Email to Payable

AP Automation is available to all customers operating in US Dollars. To activate the features, please send an email to licensing@accountingseed.com.

Overview 

The Accounting Seed AP Automation feature provides the ability to share an email address with your Vendors, which they can use to attach and send invoices. When the email is sent with the invoice attachment(s), a Payable record will automatically be generated in Accounting Seed for the related Vendor. The system creates a Payable record for the appropriate Vendor based upon the email address for the Primary Contact (previously, Billing Contact) that is attached to the Vendor record.

New Payable records that are automatically generated by the system will display with an initial Posting Status of “Draft” to distinguish these from other Payable records. The Posting Status of “Draft” allows a Payable to be saved with the Payee Reference field being blank. When a Payable has values in the Payee, Issue Date, Payee Reference fields, and at least one Payable Line, the Posting Status will automatically change from “Draft” to “In Process.”

These Payable records display an initial new row in the Advanced Line Manager for creating the first Payable Line. The invoice(s) that was attached to the email can be previewed in the Related Documents carousel below this so that you can quickly and easily add your Payable Lines.  

If the Vendor sent only one invoice, it displays as the Default File. Otherwise, if more than one invoice was sent, the first file will display as the Default File. However, you can select a different file as the default. Once configured, any email sent to the configured AP email address will result in a “Draft” Payable being automatically created.

Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 

Note: For customers using Multi-company (Ledger), a flow can be set up to populate the Ledger, Owner, and other fields on the Payable that are created based upon the email address where the invoice was emailed. For more information, refer to the Email to Payable Flow to Update Payable Fields article. 

Configure Email to Payable

Follow the steps in the order below to complete the Email to Payable process.

1. Configure the Salesforce Email Service
2. Select File Types to display in the Related Documents Carousel
3. Add Lightning components to your Payable Lightning record page
4. Test the Salesforce Email Service
5. Forwarding the Vanity AP Email Address (test and share with Vendors)

1. Configure the Salesforce Email Service

Configuring an Email Service allows you to define a process to handle incoming Vendor emails. 

Use the steps below to set up an Email Service.

1. Click the Gear icon and select Setup.
2. From the Quick Find textbox, enter Email Services. Then, select Email Services.  
3. Click New Email Service.
4. Enter an Email Service Name. For example, “EmailToPayable.”
   
   Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 
   
   
5. Enter PayableInboundEmailHandler as the Apex Class.
   
   Important This particular Apex Class is necessary in order for the Email Service to function as part of the Payment Services feature within Accounting Seed.
   
   
6. Click the Accept Attachments drop-down list and select All.
   
   Note: This provides the ability to include all email attachments, such as PDFs, images, etc.
   
   
7. Leave the Accept Email From textbox blank in order to accept all email addresses.
8. Select the Active checkbox.
9. From the Failure Response Settings section, select Bounce Message for each drop-down list.
10. Select the Enable Error Routing checkbox and enter an email address to which errors should be sent in the Route Errors to this Email Address field.
    
    Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 
    
    
11. Click Save and New Email Address.
12. Enter an Email Address Name and in the Email Address field, enter the portion of the email address before the @ (at) sign. 
    Note: This is not the vanity email that you will provide to your Vendors. The information that is entered here will merely form the first part of the internal Salesforce Email Service Address, which will not be visible to your Vendors. 
13. Select the Active checkbox.
14. If you have an integration user, enter this username in the Context User field. Otherwise,  enter an email address that is unlikely to be deactivated.
    
    Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 
    
    
15. Click Save. The Email Services page refreshes with the Email Address displays at the bottom of the page.
16. Save the email address in a location for easy retrieval.

2. Select File Types to display in the Related Documents Carousel

Complete the steps below to select the file types that you will want to preview in the Related Documents carousel on a Payable. Consider all of the file types that your Vendors typically attach to their emails. Usually this is a PDF file, however Vendors may also email invoices as other file types.

1. Click the Gear icon and select Setup.
2. From the Quick Find textbox, enter File Upload.
   
   Note: Use the steps below to allow typical invoice file types to display in the Payable screen below the Advanced Line Manager, in the Related Documents carousel.
   
   
3. Select File Upload and Download Security.
4. Click Edit.
5. For the File Types that your Vendors typically send, click the drop-down list and select Execute in Browser.
   
6. Click Save.

3. Add Lightning components to your Payable Lightning record page

4. Test the Salesforce Email Service

1. Retrieve the Salesforce Email Service email address that was created in step 1 (Configure the Salesforce Email Service).
   
