Benefits of integrating with Otto Capture

Otto Capture turns receipts, bills, sales invoices and credit notes into coded entries in your client’s FreeAgent account. The supplier, dates, totals and line items are extracted from every document, and line items come as standard rather than a paid extra, so the detail behind mixed tax rates and split categories is always there.

Coding is guided by each client’s own history. Every document is assessed on its own terms, and the suggested category and tax rate draw on how that supplier has been coded for that specific client before. That history stays separate per client, so one client’s treatment is never mixed with another’s. You decide how much to check before anything reaches FreeAgent, adjusting as much as each client needs.

Documents arrive by upload, by a submission email address branded to your practice, or over WhatsApp, so clients have a simple way to send things in without creating an account. And if you use a FreeAgent Practice Dashboard, you connect once and add any of your managed clients.

Otto Capture is priced per client, per month, based on the documents published to FreeAgent, not duplicates, not documents you have discarded not and documents still waiting to be published. If a client has no documents published in a given month, that client is completely free.

How Otto Capture works with FreeAgent

You connect a client to FreeAgent from inside Otto Capture, either as a Company connection for a single business you run, or a Practice connection for adding clients from your FreeAgent Practice Dashboard. The person who authorises the connection needs permission to manage bills. Once connected, Otto Capture synchronises the reference data needed to process documents correctly. This includes your contacts, accounting categories, tax rates, currencies and the organisation’s details.

As documents arrive, Otto Capture extracts the supplier, dates, totals and line items, matches the supplier to your FreeAgent contacts, and suggests the category and tax rate from how that client has been coded before. You review and adjust as much as you need, then publish into FreeAgent.

When you publish, bills land in the FreeAgent ledger with the original document attached, so the paperwork stays with the entry. Sales invoices arrive as drafts for you to complete in FreeAgent. Credit notes publish too, each recorded the way FreeAgent handles it. The correct tax treatment and currency are applied to each document, matching how that client’s FreeAgent account is set up.

How do I get started with Otto Capture?

You connect to FreeAgent from inside Otto Capture by following these steps:

1. If you don’t already have an account, create one in Otto Capture (opens in new window)and take advantage of an extended 60-day free trial.
2. From the Clients page in Otto Capture, click ‘Add client’.
3. Choose the FreeAgent option that fits: ‘I run my own business’ for a single company, or ‘Add a FreeAgent client from your practice’ if you manage clients from a FreeAgent Practice Dashboard.
4. Sign in to FreeAgent and authorise Otto Capture. The authorising user needs permission to manage bills.
5. Otto Capture syncs the client’s contacts, categories, tax rates and currencies, ready for you to complete any client setup.
6. Send documents in by upload, the client’s branded email address or WhatsApp, check the extraction and coding, and publish to FreeAgent.