Voice Entry

Voice Entry lets you record transactions by speaking instead of typing. Say something like "received a five hundred dollar donation from Jane Smith for the youth program" and NP Ledger fills in the form for you. You review the results, correct anything that's off, and save.

Have a receipt instead? Use Scan Receipt on the Quick Entry page to photograph it -- NP Ledger extracts vendor, amount, date, and category from the image. Voice Entry and Receipt Scanning share the same monthly usage quota.

Entering transactions one field at a time is slow, especially on a phone. Voice Entry captures multiple fields from a single sentence -- amount, contact, fund, program, transaction type -- so you can record a donation or expense in seconds instead of minutes.

• A working microphone (built into most phones and laptops)
• Standard or Professional tier subscription (Voice Entry is not available on the Starter plan)
• Voice Entry is available on the Quick Entry and Placeholder Entries pages

Step 1: Open Quick Entry

Go to Quick Entry from the sidebar or click the Quick Entry shortcut on your dashboard.

Step 2: Start recording

Click the microphone button next to the form. Your browser may ask for microphone permission the first time -- click Allow.

Step 3: Speak naturally

Describe the transaction in plain language. Include as many details as you can:

• Amount: "five hundred dollars" or "$500"
• Type: "donation," "expense," "bill payment," or "in-kind contribution"
• Who: the supporter or vendor name ("from Jane Smith," "to Office Depot")
• What for: the fund, program, or project ("for the youth program," "general fund")
• When: the date, if not today ("on March 15th")

Example: "Received a two hundred dollar donation from the Garcia family for the building fund on March 10th."

NP Ledger uses real-time speech-to-text to transcribe your words, then extracts the transaction details using AI.

Step 4: Review the parsed fields

After you stop recording, NP Ledger shows a Voice Entry result card with the transcript at the top and a checklist of every field it filled in. The checklist groups what was filled, what's still required, and what's optional, so you can see at a glance whether the form is ready to save:

• Amount -- the dollar value it heard
• Transaction type -- donation, expense, bill payment, etc.
• Contact -- the supporter or vendor name
• Account -- the revenue or expense account
• Fund -- which fund to record against
• Program and Project -- if mentioned
• Date -- defaults to today if not specified
• Description -- a summary of what you said

The transcript above the checklist is the source of truth -- compare it against the filled values, and edit any field that doesn't match what you actually said.

Step 5: Correct any fields

The form is pre-filled with the extracted values. Fix anything that wasn't parsed correctly:

• If the contact name is wrong, select the right one from the dropdown
• If the fund or program didn't match, pick the correct option
• If the amount is off, type the correct number

Edits update the result card in real time, so the checklist always reflects the form's current state. If voice prefilled something you'd rather start over on, click Undo voice fill in the result card to clear the prefilled values without losing your transcript.

Step 6: Save the transaction

Click Save to record the transaction. It works exactly like a manually entered Quick Entry from this point.

Voice Entry can recognize these fields from your speech:

• Compare the transcript at the top of the result card against the filled fields -- it's the most reliable check on whether NP Ledger heard you correctly
• Verify the fund and program are correct -- defaults apply if Voice Entry couldn't determine them from your speech
• Check that the amount is right -- background noise or unclear speech can cause misheard numbers (e.g. "fifty" vs "fifteen")

• Speaking too quickly or with background noise. Slow, clear speech gives much better results. Move to a quieter spot if possible.
• Forgetting to specify the fund or program. If you don't mention one, NP Ledger uses your defaults. This is fine for general donations but may be wrong for restricted gifts.
• Not reviewing extracted fields before saving. Always read the transcript at the top of the result card and compare it against the filled values -- the most common mis-extraction is a misheard amount or contact name.
• Using Voice Entry for complex transactions. For transactions that touch multiple funds or have unusual structures, manual entry in Quick Entry is more reliable.

Tip: Voice Entry also works on the Placeholder Entries page. Use it to quickly capture a reminder when you're away from your desk -- you can complete the full transaction later.

Tip: If you captured a receipt photo on a placeholder, you can extract fields from it later using the Extract from Photo button when you complete the placeholder.

Open the AI Help panel and try: - "How do I use voice to enter a donation?" - "Why didn't voice entry pick up the fund name?" - "How do I undo a voice entry that filled in the wrong values?"