Zoho Books Autoscan: Included Scans Extending to Vendor Bills

Zoho Books Autoscan: Plan-Included Scans Extending to Vendor Bills and Other Documents

Zoho is widening what the Autoscan allowance included in a Zoho Books, Zoho Inventory, or Zoho ERP plan can be used for. Until now, the scans bundled with a plan could only be used to create expenses from receipts. Zoho has announced that the included scans will also be usable for vendor bills and other documents.

Not live yet. Zoho describes this as "soon available" and gives no date. Until it reaches your organisation, the current rules below still apply, so don't tell clients the change is in place.

How Autoscan Works Today, and What Changes

What you want to scanTodayOnce the change arrives
Receipts, to create expensesUses the scans included in your planUses the scans included in your plan
Vendor bills and other documentsRequires the separately purchased Document Autoscan add-onCan use the scans included in your plan
Needing more scans than your plan includesBuy the add-onBuy the Autoscan add-on
What stays the same: Zoho states that the plan limits and the add-on price are unchanged. The difference is what the included scans can be spent on, not how many you get or what extra scans cost.

Why It Matters

For a business that mostly captures supplier bills rather than receipts, the included allowance previously went unused unless it also bought the add-on. Once this arrives, the same allowance can cover bill capture, which is where most of the data entry usually sits. Businesses that already hold the Document Autoscan add-on may want to review whether it is still needed once the change reaches them.

Exception: UAE and Saudi Arabia Data Centres

Autoscan is not currently available by default for organisations on the UAE and Saudi Arabia data centres. It continues to work for UAE and KSA edition organisations that are hosted outside those GCC data centres.

  • Beta access. Zoho provides beta access to scan documents in English and other Latin-script languages in those two data centres. Contact Zoho partner support to have it enabled.
  • Arabic. Support is in progress, and Zoho has said it will share an update when there is one.
UK and Ireland clients: Zoho's announcement only calls out the GCC data centres as an exception, and doesn't say which other editions or data centres get the change, or when. Check with Zoho before planning around it for a UK or Irish organisation.
Need help? 1 Cloud Consultants can help you review how your team captures bills and receipts in Zoho Books, and whether you are paying for scanning you no longer need. Book a discovery call with 1 Cloud Consultants.