Day-to-dayUpdated 12 Aug 20265 min

Speak an invoice

Say the client, items, amounts and due date in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu or Kannada and Finocket builds a draft invoice you check before saving. Anything it did not clearly hear is left blank and flagged, never guessed, and the client is never auto-picked or auto-created.

Say the client, the items, the amounts and the due date out loud and Finocket turns it into a draft invoice for you to check. It works in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, and in the mixture of them people actually speak. Nothing is saved until you confirm it.

Where do I find it?

Two places: Field mode, where Speak this invoice is open and waiting, and New invoice, where it sits collapsed above the form. It needs both the Invoices & clients and the AI assistant modules on. With either off, the card is not there and the ordinary invoice form is unaffected.

Field mode with Speak this invoice open and waiting, on the phone screen it is built for. (mobile view)
Field mode with Speak this invoice open and waiting, on the phone screen it is built for.

How do I say it?

However you would say it to a colleague. Indian numbering is understood (hazaar, lakh, crore, and the sava / dedh / dhai forms), as are relative dates like aaj, kal, 15 din baad or next Monday. Recording runs up to two minutes.

Speech in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada is rougher than in English or Hindi. The provider handles them, but trade words and place names come out wrong more often. Read the transcript, shown under You said, before you confirm.

What happens to what it did not catch?

It is left blank. Finocket never guesses a quantity, a rate, an amount or a client name; anything not clearly spoken comes back empty and is called out. You will see lines like:

  • No invoice date was spoken — set to today.
  • No due date was spoken — set to 15 days after the invoice date.
  • Couldn't make out the invoice date you said.
  • A rate was worked out from the spoken total ÷ quantity — check it.
  • A line without a clear description was left out.
  • Couldn't understand that as an invoice — try again, or type it instead.

Note the difference between the first two and the third. A date you did not mention gets a sensible default, clearly flagged. A date you did mention but which came out garbled is left empty, because substituting another would silently mis-date your invoice.

Where something essential is missing, you get a list instead of a draft, headed Before a draft can be made, I still need: and naming which client to invoice, the invoice date, the due date, at least one line item, what line 2 is for, the rate on line 3, and so on. When the numbers were heard but the reading was shaky it says I may have misheard some numbers — check each line before you confirm.

How does it pick the client?

Only when there is no doubt. One exact match, or a single candidate, and it uses it. Anything else and it shows you the candidates as chips to tap, because invoicing the wrong client is not a mistake worth automating. If the name is not in your book at all it says so and offers to add them as a client; it never creates one for you.

Does it save the invoice itself?

No. You get a confirmation card with the client, the lines and the total; only when you tap Confirm is a draft invoice created, which you can still edit before sending. If your workspace has assistant actions switched off, or the amount is above the limit your team set, the Confirm button is replaced by that reason and you can record the invoice by hand.

What happens to the recording?

It is processed in memory and never stored. No file is uploaded to your workspace, and the transcript is shown to you but not kept.

When does it not work?

  • Offline. The audio is read on the server; there is no on-device model.
  • On a browser without microphone recording. The mic button does not appear at all; on an older browser you are told to try Chrome or Safari 14+.
  • With the microphone blocked. You are told the browser blocked it.
  • When voice is not switched on for the deployment, or the daily or monthly voice allowance is used up. Each says which.

In every one of those cases, typing the invoice still works. There is a Type the invoice instead link right on the card, and Start over if you want another go.

Related: Clients & invoices, For field staff, Scan-to-Add.

Frequently asked questions

Which languages does it understand?

English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, including code-mixed speech, Indian numbering (hazaar, lakh, crore, sava, dedh, dhai) and relative dates like 'kal' or '15 din baad'. Tamil, Telugu and Kannada come out rougher than English or Hindi, so read the transcript before you confirm.

What happens to a figure it did not catch?

It is left blank and called out. Finocket never guesses a quantity, rate, amount or client name. A date you never mentioned gets a flagged default; a date you did mention but which came out garbled is left empty, because substituting another would silently mis-date the invoice.

How does it pick the client?

Only when there is no doubt: one exact match, or a single candidate. Anything else and it shows you the candidates to tap. If the name is not in your book it says so and offers to add them; it never creates a client for you.

Does it save the invoice by itself?

No. You confirm a card, and only then is a draft invoice created, still editable before you send it.

Is my recording stored?

No. The audio is processed in memory and never uploaded to your workspace, and the transcript is shown to you but not kept.

It isn't showing on my screen.

It needs both the Invoices & clients and the AI assistant modules on, a connection, and a browser that can record. Where any of those is missing the card or the mic simply is not there, and typing the invoice always works.

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