Scan a received cheque to fill in the payment automatically

What is it for?

When a client hands you a cheque, you usually type in the drawer, the bank, the number, the date and the amount by hand. With Scanner le chèque (Scan the cheque), a photo of the cheque (in the mobile app) or its image or PDF (on the web) is enough: Billora reads the cheque and pre-fills these fields. You check, correct if needed, then record the payment as usual.

Example. Karim, who runs a cleaning company in Tangier, receives a 12,500 DH cheque for an invoice. From his phone, he opens the invoice, chooses the Cheque method, taps Scanner le chèque and takes the photo: the drawer, bank, number, date and amount appear. He reads them over, then saves.

Who can use it?

• Anyone with the Créer (Create) right of the Paiements (Payments) module: owner, administrator, collaborator, or a member of a permission group that includes it. The external accountant and the viewer cannot record payments, so they cannot scan cheques.
• Depending on your subscription: if the feature is not included, the button is greyed out with a padlock and reads « Cette fonctionnalité est disponible à partir du plan … » (the plan name depends on the current configuration). The cheque register must also be included, since the « Informations du chèque » block is part of it.
• A number of scans per month may be limited by your subscription. Once the limit is reached, the button reads « Limite de … scans de chèques atteinte ce mois-ci » and manual entry remains possible. See Understanding plans and limits.

1. Scan a received cheque

The button sits in the Informations du chèque block, which appears as soon as you choose the Chèque method in a received payment window: invoice page (Paiement button), grouped payment for a client, or a payment entered from the Payments page. It does not exist for a cheque that you issue to a supplier.

1. Open the payment window and choose the Chèque method.
2. Click Scanner le chèque.
   • On the web: choose a JPEG, PNG, WEBP or PDF file (8 MB at most).
   • On mobile: choose Prendre une photo (take a photo), Photothèque (photo library) or Fichier (PDF).
3. Wait during « Lecture du chèque… » (a few seconds).
4. Review the pre-filled fields: Tireur (drawer), Banque émettrice (issuing bank), Numéro du chèque (cheque number), as well as the amount and the payment date of the window. Correct whatever needs it.
5. Record the payment: the cheque enters the register with the « En attente » (pending) status, like a cheque typed by hand.

2. What to check

• Amount different from the expected amount: if the amount read does not match the invoice balance (or the grouped payment total), a warning appears: « Le montant lu sur le chèque (…) est différent du montant attendu (…) ». Nothing is blocked: simply check the cheque and the amount entered.
• Figures and words that do not match: Billora flags this too. On a cheque, the amount in words prevails.
• Field not read: the message « Champ non lu : … » lists what remains to be typed by hand.
• Post-dated cheque: if the date written on the cheque is in the future, it is placed in Date d'encaissement visée (target deposit date) and the payment date remains to be checked.
• Image without a cheque: « Aucun chèque reconnu sur cette image » — nothing is pre-filled; retake the photo or type the fields.

The usual controls are unchanged: cash and cheque rules, register statuses, detection of a cheque already recorded with the same number and the same bank.

3. Attach the image to the payment

After a successful scan, the box Joindre l'image du chèque au paiement comme justificatif (attach the cheque image to the payment as a supporting document) is offered, unticked. If you tick it, the image is added to the payment's attachments once it is recorded; it counts towards your storage space (see Files and storage). Leave it unticked to keep nothing.

Common errors

• « Les photos HEIC ne sont pas prises en charge »: on iPhone, set the camera to the « Most compatible » format, or send a screenshot of the photo. From the mobile app, the photo is already sent in the right format.
• « Le moteur de lecture actuel ne lit que des images »: PDF is not accepted in this configuration; send a photo or an image of the cheque.
• « La lecture automatique des chèques n'est pas disponible pour le moment »: the reading service is not responding. Type the fields by hand; the scan is not deducted from your quota.
• « Trop de scans en peu de temps »: wait a few minutes before trying again.

Frequently asked questions

Does the scan record the payment by itself?

No. It pre-fills the form; you check and then click Save. Until you save, nothing is created.

What happens to the account number and the other cheque data?

Only the drawer, bank, number, date and amount are suggested in the form. The drawer's account number is neither kept nor logged. The image is kept only if you choose to attach it to the payment.

Can I scan a cheque I issued to a supplier?

No: the button only appears for a received cheque. For an issued cheque, your company name and your bank account are suggested automatically.

The amount read is wrong, what should I do?

Simply correct it in the Amount field before saving: the value read is only a suggestion, and an amount different from the expected balance is only flagged, never blocked.

Why do I see “Attention: the usual reading service is not responding”?

The service that usually reads your cheques was temporarily unavailable, so Billora read the cheque with a backup engine. It is less accurate and does not read handwriting (a handwritten amount and date often stay empty). Check every field before saving. If the Scan the cheque button no longer appears at all, automatic reading is paused for now: enter the fields by hand.

Next steps

• Tracking your cheques with the cheque register
• Record a payment
• Record a grouped payment