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Connect your Gmail inbox

Let The Paper Keep scan Gmail for receipt emails automatically. This is the fastest setup path for a new account if your receipts already live in Gmail, and you can add more inboxes later if needed.

Settings — Receipt sources showing a connected Gmail inbox with live status and the Connect another inbox rail
A connected Gmail inbox in Settings → Receipt sources — live import status, with more providers one click away.

On this page

Before you start Connect Gmail What the first scan does After connecting Troubleshooting If Gmail isn't the right fit

Before you start

  • You need an account with The Paper Keep and an active subscription to connect inbox scanning.
  • Gmail inbox scanning uses Google OAuth and requests read-only Gmail access.
  • You choose how far back the first import looks — the last 30 days, 90 days, or 12 months — after seeing an estimate of how many emails each range would match.
  • You can connect more than one inbox from Settings if receipts are spread across accounts or providers.
  • If you do not use Gmail, use Connect an IMAP mailbox or Email forwarding setup instead.

Connect Gmail

  1. Sign in to The Paper Keep
    Create an account at /register or sign in at /login.
  2. Open Settings
    Go to Settings and find the Receipt sources section.
  3. Click the Gmail pill under Connect another inbox
    The Paper Keep redirects you to Google.
  4. Choose the Gmail account and approve access
    Google shows the permissions screen. Approve the read-only Gmail access request so The Paper Keep can scan for receipt emails.
  5. Pick your import range
    Back in The Paper Keep, the Choose Gmail Import Range page estimates how many receipt-like emails each range would match — last 30 days (fastest first import), 90 days (the recommended default), or 12 months (broadest backfill). Pick one and click Start Import.
  6. Repeat for other inboxes if needed
    If some receipts live in another Gmail account or in Yahoo, iCloud, Fastmail, or another IMAP provider, you can add those from the same Settings page too.

What the first scan does

The initial scan searches Gmail for receipt-like emails across the import range you chose. Matching emails are queued for processing, and the connection's row in Settings → Receipt sources updates live as the import runs.

Imported
Messages that were successfully turned into receipts.
Skipped
Messages that were ignored because they were duplicates, did not qualify, or had already been processed.
Queued
Messages discovered and handed off for receipt processing.
Paused states
Large imports can pause temporarily if the hourly import limit or weekly quota is reached, then resume when capacity is available.
The first scan is paced automatically. If you have a large backlog of receipt emails, imports may continue in the background for a while instead of landing all at once.

After connecting

  • New receipt emails in Gmail are picked up automatically after the first import.
  • Imported receipts appear in your main Receipts list like any other receipt.
  • You can trigger another scan manually with Scan now in the connection's ⋯ menu in Settings.
  • You can keep this Gmail inbox connected alongside other Gmail or IMAP inboxes.
  • You can disconnect the Gmail account from the same ⋯ menu at any time. If Google access is ever revoked, the row shows Reconnect required with a link to fix it.

Gmail inbox scanning complements manual upload and forwarding. If a receipt was never emailed, you can still upload it manually.

Troubleshooting

The row says "Reconnect required"
Google has invalidated the access token — usually because access was revoked from your Google account, your Google password changed, or your organisation's security policy expired it. Click the reconnect link on the row and approve access again. Nothing already imported is affected, and the scan picks up where it left off.
The import looks stuck or paused
Large first imports are paced deliberately (roughly 180 receipts/hour during onboarding) and pause automatically when the hourly limit or your weekly quota is reached, then resume on their own. Check the Queue page to watch progress live — "paused" with a reason is normal behaviour, not a fault.
A receipt you can see in Gmail never arrived
The scan targets receipt-shaped mail, and some formats (image-heavy marketing templates, unusual senders, foreign-language receipts) don't get recognised. Forward that one email to your personal forwarding address and it's parsed like everything else. If a particular sender is missed repeatedly, email [email protected] with an example and we'll improve the matcher.
Wrong Google account got connected
Disconnect it from the row's ⋯ menu, then connect again — Google's account chooser appears during OAuth, so pick the right one there. If you're signed in to several Google accounts, the chooser defaults to the most recently used.
Worried about duplicates after reconnecting
Reconnecting (or overlapping a Gmail connection with a forwarding rule) is safe: messages already imported are recognised and skipped, and anything that slips through both paths is caught by duplicate detection.
Google's consent screen warns about access
The permission requested is read-only Gmail access — The Paper Keep cannot send, delete, or modify anything in your account. You can verify and revoke the grant any time at myaccount.google.com/permissions. More on data handling in Privacy & data handling.

If Gmail isn't the right fit

Use Connect an IMAP mailbox if your receipts live in Yahoo, iCloud, Fastmail, or another IMAP provider. Use Email forwarding setup if you prefer to keep inbox access disconnected and forward only the messages you want The Paper Keep to process.