Invoice inbox sweep is AI invoice extraction from email that Athena runs every Monday and emails to you as a spreadsheet, PowerPoint deck and Word document. It is a scheduled starter in the Athena Library, under Finance: invoices from your email in one sheet, every week. The files are built in your own templates if you have them, otherwise in your brand. It needs email connected (Outlook or Gmail).
Built for: Finance & FP&A · Finance, PE, credit & venture
Contents
01How to automate an invoice inbox sweep with AI
To automate an invoice inbox sweep, open this prompt in Athena. It runs once, learns from your feedback, then runs on a schedule and delivers an invoice sheet every time.
- Open the prompt in Athena. Use "Open in Athena", or copy the prompt into a new Athena chat.
- Let it run once. It asks for anything it can't work out; here it needs nothing beyond your connected email; it sweeps the last 7 days.
- Tell it what to change. Say what to add, cut, or fix. Athena updates the scheduled agent's setup, and your template or brand if it's about the files, so every later run follows your feedback. It tells you what it changed.
- Pick a schedule. It keeps running, builds on the last run, and keeps taking feedback.
02What arrives every run?
Built in your Word, PowerPoint, and Excel templates if you have them, otherwise in your brand.
- A spreadsheet with one row per invoice, with these columns: vendor, invoice number, invoice date, due date, amount, currency, flag, source email. Each scheduled run adds a dated tab to the same spreadsheet.
- A PowerPoint deck: with the logo on the title slide, a one-slide summary, a slide per section with a chart wherever there are numbers, and a so-what slide.
- A Word document: with the logo in the header, the full brief, and every source cited.
- An email from Athena to your own address with the three files and a short summary. If Athena cannot send email in your workspace, it says so.
03How often does it run?
Every Monday at 7am, or every weekday or monthly instead. When the first run finishes, Athena asks which schedule you want and which sections to keep, and confirms your time zone. A scheduled agent then runs the same brief, reads the latest dated tab before each run, and reports only what changed. It says plainly when nothing material changed, and says when a comparison is not available.
04The prompt
Copy the prompt into a new Athena chat and send it.
Sweep my email for invoices received in the last 7 days. Pull vendor, invoice number, dates, amount, and currency, flag duplicates and anything due in the next 10 days, and total what we owe by vendor. Deliver three files in my company's brand. If I have Word, PowerPoint, or Excel templates in Athena, ask once which to use and build every file from them, keeping their layouts, styles, and formulas. For the brand, use my company's design system if one exists. Otherwise find my company's website (search the web if you are not sure of the domain), run design_system_retriever on it to get the real logo, colors, and fonts, and save the result with create_design_system so every run matches. Use the real logo image; never redraw it or type the company name in its place. The files: (1) a spreadsheet with one row per invoice (vendor, invoice number, invoice date, due date, amount, currency, flag, source email); (2) a PowerPoint deck with the logo on the title slide, a one-slide summary, a slide per section with a chart wherever there are numbers, and a so-what slide; (3) a Word document with the logo in the header, the full brief, and every source cited. Brand colors and fonts throughout, one idea per slide, no walls of text. Finish with a short summary in chat that links all three. When each run finishes, this one included, email me the three files from Athena: send them to my own email address with the chat summary in the body. If Athena cannot send email in this workspace, say so instead. When you are done, ask me if I want this every Monday at 7am (or every weekday, or monthly instead). Also ask which sections to keep and confirm my IANA time zone (for example America/New_York), and pass it explicitly when creating the schedule. If I choose a schedule, set up a scheduled agent that runs this same brief on it, keeps the spreadsheet asset ID and any template IDs in its instructions, reads the latest dated tab before each run, and reports only what changed since the last run. It says plainly when nothing material changed, and says comparison is unavailable if the prior tab cannot be read. Each run adds a dated tab to the same spreadsheet and makes a new dated deck and document. Whenever I give feedback on a run, in this chat or a later one, update the scheduled agent's instructions (and the template or design system when the feedback is about how the files look) so every later run follows it, then tell me exactly what you changed.
Opens a new Athena chat with this prompt ready to send. If you're not signed in, you'll sign in first and land in the same chat.
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06Why run it in Athena
| A chat assistant | Athena | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | Text in a chat | Real Excel, Word, and PowerPoint files in your templates |
| Working together | One person, one chat | Your team and the agent in the same file, live |
| Mistakes | Regenerate and start over | Every edit attributed; undo or roll back any change |
| Next run | Starts from scratch | Builds on the last run and on your feedback |
| Your data | Copy and paste | Documents, email, and warehouse, under each person's access |
| Where it runs | Their cloud | Yours, if you need it |
07Questions teams ask
What is Invoice inbox sweep?
Invoice inbox sweep is AI invoice extraction from email that Athena runs every Monday and emails to you as a spreadsheet, PowerPoint deck and Word document. Invoices from your email in one sheet, every week.
How do I automate an invoice inbox sweep with AI?
To automate an invoice inbox sweep, open this prompt in Athena. It runs once, learns from your feedback, then runs on a schedule and delivers an invoice sheet every time.
Can I improve it after the first run?
Yes. Tell it what to change after any run. Athena updates the scheduled agent's instructions, and your template or brand if the feedback is about the files, so every later run follows it.
Does it need any setup?
Yes. It reads email, so connect Outlook or Gmail with your own account first.
Can it use our templates?
Yes. If you have Word, PowerPoint or Excel templates in Athena, it asks once which to use and builds every file from them, keeping their layouts, styles and formulas.
How does it know what changed?
Each run adds a dated tab to the same spreadsheet. Before a run, the scheduled agent reads the latest tab and reports only what changed since then.