Converting receipts to PDF: why PDF is the standard for bookkeeping
Converting receipts to PDF: why accountants and bookkeeping tools want PDFs instead of photos, how to save a receipt as PDF cleanly and what the file name should say.
In short: converting receipts to PDF is worth it because PDF is the format accountants, bookkeeping software and tax authorities expect. It looks the same everywhere, cannot be changed by accident, stays readable for decades and can contain searchable text. A photo on your phone is a start, but a receipt only becomes fit for accounting once it is a PDF with a meaningful file name.
Almost everyone has receipts as photos on their phone: a picture of a till receipt, a screenshot of an online order, a snap of a restaurant bill. As long as the receipts are only for you, that is fine. The moment they need to go to your accountant, into a bookkeeping tool or into a tax return, you will hear the question: "Can you send me that as a PDF?"
This article explains why PDF is the standard for receipts, how to convert a receipt to PDF cleanly, and which mistakes to avoid. Once the workflow is in place, it takes a few seconds per receipt.
Why is PDF the standard for receipts in accounting?
PDF became the standard because it combines four properties that matter for receipts: fixed layout, protection against changes, long-term readability and searchability.
- Fixed layout: a PDF looks the same on your phone, in the bookkeeping tool and on paper. A JPG gets rotated, scaled or recompressed depending on the program.
- Protection against changes: PDF is not an editing format. Nobody accidentally nudges a number, which can happen in a Word document.
- Long-term readability: the format has been standardised as ISO 32000 since 2008. A PDF you create today will still open in ten years, which matters for the 10-year retention rule in Switzerland.
- Searchability: a PDF can contain a text layer. Then you find the receipt by searching for "Migros" or "47.85" instead of clicking through a hundred images.
There is also a practical reason: bookkeeping programs such as bexio expect receipts as PDFs to attach them to entries. And accountants work with PDF because they have dozens of clients and do not want to process a different photo format for each of them. What else your accountant needs is covered in sending receipts digitally to your accountant.
Photo or PDF: what is the difference?
A photo shows a receipt; a PDF is a receipt. That sounds like hair-splitting, but in daily use it makes the difference. Here is the comparison:
| Criterion | Photo (JPG, HEIC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Display | Depends on app and device | Identical everywhere |
| Perspective | Skewed, with background | Cropped and straightened |
| Text search | Not possible | Possible with a text layer |
| Multiple pages | One image per file | Several pages in one file |
The last point is especially important: a long invoice or a two-sided receipt belongs in one file, not in three images that nobody can match up later. HEIC, the iPhone's default format, is an additional problem because many Windows programs cannot open it.
How do you convert a receipt to PDF?
The easiest way is to convert receipts to PDF at the moment you capture them, using a scanner app that does it automatically. There are three common routes:
- Receipt scanner app: you photograph the receipt, the app detects the edges, crops, straightens and saves a PDF. Belego does exactly that with every scan and additionally reads the amount, date, merchant and category. There is nothing to convert; the PDF is created as you take the photo.
- Your phone's notes or files app: iPhone and Android have built-in document scanners that produce PDFs. That works, but without reading the data and without any order by date and amount. The comparison is in scanning receipts on iPhone.
- On a computer: existing photos can be saved as PDF on a Mac via "Print" and on Windows via "Microsoft Print to PDF". Tedious for many receipts, but fine for the odd one.
The same applies to digital receipts such as order confirmations by email: do not keep the email, save the invoice as a PDF. Most online shops offer the invoice as a PDF download in your customer account.
A workflow that holds up: receive the receipt, scan it right away, glance at the values, drop the paper into a box. How to turn that into a habit is explained in the 5-minute receipt routine.
What should the file name of a receipt PDF contain?
The file name should contain the date, the merchant and the amount, in that order. A PDF called "IMG_4821.pdf" is barely better than a photo. "2026-03-12 Coop 47.85.pdf", on the other hand, tells anyone everything they need to know without opening the file.
Why this order? A date in year-month-day format sorts the files chronologically by itself. The merchant makes the receipt recognisable. The amount allows matching against the bank statement. An accountant who receives 300 files named like this finds the receipt for any entry in seconds.
Belego names exported PDFs exactly that way, by date, merchant and amount, without you typing anything. The ZIP export for a period of your choice contains all original PDFs, a CSV list with category and note, and a README. For a folder structure that fits, see filing receipts digitally.
Which mistakes should you avoid with receipt PDFs?
The most common mistake is turning an unreadable receipt into a perfect PDF. The format does not rescue the content. So:
- Readable first, PDF second: amount, date, merchant and VAT must be legible on the scan. A faded till receipt does not improve by becoming a PDF.
- Do not over-compress: a receipt PDF can happily be 200 to 500 KB. Squeezing it to 30 KB produces pixel mush.
- No password protection: your accountant cannot load a password-protected PDF into their system.
- No bundle PDFs with 50 receipts: one receipt per file, otherwise nothing can be matched individually. Exception: multi-page invoices.
- Keep the original: the PDF does not automatically replace the paper receipt. Whether you may throw paper away depends on the requirements for electronic record keeping.
A special case is invoices you receive as PDF: they are already in the right format. Store them as received, and do not print them out only to scan them again. That costs quality and time.
Frequently asked questions
Is a PDF scan legally equivalent to the paper receipt?
In Switzerland, accounting vouchers may be kept electronically if they are unaltered, readable at any time and accessible (Art. 958f of the Code of Obligations and the Business Records Ordinance). A clean PDF usually meets these requirements better than a loose photo. Stricter rules apply to annual and audit reports. When in doubt, ask your accountant before disposing of paper.
Can I make a PDF searchable afterwards?
Yes, with OCR. Many scanner apps and PDF programs add an invisible text layer over the image when saving. After that you can find the receipt by searching for merchant or amount. In Belego, search works on the extracted fields, so you search by merchant, amount, category or note without opening the PDFs themselves.
How large should a receipt PDF be?
A single-page receipt as PDF is best kept between 100 KB and 1 MB. Below that, readability suffers; above it, sending files to your accountant becomes unnecessarily heavy. More important than file size is that numbers and text are sharp. If you can zoom in and the digits stay clear, the resolution is fine.
Should I give receipts to my accountant as PDF or as CSV?
Both, for different purposes. The PDF is the receipt itself and gets attached to the entry. The CSV is the list of all receipts with date, merchant, amount and category, which the accountant or the tool uses to create the entries. Belego's export delivers both together in one ZIP.