brave [little] meme

OSX: Scan receipts with your iPhone, and automatically save them to your Mac.

Paper receipts are a pain in the neck: they clutter your wallet and inevitably end up getting lost when you most need them.

If you have an iPhone however, here is a simple workflow to digitise all your new receipts while on the move and have them automatically stored on your Mac.

You’ll need three things:

1. Genius Scan for the iPhone (Free, iTunes link)
2. A simple AppleSctipt.
3. A Mail rule

Step 1: Install Genius Scan.

Genius Scan is a free application that lets you take a picture of a receipt or business card, performs automatic perspective correction and contrast enhancements to the image, and lets you save or email the result. 

Step 2: Edit and Save this AppleScript

Load up Script Editor (OSX), download paste this script into it and edit the location to match your preferred destination folder for scanned receipts. Save the AppleScript in your ~Documents/Scripts folder.

Step 3: Set up a Mail Rule

In Mail.app, set up a rule for any email with the subject “[Scan]” (without quotes), which is the default email subject used by Genius Scan. Tell the rule to run the above AppleScript.

How to use

You’re pretty much done! Grab your iPhone, scan a receipt with Genius Scan, and email it to yourself, making sure to keep the default subject. If you followed the above steps correctly, your receipt should be automatically saved to your destination folder of choice!

[Credit for some of the base scripting goes to here and here]