Convert Receipts to a Spreadsheet: What 20 Receipts Showed

For a handful of receipts, type them into a sheet. For an ongoing pile, you want one row per receipt in one file, and plain OCR and one-file converters don't give you that on their own.

To show what that means, we ran the same 20 receipts through four common methods and counted what each one handed back.

The test: 20 receipts, four ways

We used 20 synthetic receipts dated April to June 2026: restaurants, software invoices, rideshares, office supplies and hardware. They are rendered test images, not customer data, so read every number here as example data. We counted what each method produces. We did not time anyone, so this page reports counts, not durations.

Four ways, same 20 receipts (example data: synthetic test receipts)

Method	What you get	Rows you end with	What's left for you
Type it by hand	20 rows you build yourself	1 sheet, 20 rows	120 fields and 839 characters to type
Plain OCR	284 lines of raw text	No rows until you parse	Pick the total from about 6.05 money-like numbers per receipt; 11 of 20 fully right after a simple parser
Free one-file converter	One editable .xlsx per document	20 separate files	Review, then download; layout follows each file (see how CleanTably compares); free tier capped at 10 conversions an hour
Ledger with CSV export	One CSV with 9 fixed columns	1 file, 20 rows	Review and fix each row before export

1. Type it by hand

For each receipt we counted six fields: date, merchant, total, currency, tax and category. Across 20 receipts that is 120 fields and 839 characters, a mean of 42 characters per receipt (from 35 to 50). That is a character count from the receipts themselves, not a timing.

Typing gives you exactly what you want: one clean row per receipt, in your columns. The cost is the keystrokes, every month.

2. Plain OCR

We ran the receipts through Tesseract 5.5.0, a free OCR engine, after converting to grayscale and doubling the size. The 20 receipts became 284 lines of raw text, a mean of 14.2 lines per receipt (11 to 18), instead of 20 rows.

Each receipt's text held about 6.05 money-looking numbers on average: line items, subtotal, tax and total. Someone still has to pick the total. Here is the text of one receipt next to the row it should become:

ZUNI CAFE
Table 14 / Guest 2
1658 Market St, SF CA
Date: 2026-05-21

Roast Chicken for Two $68.00
Caesar Salad $18.00
Bottle Pinot Noir $42.00
Espresso x2 $8.48
SUBTOTAL $136.48
TAX $12.24
TOTAL $148.72
CARD ****4412

THANK YOU

As a row, that receipt is just: 2026-05-21, Zuni Cafe, 148.72, USD, 12.24, Meals.

With a simple parser on top, the merchant was right on 19 of 20, the date on 20, the total on 20 and the tax on 12. All four were right on 11 of 20. These were clean images; phone photos are harder, as our Tesseract test on phone snaps shows.

3. A free one-file converter

Free converters are good at one document. CleanTably, as of October 2026, accepts PDF, PNG, JPG and JPEG files up to 5 MB, lets you review the rows in your browser, and gives you an editable .xlsx. Its site says the output "adapts to the file instead of forcing every document into the same template," and its terms cap the free tier at "10 document conversions per hour per user."

For 20 receipts, that means 20 separate workbooks whose columns can differ, and at least two hourly windows on the free tier. Each file is useful; together they still need combining into one list.

4. A ledger that exports one CSV

A ledger keeps every receipt as a row in one place. In Slipsheet, you upload photos and PDFs (JPG, PNG, HEIC or PDF) on the web, or, on a paid plan, forward receipt emails with the files attached. Each receipt becomes one row. You review and fix each row before it goes into an export.

The export is one CSV named slipsheet-YYYYMMDD.csv with nine columns, always in the same order. The column walkthrough explains each one.

What one CSV looks like (example data)

What one CSV looks like (example data)

date	merchant	total_amount	currency	tax_amount	category	client_tag	notes	file_name
2026-04-03	Amazon Web Services	428.17	USD	0.00	Software		monthly hosting	01-aws.png
2026-04-14	Adobe Inc	59.99	USD	5.25	Software		Creative Cloud	03-adobe.png
2026-04-22	Uber Technologies	24.83	USD	2.15	Travel	Client A	to client site	05-uber.png
2026-05-12	Home Depot	156.88	USD	12.91	Supplies	Client B	install job	10-homedepot.png
2026-05-21	Zuni Cafe	148.72	USD	12.24	Meals	Client A	client dinner	12-zuni.png

These five rows are example data from the same 20-receipt set. Dates, merchants, totals and tax come from the test receipts; category, client_tag and notes are illustrative. The totals add up to 818.59, with 32.55 in tax.

What the numbers say

Every method got the receipts out of the shoebox. The difference is what you are left holding. Typing ends in the right shape but costs 839 characters for 20 receipts, and that repeats every month the pile grows. Plain OCR reads the digits but hands you 284 lines of text, and even with a parser only 11 of 20 receipts came out fully right on clean test images. A free converter gives a tidy workbook for each document, which is ideal for one statement and awkward for twenty receipts that should live in one list. A ledger gives you one file with the same columns every time, and you still check each row.

So the question to ask is not which tool reads a receipt. It is where the rows end up, and whether next month's rows land in the same place, in the same shape, without a cleanup pass.

Getting the CSV into Excel or Google Sheets

In Excel, open the CSV file. In Google Sheets, use File > Import and pick the file. Once the rows are in, build your receipt log in Excel, or see receipt to Excel for more on that route.

Google Sheets sync is live on Slipsheet Pro. Excel, OneDrive and Microsoft 365 sync are coming soon; today Excel gets the CSV. QuickBooks and Xero take the same CSV through their import. There is no direct connection to either.

Just type it if

You have fewer than about 10 receipts a month and no photos to deal with. A simple sheet with your own columns is free, and at that size the keystrokes are small.

If the pile keeps growing, a ledger keeps it in one file. Slipsheet Starter is $5/mo for up to 250 receipts. Pro is $12/mo for up to 1,500 receipts plus Google Sheets sync. Yearly plans are $50 and $120. Both start with a 14-day free trial, no card needed. Try Slipsheet.

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