Route Email Receipts and Invoices to Payhawk

A reviewed inbox workflow for the current Payhawk Mailbox, not a native Payhawk API integration

By ilios Galil · Founder, Expensent

Updated August 3, 2026

Last verified: August 3, 2026

Payhawk's current Mailbox works at group level and gives the company a generated address on the @invoices.payhawk.com domain. Expensent can help find, review, and route eligible receipt or invoice emails from a connected inbox to the exact destination shown in Payhawk. Payhawk then owns document processing, entity identification, paid-expense matching, bill creation, approval, payment, and accounting outcomes.

This is an email-routing workflow through Payhawk's documented Mailbox. It is not a native Payhawk API integration. Payhawk also supports its own Gmail and Outlook forwarding rules, mobile capture, web upload, OCR, and Agent Fetch. Expensent is most useful when finance wants inbox discovery, historical catch-up, and review before delivery.

The Inbox-to-Payhawk Gap

Payhawk provides the downstream destination, but finance teams still need a controlled way to decide which inbox messages should reach it:

•Receipts and invoices arrive across employee, finance, and shared supplier mailboxes
•Broad forwarding rules can send confirmations, marketing messages, or incomplete evidence
•The sending address must be configured and pass Payhawk email security checks
•Delivery does not guarantee a paid-expense match, correct entity, complete bill, approval, or payment

Where Expensent Fits Before the Payhawk Mailbox

Connect the inbox to Expensent, review likely financial-document emails, and send selected messages to the live Payhawk Mailbox address. Confirm the result in Payhawk before creating a recurring sender-and-subject rule.

Inbox discovery: Surface likely receipt and invoice emails, including older messages found during a historical search
Review before routing: Keep portal-only notices, unsupported files, and unclear confirmations visible for a person
Configured delivery: Send from the connected source mailbox to the company-generated destination copied from Payhawk
Bounded repeat rules: Create a rule from a proven sender and subject pattern instead of forwarding every message with a broad keyword
Clear handoff: Use Payhawk confirmation emails and Mailbox requests to verify processing, matching, or manual follow-up

What Payhawk Does After the Email Arrives

A Payhawk Administrator configures the Mailbox from the Group dashboard under Settings > Mailbox, adds the forwarding address, and copies the company-generated destination. Payhawk checks the document and attempts to identify the correct entity and whether the expense is paid or unpaid.

•For an already paid document, Payhawk can attempt to match it to an existing card transaction expense
•For an unpaid invoice, Payhawk can create a bill expense and use OCR to suggest bill data for review
•Payhawk returns a processing confirmation, Pending instruction, or error message in the email thread
•Current help documents up to 40 attachments, with a combined 20 MB limit and a single-file limit below 10 MB
•Mailbox formats currently include PDF, PNG, JPG, and JPEG, while supported eInvoice formats have their own rules
•Messages with several attachments are processed as separate documents rather than merged automatically

Copy, do not construct: Payhawk shows an example company address, but the real destination is generated for the group. Copy it from the current Settings > Mailbox screen and test the exact sending address before saving any automation.

How to Set Up the Payhawk Email Workflow

Configure and copy the current Payhawk Mailbox

Have a Payhawk Administrator add the sending mailbox in Group dashboard > Settings > Mailbox, then copy the generated destination shown there.

Connect the configured source inbox to Expensent

Connect the same business or finance inbox that Payhawk expects to receive forwarded documents from, then save the exact Payhawk destination.

Send one clear document and inspect the response

Use a supported recent receipt or invoice, keep the source email, and confirm Payhawk returns success, Pending instructions, or a specific error.

Create rules only for proven patterns

After the direct test works, add narrow sender-and-subject rules and monitor Payhawk Mailbox requests for exceptions.

For a complete guide including troubleshooting and all submission methods, see our Complete Payhawk Receipt and Invoice Email Guide.

Review Before Delivery

Inspect likely receipts and exceptions upstream

Historical Catch-Up

Find older inbox documents that still need a Payhawk path

Mailbox-Based Routing

Send from a configured inbox to the live Payhawk address

Payhawk Mailbox and Expensent FAQ

Is Expensent a native Payhawk API integration?

No. Expensent uses the Payhawk Mailbox email workflow. It helps discover, review, catch up, and route inbox documents. Payhawk remains responsible for OCR, entity identification, matching, bill creation, approvals, payment, and accounting sync.

What is the current Payhawk receipt or invoice email address?

Current Payhawk help documents a company-generated address on the @invoices.payhawk.com domain. A Payhawk Administrator finds it under the Group dashboard in Settings > Mailbox. Copy the exact value shown instead of guessing it from the company name.

Should employees still use paid@payhawk.me or unpaid@payhawk.me?

Older Payhawk help described those employee addresses, but current group-level Mailbox documentation uses a company-generated destination. Follow the address shown in the live Payhawk account and ask the Payhawk Administrator or support team if the organization still exposes a legacy workflow.

Will every emailed receipt match a Payhawk card expense?

