapier or Make.com), cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Box), and about an hour to set it up.
How It Works
The automation triggers when an email arrives with a PDF attachment. It checks whether the subject line or sender suggests it's an invoice. If it passes that filter, it downloads the attachment and sends it to an AI model to read.
The AI extracts the vendor name, invoice number, and date. It returns a filename in your standard format—something like 2026.01.05_Johnson-Electric_INV-4521.pdf. The automation renames the file and uploads it to your designated folder.
Total time from email arrival to filed invoice: about 30 seconds, with no involvement from you.
Setting It Up in Zapier
Create a new Zap. For the trigger, choose your email provider (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) and select "New Email" or "New Email with Attachment."
Add a filter step: only continue if the email has an attachment AND the subject contains "invoice" or "statement" or comes from known vendor domains.
Add an action to download the attachment. Then add a "Code by Zapier" or "Formatter" step to send the PDF content to an AI. You can use Zapier's built-in AI or connect to Claude or ChatGPT via API.
Your prompt to the AI should be specific: "Look at this invoice. Return only a filename in this format: YYYY.MM.DD_VendorName_InvoiceNumber.pdf. Use hyphens instead of spaces in vendor names. Nothing else."
Finally, add an action to upload the file to your cloud storage with the AI-generated filename.
Setting It Up in Make.com
Make.com works similarly but uses a visual flowchart. Create a new scenario with your email provider as the trigger. Add a filter module, then a module to download attachments.
Add an HTTP module to call the Claude or OpenAI API with your prompt. Parse the response to get the filename. Add a cloud storage module (Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, or OneDrive) to upload with the new filename.
Make.com's free tier gives you 1,000 operations per month—enough for light invoice volume. Paid plans start at $9/month for higher limits.
What It Costs
Zapier: Free tier handles 100 tasks/month. Paid plans start at $20/month for 750 tasks.
Make.com: Free tier handles 1,000 operations/month. Paid plans start at $9/month.
AI API calls: If you're using Claude or ChatGPT's API for the parsing, expect $0.01-0.03 per invoice. For 200 invoices/month, that's $2-6.
Total monthly cost for a typical small contractor: $10-30 depending on volume and which tools you choose.
What Can Go Wrong
Invoices that don't look like invoices. If a vendor sends a PDF with no clear invoice number or uses an unusual format, the AI might guess wrong. Check your folder periodically for files with weird names.
Duplicates. If you get the same invoice forwarded multiple times, you'll end up with multiple copies. Some contractors add a step to check whether a file with that name already exists.
Email filters that are too aggressive. Start narrow—maybe just one vendor or one project—and expand once you trust the system.
Making It Smarter
Once the basic flow works, you can add steps. Update a tracking spreadsheet with the invoice date and amount. Send a Slack message to your AP person. Flag invoices over a certain amount for review.
You can also route invoices to different folders based on project. Have the AI extract the project name or job number and use that to determine the destination folder.
Next Steps
Start with one vendor or one email address. Build the automation, test it for a week, and fix whatever breaks. Then add more vendors gradually.
Don't try to automate everything at once. Get the basic flow working reliably before adding complexity.
Meta Description: How to automate invoice processing with AI. Step-by-step setup for Zapier or Make.com that renames and files invoices automatically.