[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":200},["ShallowReactive",2],{"glossary-en-organize-invoices-in-google-drive":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"category":190,"description":191,"draft":192,"extension":193,"meta":194,"navigation":195,"path":196,"seo":197,"stem":198,"__hash__":199},"glossary_en\u002Fglossary\u002Forganize-invoices-in-google-drive.md","How to organize invoices in Google Drive",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":179},"minimark",[9,18,23,33,36,61,72,76,115,122,126,140,143,148,151,155,162,166],[10,11,12,13,17],"p",{},"To organize invoices in Google Drive, set up one folder per year with month subfolders, name every invoice ",[14,15,16],"code",{},"{supplier}-{date}.pdf",", and file new ones into the current month as they arrive. The structure takes five minutes to create; the discipline of filing — especially a backlog of unnamed supplier PDFs and scans — is where most people give up, and where it's worth automating.",[19,20,22],"h2",{"id":21},"the-structure-that-accountants-ask-for","The structure that accountants ask for",[24,25,30],"pre",{"className":26,"code":28,"language":29},[27],"language-text","Invoices \u002F\n  2025 \u002F\n  2026 \u002F\n    05 - May \u002F\n    06 - June \u002F\n      acme-2026-06-12.pdf\n      ovh-2026-06-03.pdf\n","text",[14,31,28],{"__ignoreMap":32},"",[10,34,35],{},"Two details do most of the work:",[37,38,39,51],"ul",{},[40,41,42,46,47,50],"li",{},[43,44,45],"strong",{},"Month folders with a numeric prefix"," (",[14,48,49],{},"06 - June",") so they sort chronologically instead of alphabetically.",[40,52,53,56,57,60],{},[43,54,55],{},"Supplier and date in the filename",", date in ISO format. At year-end you can hand the whole ",[14,58,59],{},"2026\u002F"," folder to an accountant and every file identifies itself.",[10,62,63,64,67,68,71],{},"If you invoice clients as well as receive supplier bills, split at the top: ",[14,65,66],{},"Invoices-received \u002F"," and ",[14,69,70],{},"Invoices-sent \u002F",", same layout inside each.",[19,73,75],{"id":74},"filing-the-backlog-manually","Filing the backlog manually",[77,78,79,97,105],"ol",{},[40,80,81,82,85,86,89,90,89,93,96],{},"Gather the strays: search Drive for ",[14,83,84],{},"type:pdf invoice",", plus whatever your suppliers call them (",[14,87,88],{},"facture",", ",[14,91,92],{},"receipt",[14,94,95],{},"statement",").",[40,98,99,100,104],{},"Open each file, note supplier and invoice date — the date ",[101,102,103],"em",{},"on the invoice",", not the upload date, which is often months later.",[40,106,107,108,110,111,114],{},"Rename to ",[14,109,16],{}," and move to the matching month folder (the ",[14,112,113],{},"Z"," shortcut moves the selected file).",[10,116,117,118,121],{},"Budget roughly a minute per invoice when things go smoothly. For a quarter's worth of files that's fine. For a two-year backlog of 300 PDFs — many of them scans named ",[14,119,120],{},"scan_0042.pdf"," that have to be opened just to learn who sent them — it's five hours of clerical work, which is why those folders stay unsorted.",[19,123,125],{"id":124},"filing-the-backlog-with-ai","Filing the backlog with AI",[10,127,128,129,134,135,139],{},"This task is the textbook case for an ",[130,131,133],"a",{"href":132},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fai-file-organizer-for-google-drive","AI file organizer for Google Drive",": the information you need (supplier, date) is printed inside each document, and ",[130,136,138],{"href":137},"\u002Fglossary\u002Focr","OCR"," plus a language model can read it out — scans and photos included.",[10,141,142],{},"In Sorters, you'd describe the structure above once as a sorting template — folders by year and month, filenames from supplier and invoice date — pick the invoice files with the Drive picker, check the live preview, and run the sort; each file is read, renamed, and moved to match. The free plan's 50 files a month is enough to clear a typical backlog in a few sessions.",[144,145,147],"h3",{"id":146},"should-invoices-live-in-drive-or-in-accounting-software","Should invoices live in Drive or in accounting software?",[10,149,150],{},"Both, usually. Accounting tools want invoices attached to transactions; Drive is the durable archive you control and can share with an accountant in one link. Organizing the Drive copy is what makes that link useful.",[144,152,154],{"id":153},"what-about-invoices-that-arrive-by-email","What about invoices that arrive by email?",[10,156,157,158,161],{},"Save the attachment to a single ",[14,159,160],{},"Invoices \u002F _Inbox"," folder (Gmail's \"Add to Drive\" does this in one click), then file the inbox in batches — manually or in one sort — rather than one email at a time.",[144,163,165],{"id":164},"related","Related",[10,167,168,169,173,174,178],{},"The same year\u002Fmonth pattern generalizes to receipts and tax documents — see ",[130,170,172],{"href":171},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fgoogle-drive-folder-structure","Google Drive folder structure: examples that work",". For the other ways to bulk-move files in Drive, see ",[130,175,177],{"href":176},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fauto-sort-files-in-google-drive","how to auto-sort files in Google Drive",".",{"title":32,"searchDepth":180,"depth":180,"links":181},2,[182,183,184],{"id":21,"depth":180,"text":22},{"id":74,"depth":180,"text":75},{"id":124,"depth":180,"text":125,"children":185},[186,188,189],{"id":146,"depth":187,"text":147},3,{"id":153,"depth":187,"text":154},{"id":164,"depth":187,"text":165},"Guides","How to organize invoices in Google Drive — a year\u002Fmonth folder structure, a naming convention, and how to file a backlog of supplier PDFs fast.",false,"md",{},true,"\u002Fglossary\u002Forganize-invoices-in-google-drive",{"title":5,"description":191},"glossary\u002Forganize-invoices-in-google-drive","bX9CRDx0BQLtQOjcv3LFNKugVNUjlXrqvqJNg8fCPVI",1785276344128]