---
title: Connect Gmail
description: Automatically capture receipts from your Gmail inbox.
section: inbox
order: 2
---

Connect your Gmail account to automatically capture receipts and invoices from your email. No manual forwarding required.

## How it works

Once connected, Midday:

1. Scans your inbox for emails that look like receipts and invoices
2. Uses AI to identify transaction-related emails
3. Extracts attachments and relevant data
4. Sends them to your Midday inbox for matching

The scanning happens automatically on a regular schedule.

## Connect Gmail

1. Go to [Inbox → Settings](https://app.midday.ai/inbox/settings)
2. Click **Connect Gmail**
3. Sign in to your Google account
4. Review the permissions and click **Allow**

You'll be redirected back to Midday once connected.

## What emails are scanned

### Emails we process

The AI looks for emails that are likely receipts or invoices:

- **Order confirmations**: Amazon, Shopify stores, e-commerce purchases
- **Digital receipts**: Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, travel bookings
- **Subscription receipts**: SaaS tools, streaming services, subscriptions
- **Invoice emails**: Bills, vendor invoices, payment confirmations
- **Bank notifications**: Transaction alerts with receipt information

### Emails we ignore

The AI filters out non-receipt emails:

- **Marketing emails**: Newsletters, promotions, sales announcements
- **Social notifications**: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook updates
- **Personal emails**: Messages from friends and family
- **Spam**: Anything in your spam folder
- **General business emails**: Meeting invites, project discussions

The AI is trained to distinguish between "someone sent me a receipt" and "someone sent me an email."

## What Midday accesses

Midday has **read-only** access to your Gmail:

| Permission | What it allows | What we do |
|------------|---------------|------------|
| Read emails | View email content | Scan for receipt-like patterns |
| Read attachments | View email attachments | Extract PDFs and images |

### What we cannot do

- Send emails from your account
- Delete or modify emails
- Access contacts or calendar
- Read drafts

## Privacy and security

### Data handling

- **Selective processing**: Only emails matching receipt patterns are processed
- **Secure storage**: Extracted receipts are encrypted in your Midday account
- **No training data**: Your emails are not used to train AI models
- **Team isolation**: Only your team can access your receipts

### What we store

- Extracted receipt/invoice files (PDFs, images)
- Extracted data (merchant, amount, date)
- Email metadata for deduplication (subject line, date, sender)

We don't store the full content of non-receipt emails.

### Compliance

- OAuth 2.0 authentication (we never see your password)
- Google Cloud verified application
- GDPR compliant data handling

## Scan settings

### Scan frequency

Midday scans your inbox periodically for new receipts. You can trigger a manual scan:

1. Go to [Inbox → Settings](https://app.midday.ai/inbox/settings)
2. Click **Sync now** next to Gmail

### Historical receipts

When first connected, Midday looks back at recent emails (typically the last 30-90 days) to capture existing receipts. After that, it monitors for new emails.

## Troubleshooting

### Missing receipts

If some receipts aren't being captured:

- **Check spam/trash**: We don't scan those folders
- **Unusual format**: Some receipt formats aren't recognized
- **Manual forward**: Forward specific receipts to your inbox email address
- **Wait for sync**: New emails may take a few minutes to process

### Too many non-receipts

If non-receipt emails are appearing:

- The AI sometimes misidentifies promotional emails as receipts
- Delete unwanted items from your Midday inbox
- Add the sender to your blocklist in [Inbox → Settings](https://app.midday.ai/inbox/settings)

### Duplicate receipts

Duplicates can occur if you:

- Forward manually and have auto-capture on
- Receive the same receipt to multiple email addresses

Midday attempts to deduplicate, but delete any that slip through.

### Connection issues

If the connection stops working:

1. Go to [Inbox → Settings](https://app.midday.ai/inbox/settings)
2. Click **Reconnect** next to Gmail
3. Re-authorize the connection

Google may require re-authorization periodically for security.

## Disconnect Gmail

To stop automatic capture:

1. Go to [Inbox → Settings](https://app.midday.ai/inbox/settings)
2. Click **Disconnect** next to Gmail

### Revoke from Google

You can also revoke access from your [Google Account settings](https://myaccount.google.com/permissions):

1. Find "Midday" in your connected apps
2. Click **Remove Access**

Receipts already in your Midday inbox remain; no new receipts will sync.

## Tips

- **Use alongside forwarding**: Belt and suspenders approach for maximum capture
- **Review weekly**: Check your Midday inbox for unmatched items
- **Confirm matches**: The AI learns from your confirmations
- **Use blocklist**: Block senders of unwanted non-receipt emails

[Set up receipt matching →](/docs/receipt-matching)
