Needs attention is one of the four review statuses a document can have: Pending, Needs attention, Reviewed and Rejected. It means the document is marked as needing changes before you can rely on it. Someone on your team can set it by hand, one of your automations can set it, or SparkReceipt sets it on its own when a scan finds something that should be checked.
When SparkReceipt sets it, the reason is written on the document: open the document and look at the Comments tab. You'll find a comment from System that says what was found and what to do.
Where to see why a document needs attention
- Open the document.
- Open the Comments tab. In the web app it sits next to Details and Lines.
- Read the comment from System.
Two of the reasons also show a notice at the top of the document, with a button to confirm:
- Check the date with the button Date is correct
- Check the payment method with the button Confirm payment method
If a document is marked Needs attention and there is no System comment, the status was set by a person or by one of your automations. Ask your team, or check your automations.
Why SparkReceipt marks a document Needs attention
SparkReceipt flags a document automatically in these cases:
| What the comment says | What to do |
|---|---|
| No date could be read, so the date was set to a default | Set the correct date, or confirm it with Date is correct |
| No amount could be read, so the document came through empty | Type in the details, or add a clearer photo and rescan |
| The line items do not add up to the document total | Check the line items against the receipt and fix the missing or wrong line |
| A line has a tax rate that matches none of the rates on the document, or a leftover adjustment line suggests the tax mode was misread | Check the tax on the lines and the Tax calculation setting |
| The other party matches your own account name, which usually means the document was read from the wrong side | Check whether it should be an Expense or an Income, and fix the Merchant or Payer |
| A gift card or voucher payment carried a VAT deduction, so the stored tax may be too high | Check the tax amount |
| More than one payment method could match the card on the receipt, or the card's digits matched a different payment method than the one first picked | Check the payment method, or confirm it with Confirm payment method |
| The document's date is inside a closed accounting period | Check the date, or ask an admin about the closed period |
To change a document from Expense to Income or back, see How do I change a document from Expense to Income (or to another type)?.
How to clear Needs attention
- Fix the cause. When you change the date or the payment method, or press the notice's confirm button, that reason is cleared. A rescan that no longer finds the problem clears it too. When the last reason is gone, the document goes back to Pending, unless someone on your team has set its review status by hand before.
- Set the status yourself. Change Review status on the document to Reviewed once you have checked it. This works for every reason, including the ones that have no confirm button.
In the web app, the Review status field can be changed by admins, by Accountants and by the person who submitted the document.
Find every document that needs attention
Web app: open Documents in the left sidebar, add the Filter for Review status and choose Needs Attention. To change many documents at once, select them, open Actions and pick a status under Review status.
Mobile app: the Home tab has a Needs attention section that opens a list of these documents, with Mine and All tabs. In the Documents tab you can also filter by Review status.
Mark documents Needs attention yourself
You can use the status as a to-do marker, for example for documents that are missing a Merchant. Which fields are required on a document, and which can I leave blank? shows how to find such documents and flag them in bulk, by hand or with SparkAgent. Your auto-assign automations can also set a review status, see How to set up automations in SparkReceipt.
Needs attention is not the same as Duplicate
A possible duplicate gets its own Duplicate badge and a Resolve duplicate button, and does not change the review status. See How to find and resolve duplicate documents.