---
title: "Automatic field population for Administrators - Payhawk Help Center"
slug: "automatic-population-of-expense-field-data"
description: "Learn how Payhawk fills in field data for you: its data extraction tool reads receipts, and Payhawk AI, default values, suppliers or teams suggest the rest."
updated: 2026-10-27T14:43:35Z
published: 2026-10-27T14:43:35Z
canonical: "payhawk.com/automatic-population-of-expense-field-data"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://payhawk.com/help/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Automatic population of field data

Payhawk helps with expense automation by reducing the manual work when reviewing, confirming the details, or paying company expenses.

Payhawk uses its data extraction tool, which reads more than 65 languages including Cyrillic, together with an advanced AI data extraction algorithm and multiple machine learning (ML) algorithms, to leverage the data and automatically suggest as many fields as possible.

## Automatic data extraction

Optical Character Recognition or Reader (OCR) is the electronic process of converting images of typed or printed text into machine-readable text, whether from a scanned document or a photo.

Payhawk's data extraction tool automatically extracts expense data from images and scanned documents captured through the Payhawk Mobile App. Once text is detected, the system proceeds to extract key details such as the total amount, invoice number, document date, and other information needed for expense categorization.

Next, Payhawk uses its AI-powered data extraction algorithm, which identifies and pulls out the relevant data from uploaded invoices and receipts, and automatically fills in the appropriate fields with the extracted information.

From expense and payment documents, the data extraction tool retrieves the following details and populates the corresponding fields:

- Supplier (name, VAT number, country)
- Document date
- Document number
- Due date
- Total amount
- Tax amount
- Document currency
- Document type (invoice or receipt)

Payhawk also extracts the early-payment discount (Skonto) from supplier invoices. The discount is read from the invoice as an amount or calculated from the stated percentage, together with the discount due date. The extracted **Due date** is always the net due date of the invoice, not the discount date.

For more information on Payhawk's data extraction tool, see the [Smart data extraction made simple with OCR technology blog post by Trish Toovey](https://payhawk.com/blog/smart-data-extraction-made-simple-with-ocr-technology).

## Understanding expense categorization in Payhawk

Expense categorization in Payhawk refers to the essential master data your company requires for each expense. This information is organized into specific fields such as **Document date**, **Category**, **Cost center** or **Project**.

Some of this data can be [automatically extracted by Payhawk's automation](/help/automatic-population-of-expense-field-data#h_a28aa8e714) tool from attached receipts or invoices, such as the supplier name or document date. However, not all required information is available in the expense documents. In such cases, the missing data must be entered manually by the expense owner or reviewer.

## Understanding suggestion strategies in Payhawk

To reduce manual input for fields where data isn’t available in receipts or invoices (and therefore cannot be extracted), Payhawk Administrators can set up automated methods called suggestion strategies.

These strategies help the system suggest appropriate values for non-extractable fields such as **Team**, **Category**, **VAT code**, and other fields.

## Locating the suggestion strategies settings

In Payhawk, suggestion strategies can be defined for the **Category** field, as well as any accounting field created by the Payhawk Administrators at your company.

The option to define a suggestion strategy is located in the **Settings** tab of the field. For example, to define a suggestion strategy for the **Project** field, go to **Settings** > **Fields library** > **Project** > **Settings** tab > **Suggestions**.

![Settings tab of the Project field in the Fields library, with Name, Description, Conditional display and Suggestions.](https://cdn.payhawk.com/GA%3AFields%20library/field_suggestions_settings_20261022_ai.png)

## Available suggestion strategies

Payhawk supports the following types of strategies for auto-suggesting field data:

- [**None**](/help/automatic-population-of-expense-field-data#excluding-autopopulation-of-expense-fields) - Leave the field blank for employees to fill in manually.
- [**One default value**](/help/automatic-population-of-expense-field-data#h_39f348986f) - Set the field to be automatically populated with a default value that’s rarely changed during review.
- [**Payhawk AI**](/help/automatic-population-of-expense-field-data#h_53ff40ac03) - Enable the field to be automatically populated by Payhawk AI based on historical data for your account.
- [**Supplier**](/help/automatic-population-of-expense-field-data#h_e70d9bfcd0) - Configure the field to be automatically populated based on the selected supplier, with specific values assigned to each supplier.
- [**Team/employee**](/help/automatic-population-of-expense-field-data#h_af77194da4) - Assign the field to be automatically populated based on each employee or team, with inherited defaults and fallback options.
- [**Tax rate**](/help/automatic-population-of-expense-field-data#h_f6e80e035f) - Automatically suggest the tax rate based on either the supplier or the category. This is configured in the **Expense categorization** tab for each supplier or within the properties of each accounting category.

### Excluding auto-population of fields

If **Suggestions** is set to **None**, the field will not be automatically populated and will remain blank. In this case, employees will need to manually enter the required data for the field.

### Auto-populating fields with predefined values

If **Suggestions** is set to **One default value**, you’ll need to define that default value, which will then be automatically populated in the field for every expense or request.

> [!TIP]
> This auto-population strategy is ideal for fields that have the same value in over 90% of cases and are rarely adjusted by the Finance team during the review process.

![Suggestions set to One default value, with Website Redesign as the default value for Project.](https://cdn.payhawk.com/GA%3AFields%20library/suggestions_one_default_value_20261022_ai.png)

### Auto-populating fields based on historical account data

If **Suggestions** is set to **Payhawk AI**, the field will be automatically populated based on historical data collected by the Payhawk system for your account.