   Note: You can also navigate to Setup | Email Service to locate and copy the email address that was created for Email to Payable.
   
   
2. Create a test Vendor record in Accounting Seed, and add yourself as the Primary Contact (Billing Contact) with your email address.
3. Access the Inbox of the email address that you used and create a new message. In the “To” field, paste the Salesforce Email Service email address and in the “Subject” line, enter “Test.” Then, attach any test PDF file (or other file type that was set up) to the email. Click Send to send the email.
4. In Accounting Seed, navigate to the Payable “All” list view. Sort the Payables in descending order by Payable Name so that the most recent one displays at the top. Refresh the page a few times.
   Expected results:
   
   1. A new Payable should be created with the Status of “Draft.”
   2. Click the hyperlink to display the Payable, the Vendor and Payable fields should be populated with your test Vendor name.
      Note: This matches only if your email address does not already exist as a Primary Contact for another Vendor record.
   3. The document that was attached to the email should be available to preview in the Related Documents carousel.
5. Finally, check your email settings to make sure you have selected to forward a copy of incoming emails to the Salesforce Email Service email address.

5. Forward the Vanity AP Email Address (test and share with Vendors)

Your company may be using an Accounts Payable email address to which your Vendors email their invoices. If not, your email administrator can create a vanity email address, such as accountspayable@yourcompany.com. You might also choose to create a new one if you would like to control the roll out of this feature to a small group of Vendors. Then, once your team is ready, you can share with all of your Vendors.

1. Provide your email administrator with the Salesforce Email Service email that was created in step 1 above. Ask them to forward the email address from the vanity Accounts Payable email address to the Salesforce Email Service email address.
   
   Note: If your email is hosted by Google (Gmail), a verification must be completed so that the forwarding can be authorized. If applicable, follow the steps in the Forwarding Email Verification for Gmail section below. Then, complete the remaining steps in this section.
   
   
2. Run a quick test (similar to the Test Salesforce Email Service). However, this time when you create your test message, address the email to the vanity Accounts Payable email address (not the long Salesforce email address).
   
   
3. Once you have verified that the Payable has been created and the attachment(s) can be previewed, let your Vendors know that they can email their invoices to the vanity email address.
   
   Note: If you are using the same email address that your Vendors are already using to email invoices, you will automatically start to see the “Draft” Payables getting created.
   
   Important: In order to identify Payables with the email that they came from, click the All Activities tab on the Payable. Then, from the Open Activities tab, click the email listed to review the email body.
   
   Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 
   

Forwarding Email Verification for Gmail

This section is only required if your company’s email is hosted by Google (Gmail). As a part of the process, when you configure a forwarding email address, Gmail expects you to verify the email address that is being forwarded to. Since the Salesforce Email Service email address does not have an “Inbox” as such, the steps below provide for the verification.

In Salesforce

1. Click the Gear icon, and select Setup.
2. Enter Custom Metadata Types in the Quick Find textbox. Then, select Custom Metadata Types.
3. Click Manage Records that displays to the left of the Binding Label.
4. Click Edit that displays to the left of the EmailToPayableVerification Label.
5. Select the Is Active checkbox.
6. Click Save.

In Gmail from your AP vanity email address Inbox

1. Click the Gear icon, and select See all settings.
2. Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab, and then click Add a forwarding address.
3. Paste the Salesforce Email Service email address from step 1 (Configure the Salesforce Email Service) and click Next.
4. Click Proceed.
5. Click OK.

In Salesforce

1. Click the App Launcher and select View All.
2. Scroll down to the Files hyperlink and click it.  
3. Select Libraries.
4. Click the AS Files folder.
5. Download the EmailToPayableVerification.txt file. This text file contains the text from the verification email from Gmail.
6. Copy and paste the verification hyperlink into a new Google Chrome browser tab.
7. Click Confirm.
8. Then, use the “In Salesforce” steps above to return to the Binding Label, and de-select the Is Active checkbox on the EmailToPayableVerification Label.

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Winter '25 Release

Release Notes and Schedule

Forwarding Email Verification for Gmail was added. 

Summer '24 Release

Release Notes and Schedule

For Vendor invoices that are forwarded to a vanity email address linked to the Salesforce Email Service or directly forwarded to the Salesforce Email Service, the system will attempt to perform a match and populate the Vendor on the Payable that is created.