Dext has several automation features that reduce manual data entry at every stage of your bookkeeping workflow. This article explains what each feature does and how they interact when more than one rule applies to the same item.

Dext's automation features cover different parts of the document workflow - from how documents are coded and extracted, to how they're categorised and published to your accounting software.

Supplier and customer rules automatically apply coding defaults to every document from a specific supplier or customer. You can set defaults for category, tax rate, payment method, currency, description, due date, and paid status - as well as publishing behaviour.

You can also add a workflow note to a supplier, which appears at the top of the item details page as a reminder for anyone coding that supplier's documents.

For step-by-step instructions, see How to use supplier and customer rules in Dext.

Smart Split is part of supplier and customer rules. It lets you define how documents from a specific supplier or customer should be split into line items automatically - useful where you consistently need to split costs across different categories.

For step-by-step instructions, see Using Smart Split in Dext.

Line Item Extraction is also part of supplier rules. When enabled for a supplier, Dext extracts each individual line item from their documents rather than treating the document as a single total.

For step-by-step instructions, see How to use Line Item Extraction in Dext.

Payment method rules apply publishing behaviour - auto-publish, publish destination, and linked bank account - to every item paid using a specific payment method. You can also set a default payment method per user from the Payment methods page.

For step-by-step instructions, see How to set up payment method rules in Dext.

User rules automatically apply a default payment method or project to every Costs item uploaded by a specific user.

For step-by-step instructions, see How to set up user rules in Dext.

Auto-categorisation uses machine learning to assign a category to new Costs items based on how you've coded similar items in the past. It needs time to learn from your coding behaviour before it starts applying categories automatically.

For step-by-step instructions, see How Dext auto-categorises your Costs items.

Auto-publish automatically publishes eligible items to your connected accounting software after extraction. You can enable it at the supplier or customer level, the payment method level, or across your whole account.

For step-by-step instructions, see How to use auto-publish in Dext.

Smart Suggestions recommend values for your project fields and the Description field based on document content and your past coding behaviour. You can accept suggestions manually or turn on auto-apply in Automation settings.

For step-by-step instructions, see What are Smart Suggestions in Dext?.

All rules are applied automatically after Dext finishes extracting data from a document.

They apply to new items only - rules don't apply retroactively to items already in the inbox, except coding rules (category, payment method, and similar fields) when you choose Apply to all inbox items from the item details page.

When more than one rule applies to the same item and the same field, Dext follows this order:

Auto-categorisation fills in the category field only if no supplier rule has already set one.

If an item is subject to an approval workflow, it won't auto-publish - it stays in the inbox until the approval is completed, even if an auto-publish rule applies.

If auto-apply is on, Smart Suggestions won't apply to a field that already has a value set by a supplier, customer, or user rule.