How to Scan Receipts in Monarch Money (2026 Verified Walkthrough)

Monarch's receipt scanner is the unsung hero of cash-and-tip-heavy households. Take a photo of a paper receipt, and Monarch's AI extracts the merchant, amount, and date — then creates a transaction (or attaches the receipt to an existing one). It's especially useful for cash transactions, restaurant tips that don't post immediately, and reimbursable business expenses.

Here's the verified walkthrough.

The fast answer

To scan a receipt with Monarch:

1. Open the Monarch mobile app (receipt scanning is iOS/Android only — there's no web equivalent for the camera flow).
2. Open the navigation sidebar menu.
3. Tap Receipts.
4. Tap Scan Receipt.
5. Take a photo of the receipt (or upload an image from your camera roll, or import a screenshot or PDF).
6. Monarch extracts merchant, amount, and date automatically. Confirm the details.
7. The receipt either creates a new manual transaction or attaches to an existing transaction (your choice).

Limits per Monarch's documentation: Up to 3 images per transaction (web and mobile). PDF files can only be added on web, not mobile.

How Monarch's receipt scanner works

Per Monarch's Help Center: "Receipt Scanning lets you quickly add transactions by uploading digital receipts—including screenshots, images, or files saved from email—or by photographing a paper receipt. This feature extracts key details, such as merchant, amount, and other information."

The flow under the hood:

• You upload an image (camera capture, photo library, or screenshot)
• Monarch's AI runs OCR (optical character recognition) plus merchant matching
• Extracted fields are pre-filled in a transaction-edit modal: merchant name, total, tax, tip (if visible), date, and a guessed category
• You confirm or adjust before saving

The OCR is solid for most chain-store receipts (Target, Whole Foods, Starbucks, etc.) where the layout is consistent. Mom-and-pop receipts and handwritten ones get partial extraction — usually total and date come through, but you'll need to type the merchant name manually.

Step 1: Get to the receipt scanner

The path differs slightly between iOS and Android, but the core flow is identical:

iOS:

1. Open the Monarch app
2. Tap the menu icon (three lines, top left) to open the sidebar
3. Tap Receipts
4. Tap Scan Receipt

Android:

1. Open the Monarch app
2. Tap the menu icon (top left) to open the sidebar
3. Tap Receipts
4. Tap Scan Receipt

The iOS and Android implementations are functionally equivalent. Both use the device's native camera with a guide overlay for receipt framing.

Step 2: Capture or upload the image

Three options for getting an image to Monarch:

• Take a photo — Tap the shutter button, frame the receipt within the guide overlay, capture. The app guides you to keep the receipt flat and well-lit; OCR accuracy drops sharply on crumpled or partially-shaded receipts.
• Upload from camera roll — Useful if you already photographed the receipt earlier
• Import from another app — On iOS, share-to-Monarch from Mail or Photos works for emailed/screenshot receipts

For best OCR results:

• Lay the receipt flat on a contrasting surface (dark receipt on a light counter, or vice versa)
• Capture in good light — natural daylight is best
• Get the entire receipt in frame, including the date and total
• Avoid shadows and glare

Step 3: Confirm extracted details

After upload, Monarch shows a transaction-edit modal with pre-filled fields:

• Merchant — The name extracted from the receipt header
• Amount — Total, including tax and tip
• Date — Transaction date from the receipt
• Category — Monarch's guess based on the merchant
• Account — You pick which account this should be attributed to (cash, credit card, debit, etc.)
• Notes — Optional field for context (e.g., "business lunch with Sarah")
• Tags — Optional tags for tax/reimbursement tracking

Verify each field. Common things to fix:

• Merchant name — OCR sometimes catches the address line or transaction ID instead of the store name; rename if needed
• Amount — On split receipts (one shared bill paid in two cards), the OCR catches the full total; adjust to your share
• Tip — If the receipt was scanned before the tip was added (common for restaurant pre-tip scans), update the amount manually

Step 4: Attach to an existing transaction (alternative flow)

Sometimes you want the receipt as documentation rather than a new transaction. For example, you already have the bank-side credit card transaction; you just want the receipt image attached for tax records.

