Turning a shared accounting inbox into a searchable bill archive

Short answer: If your company's bills go to a shared address (accounting@, bills@, ap@), a lot of your paper trail is already in that inbox, buried among replies, notifications and newsletters. Connect the inbox to BillyBox and choose which past months to fetch. Mark each document business, personal or ignore, and export a period as one ZIP.

What one customer did

One BillyBox customer connected a shared, accounting-style inbox and set up several company profiles in BillyBox. Over the following two weeks:

1. They fetched past months, nearly two years of mail in the end. BillyBox kept the financial documents it found: attached PDFs and images, and it can save a PDF of an email when the email itself is the financial document, such as a payment notice or a bill sent in the message body.
2. Documents were marked over several hours on one day: more than a thousand of them. BillyBox shows a document with the vendor, amount and date already read, plus a suggestion. B marks business, P personal and I ignore, and you can also select several at once.
3. They exported a selection spanning nearly two years: business, personal and still-undecided documents together, more than a thousand files in one ZIP.

Why a shared inbox suits this

• Bills are already there. BillyBox doesn't need a new address or a forwarding setup. You connect the inbox you already use.
• History is fetchable. You choose which past months to fetch, within your plan's limits, so you can start from the period your accountant asks about rather than from today.
• Email-only documents can be kept too. When an email itself is a financial document (a bill or notice with no attachment), BillyBox can save it as a PDF next to the attachments. Whether a given email is enough evidence is a question for your accountant.

What to watch for (honest notes)

• Several companies, one inbox. BillyBox can hold more than one company profile, but it doesn't yet assign every document to the right company. Check the company on each document before relying on a per-company split.
• Copies. A reminder, re-send or forward of the same bill can appear as a second document. Ignore the extras when you review.
• Bills behind a login. For a portal you have to sign in to, BillyBox can't retrieve the original through your logged-in session; the email may appear as a generated PDF instead. Some public download links can be fetched.
• Coverage. BillyBox finds what reached the inbox you connected. If a vendor sends bills somewhere else, connect that inbox too.

FAQ

Can BillyBox read a shared accounting inbox?

Yes, if it's a Gmail or Outlook inbox you can sign in to, or an IMAP inbox your provider allows. Pro includes up to 10 inboxes.

How far back can it go?

That depends on the plan. Free fetches any 2 calendar months, Starter covers every month from sign-up plus 6 earlier months of your choice, and Pro covers your full history.

Do I have to classify everything before exporting?

No. You can export what you've marked, include undecided documents, or pick individual documents.

What's in the export?

A ZIP of the original attachments and the PDFs of email-only documents, in folders by decision (and by inbox or company where that applies), with a manifest listing the files in each folder.