By default, the Payhawk AI suggestion strategy is applied to all fields. It uses an advanced machine learning model that takes into account various factors, such as the employee, supplier, historical field values, merchant category (for card transactions), and other relevant data, to determine the most appropriate value for each field on a per-expense basis.

> [!TIP]
> This strategy is ideal for businesses looking to automate expense categorization, especially when there are no strict rules for specific fields. It’s particularly effective for fields where patterns exist but are too complex or variable to define manually.

![Suggestions set to Payhawk AI, with the note on how Payhawk AI suggestions work.](https://cdn.payhawk.com/GA%3AFields%20library/suggestions_payhawk_ai_20261022_ai.png)

### Auto-populating fields for suppliers

If **Suggestions** is set to **Supplier**, the field will be automatically populated based on the selected supplier.

> [!TIP]
> This auto-population strategy is useful when certain fields, like **Category**, are directly tied to specific suppliers, for example, **Uber** might always be categorized as **Taxi allowance**, and **Facebook Ads** as **Marketing Ads**.

Once this strategy is selected, you can [assign a specific value to each supplier](/help/editing-the-supplier-expense-categorization):

1. In the [Payhawk Web Portal](https://portal.payhawk.com), go to **Suppliers**.
2. Select the desired supplier and go to its **Expense categorization** tab.
3. Set the desired value for the expense field.

From then on, all expenses from that supplier will automatically use the configured value.

![Suggestions set to Supplier, and a supplier's Expense categorization tab with a default Project value.](https://cdn.payhawk.com/GA%3AFields%20library/suggestions_supplier_defaults_20261022_ai.png)

### Setting a default auto-populated value for all suppliers

You can also set a default value for all suppliers from the **Suggestions** > **Default value for all suppliers** drop-down list in case a specific supplier doesn’t have one assigned. For example, if the **Supplier location** field isn’t set for a supplier, you can default it to **Germany**. The more supplier values you configure, the higher your expense automation rate will be.

![Suggestions set to Supplier, with Website Redesign as the default value for all suppliers.](https://cdn.payhawk.com/GA%3AFields%20library/suggestions_supplier_default_all_20261022_ai.png)

### Auto-populating fields for all employees and teams

If **Suggestions** is set to **Team / employee** and expenses are being auto-populated, you must assign a default suggested value for the selected field for each employee or team.

> [!TIP]
> This auto-population strategy is useful for fields that are directly tied to the employee or team, such as **Cost center**, **Department**, or **Location**.

Once this suggestion strategy is selected, you can [assign values to each team and employee](/help/editing-the-employee-and-team-expense-categorization):

1. In the [Payhawk Web Portal](https://portal.payhawk.com), go to **Employees**.
2. Select the desired employee or team and go to their **Expense categorization** tab.
3. Set the desired value for the field.

> [!TIP]
> By default, the employee inherits the default value from their team - in this case, you will see the **Use team default** option in the expense categorization section. If no value is set for the team, the system will check the parent team, and so on.
> 
> For example, if the **Marketing - Website** team is assigned the **Project: Website Redesign**, all team members will automatically inherit that value. This inheritance logic saves time, reduces manual setup, and ensures consistent categorization across the organization.

![Suggestions set to Team / employee, a team's Expense categorization tab with a Project value, and an employee's tab showing Use team default.](https://cdn.payhawk.com/GA%3AFields%20library/suggestions_team_employee_defaults_20261022_ai.png)

Additionally, you can set a default value for all teams and employees to be used when no specific value is assigned from the **Suggestions** > **Default Cost center value for all teams / employees** drop-down list. For example, if no **Cost center** is set for an employee or their team, you can default it to **Contractor expenses**.

![Suggestions set to Team / employee, with Website Redesign as the default Project value for all teams and employees.](https://cdn.payhawk.com/GA%3AFields%20library/suggestions_team_employee_default_all_20261022_ai.png)

### Auto-populating the tax rate field

The tax rate plays a key role in both the tax reclaim process and how expenses are categorized. In Payhawk, the built-in **Tax rate** field supports the following suggestion strategies.

#### Supplier-driven tax rate suggestion

You can assign a specific tax rate to each supplier, or leave it blank and manually enter the rate for each expense.

To set a tax rate per supplier, go to **Suppliers** > **[Selected supplier]** > **Expense categorization** > **Tax rate**. This works similarly to the [supplier-based suggestion strategy](/help/automatic-population-of-expense-field-data#h_e70d9bfcd0) for other fields.

#### Category-driven tax rate suggestion

Alternatively, you can define a tax rate for each category. In this case, the selected category will automatically suggest the corresponding tax rate.

> [!WARNING]
> Category-driven tax rate suggestions are not available if you have a live ERP integration where tax rates and categories are managed directly from your accounting system.

## Defining a **Note** field template

You can automate the **Note** field by creating a template. You may choose to display specific expense data, such as the **Spend ID**, have Payhawk AI populate the field based on historical data, or combine both options. For more information, see the article on [using smart note suggestions and templates](/help/enabling-the-smart-expense-note).

## Useful resources

- [Editing the employee and team expense categorization](/help/editing-the-employee-and-team-expense-categorization)
- [Editing the supplier expense categorization](/help/editing-the-supplier-expense-categorization)