Track Email Receipts and Invoices in Airtable

Every purchase generates a receipt email. Every subscription sends an invoice. Instead of letting them pile up in your inbox (or worse, losing them), forward them to an Airtable base where they're searchable, organized, and always accessible.

Why Track Receipts in Airtable?

Grouped views -- Group your grid view by month or category to see expense totals at a glance
Formula fields -- Add a formula field for running totals, averages, or tax calculations without leaving Airtable
Attachment support -- PDF receipts and invoices are uploaded directly to an attachment field on the record
Calendar view -- See your purchase timeline on a calendar to spot patterns and recurring charges
Single select filtering -- Filter by vendor, category, or status with one click using single select fields

Setting Up Your Base

Create a table in Airtable with these fields:

Field	Type	Purpose
Subject	Single line text	What you bought (from email subject)
Vendor	Single select	Store or service name
Date	Date	Purchase date
Amount	Number	Cost (add manually or extract from subject)
Category	Single select	"Software", "Hardware", "Office", "Travel", etc.
Status	Single select	"Unprocessed", "Logged", "Reimbursed"
From	Email	Sender address
Tax Deductible	Checkbox	For tax-relevant purchases
Running Total	Formula	Cumulative sum for reporting

Connecting Your Email (via Quicktion)

Method 1: Email Forwarding

Set up a destination in Quicktion pointing to your Receipts table. Map the email subject to Subject, sender to From, and date to Date. Then create Gmail filters to auto-forward receipt emails:

from:receipts@amazon.com -- Amazon purchases
from:*@paypal.com -- PayPal transactions
from:noreply@stripe.com -- Stripe charges (SaaS subscriptions)
from:*@apple.com subject:receipt -- Apple purchases
from:*@uber.com subject:trip -- Uber rides

Create a filter for each (or combine them) and forward to your Quicktion address. Every matching email becomes a new record automatically.

Method 2: Gmail Add-on

The Gmail add-on is useful for one-off receipts that don't match a forwarding rule. Open the email in Gmail, click the Quicktion icon, and save it to your Receipts table. You can review and edit the fields before saving.

Working with Your Expense Data

Unprocessed Receipts View

Create a grid view filtered to Status = "Unprocessed" and sorted by Date (newest first). Process receipts periodically: fill in the Amount and Category, then change Status to "Logged."

Monthly Expenses (Grouped Grid View)

Group your grid view by a formula field that extracts the month from the Date field. Within each group, Airtable shows the record count and you can use the summary bar to sum the Amount field. This gives you a month-by-month expense breakdown.

Kanban by Status

Use a kanban view grouped by Status to visualize your receipt pipeline: Unprocessed, Logged, and Reimbursed. Drag records between columns as you process them.

Tax Deductible View

Create a grid view filtered to Tax Deductible = checked and grouped by Category. This is your go-to view at tax time -- everything flagged for deductions in one place, organized by type.

By Vendor

Group your grid view by Vendor and sort by Date (newest first). This surfaces how much you're spending per vendor over time. Useful for auditing subscriptions -- if you see a vendor you don't recognize or a service you've stopped using, it's time to cancel.

Calendar View

Switch to a calendar view to see purchases plotted on a timeline. This makes it easy to spot recurring charges and identify months with unusual spending.

Tips

Process weekly -- Don't let unprocessed receipts pile up. A quick weekly review keeps things manageable.
Use consistent single select options -- Decide on your Category and Vendor options upfront, matching your tax categories if possible.
Add a formula for running totals -- A CUMSUM-style formula or a rollup field connected to a summary table gives you real-time expense tracking.
Combine forwarding rules -- The more receipt senders you add to your Gmail filters, the fewer receipts you have to manually handle.
Use the attachment field -- If your invoices come with PDF attachments, they're uploaded directly to the record. No need to store them separately.

Get Started

Sign up for Quicktion, create a receipts destination, and set up filters for your most common receipt senders. Your inbox will be cleaner and your expenses will be tracked -- automatically.

Also tracking receipts on other platforms? See our guides for Notion and Google Sheets.