Treat extraction as a draft.

Decide what should be sent

The invoice reader is optional. Core recipe costing, backup imports and exports run in the browser, but invoice extraction sends the selected image through Costed Plate's server to Anthropic. Use it only when you intend that image to be processed by the provider.

Before selecting the file, inspect it for information that is unnecessary for the costing task. Supplier account details, delivery addresses and unrelated pages can be removed from the image you choose to send. Do that preparation with a tool you control; the reader is not a redaction service.

For a PDF, select the page number you need. The app renders that page locally and sends the resulting image after consent. It does not upload the whole PDF to the extraction route. A clear image of the relevant line items is more useful than a crowded page with unreadable quantities.

Understand the storage and limit boundary

Costed Plate does not persist the invoice image or extracted contents on the server. That statement does not imply zero retention by the AI provider. Anthropic's published commercial API retention policy describes a default period of up to 30 days, with policy, legal and contractual exceptions.

The service accepts images under 4 MB and permits up to 5 reads per IP address per UTC day, with 150 reads per UTC day across the service. These are enforced product limits recorded in the implementation and privacy page. An admitted attempt counts even if extraction later fails.

A shared connection can therefore reach the per-IP limit across several people. Reaching the limit does not prevent manual ingredient entry. The local development environment can return a fixed sample when no provider key is configured; that sample is explicitly labeled and is not evidence that the uploaded image was read.

Read the extracted lines as a draft

After choosing a file, confirm the consent checkbox and use Read invoice. The returned lines remain editable. No ingredient price changes until you select the intended lines and confirm the application step.

Begin with identity. A supplier description may be abbreviated, include a brand or refer to a variant with a different preparation state. Match it to the correct ingredient record rather than assuming similar names mean identical products.

If the item is new, the app can create an ingredient record. Its starting edible yield is a no-loss assumption of 100%, not a measured preparation fact. Review that value in Ingredients before using the new product in a trimmed or cooked recipe.

Check pack size and unit together

An invoice can describe outer cases, inner packs and units within the same line. The pack size entered in the ledger must represent the quantity covered by the entered pack price. Otherwise a perfectly transcribed dollar amount can still produce the wrong unit cost.

Consider this original example. An invoice line represents 3 packs, each containing 2 kg, at $12 per pack. The extended line total is $36. A valid ingredient basis is a 2 kg pack priced at $12, or the combined 6 kg quantity priced at $36. A 2 kg pack priced at $36 would overstate the unit cost.

These are example values, not supplier prices. The table demonstrates why quantity and price must be reviewed as a pair. Extraction does not replace the operator's understanding of the invoice convention.

Distinguish charges, credits and ingredient prices

Delivery, tax, deposits and other non-ingredient lines should not automatically become ingredient records. Decide how those costs belong in your operating model and maintain a consistent treatment. The reader's purpose is to propose usable ingredient lines, not to make your accounting policy.

Check credit notes and returns carefully. A negative amount may describe a reversal rather than a current purchase price. The ingredient ledger expects a nonnegative pack price, so reconcile the transaction outside the extraction draft and enter the correct current purchase basis.

A discount can also apply to an entire invoice rather than a single product. Do not allocate it by guesswork merely to make the extracted line totals match. Use a documented method consistent with your records if the allocation affects recipe costs materially.

Confirm the target ingredient

Each selected line can create a new ingredient or update an existing one. Review the match control before applying it. The app prevents selected lines from targeting the same existing ingredient twice, because applying conflicting prices in an arbitrary order would be ambiguous.

An existing matched ingredient retains its yield and other preparation information while the purchase pack, unit and price update. Check that those retained assumptions still fit the new specification. A switch from whole to prepared product can require a new yield basis even if the ingredient name remains familiar.

If the new pack changes the practical conversion, review density or each weight as well. A count-based product with a different unit size may not support the old each-to-mass conversion. The invoice price alone cannot establish those physical properties.

Apply only the reviewed lines

Clear the selection for irrelevant or uncertain rows. Correct names, quantities, units and prices before choosing Confirm and apply selected lines. The draft is validated before the selected changes are applied together.

Then inspect the Ingredients tab and check a recipe that uses the updated product. Compare the expected line cost with the displayed result. This final check can catch a purchase-basis misunderstanding even when every extracted character looked correct.

Keep the original invoice in your own records. The costing ledger stores the ingredient values you confirm, not a server archive of invoice images. An export preserves the ledger state but does not replace your invoice-retention process.

Use the manual path when it is clearer

If the image is unreadable, the response is uncertain or the service is unavailable, enter the purchase details manually. A reviewed manual entry is more useful than repeatedly applying an uncertain extraction. You can use the same pack-and-price checks regardless of how the values were entered.

Read the privacy page for the data flow and provider boundary. Use the recipe-costing guide to connect a confirmed purchase to a portion, and export a copy from Backup & settings after a material price update.

Check the resulting recipe rather than only the row

After applying a reviewed purchase line, open a recipe that uses the ingredient and inspect the changed portion cost. Choose a quantity that is easy to calculate from the pack by hand. If the result differs, first check the pack-price basis, yield and recipe unit. Do not assume that changing the extraction text again is the correct fix. The issue may be a retained preparation assumption or a recipe quantity unrelated to the newly purchased form.