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AI expense categories

Learn how FilePile uses AI to auto-categorize expenses and how to backfill historical data for better reporting.

AI expense categories

What this guide covers

This guide explains how FilePile automatically assigns categories to your uploaded invoices using AI and how to apply these categories to older invoices you may have missed. You will learn how to review AI suggestions, correct them if necessary, and backfill data to ensure your financial reports are complete and accurate.

Before you begin

  • Plan required: Free, Pro, or Business. The Free plan allows 25 invoice uploads per month.
  • What you need: Your invoice PDF files. Scanned PDFs are supported. Ensure you have the invoices for the current month and any older months you wish to backfill.

Step-by-step instructions

  1. Log in at filepile.co/login.
  2. Open Dashboard from the left sidebar.
  3. Click the Process tab at the top of the Dashboard page.
  4. Drag and drop your current invoice PDF into the upload zone or click to choose files. The FilePile AI will immediately analyze the vendor, line items, and total amount to assign an expense category such as Software, Office Supplies, or Travel.
  5. Wait for the processing queue to show a green success status. This indicates the AI has successfully extracted the data and assigned the category.
  6. Click the Browse tab on the Dashboard to view your sorted invoices. Locate the vendor folder for the invoice you just uploaded. You will see the invoice card displaying the assigned category in bold text.
  7. To backfill older invoices, return to the Process tab. Upload a PDF from a previous month. The system reads the invoice date and automatically files it into the correct historical month folder within the vendor directory.
  8. Click the Browse tab again and navigate to the specific vendor and past month folder. Verify that the backfilled invoice appears there with the correct AI assigned category.
  9. Click Business HQ in the left sidebar.
  10. Click Spend Budgets & Alerts in the Business HQ panels. Review the charts to confirm that your backfilled invoices have updated the monthly spend totals for the assigned categories.
  11. Click VAT & Tax Compliance Reports in the Business HQ panels to see how the backfilled data contributes to your quarterly category summaries.

Note on recurring vendors: If you are uploading an invoice for a recurring service, the upload itself confirms payment for that month. You do not need to click Mark paid for these auto-detected recurring products. The Mark paid button is optional and intended only for one-off vendor bills listed in the Upcoming vendor payments card on the Dashboard.

What you should see

  • Processing Queue: After uploading, the queue should display a success message or a green checkmark next to the file name.
  • Invoice Card: In the Browse tab, the invoice card should show the Vendor Name, Invoice Date, Total Amount, and a bold Category tag.
  • Folder Structure: Backfilled invoices should appear in folders sorted by Vendor Name and then by Month (e.g., Vendor > 2023-10).
  • Business HQ Reports: The Spend Budgets & Alerts panel should reflect the expense totals from both current and backfilled invoices immediately.

Tips and common issues

  • Scanned PDFs: If you upload a scanned PDF, the AI takes longer to process the image. Ensure the text is legible for the best categorization results.
  • Correcting Categories: If the AI assigns the wrong category, open the invoice in the Browse tab and manually edit the category field. The AI will learn from this correction for future invoices from that vendor.
  • Recurring Detection: FilePile auto-detects recurring products only after you upload at least two monthly invoices for the same vendor. You do not need to set this up manually.
  • Plan Limits: On the Free plan, you are limited to 25 invoices per month. If you need to backfill a large archive, consider upgrading to the Pro or Business plan to avoid hitting the limit.
  • Payment Confusion: Do not look for a separate form to enter payment dates and amounts. For recurring services, the PDF upload acts as the payment confirmation. For one-off bills, use the optional Mark paid button in the Upcoming vendor payments card on the Dashboard.
  • Missing Invoices: If you notice a gap in your recurring products, check Reminders in the left sidebar under /account/reminders. FilePile sends emails for recurring gaps when auto-detected products are missing an upload.

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