The Mobile App allows you to create invoices, expenses and bills on the go. You can even take a photo of the receipt or bill document and the Mobile App will use Optical Character Recognition technology to populate the details of the expense or bill.
The Mobile App links seamlessly to your Clear Books account so that any data added in the Mobile App will appear in your Clear Books account.
Table of Contents
1. How to install and access the Mobile App
4.2 How to create an expense from a photo
5.2 How to create a bill from a photo
1. How to install and access the Mobile App
To download the Clear Books Mobile App just search for Clear Books in the App Store or the Google play store and tap to download. We actively support the 2 latest versions (the current and previous version) of both the Android mobile OS and iOS.
Once downloaded and installed, tap on the app icon on your mobile device. Enter the same credentials that you use to login to your Clear Books account.
2. Permissions
The permissions you have in Clear Books determine the level of access you have in the Mobile App.
As an Admin user, you can invite a user or edit the permissions of an existing user on the Home > Users menu within Clear Books.
The expenses and purchases permissions allow you to perform actions and view menus in the Mobile App. These permissions are the same as the web permissions and are described below:
2.1 Expense Permissions
This feature must be toggled on in the Clear Books account for users to be able to see the expenses menu in the Mobile App.
Add Expenses
Required to add either an expense or an expense from photo in the mobile app.
List Expenses
Required to view all expense types - draft, unapproved or approved.
List Draft (effective only when List Expenses is granted)
Required to edit/delete draft expenses.
List Approved (effective only when List Expenses is granted)
Required to edit/delete approved expenses if you are on Adhoc expense method.
Review Expenses
Not supported - used in CB to allow users to approve expenses
2.2 Bill Permissions
List Bills
Required to list all bills.
Exception: if the ‘Bills paid to employees’ permission is not granted, the list of bills will not include any bills where an employee is the supplier.
Create Bills
Required to create bills and bills from a photo.
Purchase Orders
Not supported in the Mobile App.
Bills paid to the employees (effective if the List Bills permission is granted)
This will either show employee bills (bills where an employee is the supplier) or hide them depending on whether the permission is enabled.
3. Invoices & Quotes
The Mobile App allows you to create invoices and quotes on the go. In this section, we demonstrate how to create both a sales invoice and quote by manually filling in the details of the appropriate forms.
3.1 How to create an invoice
Log in to the Mobile App and you will land on the Dashboard menu.
Next, tap on the + icon in the blue circle, you can view this icon on the Sales and Purchases menu too. Tapping on the
+ icon will bring up a list of the available options, select Invoice.
First, select a customer, if the customer does not exist, just type the name and tap the Add icon.
Next, add a date for the invoice.
The Show options button will show more options for the Invoice such as the Project, Summary fields and Bank Account.
If you wish to add a photo or saved picture you may do so by tapping Attachments. Tap on the + icon in the blue circle to add an attachment using your camera or from your photo library.
Tap on the Add items option.
Here you will need to add a description of the item you are adding, an account code, the quantity, unit price and VAT rate. Tap on the tick at the top right to complete.
You can add as many items as necessary. Each item contributes to the subtotal, VAT and Total at the bottom.
Tap the ✓ icon at the top right to complete the creation of the invoice.
3.2 How to create a quote
Log in to the Mobile App and you will land on the Dashboard menu.
Next, tap on the + icon in the blue circle, you can view this icon on the Sales and Purchases menu too. Tapping on the + icon will bring up a list of the available options, select Quote.
First, select a customer, if the customer does not exist, just type the name and tap the Add icon.
Next, add a date for the quote.
Next, you can select the quote type.
The Show options button will show more options for the Invoice such as the Credit terms, Project, Summary and Bank Account. 
If you wish to have an additional reference to the quote created such as a photo of goods quoted you may do so by clicking Attachments. Tap on the + icon in the blue circle to add an attachment using your camera or from your photo library.
Tap on the Add items option.
Here you will need to add a description of the item you are adding, an account code, the quantity, unit price and VAT rate. Tap on the tick at the top right to complete.
You can add as many items as necessary. Each item contributes to the subtotal, VAT and Total at the bottom.
Tap the ✓ icon at the top right to complete the creation of the quote.
