Connect your Gmail inbox — The Paper Keep docs

Before you start

You need an account with The Paper Keep and an active subscription to connect inbox scanning.
Gmail connects over IMAP with a Google app password — a separate 16-letter password you create in your Google Account. Your normal Google password is never entered here.
Google only offers app passwords when 2-Step Verification is turned on. Some work or school accounts, and accounts using Advanced Protection, can't create them.
You choose which Gmail folders to scan and how far back the first import looks — the last 30 days, 90 days, 12 months, or a custom start date.
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

Sign in to The Paper Keep
Create an account at /register or sign in at /login.
Open Settings
Go to Settings and find the Receipt sources section.
Click the Gmail pill under Connect another inbox
The Paper Keep opens a three-step Gmail setup form.
Create a Google app password
Open myaccount.google.com/apppasswords, enter Paper Keep as the app name and click Create. Copy the 16-letter password Google shows you — spaces are fine.
Enter your Gmail address and the app password
Click Continue. The Paper Keep checks the login and loads your Gmail folders.
Choose folders and history
INBOX is selected by default. Pick an import range — last 30 days (fastest first import), 90 days (the default), 12 months, or a custom start date — and click Start importing receipts.
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 the Gmail folders you chose for receipt-like emails (order confirmations, receipts, invoices and similar subjects) across the import range you picked. 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.
Use Edit in the same menu to change the folders being scanned or paste in a new app password.
You can disconnect the Gmail account from the same ⋯ menu at any time. If the app password stops working, the row shows Reconnect required and we email you 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 email address or app password was rejected"

Check you used your full Gmail address and an app password, not your normal Google password. If Google says app passwords aren't available, turn on 2-Step Verification first; on a work or school account your administrator may have turned app passwords off — use forwarding instead.

The row says "Reconnect required"

Google stopped accepting the app password — usually because it was revoked, or because you changed your Google password (which revokes all app passwords). Create a new app password, then open Edit on the row and paste it in. 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 with the right Gmail address and an app password created in that account. App passwords only work for the Google account that created them.

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.

What can an app password do?

Google app passwords give mail access over IMAP, so treat one like a password. The Paper Keep stores it encrypted and only reads messages from the folders you chose — it doesn't mark them read, and never sends, moves or deletes mail. Revoke it any time at myaccount.google.com/apppasswords. 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.