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Accounts Payable

Teach Ramp Smart OCR and the Auto-Coding Agent How to Code Vendor Invoices

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What the source describes

Ramp's help center explains that Bill Pay runs OCR on invoices added by AP forwarding or drag and drop to populate draft bills. On Ramp Plus, Smart OCR references a vendor's historical invoices and saved plain-language custom instructions, and an auto-coding agent predicts accounting fields such as GL category, department and location on each line item based on past bills.

See also our roundup of AI for invoice processing, which includes Ramp bill capture next to BILL, Stampli and Tipalti.

Result or outcome

According to the source, basic OCR typically takes 30 to 60 seconds per invoice, Smart OCR learns from corrections and improves over time for each vendor, and the auto-coding agent predicts coding from previous bills, though users should review accounting fields before creating the bill.

How to run it

  1. Add the vendor's invoice PDF to Bill Pay drafts by AP forwarding or drag and drop, and make sure it is set as the Invoice document.
  2. Wait for OCR to populate the draft bill, then compare the vendor, invoice number, due date and payment details to the PDF.
  3. On Ramp Plus, review the auto-coding agent's GL category, department and location on each line item before creating the bill.
  4. Paste three past coded invoices into the prompt below to draft plain-language coding instructions, and settle any inconsistent lines it lists.
  5. Click the Ask Ramp icon on the invoice and send each instruction in the chat, then check the Instructions tab shows them saved.

Try it yourself

Copyable prompt

I process recurring invoices from [vendor name] in [AP tool]. Here are three past invoices with how I coded each line: [paste invoice lines and the GL account, department, location and class used]. Study the pattern and write a short set of plain-language coding instructions I can save for this vendor, for example how to group shipping and fees, where the project code appears, and which GL account each type of charge goes to. Keep each instruction to one sentence, list any lines where my past coding was inconsistent, and ask me to decide on those before finalizing. Output the instructions as a numbered list.

Replace the [bracketed] placeholders. Remove client names, account numbers, and personal data before pasting into any AI tool.

What to review

Ramp runs OCR only once per bill and only on the invoice document, so confirm a replaced file did not leave stale data in the draft. Check every line's GL category, department and location against the invoice before creating the bill. Smart OCR, auto-coding and custom instructions are Ramp Plus features, so confirm the client's plan includes them.

Related free download: 50 AI Prompts for Bookkeepers (Prompt pack (PDF))

Source: Ramp Help Center

Not professional advice. This is general information, not accounting, tax, legal or financial advice. Check AI output yourself and consult a licensed professional for your situation. See our Terms of Use.

This entry summarizes a public source. Features, plans, and availability change, so confirm details with the vendor. Tool names are trademarks of their respective owners.

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Bills and receipts from this AP workflow fit in the Small Business Bookkeeping Spreadsheet Bundle, available on our sister store.