How to scan a receipt: 5 steps, 3 errors to avoid and what to do without a paper receipt

To scan a receipt you need your phone and a minute: lay it flat on a dark, well-lit surface; get the whole receipt in frame, from the header to the total; shoot from above without flash; check that the total read matches the printed one; save the file with the date. Scanning a receipt means turning the paper slip into a readable file, a photo or a PDF, that an app or a spreadsheet can add up. If the till gives you no receipt, ask for one: the two biggest Swiss supermarkets print receipts only on request.

Updated October 2026. Sources: SRF News (1 March 2022); Blick (26 October 2023); Beobachter (3 September 2024); Swiss Code of Obligations, art. 88 and 210 (viewed on 9 October 2026).

How do you scan a receipt, step by step?

In five steps, with any phone. The result is good when every line reads without zooming in and the total at the bottom is sharp: that is what you need, and what an app that reads the lines needs too.

1. Prepare the receipt. Lay it on a table, ideally on a dark, matt surface that makes the white paper stand out. If it curls up, weigh the corners down with two objects rather than holding it with your fingers over the text.
2. Find the right light. Daylight or a lamp from the side, no flash: on glossy thermal paper the flash creates a glare that wipes out exactly the prices.
3. Get the whole receipt in frame. The header with the store, date and time must be in, and so must the footer with the total and the VAT summary. Hold the phone parallel to the paper, from above. Split a long receipt into two photos that overlap by a few lines, or use your phone’s document mode, which straightens and crops on its own.
4. Check the total. If an app reads the lines, compare the total it recognised with the printed one. If they match, the receipt has usually been read in full; if not, look at the lines described below.
5. Save it under a name that sorts. For example YYYY-MM-DD_store, in one folder per month. That way you find the receipt again for a warranty claim and add up the month’s spending in a few minutes.

Is the receipt faded or stained? Scan it anyway, straight away: thermal paper darkens with heat and fades over time, as the guide to receipts and thermal paper explains.

Camera, scanner or app: what should you scan receipts with?

Which type of app to use for your budget, with or without a bank connection, is covered in the comparison of budget apps. Where a digital receipt exists, you do not need to scan at all: where to find it and how to export it is explained in the guide to digital receipts in Switzerland. If you are looking for an app that pays you for receipts instead, what exists in Switzerland and what it pays is covered in the guide on how to get paid to scan receipts.

Why do Swiss supermarkets no longer give you a receipt?

Because the two biggest Swiss supermarkets print one only if you ask. The first stopped printing receipts automatically at staffed tills in 2022, and at self-checkouts more than two years before that (SRF, 1 March 2022); the second converted all its tills, staffed and self-checkout, in autumn 2023 (Blick, 26 October 2023; Beobachter, 3 September 2024). By their own estimates, they save more than 400 and more than 100 tonnes of paper a year respectively.

What you can do:

• Ask for the receipt at the till, or press the button at the self-checkout. Whoever pays is entitled to a receipt (art. 88 of the Swiss Code of Obligations, CO), and the receipt is the simplest proof of purchase.
• Use the digital receipt. If you scan your loyalty card, the supermarket saves a copy in the programme’s app, to download as a PDF.
• Watch the exit. In some stores with self-checkouts, the gate opens only with the barcode on the receipt, which then has to be printed anyway (Beobachter, 3 September 2024).

The abbreviations and VAT codes on the paper are explained in the guide on how to read a Swiss receipt.

What should you do if the app misreads the receipt?

Check the total first, then three kinds of line. Text recognition works well on ordinary item lines, but often trips over lines that are not an item with a price.

• Deposit lines (Depot, Pfand, consigne). These are sometimes read as a separate item rather than as a deposit amount; over the month it looks as if you bought more drinks.
• Discount and promotion lines (Rabatt, Aktion, rabais). They are amounts with a minus sign: if the minus gets lost, the discount turns into spending and the total no longer matches.
• Weighed goods. Fruit, vegetables, cheese or meat from the counter have one line with the weight and the price per kilo and one with the amount: sometimes the app takes the price per kilo instead of the amount.

In apps that allow it, you can correct two things by hand: a misread price, for example two swapped digits, and a wrong category; check whether your app does. An error you leave in shows up in every monthly total. Payment lines are not spending either: card, cash or a voucher redeemed at the till are not items and do not belong in the total of your purchases.

How long should you keep a scanned receipt?

For groceries, until you have carried over the month’s total; for an appliance or clothing, keep the proof for at least two years. Claims for defects expire two years after delivery (art. 210 CO), but the seller can limit the warranty in its terms. Which receipt to keep for how long, and whether a photo counts as proof of purchase, is explained in the guide to keeping receipts for warranty claims.

A folder per month has one more advantage: with one month of receipts you can run the 30-day test and then know how much you really spend on groceries.

How do you scan receipts with Rappn?

Rappn is a free Swiss app (iOS and Android) that compares the current promotions of seven Swiss retailers and turns receipts into a spending overview. Receipts go in two ways: by photo, taken in the app or uploaded from your gallery, or by hand, for purchases without a receipt. Start today with the receipt from your last shop. The app sorts your purchases into categories and shows your spending by month, next to your own monthly average; when you need them, you export the receipts as PDF or CSV. Rappn covers groceries, not rent, insurance or taxes, and has no subscription and no commercial agreement with any retailer.

The third way needs no camera: the free Rappn app imports the receipts of three big Swiss supermarkets’ loyalty programmes, up to 12 months back, and you add the others by photo; it then shows your spending by category and by month. You need a Rappn account and must be an adult; the programmes’ terms still apply and the operator can restrict the link (how linking works).