Expense Report Guide

Video Tutorial

Getting Started with Expense Reports

What the Action Does

The Monthly Expenses Report action is a built-in Alter workflow that:

1. Scans all your expense files (receipts, invoices, screenshots)
2. Extracts vendor, date, amount, currency, and VAT information
3. Auto-categorizes expenses into logical groups (Travel, SaaS, Meals, etc.)
4. Smartly detects currencies and adapts to your location
5. Generates a formatted markdown report
6. Offers to create a Gmail draft automatically

Supported File Types

Drop any combination of these into Alter:

1. Images: JPG, PNG, HEIC (receipt photos)
2. Documents: PDF (invoices), XLSX (expense sheets), DOCX
3. Screenshots: PNG, JPG (digital receipts)
4. Email receipts: EML format (forwarded confirmations)

Basic Workflow: Drag, Drop, Generate

Prepare Your Expense Folder

Create a folder containing all your receipts for the month. You don’t need to rename them, but keeping them organized helps.

Invoke the Action

1. Open Alter
2. Drag your expense folder onto the Alter notch
3. Type: "monthly expense report"
4. (Optional) Specify month: Add “November 2025” or leave blank for current month
5. Press Enter

Review and Submit

Alter processes the files, generates the report, and offers to create a draft email for your finance team.

Smart Currency Handling

Single Currency Mode

If all your receipts are in the same currency (e.g., all USD or all EUR):

1. Alter detects this automatically.
2. The report is generated immediately in that native currency.
3. No foreign exchange (FX) conversion tables are shown.

Multi-Currency Mode & Learning

If you have expenses in multiple currencies (e.g., a trip involving USD, EUR, and GBP), Alter enters an interactive mode:

1. Analysis: It identifies the most frequent currency used.
2. Confirmation: Before generating the report, Alter will ask: “The most frequent currency is EUR. Would you like me to generate the report with all totals converted to EUR?”

Core Features in Action

Auto-Categorization

Alter automatically sorts expenses into logical categories to make approval faster:

1. Travel & Accommodation – Flights, hotels, Airbnb
2. Transport – Uber, taxi, fuel, parking
3. Food & Dining – Restaurants, team dinners
4. SaaS & Subscriptions – Software tools, cloud services
5. Office & Equipment – Hardware, supplies
6. Professional Services – Legal, accounting
7. Other – Miscellaneous

VAT/Tax Extraction

Alter identifies and summarizes taxes to ensure you claim everything you’re owed:

1. Extracts VAT rates (20%, 5%, 0% or local equivalents)
2. Calculates net amounts vs. gross amounts
3. Flags missing VAT if the receipt is unclear
4. Tax summary table provided at the bottom of the report

Anomaly Detection

The AI acts as a first line of defense against errors:

1. Out-of-period expenses – Flags receipts dated outside the report month
2. Recurring subscriptions – Notes monthly recurring costs
3. Duplicate entries – Warns about potential double-counting

Advanced Features: Edit

Edit: Refine Before Sending

Clean up your report without regenerating:

1. Click the Edit button on your generated report
2. Remove items – Delete personal expenses accidentally included
3. Search and replace – Fix vendor typos (e.g., “Ubr” -> “Uber”)
4. Save changes – Edits persist in the report

Creating the Gmail Draft

Automatic Draft Generation

After your report is ready, Alter will ask: “Would you like me to create a Gmail draft with this expense report?”

1. Respond with the recipient email (e.g., [email protected])
2. Alter creates the draft directly in your Gmail account using HTML formatting
3. Click “Open in Gmail” to view it

Important: for this feature to be active, you need to have enable the “Create Gmail Draft” tool in your Tool Manager


What’s in the Draft

The draft is professional and ready to send:

1. Subject line: “Expense Report - [Month] [Year] - Review Required”
2. Summary table: Total count and cost
3. Formatted tables: Itemized expenses with borders and alignment
4. Footer: Source file count and generation timestamp

Advanced: Workspace Automation

Eliminate the drag-and-drop step entirely by using Workspaces

Step 1: Create a Permanent Workspace

1. Create a folder on your Mac: ~/Expenses/Current/
2. Drag it into Alter
3. Press Cmd+J to create a Workspace
4. Name it: "Current Expenses"

Step 2: Attach Workspace to Action

1. Open Alter Action Editor
2. Select “Monthly Expenses Report”
3. Under Advanced, select the "Current Expenses" workspace


Step 3: The Zero-Touch Workflow

Now, whenever you have a receipt, just save it to that folder. When it’s time to report:

1. Open Alter
2. Type "monthly expense report"
3. Done. Alter pulls the files from the workspace, applies your saved currency preference, and generates the report instantly.

Total time: 30 seconds per month.