Expense Inbox: Custom AI Rules

Custom Rules allow you to enhance the powerful expense automation of our app by adding your own instructions to the AI processing workflow. They tell Expense Inbox how to handle unique invoice formats or patterns.

Here are just a few of the things you can accomplish with Custom Rules:

Assign self-defined vendor names
Identify job numbers in invoice fields with different labels
Add or subtract certain taxes from expense amounts

Accessing Custom Rules

Log in to your Expense Inbox dashboard
Click Custom Rules in the navigation menu
Click Add Rule

Rule Components

Each rule you write should consists of a Trigger and an Action.

Trigger = What condition to look for, such as

Email contains specific text
From a specific vendor
Subject line matches pattern

Action = What the app should do when triggered

Set a vendor name
Calculate an amount in a specific way
Locate a job number

Example Rules

Example 1: Recurring Vendor

Emails sent in from "invoices@homedepot.com" should have the Vendor Name set to "Home Depot"

Example 2: Subscription Service

Emails where the Subject contains "Monthly Service Fee" should have Vendor Name set to "ABC Service Co" and Amount set to $99.00

Example 3: Specific Job

If the email Subject contains "Johnson Kitchen" assign the expense to Job #235

Rule Status

After you create a rule you can deactivate it if you want to test how things work without the rule running. You can then reactivate it later:

Best Practices

✅ Start Simple

Create one rule at a time
Test before adding more
Use specific triggers to avoid conflicts

✅ Be Specific

Be as specific as possible with the language you use to describe the desired action
When possible provide examples of the trigger and action to help the AI system learn

✅ Keep Organized

Check rules on a regular basis
Remove unused rules
Remove any conflicting rules

Troubleshooting

Problem: Rule isn't working correctly

Check:

Does the rule exist on the Custom Rules page?
Is the rule language accurate and specific?
Did you provide any examples?
Are there any conflicting rules?

For persistent rule errors please contact Support for assistance.