Line item extraction splits supported documents into individual lines, so you don’t need to manually break down receipts, bills, or invoices.
For each extracted line, Dext captures:
Description
Total amount
Tax amount (Tax codes and tax rates are not extracted.)
If parts of a document are blurry or unreadable, some fields may be left blank.
Important: Only Admin users can manage line item extraction.
Credits and usage
Each subscription includes a set number of line item extraction credits (in all regions except France).
Admins can:
Enable or disable extraction for suppliers
View credit usage
Purchase additional credits
This is managed from:
Business settings > Subscription (for Businesses)
Practice settings > Subscription (for Practices)
Line item extraction for Costs
For Costs documents, line item extraction can be used in two ways:
Automatically, for all future documents from a supplier
Manually, for individual invoices only
Automatic extraction (supplier-level)
Automatic line item extraction works at supplier level. Once enabled, all future documents from that supplier are sent for extraction.
You can enable this in several places:
From the Suppliers list
Go to Costs > Suppliers.
Use the Extract line items toggle for the supplier.
From the Supplier rules page
Open a supplier from the Suppliers list.
Turn Extract line items on or off.
From the Item details page
Open an item’s Details page from the Costs inbox.
Click the green Set supplier rules button under the Supplier field.
3. Use the Extract line items toggle.
Once enabled, extracted line items appear at the bottom of the Item details page.
Extract line items for a one-off Cost item
If you don’t want to enable automatic extraction for all invoices from a supplier, you can extract line items for individual Cost items.
This is useful for one-off purchases or exceptions.
Important: This feature is available to Practice users accessing client accounts, or Businesses with a subscription that includes line item extraction.
To extract line items for a single invoice:
Open the item's Details page.
Click Extract line items.
Supported document types (Costs)
Line item extraction is supported for the following Costs document types:
Invoice
Receipt
Credit note
Delivery note
Line item extraction is not supported for:
Statements
Remittance advice
These documents are processed normally and don’t use credits.
Line item extraction for Sales documents
Line item extraction is also available for Sales documents, with one key difference.
For Sales documents:
The same information is extracted as for Costs (description, total amount, tax amount).
Extraction is manual only - you cannot set customer rules or enable automatic extraction.
Note: Line item extraction for Sales documents uses the same pricing model as Costs and counts towards your overall line item extraction allowance.
Extract line items from a Sales document
Open an item from the Sales inbox.
Scroll to the bottom of the item's Details page.
Click Extract line items.
Grouping line items
Grouping line items lets you automatically group extracted line items together based on their description, tax percentage, or both.
You set this up using supplier rules and a list of line item groups that define how items should be grouped.
For example, if you create a group called Stationery, Dext can group together line items with descriptions such as pens, paper, or rulers.
This helps create cleaner entries in your accounting software and makes reviewing documents faster and easier.
Set grouping rules for a supplier
You can enable line item grouping from the Suppliers list in Costs.
Go to Costs > Suppliers.
Open a supplier with line item extraction enabled.
Under Group line items by, choose how you want items grouped:
Line item group
Tax percentage
Line item group and tax percentage
Tip: You can also access the same grouping options from the Set supplier rules button on the Item details page.
Create line item groups
After selecting a grouping method:
Go to Business settings > Lists.
Under Line item groups, choose one of the following:
Select template – Use a pre-made template with suggested groups for your region. You can edit the templates after selection.
Import from CSV – Upload a CSV containing your groups.
Add new line item group – Create a group manually.
When an invoice is processed, Dext uses these groups to suggest the correct category automatically.
Example
A line item group called Vehicle Hire will group together lines with related descriptions (for example, car hire, van rental, or hire company names) and assign them to the category you’ve set.
Review grouped line items
When line items have been automatically categorised, you’ll see a brain icon next to the line items on the Item details page. This indicates that Dext has automatically categorised and grouped the line items based on your line item group settings.
To review how the line items were grouped:
On the Item details page, click Edit line items.
Automatically grouped line items are shown together, with an invoice icon showing how many individual lines are included.
3. Click into the group to view the individual line details.
If the grouping isn’t correct, you can select the grouped lines and click Unmerge to split them back into individual line items.
Automatically adding balancing lines
You can enable Automatically add balancing lines from a supplier's Supplier rules page.
When enabled, Dext adds a balancing line for any remaining amount that couldn’t be allocated, so you don’t need to balance it manually.
Tip: You can also access the balancing line option from the Set supplier rules button on the Item details page.