Product Update6 min read

May 2026 Release: New OCR Engine, Native Xero & QuickBooks Exports, Document Merging & a Refreshed Converter

A new back-end OCR engine, flat & non-flat output modes, document merging, accounting-native CSV exports — and a refreshed converter to bring it all together.

SWritten by ScanToExcelLast updated

What's in this release

1
Rebuilt OCR engine
2
Output modes (flat & non-flat)
4
Doc types with Xero & QuickBooks CSV
Refreshed converter

Key takeaways

1
A new back-end OCR engine is live
Rebuilt end to end. The accuracy gains are real and verifiable on our public performance page — no marketing-only claims.
2
Flat & non-flat outputs, plus document merging
Pick a single-sheet flat table (great for analysis and merging) or a structure-preserving non-flat layout. Many-to-one merging is finally here.
3
Native Xero & QuickBooks CSV for four document types
Receipts, invoices, bank statements and credit-card statements export directly into Xero or QuickBooks-ready CSV — no column mapping.

This is the biggest release we have shipped since launch. The back-end OCR engine has been rewritten end to end, the converter has two output modes (flat and non-flat), several document types can now be merged into a single spreadsheet, and receipts, invoices, bank statements and credit-card statements can be exported as native Xero or QuickBooks CSV — ready to import. The landing page got a fresh coat of paint to surface it all.

🧠
01 / 06

A brand-new back-end OCR engine

We have rewritten the back-end OCR engine end to end. The new pipeline reads documents more carefully, reasons about layout more reliably, and recovers from edge cases (faded thermal receipts, photographed PDFs, multi-currency bank statements) that the old engine would silently mishandle. You should see noticeably better accuracy and more consistent results across every document type. We do not ask you to take our word for it — every accuracy number is published on our performance page, computed on real sampled documents and updated as the engine improves.

  • 1End-to-end rebuild of the extraction pipeline
  • 2Better handling of low-quality scans, photographed PDFs and faded receipts
  • 3More reliable multi-page reasoning for bank and credit-card statements
  • 4Verified accuracy figures on the public performance page
📐
02 / 06

Flat & non-flat outputs — pick the shape that fits

The new engine does not just spit out a single fixed format. You now choose how the data is laid out before you download.

Flat output — one row per line item

A single-sheet table with one row per line item and the document-level fields (merchant, invoice number, statement period, account holder…) repeated on each row. Ideal for sorting, filtering, pivot tables, BI tools, and — crucially — merging many documents together. Available as Excel, CSV, Word and JSON.

Non-flat output — keeps the document's structure

A structure-preserving layout: header information at the top, the line-item table below, totals at the bottom — the way you would read the document on paper. Best when you want a faithful spreadsheet copy of each individual document. Available as Excel, CSV and Word for receipts, invoices, bank statements and credit-card statements.

🔗
03 / 06

Document merging — finally

Flat outputs unlock something a lot of you have been writing in about: merging. To merge, just click flat on the converter, then click merge — that’s it. The two prerequisites (every input file is the same document type, and every output is the same format) are enforced automatically, so you never end up with a half-merged spreadsheet. Drop several documents of the same type into a single batch and ScanToExcel returns one consolidated spreadsheet with every line aligned under a unified schema. Twelve months of bank statements? One sheet. A folder of receipts from a trip? One sheet. The schema is consistent across files so you can sort, filter and pivot the merged result without any cleanup.

  • 1Two clicks to merge: pick flat output, then toggle merge
  • 2Same input document type and same output format are enforced automatically
  • 3Merge many receipts into one consolidated expense sheet
  • 4Merge many invoices into one combined ledger
  • 5Merge twelve months of bank statements into one transaction table
  • 6Merge multiple credit-card statements into one running view
  • 7Schema stays consistent across the merged spreadsheet — no manual cleanup
📊
04 / 06

Native Xero & QuickBooks CSV exports

Alongside the standard Excel / CSV / Word / JSON outputs, you can now export to native Xero CSV for receipts, invoices, bank statements and credit-card statements, and to native QuickBooks Online CSV for bank and credit-card statements only — QuickBooks runs its own OCR for receipts and invoices and doesn't accept CSV import for those. Columns, header names and date formats match what each tool expects for direct import — no manual column mapping step.

