Photograph an invoice, get a draft invoice in Mays
The produce delivery came at 7:40, in the middle of the rush. The driver left a three-page invoice on the prep table, and by the time anyone looks at it again it has a coffee ring on page two. Somebody has to type it in: vendor, invoice number, date, every line, the tax, the total. Then they check that what they typed adds up to what's printed, and fix the line they got wrong.
With Mays connected to your AI app, the AI does the reading, and Mays does the checking. You do the part only you can do: decide whether it's right.
Part of our series Run your restaurant with your AI: one real situation per post, with the words you type and what happens in Mays. The prompts and results are illustrative examples.
What the manager types
At Harbor Lane Café's Riverside location, the manager photographs each page and writes:
"Enter this Sysco invoice for Riverside."
Or, with no photo at all, types it from the paper:
"Enter this invoice: Sysco, invoice 4521, Oct 6, 10 cases romaine at $28.50, 4 cases oat milk at $18, fuel surcharge $5, total $362."
What the AI does in Mays
- It reads the invoice. The AI app reads the photo itself: the vendor, the number, the invoice date, the tax, the printed total, and every line as printed (description, quantity, pack, unit price, line total and the vendor's item code). Fees are lines too. Credits have a negative price and returns a negative quantity.
- It asks Mays for a preview of a draft invoice. Mays matches each line to your inventory items by the vendor's item code and by exact item name, and checks whether the lines plus tax add up to the printed total. Nothing is created yet.
- You read the preview and say yes. Mays creates a draft invoice at Riverside, with a note saying which AI app created it and for whom, for example Created by Claude (Maya L.).
In ChatGPT, the photo or PDF you attach can go to Mays as well. With the lines, it's stored as the invoice's original. Without them, Mays reads the file itself, the same way Capture invoice does in the app. In Claude or Grok, the AI types the lines it read, and the picture stays in the chat. To keep the file with the invoice in Mays, ask for the upload card, or upload it in Mays.
What you see
The preview says, in one sentence, what will be created: the vendor and number, how many lines, how many are matched to items and how many aren't, and the total. Then the warnings, each one something you'd otherwise find out later:
- The total doesn't add up. If the lines and tax come to a different amount than the printed total, Mays says by how much. Usually it's a misread quantity, or a line the AI skipped.
- Unmatched lines. A line that doesn't match an inventory item won't be received into stock until someone matches it. The AI can match it for you on the draft once you say which item it is.
- A possible duplicate. If the invoice number looks like one from that vendor that's already in Mays, you're told before you create a second one.
- No vendor. If the vendor isn't in Mays, the AI names the closest ones. A draft can be kept with just the vendor's name, but it can't be posted until a vendor is picked.
Posting: the second, separate step
A draft never changes stock or prices. When the draft is right, ask the AI to post it:
"Looks right. Post the Sysco invoice."
That's its own preview, and it's worth reading slowly, because posting does three things: it adds each matched line's quantity to Riverside's stock, it records the vendor's new price for each item (prices feed food cost), and it locks the invoice. The preview lists every line's effect: the item, the quantity going into stock, the new price and the previous one, with the difference. Lines that aren't matched or are backordered aren't received, returns take stock back out, and you're warned again if it looks like a duplicate.
Posting can't be undone from the chat. In Mays, deleting a posted invoice reverses its stock.
What it replaces
Before | With Mays connected to your AI |
|---|---|
Type every line from the paper | The AI reads the invoice |
Add it up on a calculator to find the typo | Mays checks the lines against the printed total |
Look up each item by hand | Lines match by item code and exact name |
Re-type new prices into a costing sheet | Posting records the new vendor price |
One invoice, typed zero times.
Who can do it
Entering and posting invoices needs Manage inventory, at a location you manage, just as in Mays. The organization's Allow AI apps to take actions setting must be on, and you must have ticked make changes when you connected. Without those, the AI can still answer questions about stock and orders, and it can explain what's switched off if you ask "What can this Mays connection do?".
What Mays doesn't do here
- It doesn't post on its own. A draft stays a draft until someone says yes to the posting preview, in the chat or with Post & receive in Mays.
- It doesn't keep a photo it never received. If the AI read the picture in Claude or Grok and sent typed lines, Mays has the lines, not the picture. Use the upload card to keep the file.
- It doesn't fix a misread line by itself. The total check tells you something is off. You (or the AI, when you tell it) correct the line on the draft.
Try it on tomorrow's delivery
- Connect Mays to ChatGPT, Claude or Grok: mays.app/ai has the setup for ChatGPT, Claude and Grok. Connect Mays to ChatGPT, Claude or Grok covers uploads and what you approve.
- Photograph the invoice and name the location.
- Check the matched lines and the total, create the draft, then post it when it's right.
How drafts, matching and posting work in the app: Vendor invoices.
Try Mays free for 30 days, with no credit card, and connect it to the AI you already use.