PaperLess, a leading accounts payable automation software for Sage, Xero, Orderwise and SAP Business One, announced the launch of AI-Powered Multiline Recognition, a new capability that reads and understands multi-line invoices automatically, without the manual template or zone setup that traditional invoice-capture tools require.
The update targets one of the most persistent pain points in accounts payable: invoices with large numbers of line items, purchase orders, utility bills, multi-site recharges, and supplier statements that break template-based OCR the moment a layout changes. With Multiline Recognition now running on PaperLess AI, finance teams can process these invoices without pre-configuring templates, drawing capture zones, or maintaining rules each time a supplier updates their format.
The Problem With Line-by-Line Data Entry
Multi-line invoices have historically been one of the hardest documents for automation software to handle reliably. Conventional OCR-based tools rely on templates mapped to a specific supplier’s layout, so a new supplier, a redesigned invoice, or simply a longer document than usual can cause accuracy to drop off, often pushing the invoice back into a manual queue.
This isn’t a niche problem. According to Gartner’s 2025 CFO and finance leader survey, 59% of finance leaders reported using AI in their finance function in 2025, with accounts payable automation ranking as the second most common AI use case, cited by 37% of adopters, behind only knowledge management. Separately, industry surveys on AP automation (see Medius’s coverage of the Ardent Partners State of ePayables research) point to the majority of AP teams now using AI in some part of their invoice-processing workflow, reflecting how central this shift has become to finance operations.
Introducing PaperLess AI Multiline Recognition
PaperLess AI Multiline Recognition is built to remove that fragility entirely. Rather than matching an invoice against a pre-built template, PaperLess AI reads each invoice on its own terms, extracting every line, however many there are and however many pages the invoice runs to, with accuracy that doesn’t depend on the invoice’s length or complexity.
Three changes define the update:
No manual setup
There are no templates to build and no capture zones to draw. The system is ready to process a new supplier’s invoice the first time it sees one.
It reads and understands, not just captures
PaperLess AI interprets what’s on the page rather than pattern-matching against a fixed layout, so it holds up when a supplier changes their invoice design or when a document runs far longer than usual.
Prompt-based customization
Finance teams can ask PaperLess AI directly for how they want data retrieved, for example grouping costs by site or project, applying specific nominal codes, tax codes, departments or cost centres, or reducing a long invoice down to just its summary lines, without any additional configuration.
Built for Sage, Xero, Orderwise and SAP Business One
Multiline Recognition is part of PaperLess’s wider invoice recognition suite, and is designed to work within the accounting and ERP platforms finance teams already use, including certified integrations with Sage and Xero, as well as Orderwise and SAP Business One. Existing PaperLess customers using the Multiline module will see the AI capability roll out to their accounts in the coming weeks; new customers can add the module directly.
What This Means for Finance Teams
For accounts payable teams, the practical impact is fewer invoices requiring manual intervention and less time spent re-keying line-item data, particularly for supplier categories that have historically resisted automation: multi-site facilities invoices, utility bills with variable line counts, and long purchase-order-matched invoices from manufacturing or distribution suppliers.
Multi-line invoices are exactly where traditional automation breaks down: a new supplier, a longer document, a layout no one configured for, and suddenly it’s back on someone’s desk,” said Diogo Cavazzini, Product & Marketing Director at PaperLess. “We built Multiline Recognition on PaperLess AI so it doesn’t need a template to begin with. It reads the invoice the way a person would, and finance teams can just tell it how they want the information back. That’s the shift we’re most excited about, moving from software that has to be configured for every case to software that understands the case in front of it.”
AI-Powered Multiline Recognition is available now. Existing customers can find more detail, including how to prompt PaperLess AI, at the Multiline Recognition page. Prospective customers can book a demo to see it running on their own invoices, or explore PaperLess’s published case studies for examples of AP automation in practice.
About PaperLess
PaperLess is a leading accounts payable automation software for Sage, Xero, Orderwise and SAP Business One, helping finance teams eliminate manual invoice processing. PaperLess is a certified partner for both Sage and Xero. More information is available at paperlesseurope.com.
