Track Expenses on Personal Workspace

Overview

Welcome to Expensify! If you are a freelancer, sole proprietor or simply tracking your personal expenses, follow the steps below to get started and enjoy a free 30-day trial. The trial will begin when workspace activity begins.

After you create your new workspace, you can schedule a free private onboarding session with one of our Setup Specialists. After you complete the steps below, check your email and notifications in Expensify for your unique signup link.

1. Meet Concierge

Concierge is your personal assistant who walks you through setting up your account and also provides:

  • Reminders to do things like submit your expenses
  • Alerts when more information is needed on an expense report
  • Updates on new and improved account features

You can get support any time by locating your chat with Concierge in your chat inbox. You can ask questions and receive direct support in this thread.

2. Create a workspace

Each workspace has its own set of rules, settings, and integrations. Even if you are only tracking expenses yourself, you will need to set up a workspace.

  1. Click your profile photo or icon in the bottom left menu.
  2. Scroll down and click Workspaces in the left menu.
  3. Click New workspace.
  4. Click the Edit pencil icon next to your workspace image or icon and select Upload Image to choose an image from your saved files.
  5. Click Name to enter a new name for the workspace.
  6. Click Default Currency to set the currency for all expenses submitted under the workspace. Expensify automatically converts all other currencies to your default currency.

Click your profile photo or icon

Click Workspaces in the left menu and New Worksapce

Options to make changes like a custom workspace name

3. Add an expense

You can create an expense automatically by SmartScanning a receipt, or you can enter them manually.

SmartScan a receipt

You can upload pictures of your receipts to Expensify and SmartScan will automatically capture the receipt details including the merchant, date, total, and currency.

  1. Click the Expenses tab.
  2. Click the + icon in the top right and select Scan Receipt.
  3. Upload a saved image of a receipt.
  1. Open the mobile app and tap the camera icon in the bottom right corner.
  2. Upload or take a photo of your receipt.
    • Upload a photo: Click the camera icon and select the image from your device.
    • Take a photo: Click the camera icon in the right corner to select the mode, make sure all of the transaction details are clearly visible, and then take the photo.
      • Normal Mode: Upload one receipt.
      • Rapid Fire Mode: Upload multiple receipts at once.

You can open any receipt and select Fill out details myself to add or edit the merchant, date, total, description, category, or add attendees who took part in the expense. You can also split the expense if multiple expenses are included on one receipt.

You can also email receipts to SmartScan by sending them to receipts@expensify.com from an email address tied to your Expensify account (either a primary or secondary email). SmartScan will automatically pull all of the details from the receipt, fill them in for you, and add the receipt to the Expenses tab on your account.

Manually enter an expense

  1. Click the Expenses tab.
  2. Click the Green + icon.
  3. Select the type of expense and enter the expense details.
    • Manually create: Manually enter receipt details.
    • Scan receipt: Upload a saved image of a receipt.
    • Create multiple: Upload expenses in bulk.
    • Time: Create an expense based on hours.
    • Distance: Create an expense based on distance.
      • Manually Create: Manually enter the distance details for the expense.
      • Create from Map: Enter the start and end destination and Expensify will help you create a receipt for the trip.
  4. Click Save.
  1. Tap the ☰ menu icon in the top left.
  2. Tap Expenses.
  3. Tap the + icon .
  4. Tap the correct expense type and enter the expense details.
    • Manually create: Manually enter receipt details.
    • Time: Enter work time and rate.
    • Manually create (Distance): Manually enter trip details by total distance.
    • Odometer: Manually enter trip details by start and end odometer readings.
    • Start GPS: Track distance while using the Expensify app to automatically calculate the distance in real time during the trip.
  5. Tap Save.

4. Connect your cards and accounts

You can connect your bank account(s) and corporate credit card(s) to import and track your transactions in Expensify. This will:

  • Automatically sync your bank/card transactions with your Expensify account
  • Merge any expenses added with SmartScan with the tracked bank expense
  • Generate IRS-compliant eReceipts (if enabled for the workspace)

To add your bank account:

  • Click Settings.
  • Click Workspaces and select your workspace
  • Enable Make or track payments.
  • Click Connect bank account

    • Note: You can only add corporate cards on a Control plan.

    To add your corporate card:

  • Click Settings.
  • Click Workspaces and select your workspace
  • Click More Features .
  • Enable Corporate Cards. Corporate Cards will now be viewable on the left-hand menu
  • Click Corporate Cards
  • Click Add Cards and follow the prompts

    • 5. Add categories

    Categories help you code your expenses. Although you’re only tracking expenses for yourself, categorizing them will help show you what you’re spending your money on!

    1. Click Categories in the left menu.
    2. Disable or add categories.
      • To disable a category: Click the category, then click the green toggle to disable it.
      • To add a new category: Click Add category in the top right. Then enter a name for the category and click Save.

    Categories are enabled by default. However, if you want to completely disable all categories, you can do so by clicking More Features in the left menu and clicking the Categories toggle to disable it.

    6. Add more features

    The items that appear in your left menu under each workspace are determined by the features that are enabled for the workspace. For example, you can choose to enable or disable any of the following features:

    • Distance rates
    • Workflows
    • Categories
    • Tags
    • Taxes

    Once enabled, a new menu option with additional settings for the feature will appear in the left menu.

    To add more features,

    1. Click More features in the left menu.
    2. Enable any desired feature.
    3. Click the related menu item that appears in the left menu to update its settings.

    Easily monitor when your Free Trial starts and how many days are left on your Subscription page. We’ll also notify you when your trial starts and ends, at which point you’ll add a billing card to continue using all your favorite features!

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