I had something very interesting happen to me the other day. As Kashoo’s Product Manager, I’m always looking at (and thinking of) ways we can make Kashoo better for our subscribers, be it faster, easier to navigate, or additional functionality. But it was a simple cup of coffee with a friend that I realized that sometimes it’s not about adding functionality, rather, it can be as simple as using an existing app to complement Kashoo, and make the user experience that much better. So here’s exactly what happened: As many small business owners know, receipts are like small gold nuggets. A few small ones don’t amount to much, but a year’s worth does, so each one counts. While out for coffee, my friend graciously paid for us both, took his receipt, and we sat down at a couple of bar stools overlooking the street. He pulled out his phone and my initial thought was that he was recording the receipt amount so he could expense our “business meeting”. But when I glanced at the receipt between us I noticed he was using an app I was very familiar with—Scannable by Evernote. He was scanning the entire receipt! Our conversation wasn’t initially going to be about “business”, but boy did that one little event change that. I started playing with Scannable, scanning a bunch of receipts in my wallet as well as a nearby menu. I was fascinated. How had I not seen this perfect marriage before—scan your receipts into Kashoo! My quick take-away of Scannable’s features: Super-fast (and FREE). Automatically captures images of receipts right when I launch the app, no need to push any buttons. Ideal for multi-page receipts (for small/single receipts it would be quicker to use Kashoo). Images are automatically optimized—no need to fuss with them or worry about having perfect lighting. Again, as Product Manager, I’m always thinking of ways to improve Kashoo. So this immediately kick-started that thought process. I thought of a recent small renovation job I just did, and the receipt from the hardware store was a few pages long. Wow, using Scannable, you can scan your receipt that’s multiple pages and immediately attach it to an expense in Kashoo. Contractors would LOVE this! People with shoeboxes of receipts would LOVE this! Here’s how it works in conjunction with Kashoo: Put your receipt(s) out on the desk in front of you. Launch the Scannable app on your phone & point your device toward a receipt. Watch Scannable work its magic! It’ll highlight the receipt in blue to show that it’s recognized it. Hold for a few seconds until it automatically takes the photo for you. You’ll know it’s done when it brings the image closer and into focus; you’ll notice that it automatically optimizes your image so that it’s easier to read. Tip: Have a multi-page receipt or a shoebox of various receipts you want to scan? No problem, simply move your device to point towards the second page/receipt. Scannable will take care of the rest, it’ll recognize it and takes the photo. No buttons to press! Once you’ve got all pages of that receipt done, simply tap the blue checkmark. Scannable will show you all of the pages that it’s captured. At this point you can do things like name the receipt, change the order of multi-page receipts, and change the optimization settings. Personally, I rarely do any of these things. I’m a busy small business owner, I don’t have time for this (but I do like knowing that I can if I want to). Tap “Send”, “Share”, and then “Add to Kashoo” (or save to add to Kashoo later). Choose your business from the list and you’ll see our familiar Quick Entry screen. You just need to enter the amount, choose where it was paid from (eg. by cash, or with your Visa card), and select which expense category it belongs to. Tap “Save” and that’s it! You’re done! Now when you go into Kashoo you’ll see the expense entered, along with the receipt(s) for you to refer to at any time. Seeing this app in action with Kashoo also shifted my thought-process from “How can we modify Kashoo?” to “Hmm, what other apps are out there that COMPLEMENT Kashoo?” Scannable appears to be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to apps that complement Kashoo. So whenever we find an app that can enhance your Kashoo experience, we’ll be sure to tell everyone all about it. And if you have an app that helps with your Kashoo experience and want to recommend others try it, we’d love to hear about it. In the meantime, if you have multiple receipts, or multi-page receipts, I highly recommend you try Scannable in conjunction with Kashoo. It’s available for free in the App Store, and if you aren’t already a Kashoo subscriber, start your free 30-day trial and see for yourself how easy it is to scan your receipts and track your expenses!
