You can attach invoices, receipts, or contracts to any bill in Relay to give reviewers full payment context and keep a clean audit trail.
What you need before you start
A Relay Account with Bill Pay access
The supporting document saved on your device as a PDF, JPG, PNG, or HEIC file (25 MB max per file)
Optional: a connected QuickBooks Online or Xero account if the bill is synced from your accounting software
Which plans include bill documentation uploads?
Bill documentation uploads are included on all three Relay subscription plans: Starter Plan, Grow Plan, and Scale Plan. Anyone on your team with bill access can upload, whether the bill was created manually, synced from QuickBooks Online or Xero, or forwarded through your bills inbox email.
Plan | Upload documentation to bills |
Starter Plan | Included |
Grow Plan | Included |
Scale Plan | Included |
How do I upload a document when creating a bill?
Attach the document during bill creation so it's on the record before the bill is sent for approval.
Sign in to Relay and open the Bills tab.
Select Add Bill.
Enter the bill details manually, or let Relay extract them from an uploaded file.
Click Upload File and select the supporting document from your device.
Select Save to keep the bill in draft, or Send for Approval to route it to your approvers.
How do I upload a document when creating a payment?
You can also attach a document from the Payments tab if you're paying a vendor without a pre-created bill.
Open the Payments tab and select your payment method.
Under Have a bill handy?, upload the bill file.
Review the auto-extracted information: vendor, invoice number, amount, and due date.
Add a memo and complete the accounting categorization.
Move through the verification steps and initiate the payment.
What file types and sizes can I upload?
Relay accepts PDF, JPG, PNG, and HEIC files up to 25 MB per file. If your document is larger than 25 MB, compress it or split it into multiple files before uploading.
Can I email documents to Relay instead?
Yes. Every Relay Account has a unique bills inbox email address. Forward an invoice to that address and Relay creates a draft bill, extracts the details with OCR (optical character recognition), and notifies you when it's ready to review.
To find your bills inbox email, open the Bills tab and select Bills Inbox. Forward vendor invoices to that address directly, or share it with vendors so they email invoices straight to Relay.
Who on my team can upload documentation?
Anyone with bill access on your Relay Account can upload documentation. That includes team members, external advisors, and accountants who have been invited to the account with a role that includes Bill Pay permissions.
Best practices for uploading bill documentation
Attach the supporting document at bill creation, not after approval, so approvers see it in context.
Use descriptive filenames (for example,
2026-08-acme-invoice-1042.pdf) so bills are easy to find later.Make sure the document clearly shows the vendor name, amount, and invoice number so OCR extraction is accurate.
Ask team members to upload their own supporting documents before scheduling payment, so you don't chase paperwork after the fact.
Common issues
Upload fails or hangs. Check the file size (25 MB max) and format (PDF, JPG, PNG, HEIC). Try re-saving a large PDF at lower resolution or splitting it into pages.
Wrong file attached to a bill. Open the bill, remove the current attachment, and upload the correct one. The bill history keeps a record of the change.
OCR missed vendor or amount details. Review the extracted fields and edit them manually before sending the bill for approval. OCR accuracy improves when the invoice text is clear and the file is not skewed or blurry.
Bills inbox email isn't creating drafts. Confirm you're forwarding from an email address associated with your Relay Account, and check the bills inbox settings for allowed senders.
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