# 5 Steps to Turn a Receipt Photo into a Google Sheets Row > A visual guide: an n8n AI agent reads a receipt photo, pulls out the date, vendor and total, picks a category and adds a row to Google Sheets. Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/visual/5-steps-receipt-photo-to-google-sheets · Updated 2026-10-01 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com) [Step-by-step guide](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/visual#format-steps-carousel) · 7 slides · [n8n](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/n8n) By [Robert Breen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about) · Published October 1, 2026 · From the free lesson [AI Receipt Extractor: Receipts to Google Sheets with n8n](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-receipt-extractor-n8n-google-sheets) A visual guide: an n8n AI agent reads a receipt photo, pulls out the date, vendor and total, picks a category and adds a row to Google Sheets. Swipe or scroll sideways for all 7 slides. The whole guide is written out below. ## The guide in text An n8n agent reads the date, vendor and total, picks a category and logs it. 5 steps. ## Step by step 1. ### Chat trigger and AI Agent Create a workflow, add `On chat message`, then search for agent and add the AI Agent node. 2. ### Pick a model that can see Add an OpenAI Chat Model, reuse your saved credential and change the model to **gpt-4o**, which can read images. 3. ### Point it at the Invoices sheet Four headers: Date, Category, Vendor and Amount. Append Row, and the sparkle button next to each column. 4. ### Three short lines of instructions You will get a receipt. Extract the date, vendor and amount, come up with a category, and use the sheets tool to add it. 5. ### Attach a receipt, check the row A Corner Mart receipt (a made-up store): April 24, 31.57, filed as Groceries without being told. Spot-check the first batch. Businesses and people in the examples are made up (Corner Mart is a made-up business). The steps, screens and wording come from the free lesson and the Stepthrough glossary and prompt library. ## Do it yourself, free **AI Receipt Extractor: Receipts to Google Sheets with n8n**. Drop a photo of a receipt into an n8n chat. An AI agent reads it, pulls out the date, vendor and amount, picks a category, and adds a row to Google Sheets. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of n8n, it checks your work as you go, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on. Free, and nothing touches your real accounts. [Start the free lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/receipt-extractor) [Or read the full step-by-step guide](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-receipt-extractor-n8n-google-sheets) ## Related terms Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson. [Data extraction](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/data-extraction) · [Multimodal AI](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/multimodal-ai) · [Field mapping](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/field-mapping) · [Append row](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/append-row) · [Audit trail](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/audit-trail) · [Chat model](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/chat-model) · [Credential](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/credential) · [Expense categorization](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/expense-categorization) [The full AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary) ## Related prompts - [Receipt details extraction prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/receipt-details-extraction-prompt): Pull date, vendor, tax, total and job from receipt photos into a table, with "Unreadable" instead of guesses and a check that… - [Expense categorization prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/expense-categorization-prompt): Sort a batch of expenses into your own categories, with a short note each and a Needs Review bucket for anything unclear… - [Expense report summary prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/expense-report-summary-prompt): Summarize a month of expense or reimbursement rows for the owner: totals by category and status, what's waiting, and flags to… - [Google Sheets columns plan prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts/sheet-columns-plan-prompt): Plan the Google Sheets columns for an n8n automation: header names, what goes in each, who fills it, and which must match your… [All free prompt templates](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/prompts) ## From the blog - [How to Start Using AI in a Small Business: 5 Projects](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/blog/start-using-ai-small-business): How to start using AI in a small business: five first projects, from better prompts to an inbox agent, with what each saves and what it costs. - [Learn n8n from Zero: Free Projects in the Right Order](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/blog/learn-n8n-for-beginners): Learn n8n for beginners with six free, hands-on projects in a sensible order, from templates to AI agents to a web form, plus what you need for real. - [Get Receipts into Google Sheets with AI and n8n](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/blog/receipts-to-google-sheets-ai): Receipts to Google Sheets without typing: build an n8n agent that reads a receipt photo, picks a category and adds a row. Plus an expense categorizer. ## More visual guides - [What Is AI Data Extraction? A Visual Guide](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/visual/term-data-extraction-explained): A visual guide to AI data extraction: pulling the date, vendor and total out of a receipt photo and into Google Sheets, from a real n8n lesson. - [5 Steps to an AI Agent That Categorizes Business Expenses](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/visual/5-steps-ai-expense-categorizer): A visual guide: an n8n agent sorts expenses into a fixed list of categories, flags unclear ones as Needs Review and saves them to Google Sheets. - [5 Steps to an AI Email Responder That Only Writes Drafts](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/visual/5-steps-ai-email-responder-drafts): A visual guide: an n8n agent reads each new Gmail message and saves a reply as a draft in the same thread. You read it and click Send. [All visual guides](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/visual) · [All free tutorials](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content)