Topkey Docs

Topkey automatically checks each new bill against your existing bills as soon as it is added to your account. If a potential duplicate is found, you are warned before any payment is made — helping you avoid paying the same invoice twice.

How Duplicate Detection Works

When a new bill is created, Topkey runs up to four checks against your existing bills:

Identical file upload — If you upload the same invoice file more than once, Topkey detects the match based on the file's content.
Invoice number and vendor — If a bill shares the same invoice number and vendor as an existing bill, it is flagged.
Invoice number and amount — If a bill shares the same invoice number and dollar amount as an existing bill, it is flagged.
Vendor, date, and amount — For bills without an invoice number, Topkey checks whether the same vendor has already been billed for the same amount on the same date.

All duplicate checks are limited to bills within your own Topkey account. Bills from other accounts are never compared.

Where Duplicate Warnings Appear

When Topkey detects a potential duplicate, a Possible Duplicate banner appears at the top of the bill detail view. This banner is visible to anyone who opens that bill, making it easy for your team to catch the issue before approving or paying.

You can also spot flagged bills in your bill list — a warning indicator appears on any bill that has been identified as a potential duplicate.

Reviewing a Duplicate Warning

When you see the Possible Duplicate banner on a bill, you can compare the two bills before deciding how to proceed.

Open the flagged bill from your bill list.
Locate the Possible Duplicate banner at the top of the bill detail view.
Click View Original to open a side-by-side comparison of the flagged bill and the suspected original.
Review the details — such as vendor name, invoice number, date, and amount — to determine whether the two bills are truly duplicates.

Dismissing a False Positive

Some vendors legitimately reuse invoice numbers or send bills that look similar month to month. If you have reviewed the two bills and confirmed they are different, you can dismiss the warning.

From the Possible Duplicate banner, click Mark as Not Duplicate.
The warning is dismissed and the bill is treated as a unique record going forward.

Dismissing a duplicate warning is permanent. Make sure you have reviewed both bills carefully before marking a warning as a false positive.

Deleting a Confirmed Duplicate

If you review the comparison and confirm that the flagged bill is indeed a duplicate, you can delete it directly from the warning banner — no need to navigate away from the page.

From the Possible Duplicate banner, click Delete Duplicate.
The duplicate bill is removed from your account.

Deleting the duplicate from the banner is the fastest way to clean up your bill list without losing your place in the review workflow.

Frequently Asked Questions

What triggers a duplicate warning? A warning is triggered when a new bill matches an existing bill in your account by one of the following combinations: identical uploaded file content, invoice number plus vendor, invoice number plus amount, or vendor plus date plus amount (for bills that have no invoice number).

Can vendors reuse invoice numbers across different billing periods? Yes — some vendors issue monthly bills using the same invoice number format, which can trigger a false positive. If the bills are genuinely different charges, click Mark as Not Duplicate to dismiss the warning. Topkey will treat the bill as unique and will not flag it again.

How should I handle recurring bills from the same vendor with similar amounts? If a recurring bill is flagged, use View Original to compare the bill dates and any other details. If the bills represent separate billing periods or services, dismiss the warning using Mark as Not Duplicate. Going forward, make sure your vendors include a distinct invoice number on each bill, which helps Topkey distinguish recurring charges more reliably.

Questions? Contact Support