Common Questions About Invoices in Garde
When can I start uploading invoices?
Your implementation manager can give you an exact date, but generally you’re good to go as soon as:
- Your POS connections are complete
- Your accounting connections are complete
- Your subscription payment details have been entered
Want to upload some historical invoices? You can go back up to 7 days from the date you entered your subscription payment details. For example, if you entered payment details on March 8, you can submit invoices dated as far back as March 1. Need more historical data? Reach out to contact@garde.app.
For step-by-step upload instructions, see: Uploading Invoices
How long does it take for an invoice to be processed?
Once you’re fully up and running, most invoices are processed within 1-2 days. During your first 4 weeks, expect 3-5 days — our team is doing extra work behind the scenes to map all of your vendor items to the right products. After that initial period, turnaround often drops to within 24 hours.
Which types of invoices will you process?
Our team will process any restaurant invoice that has all three of these:
- A vendor name
- Line items with prices
- A total (in USD)
For the full breakdown:
If you don’t want to snap photos with the app, you can also send invoices as JPEG, PNG, CSV, or PDF files.
Please send one document per invoice. Do not send links to stored documents or zip files.
How often should I upload invoices?
As often as you can. Daily uploads give you much more accurate, close-to-real-time data compared to batching them weekly.
What if the same invoice gets uploaded twice?
Garde automatically detects duplicates when the vendor, invoice number, and date all match. The duplicate gets flagged and deleted — no action needed on your end.
What if I accidentally upload the wrong invoice?
It happens. If you uploaded an invoice to the wrong restaurant unit, you can move it to the correct one. If the invoice shouldn’t be in Garde at all, you can delete it before it’s been exported. If it’s already been exported to your accounting system, see Making Changes to a Closed Invoice for your options.
What do I do if a vendor sends me a PDF or invoice image via email?
Just forward the email (with the attachment) to your restaurant’s unique invoice email address. You can find it by navigating to Inventory > Invoices and looking for the banner at the top of the page — it displays your @meinvoices.com address with a copy button.
What if the invoice doesn’t match what I received?
This happens all the time — here’s what we recommend:
- Cross out the “Qty Shipped” amount and write the correct quantity received next to it. Add a clear handwritten note explaining the issue (e.g., “return,” “short,” “reject”). Circling the item helps but isn’t required.
Garde sends this payment information to your accounting system (QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop) with the invoice data.
- Draw a line through the final total as an extra signal to our team that something changed.
That’s it. We’ll handle the math to make sure the total comes out right.
What if the order was paid with a check, ACH, or credit card?
By default, all invoices go to your accounting system as payables (A/P). If an invoice has already been paid another way, here’s what to do:
First: Make sure your Payment Accounts are set up correctly in Garde. See Setting Up Payment Accounts.
Second: Write the payment info on the invoice:
- Checks: Write “Paid with Check” + the check number.
- ACH: Write “ACH” on the invoice.
- Credit cards: Note the card using the description from your Payment Account setup (last four digits, card type, or cardholder name).
Garde sends the check number or ACH notation to your accounting system along with the invoice details.
What does “Needs Review” mean, and what do I do?
After an invoice is uploaded, it moves from Processing to Needs Review — usually within about a minute. In this status, Garde has parsed the invoice and needs you to verify the details.
Open the invoice and confirm that the vendor name, line items, quantities, and prices match the original document. You will also need to match products to the correct items in Garde. This is important because different vendors often use different names for the same thing — for example, one vendor’s “Baby french beans” might be the same as another’s “string beans” or “french beans.” Make sure each line item is linked to the right Garde product.
Once everything looks good, click “Update Invoice” and change the status to Approved.
If an invoice seems stuck in Processing for more than a couple of minutes, try reloading the page. If that does not resolve it, upload the invoice again using a different method and delete the stuck version.
What do the different invoice statuses mean?
On the Invoices page (Inventory > Invoices), you can see the processing status of every invoice. Here’s what each status means:
Standard Statuses
- Processing — We’ve received your invoice and it’s working its way through our team. Until it’s closed, it generally won’t appear in reporting, Bill Pay, or exports (with some exceptions).
- Needs Review — The invoice has been parsed and is ready for you to verify. Confirm the details match the original document, match products to Garde items, then approve it.
- Pending Approval — If you’ve turned on Invoice Approval, invoices land here after processing. They’re waiting for a user with Restaurant Accountant permissions to approve them.
- Closed — The invoice is fully entered, confirmed, and ready for reporting and export. Only invoices in Closed or Pending Approval status appear in reports. Only Closed invoices can be exported or paid through Garde.
Digital Invoice Statuses
If a vendor sends invoices digitally, you may also see these. Learn more about Digital Invoices.
- Image Pending — We received digital data from the vendor but no matching invoice image from your team. You can upload the image or manually approve it from within the order.
- Digital Pending — We received the invoice image but haven’t gotten the digital data from the vendor yet.
Outbound Order Statuses
- Open — An order placed through Garde that hasn’t been completed yet.
- Saved — An order that’s been saved but not sent to the vendor.
- Sent — An order that’s been transmitted to the vendor.