On mobile:

1. Find the transaction in the Transactions list
2. Tap to expand
3. Tap Add attachment
4. Pick the receipt image (camera or library)
5. Save

On desktop (web):

1. Find the transaction in Transactions
2. Click > on the transaction line to expand
3. Scroll down and click Upload a file
4. Pick the file
5. It saves automatically

Per Monarch's documentation: "You can add up to 3 images on web and mobile, and PDF files can only be added on web."

What works (and what doesn't)

Works well:

• Chain-store receipts with standard formatting
• Restaurant receipts (with the caveat about tip timing)
• Emailed receipts saved as screenshots
• Amazon/online order confirmation screenshots
• PDF invoices (web only)

Works poorly:

• Handwritten receipts (taxi, mom-and-pop)
• Faded thermal receipts (the kind that fade after a year — capture them quickly)
• Receipts with non-English merchant names
• Multi-page receipts (only the page you photograph gets parsed)
• Receipts with the total obscured or cut off

For the doesn't-work cases, falling back to a manual transaction is fine — you can attach the receipt image as documentation even if the OCR can't extract the data.

Use cases that justify the feature

The most useful applications of receipt scanning we've seen:

Reimbursable business expenses. Photograph each receipt as you incur it, tag with business-reimbursable, and at month-end you have a complete log to submit. The image attachment serves as documentation.

Cash transactions. Cash doesn't appear in your bank-linked transactions. Receipt scanning is the way to keep cash spending in your budget without manually typing every $5 coffee.

Restaurant tips that don't post yet. Credit card transactions for restaurants often post first as the pre-tip total, then update with the tip 24-48 hours later. If you're tracking food spending in real time, scanning the receipt right after the meal gives you the accurate total immediately.

Mileage / travel expenses. Photograph gas receipts and toll receipts as you go for mileage logs (especially useful if you're a 1099 contractor or running a side business).

Tax-deductible donations and medical expenses. The image attachment doubles as documentation for IRS purposes — much easier than trying to find paper receipts at year-end.

How Monarch's receipt scanning compares

For most personal-finance use cases, Monarch's receipt scanner is sufficient. If you're a 1099 contractor needing IRS-grade receipt management, QuickBooks Self-Employed or a dedicated expense tool (Expensify, Concur) is better — but for the household-budget user, Monarch's scanner closes the loop on cash and reimbursement tracking.

Common questions

Why doesn't receipt scanning work on web?

It needs a camera. The desktop browser-based experience is designed for image upload (you can attach a file to a transaction on desktop) but the OCR-extraction-creates-a-transaction flow only exists on the mobile app where the camera lives.

Can I bulk-scan receipts?

No. Each scan creates one transaction (or attaches to one transaction). For bulk imports, use the CSV import flow instead — covered in How to Export Transactions from Monarch.

Does the receipt image stay private?

Per Monarch's privacy policies, attached receipt images are stored securely and not shared with third parties beyond what's needed for the OCR processing (which uses an in-house or contracted vision model). Your receipts don't get used to train external AI models.

Can I delete a receipt after attaching it?

Yes. Open the transaction, expand attachments, and click delete on the image. The transaction itself remains.

Does the receipt scanner work on multi-currency receipts?

Best-effort. The OCR can read non-USD totals, but the merchant matching is US-focused. International receipts may need manual merchant entry.

What about receipt scanning for couples / household accounts?

Both partners on Shared Views can scan receipts. The transaction is attributed to whichever partner uploaded it (with editable ownership).

Can I export receipts when I export my transactions?

The CSV export doesn't include attached images. If you need a backup of receipts, save them locally before deleting.

Related reading:

• Monarch Money Review 2026
• Is Monarch Money Worth It?
• How to Connect Bank Accounts to Monarch
• How to Create a Budget in Monarch
• How to Track Expenses in Monarch
• How to Use Monarch's AI Assistant
• How to Track Subscriptions in Monarch
• Monarch vs Copilot Money

Not financial, legal, or tax advice. We earn a commission if you sign up for Monarch through a link on this page; the price is the same. Every step verified against Monarch's official Help Center documentation as of May 7, 2026.