Build your catalog from an invoice

The fastest way to set up a new kitchen is to scan a supplier invoice. Rinvy reads the line items with AI and turns them into products — including the supplier, and a storage area if you don't have one yet — so you skip manual catalog entry entirely.

Catalog scanning works on every plan, including Free. Catalog scanning is separate from invoice receiving (a Standard and Pro feature that records deliveries and updates stock): scanning an invoice here only builds your catalog. A catalog scan never records a delivery or changes stock levels.

Where to find it

• Right after creating your kitchen — the setup flow ends with a "Stock your shelves" step where Scan a supplier invoice is the recommended path.
• Dashboard — while your catalog is empty, the Getting Started card shows a single invoice-scan panel (with CSV import and manual entry as smaller links). The full setup checklist appears once you have a catalog.
• Products page — the empty state offers Scan an invoice alongside manual entry.

How it works

1. Capture the invoice. Take a photo on mobile, or upload a PDF or image. A recent invoice from your main supplier works best — one with most of what you regularly buy.

2. Rinvy reads it. Line items, pack sizes, and prices are extracted automatically. Items the invoice lists as out of stock are included too — an item your supplier shorted is still something you buy.

3. Review each product. Uncheck anything you don't want, fix names, and confirm two things per item: the unit you'll count it in, and how many of that unit come in a case. A cost hint (like $48.00/case → $8.00/each) updates as you adjust, so you can sanity-check the math.

4. Add products. Rinvy creates the products with case size and costs filled in, creates the supplier if it's new, and remembers each supplier item code so future invoices match automatically.

Photos, PDFs and two-page invoices

Each scan reads one file: a PDF, or a JPEG, PNG or WebP image. In the iPhone and Android app, Take a photo opens the camera. On a computer, Choose a photo or PDF opens a file picker.

A photo holds one page. When an invoice runs onto a second page, scan all of its pages into one PDF, so Rinvy reads the line items on every page. On an iPhone, the Files app has a Scan Documents action that adds each page to the same document (Apple Support). On Android, the Google Drive scanner adds pages to one scan and saves it as a PDF (Google Drive Help).

What the scan creates

• Products. Each line you keep becomes a product with its name, counting unit, case size and case cost. A line with no price, such as an item billed at zero because it was out of stock, gets no case cost. Your first received delivery of that item fills it in.
• No duplicates. A line whose name matches a product you already have, ignoring capitals, links to that product instead of making a second one. Lines that Rinvy matched while reading the invoice stay off the review list, and the review screen tells you how many there were.
• The supplier. Rinvy uses the supplier name printed on the invoice. If you already have a supplier with that name, the new products link to it. If not, Rinvy adds the supplier with no delivery days and a lead time of 1 day. Open Suppliers and set its delivery days before you use the order list. See set up suppliers.
• One storage area. All products from one scan go into the same storage area: a new one named Unsorted if your kitchen has none yet, or one of your existing storage areas. Before your first count, edit each product and pick the storage area where it sits.

Which unit should you count each item in?

Count each item in the unit your team uses at the shelf, not the unit the supplier ships it in. If cheese arrives as a case of 8 packages and you count packages, set the unit to package and 8 per case. Rinvy pre-fills both from the invoice where it can, and leaves the unit blank when it isn't sure. Set a blank unit before you add the item. You can fine-tune conversions later. See configure a product.

The per-case field takes a whole number of 1 or more, or a blank. If one case holds 2.5 lb, count the item in oz and enter 40 per case.

Example: a 32-line Sysco invoice

Say you upload a 32-line Sysco invoice, and 4 of its lines match products you already have. The review screen says it found 32 items, with 4 already in your catalog, and lists the other 28. You uncheck 3 lines for paper goods you don't count, so the button reads Add 25 products. If your plan has room for only 20 more products, Rinvy adds 20 and tells you that 5 were skipped because you reached the product limit.

Plan limits

• Catalog scanning is free on every plan. Free kitchens can set up from 3 invoices total; Standard and Pro are unlimited.
• Only invoices that actually reach review count against the Free allowance — failed parses, duplicates, and abandoned uploads don't.
• Products created this way count toward your plan's product cap (50 on Free). If an invoice would push you over, the extra items are skipped and reported.

After the scan

Your catalog exists, but stock levels don't yet — new products start uncounted. Take your first inventory count to establish the baseline that usage tracking, costs, and ordering are built on.

Related

• Product setup overview
• Configure a product
• Import from CSV