You can create and upload bills in Relay by uploading a file from your dashboard, emailing bills to your Bills Inbox, or syncing from QuickBooks Online or Xero.
What you need before you start
A Relay account with Bill Pay access
A bill file in PDF, JPG, JPEG, or PNG format
File size under 25MB per bill
Bills in USD (foreign currency bills must be imported from your accounting software)
How do I upload a bill from the Bills section?
Upload a bill from the Bills section by adding the file directly to your Bills tab. This is the fastest path when you already have the bill file saved to your device.
Sign in to your Relay account on desktop.
Click Payments and go to Bills.
Click (+) Add Bill.
Upload the bill file (PDF, JPG, JPEG, or PNG).
Review the fields Relay auto-extracts: vendor name, invoice number, amount, and due date. Edit any field that looks off.
Optionally add approval steps, accounting categorization, or line item categorization (line item categorization is available on the Grow and Scale plans).
Click Save to keep the bill as a draft, or click Send for Approval to route it through your approval workflow.
How do I upload a bill from the Payments section?
Upload a bill from the Payments section when you want to create the bill and schedule its payment in the same flow. Relay pre-fills payment details on the same screen, so you can move from upload to scheduled payment without switching tabs.
Sign in to your Relay account on desktop.
Go to the Payments tab and select Pay a bill.
Under Have a bill handy?, upload the bill from your device (PDF, JPG, JPEG, or PNG).
Review the information Relay auto-extracts: payee, invoice number, amount, invoice date, due date, and line items.
Expand Bill details to compare the extracted data against the attached bill preview, and edit anything that needs correction.
Complete the payment details on the same screen:
The account you're paying from
The payment amount and currency, where applicable
The payment method
The payment date
An optional memo
Confirm and submit the payment.
Can I email bills into Relay?
Yes. Every Relay account has a unique Bills Inbox email address, and you or your vendors can forward bills directly to it. Relay creates a draft bill in your dashboard, attaches the file, extracts the key details, and notifies you in the Bills tab when the draft is ready to review.
For the full setup and your account's inbox address, see Using the Bills Inbox for Relay.
What file types does Relay accept for bill uploads?
Relay accepts PDF, JPG, JPEG, and PNG files up to 25MB per file. Multi-page PDFs are supported.
Does Relay support foreign currency bills?
Relay supports foreign currency bills that are imported from your accounting integration, such as QuickBooks Online or Xero. Direct uploads must be in USD; support for uploading foreign currency bills is coming soon.
Once a foreign currency bill is imported into Relay:
You can edit the amounts on the bill.
You cannot change the currency. The currency change must be made in your accounting software (QuickBooks Online or Xero), and it will sync back into Relay.
What are the best practices for uploading bills?
The four habits below help auto-extract accuracy stay high and keep approval routing clean:
Use clear filenames, such as
Vendor_Invoice_1234.pdf, so bills are easy to find later.Check the extracted vendor, amount, and due date before saving. Auto-extract handles common formats well, but complex or handwritten bills may need a manual edit.
Encourage vendors to email bills directly to your Bills Inbox so drafts land automatically.
Assign an accounting category and approver right after uploading (on the Grow and Scale plans) so the bill is ready to route.
Common issues
The auto-extracted fields look wrong. Review and edit the vendor, amount, invoice number, and due date before saving. Complex or handwritten bills sometimes need a manual correction.
The uploaded file was rejected. Confirm the file is PDF, JPG, JPEG, or PNG and under 25MB. Convert or compress the file if it exceeds the size cap.
The foreign currency bill won't upload. Direct uploads must be in USD. Import the bill from QuickBooks Online or Xero instead, and the currency will sync into Relay.
A bill emailed to your Bills Inbox didn't appear. Check the Bills tab for a new draft; if it's still missing after a few minutes, verify the sending address matches your account's unique Bills Inbox email.
Related articles
Talk to our Customer Experience team
If this article did not fully answer your question, our Customer Experience team is here to help.