How do you upload delivery notes to tspoonlab from tspoonBack or from tspoonFast (basic version)?
This article shows you how to upload your purchase delivery notes to tspoonlab in two ways: from tspoonBack, by importing PDF or JPG files, or with a photo from the tspoonFast app (basic version), whether or not the delivery note belongs to a previous order. Uploading the delivery note is the first step before receiving it with OCR (Optical Character Recognition) or with AI document scanning.
📌 Note: To learn how to scan delivery notes from tspoonFast PRO version, you can read the article tspoonFast: Purchases.
This article is for purchasing, kitchen or store managers who record their suppliers’ delivery notes in tspoonlab. You need a user profile with Purchases permissions. To upload delivery notes from your phone, you need the tspoonFast app, which uses the same credentials as tspoonlab.
Uploading a delivery note means attaching the supplier’s document to a tspoonlabpurchase. tspoonlab then reads the document with the system your account has: OCR or AI document scanning, which is included in every account with tspoonFastPro. The delivery note stays pending to be received until you receive it.
How do you upload PDF or JPG delivery notes from tspoonBack?
From the tspoonlab website, you upload delivery notes by importing PDF or JPG files, inside an order pending to be received or, if there’s no previous order, in an order folder:
Go to "Management" and click "Purchases".
Open the order pending to be received that the delivery note belongs to. If the delivery note doesn’t belong to any order, go into the order folder where you want to save it or create a new order. You can see how to do this in the article Generate and send purchase orders.
Click the three dots of the order folder or of the order pending to be received and select "Scan delivery notes".
(Image: Scan delivery notes without an associated pending order.)
(Image: Scan delivery notes associated with a pending order.)
Select the PDF or JPG files of the delivery notes. You can upload up to 20 files at a time.
When the upload finishes, the result depends on where you uploaded the delivery note:
Associated with a pending order: the delivery note is attached to that order, which becomes a delivery note pending to be received.
Not associated with a pending order: tspoonlab detects the supplier from the delivery note details, with both OCR and AI document scanning, and creates a purchase in that folder with the delivery note pending to be received.
📢 Important: tspoonBack accepts a maximum of 20 files at a time. If you have more than 20 delivery notes, upload them in several rounds. If a delivery note has two pages, you’ll need to create a PDF with both pages together in the same file.
📢 Important: If you’ve already placed the order and it’s pending, upload the delivery note from that order. If you upload it without associating it, tspoonlab creates a new purchase that isn’t associated with the order: the order will stay pending to be received, you won’t be able to see the differences between what you ordered and what you received, and the purchases-by-supplier report will add up the amounts of both purchases, one pending and one received.
How do you upload a delivery note with a photo from tspoonFast (basic version)?
With the tspoonFast app, you upload a delivery note by taking a photo of it. You can do it with or without a pending order:
Open tspoonFast. If you work with more than one Cost Centre, select the Cost Centre where you want to record the delivery note.
If there’s no previous order, tap "Scan". If there is one, tap "Pending order"and select the order the delivery note belongs to.
Place the delivery note straight, so its lines are read correctly. Take a photo of each page. Frame the paper with the green box. If the lighting isn’t good, tap "Light" to turn on the flash. When you’ve photographed every page, tap "Done", at the bottom right.
If the image isn’t clear, apply a filter or retake the photo. You can tap "Crop" if the delivery note isn’t properly aligned and crop the image by selecting the edges of the paper. Then confirm with "Done".
When you confirm, tspoonFast sends the delivery note to tspoonBack. If you scanned it from an order, the delivery note is attached to that order; if you scanned it without an order, an order is created automatically. In both cases, the delivery note appears in "Purchases" as a delivery note pending to be received.
📢 Important: The photo of the delivery note must be legible and also straight. If the delivery note comes out crooked, the lines of text run diagonally and tspoonlab may read one item’s description together with the price of another line. Place the delivery note on a flat surface, frame the whole page and align the text with the edges of the screen.
📢 Important: tspoonFast uploads the delivery note to the Cost Centre you have selected in the app. If you choose the wrong Cost Centre, the delivery note and its stock entry will be recorded in that centre.
Where does the delivery note appear after you upload it to tspoonlab?
After you upload a delivery note, tspoonlab saves it in "Purchases" as a delivery note pending to be received, marked with the blue pause icon. The exact place depends on how you uploaded it:
Delivery note uploaded to a previous order: it appears inside that order.
Delivery note uploaded without an order from tspoonBack: it appears in the order folder you uploaded it from.
Delivery note scanned without an order from tspoonFast: it appears in the folder marked as "Default order". If there isn’t one, it appears as a separate line in the order list, on the left of the screen.
If a delivery note ends up in the wrong folder, open that purchase’s three-dot menu and select "Move to another order" to move it to the right folder.
📢 Important: A delivery note pending to be received doesn’t book the ingredients into the store or update the purchase prices. To update your stock and costs, receive the delivery note with your account’s system: Receive delivery notes with OCR, Receive delivery notes with AI or tspoonFast: Reception.
💡 Tip: Organise your purchases in weekly folders and mark the current week’s folder as "Default order". That way, every delivery note you scan without an order will go into that folder, and it’ll be easier to find them and receive them. You can see the step-by-step guide in Generate and send purchase orders.
What do I do if tspoonlab doesn’t recognise the delivery note or the supplier?
tspoonlab recognises a delivery note’s supplier by the name and tax ID (NIF) saved on the Supplier Page, so it’s important that the supplier’s name, company name or tax ID are written correctly. For example, if the tax ID has slashes or full stops, you must write it exactly as it appears on the delivery notes. If tspoonlab doesn’t recognise the supplier, the purchase appears as pending and "No vendor", with the delivery note attached.
If tspoonlab doesn’t recognise the supplier or doesn’t read a supplier’s delivery notes correctly, you should first rescan to rule out a reading error. If the status doesn’t change after rescanning, set up how the system should read the supplier’s delivery notes by following Set up suppliers to improve AI delivery note scanning. The supplier may not have been created yet; in that case, create the supplier by following the step-by-step guide in the article Create suppliers.
What’s the difference between receiving with OCR and with AI document scanning?
tspoonlab reads delivery notes with OCR or with AI document scanning depending on what your account has; you don’t choose it for each delivery note. Every account with tspoonFast Pro has AI document scanning. These are the main differences between the two systems:
OCR: reads the delivery note’s text with a fixed pattern, and the first time with each supplier you have to tell it which column holds each piece of data. It recognises the supplier but doesn’t read the delivery note number, so you enter it yourself when receiving. It doesn’t learn patterns with use, and a change in the delivery note design can break the reading.
AI document scanning: interprets the delivery note with AI (Artificial Intelligence) and fills in the delivery note number and date. It tolerates changes to columns or structure, and learns patterns with use.
Still need help? Click the built-in Support Chat in the bottom-right corner of your screen and our team will get back to you.