4. Expenses
The Mobile App allows you to create expenses on the go. In this section, we demonstrate how to create an expense by taking a photo. The Mobile App will then extract the data from the image to populate the details of the expense form. We also demonstrate how to create an expense by manually filling in the details of the expense form.
The Mobile App links seamlessly to your Clear Books account so that any data added in the Mobile app will appear in your Clear Books account and vice versa.
4.1 How to create an expense
Log in to the Mobile App and you will land on the Dashboard menu.
Next, tap on the + icon in the blue circle, you can view this icon on the Sales and Purchases menu too. Tapping on the
+ icon will bring up a list of the available options, select Expense.
First, select a supplier, if the supplier does not exist, just type the name and tap the Add icon.
Select an employee claiming. By default, this will be auto-selected as yourself unless you are an admin user and create expenses for multiple employees.
Next, add a date for the expense.
The show options button will show more options for the expense such as the Project and Summary fields.
If you wish to add a photo or saved picture you may do so by tapping Attachments. Tap on the + icon in the blue circle to add an attachment using your camera or from your photo library.
Tap on the Add items option.
Here you will need to add a description of the item you are adding, an account code, the quantity, unit price and VAT rate. Tap on the tick at the top to complete.
You can add as many items as necessary. Each item contributes to the subtotal, VAT and Total at the bottom.
Tap the ✓ icon at the top right to complete the creation of the expense.
4.2 How to create an expense from a photo
Log in to the Mobile App and you will land on the Dashboard menu.
Next, tap on the + icon in the blue circle, you can view this icon on the Sales and Purchases menu too. Tapping on the
+ icon will bring up a list of the available options, select Expense.
The Mobile App will need permission to access your camera so please accept any requests.
If you deny access to the camera and want to use it in the future, you can update the app in your phone settings.
Take a picture of the full receipt, try and make sure all the information on the receipt is legible.
The app will use Optical Character Recognition technology to read the data and populate the totals of the expense form (please note, the app will only populate the text if certain, if there's any doubt, we'll leave it off for you to enter manually).
Check through the details of the expense form and make any changes if necessary.
The image of the receipt will be saved as an attachment.
Tap the ✓ icon at the top right to complete the creation of the expense.
5. Bills
The Mobile App allows you to create bills on the go. In this section, we demonstrate how to create a bill by taking a photo. The Mobile App will then extract the data from the image to populate the details of the bill form. We also demonstrate how to create a bill by manually filling in the details of the bill form.
The Mobile App links seamlessly to your Clear Books account so that any data added in the Mobile app will appear in your Clear Books account and vice versa.
5.1 How to create a bill
Log in to the Mobile App and you will land on the Dashboard menu.
Next, tap on the +icon in the blue circle, you can view this icon on the Sales and Purchases menu too. Tapping on the
+icon will bring up a list of the available options, select Bill.
First, select a supplier, if the supplier does not exist, just type the name and tap the Add icon.
Next, add a date for the bill.
The Show options button will show more options for the bill such as the Project and Summary fields.
If you wish to add a photo or saved picture you may do so by tapping Attachments. Tap on the +icon in the blue circle to add an attachment using your camera or from your photo library.
Tap on the Add items option.
Here you will need to add a description of the item you are adding, an account code, the quantity, unit price and VAT rate. Tap on the tick at the top to complete.
You can add as many items as necessary. Each item contributes to the subtotal, VAT and Total at the bottom.
Tap the ✓ icon at the top right to complete the creation of the bill.
5.2 How to create a bill from a photo
Log in to the Mobile App and you should land on the Dashboard menu.
Next, tap on the + icon in the blue circle, you can view this icon on the Sales and Purchases menu too. Tapping on the + icon will bring up a list of the available options, select Bill from photo.
The Mobile App will need permission to access your camera so please accept any requests.
If you deny access to the camera and want to use it in the future, you can update the app in your phone settings.
Take a picture of the full document, try and make sure all the information on the document is legible.
The app will use Optical Character Recognition technology to read the data and populate the totals of the expense form (please note, the app will only populate the text if certain, if there's any doubt, we'll leave it off for you to enter manually).
Check through the details of the bill and make any changes if necessary.
The image of the receipt will be saved as an attachment.
Tap the ✓ icon at the top right to complete the creation of the bill.