Receipts → Xero

Per-receipt rows with merchant, date, line items and totals laid out for direct import into Xero. (QuickBooks Online handles receipts via its own built-in OCR, so no CSV is generated for QuickBooks here.)

Invoices → Xero

Header and line items mapped onto Xero's invoice CSV schema, including amounts, tax fields and dates. (QuickBooks Online uses its own OCR for invoices and doesn't accept CSV import for them.)

Bank statements → Xero / QuickBooks

Every transaction with date, description, signed amount and reference, formatted for Xero's bank import or QuickBooks' bank-feed CSV.

Credit-card statements → Xero / QuickBooks

Posted-date, description, signed amount and reference for every line — ready to import as a credit-card account in Xero or QuickBooks.

🏦
05 / 06

Why Xero & QuickBooks — and where we lead the field

Two reasons. First, scale: if you have 50 receipts or 50 invoices for the month, you do not want to feed them one-by-one into Xero or QuickBooks's mobile app. Run them through ScanToExcel as a batch, get one CSV, upload it once. Second, and this is the bigger one: Xero, QuickBooks and most other tools do not extract bank statements and credit-card statements at the level we do. They handle receipts and invoices, sure — but pulling a full transaction-level table out of a multi-page bank or credit-card statement PDF, with date, signed amount, running balance, transaction type, reference, currency and totals all reconstructed correctly, is genuinely hard. That is exactly what our new engine does, and it now feeds straight into Xero or QuickBooks CSV.

06 / 06

A refreshed converter landing page

All of the above only matters if you can find it. The main converter landing page has been refreshed — cleaner layout, modern feel, and the new output controls (flat vs non-flat, native accounting CSV, merging, ZIP, email delivery) are surfaced where you actually need them. No menu-diving.

  • 1Modern, less-cluttered layout
  • 2Output mode (flat / non-flat) right next to the file picker
  • 3Native Xero & QuickBooks CSV options exposed directly on the converter
  • 4Merging toggle for batch uploads
  • 5ZIP download and email delivery surfaced clearly
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ScanToExcel

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Quick answers about the new engine, flat vs non-flat outputs, merging and the Xero / QuickBooks CSV exports.

What is the difference between flat and non-flat output?

Flat output gives you a single-sheet table — one row per line item with the document-level fields repeated on each row. It is ideal for sorting, filtering, BI tools and merging many documents together. Non-flat output keeps the original document structure: header information, the line-item table and the totals are separated, the way you would read the document on paper. Use flat when you want to analyse data; use non-flat when you want a faithful spreadsheet copy of each document.

Which document types support native Xero and QuickBooks CSV?

Native Xero CSV is available for all four — receipts, invoices, bank statements and credit-card statements. Native QuickBooks Online CSV is available for bank and credit-card statements only — QuickBooks runs its own OCR for receipts and invoices and doesn't accept CSV import for those. Paystubs and standalone PDF tables export to Excel, CSV, Word and JSON only — accounting CSV is not relevant for those types.

Can I really merge multiple bank or credit-card statements?

Yes — and it’s only two clicks. On the converter, pick the flat output mode, then click merge, and drop your batch in. ScanToExcel returns one consolidated spreadsheet with every transaction lined up under a unified schema. The two requirements — every input being the same document type, and every output being the same format — are enforced automatically, so you can’t accidentally mix, say, a receipt into a bank-statement merge. The same works for receipts and invoices. Merging is one of the most-requested features we have ever shipped.

Why is the bank and credit-card statement extraction a bigger deal than receipt or invoice extraction?

Xero, QuickBooks and most other accounting tools already accept receipt and invoice photos through their own apps. What they do not do well is extract a full transaction-level table out of a multi-page bank statement or credit-card statement PDF — every transaction with date, description, signed amount, running balance, transaction type and reference. ScanToExcel does, and exports it directly into their CSV format.

How can I verify the new accuracy numbers?

Visit our public performance page. Every accuracy figure is computed on real, sampled documents and updated as the engine improves. We publish the raw numbers — no marketing-only claims.

Try the new engine today

This is the biggest single step we have taken since launch. Try the new converter, run a batch through it, see the accuracy on performance — and let us know what to ship next.

Try ScanToExcel
May 2026 Release: New OCR Engine, Native Xero & QuickBooks Exports & Document Merging | ScanToExcel | ScanToExcel