--- title: "Sending documents by email" description: "Forward receipts, invoices, and statements to your Document Extractor inbox address, with sender whitelisting and manual upload." section: "Document Extractor" canonical: "https://banksync.io/docs/document-extractor/sending-documents-by-email" --- Every Document Extractor feed has its own email inbox. Forward a receipt, invoice, or statement to that address (or have a vendor send to it) and BankSync ingests the attachment, runs extraction, and writes a row to your connected sheet, database, or table automatically. You can restrict who is allowed to send, and you can still upload files by hand whenever you need to. > **Before you start:** You need an existing Document Extractor feed with an integration chosen on its Destination tab and at least one field mapped. If you have not built one yet, set it up first so forwarded documents have somewhere to land. The inbox address is only generated after the extractor is saved. Forwards also count against your plan's monthly document quota (Free 10, Starter 30, Standard 100, Professional 1,000, Business 2,000), which resets on the 1st of each month. The Document Extractor splits configuration across two tabs that are easy to mix up: | Tab | What it controls | | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Document** | WHAT to extract: the document type and which fields the AI pulls out. | | **Sources** | HOW documents arrive: the email inbox, the sender whitelist, and Manual Upload. | This guide covers the **Sources** tab. To change which fields are captured, use the Document tab instead. ## Copy your email inbox address **Open the Sources tab** 1. **Open the extractor feed** — From the Feeds tab, open your Document Extractor feed. 2. **Go to Sources** — Select the Sources tab. The first section is Email Inbox. 3. **Copy the address** — Choose Copy next to the Email Inbox field. The button shows Copied and a toast confirms "Extractor inbox address copied to clipboard". The address looks like extract+\@receipts.banksync.io. > **Each feed has its own inbox:** 'The address is unique to this one feed (the document ID is baked into the local-part, for example extract+abc123\@receipts.banksync.io). Anything sent there is routed to this extractor only, so a Receipts feed and an Invoices feed keep their inboxes separate.' ## Forward documents to it 1. **Forward an email** — From your mail client, forward any message that has a receipt, invoice, or statement attached to the copied address. The attachment is detected and queued for processing. 2. **Or auto-forward from a vendor** — Set up an auto-forward rule (or give the address directly to a supplier or your accountant) so their documents flow in without manual steps. 3. **Wait a few minutes** — As the Email Inbox section notes, forwarded documents are usually processed within a few minutes. Each one becomes a job you can track in the feed's history. > **Supported attachments:** 'BankSync extracts from PDF, JPG, and PNG attachments up to 10 MB each. Send the document as a real attachment, not as a link or an inline image embedded in the email body.' ![The extractor's Recent Documents list showing three forwarded documents with their status: one processed successfully, one failed with a retry action, and one still processing, each with the sender address and received time.](https://cdn.banksync.io/screenshots/extractor/recent-documents.37d35a591e3798c6.png "Recent documents: each forwarded file with its processing status.") ## Restrict who can send (optional) If you only want documents from known senders to be accepted, turn on the whitelist. When enabled, mail from any address that is not on the list is rejected and never processed. 1. **Enable the whitelist** — In the Sources tab, tick the Whitelist emails checkbox. An address field appears. 2. **Add an allowed sender** — Type an email address and choose Add (or press Enter). It appears in the list below. 3. **Add as many as you need** — Repeat for every person or vendor you trust. Remove an address later with the X next to it. > **Whitelist matches the forwarding address:** The whitelist checks the address the mail is sent FROM. If you forward documents yourself, add the email account you forward from. If a vendor sends directly, add the vendor's address. Forget this and your own forwards can be rejected. Leave the checkbox off to accept documents from any sender. ## Upload files manually instead You do not have to use email. The same Sources tab has a Manual Upload area for sending files straight from your computer. 1. **Add files** — Under Manual Upload, drag PDF, JPG, or PNG files onto the upload area, or click to browse. Each file must be under 10 MB. 2. **Watch the queue** — Files show Queued, then Uploading, then Processing, then a green check on success. A status banner summarizes how many are processing, queued, completed, or failed. 3. **Remove a file (optional)** — Use the X next to any queued, completed, or failed file to clear it from the list. ## Confirm it worked 1. **Send a test document** — Forward one email with a receipt or invoice attached to the inbox address (or drop a file into Manual Upload). 2. **Check the job** — Open the feed's history. The document should appear as a job that moves from Processing to Completed. 3. **Check the synced row** — A new row should appear in your connected sheet, database, or table with the extracted values mapped to your columns. > **A completed job plus a synced row means it is wired correctly:** 'Once a forwarded document produces a Completed job and a matching row in your connected sheet, database, or table, every future send to that inbox follows the same path with no further setup.' ## Troubleshooting | Symptom | Likely cause | Fix | | ------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Forwarded email never produces a job | The whitelist is on and the sending address is not listed | Add the exact address you forward from to the whitelist, or turn the whitelist off. | | Attachment skipped | File is not a PDF, JPG, or PNG | Resend as a supported type. BankSync rejects other formats with "This file type isn't supported." | | Upload or forward rejected for size | File is larger than 10 MB | Compress or split the document so each file is under 10 MB. | | Inbox field shows "Save extractor to generate email address" | The feed has not been saved yet | Finish and save the extractor; the address generates on save. | | Job completes but no row appears | No extracted fields are mapped to columns | Map at least one extracted field on the Mapping tab. | | Documents stop processing late in the month | Your plan's monthly document quota is used up | Wait for the reset on the 1st, or upgrade for a larger allowance. | > **Faded or low-quality scans:** 'Low-resolution or faded documents extract less reliably. Review the values on the first few rows before you rely on the data downstream.' ## Related guides - [Set up the Document Extractor](/docs/document-extractor/extractor-setup): walk through every tab from scratch, including Document and Destination. - [Map extracted fields to your destination](/docs/document-extractor/field-mapping): connect each extracted field to the right column and pick a row layout. - [Extract and sync document data](/docs/document-extractor/sync-receipts): an overview of what the extractor captures from each document. - [Configuring field mappings](/docs/bank-feeds/field-mappings): the same mapping concepts for bank sync feeds.