No. Payhawk confirms whether processing and matching succeeded. An unmatched document can appear as a Pending Mailbox request that needs manual attachment or creation as a new expense. Delivery and matching are separate states.

Does Payhawk support automatic forwarding without Expensent?

Yes. Payhawk documents native Gmail and Outlook forwarding-rule setup. Expensent adds upstream discovery, review, historical search, and saved rules for teams that do not want every supplier message to bypass review.

How many files can the Payhawk Mailbox process?

Current Payhawk help documents no more than 40 attachments, a combined attachment size of 20 MB, and a single-file size below 10 MB. Verify the current error page before relying on these limits because older documentation described different thresholds.

Related Integrations

Ramp

Send selected receipts to Ramp and confirm matching inside Ramp.

Pleo

Route supported receipts to Pleo Fetch when it is enabled for your account.

Brex

Send selected receipts to Brex for receipt review and matching.

Ready to automate your Payhawk receipts?

Connect your inbox, review the first Payhawk receipt emails, and create forwarding rules from patterns you trust.

Get Started

How Automatic Invoice Forwarding Works

Expensent connects to your email inbox and uses AI to surface likely invoice and receipt emails. Each document is grouped by what needs to happen next: ready to forward with a PDF attachment, needs a download from the vendor portal, needs your review, or not an invoice. You review the queue and decide what happens next.

One-Click Forwarding and Auto-Forwarding Rules

Forward a selected invoice to your accounting software with one click. Or create an auto-forwarding rule from a reviewed email and subject pattern so future arrivals can follow the same route. Rules are created from existing emails with one click.

Works With Many Accounting Platforms

Forward receipts to QuickBooks Online, Xero, Expensify, FreshBooks, Ramp, Brex, BILL, Dext, SAP Concur, Wave, Zoho Expense, Hubdoc, Emburse, Pleo, Rydoo, Divvy, Revolut Business, or another reviewed forwarding destination. Each platform has its own rules for how receipts are received, processed, extracted, or matched.

Privacy and Security

Expensent uses OAuth authentication to connect to your inbox — your password is never shared. AI prefilters on email metadata only, so personal emails are filtered out without their content ever being read. You control which invoices are forwarded and where they go.

The Inbox-to-Payhawk Gap

Payhawk provides the downstream destination, but finance teams still need a controlled way to decide which inbox messages should reach it:

•Receipts and invoices arrive across employee, finance, and shared supplier mailboxes

•Broad forwarding rules can send confirmations, marketing messages, or incomplete evidence

•The sending address must be configured and pass Payhawk email security checks

•Delivery does not guarantee a paid-expense match, correct entity, complete bill, approval, or payment

Where Expensent Fits Before the Payhawk Mailbox

Inbox discovery: Surface likely receipt and invoice emails, including older messages found during a historical search

Review before routing: Keep portal-only notices, unsupported files, and unclear confirmations visible for a person

Configured delivery: Send from the connected source mailbox to the company-generated destination copied from Payhawk

Bounded repeat rules: Create a rule from a proven sender and subject pattern instead of forwarding every message with a broad keyword

Clear handoff: Use Payhawk confirmation emails and Mailbox requests to verify processing, matching, or manual follow-up

What Payhawk Does After the Email Arrives

•For an already paid document, Payhawk can attempt to match it to an existing card transaction expense

•For an unpaid invoice, Payhawk can create a bill expense and use OCR to suggest bill data for review

•Payhawk returns a processing confirmation, Pending instruction, or error message in the email thread

•Current help documents up to 40 attachments, with a combined 20 MB limit and a single-file limit below 10 MB

•Mailbox formats currently include PDF, PNG, JPG, and JPEG, while supported eInvoice formats have their own rules

•Messages with several attachments are processed as separate documents rather than merged automatically

How to Set Up the Payhawk Email Workflow

Configure and copy the current Payhawk Mailbox

Have a Payhawk Administrator add the sending mailbox in Group dashboard > Settings > Mailbox, then copy the generated destination shown there.

Connect the configured source inbox to Expensent

Connect the same business or finance inbox that Payhawk expects to receive forwarded documents from, then save the exact Payhawk destination.

Send one clear document and inspect the response

Use a supported recent receipt or invoice, keep the source email, and confirm Payhawk returns success, Pending instructions, or a specific error.

Create rules only for proven patterns

After the direct test works, add narrow sender-and-subject rules and monitor Payhawk Mailbox requests for exceptions.

For a complete guide including troubleshooting and all submission methods, see our Complete Payhawk Receipt and Invoice Email Guide.

Payhawk Mailbox and Expensent FAQ

Is Expensent a native Payhawk API integration?

What is the current Payhawk receipt or invoice email address?

Should employees still use paid@payhawk.me or unpaid@payhawk.me?

Will every emailed receipt match a Payhawk card expense?

Does Payhawk support automatic forwarding without Expensent?

How many files can the Payhawk Mailbox process?

How Automatic Invoice Forwarding Works