ApprovalMax Search Agent – Beta User Guide

Search Agent is an AI-powered assistant inside the ApprovalMax search drawer. Instead of manually picking filters from dropdowns, you describe what you're looking for in plain English – and it fills in the filters for you.

Search Agent reads your query and translates it into a set of structured filters: document type, status, date range, amount, contact/vendor, account, and more. It then populates those filters in the search panel – exactly as if you'd set them by hand.

The actual search is still performed by ApprovalMax's standard search engine. Search Agent doesn't return results directly; it sets up the right filter combination so the search can.

Beta Preview. Search Agent is currently available as a preview feature to selected organisations. Access is provided for evaluation purposes and does not form part of your subscription. ApprovalMax may modify, restrict, or discontinue access at any time. No warranty is provided for beta features.

Type what you're looking for into the search bar in natural language and click Search. You'll see the filters populated based on your query. You can review them, adjust anything that doesn't look right, and then proceed – or just let the results load as-is.

Manual filters remain available as before. Both paths run the same search underneath.

Example queries:

• "Approved bills over 500 pounds from this quarter"

• "Pending purchase orders from last week"

• "Bills from Acme Ltd that are waiting for approval"

• "Credit notes for amounts between 100 and 500"

• "Expenses coded to Travel from March"

• "Sales invoices to Client X in Q1"

Search Agent recognises the following document types. You can refer to them using any of the common terms listed.

Bills – "bills", "invoices" (default), "AP", "accounts payable", "vendor invoices"

Purchase Orders – "purchase orders", "POs"

Expenses – "expenses", "expense claims", "receipts", "reimbursements"

Expense Reports – "expense reports", "ERs"

Sales Invoices – "sales invoices", "AR", "accounts receivable", "customer invoices"

Credit Notes (payable) – "credit notes", "AP credit notes", "vendor credit notes"

Credit Notes (receivable) – "AR credit notes", "sales credit notes"

Sales Orders – "sales orders", "SOs"

Quotes – "quotes", "estimates"

Manual Journals (Xero) – "manual journals", "MJs"

Journal Entries (QBO) – "journal entries", "JEs"

Batch Payments – "bill batch payments", "airwallex batch payments", "amaxpay batch payments"

Note: If you use a generic term like "invoices" without further context, Search Agent defaults to bills (the most common use case). To search for sales invoices, say "sales invoices" or "AR invoices" explicitly.

Search Agent can set the following filters from your natural language query. Not every filter is available for every document type – Search Agent knows which filters apply and will only set the ones that are relevant.

Document type – The type of request (see table above). Example: "purchase orders"

Status – Approval status: approved, pending, rejected, on hold, on review, cancelled, draft. Example: "approved bills", "pending POs"

Supplier / Customer / Vendor – Contact names matched against your accounting data. Example: "bills from ABC Furniture"

Account – Expense or revenue account names or codes. Example: "bills coded to Travel Expenses", "account 710"

Date range – Start and/or end dates, including natural expressions. Example: "from last month", "Q1 2026", "past 30 days"

Amount – Minimum, maximum, exact, or range. Example: "over 5,000", "between 100 and 500"

Item / Product – Product or service names. Example: "invoices for Consulting Services"

Tracking Category (Xero) – Region, department, cost centre, service line, etc. Example: "bills for North region"

Class (QBO) – QBO class dimension. Example: "bills in class Overhead"

Department / Location (QBO) – QBO department or location. Example: "expenses in West Coast location"

Number – Document number. Example: "PO-1158"

Reference – Document reference. Example: "reference ABC-123"

You don't need to use the exact status names – Search Agent maps common synonyms:

"pending", "waiting", "awaiting approval", "in progress" → On Approval

"approved", "done", "completed" → Approved

"rejected", "denied" → Rejected

"on hold", "hold" → On Hold

"under review", "on review", "review" → On Review

"cancelled" → Cancelled

"draft" → Draft (must be requested explicitly – see note below)

Note on Draft status: When you ask for "all statuses" or "any status", Search Agent excludes drafts by default because drafts are pre-submission documents. To include drafts, say so explicitly – for example, "all bills including drafts" or "draft bills".

Search Agent resolves natural date expressions automatically. Examples:

• "last month", "this quarter", "Q1 2026"

• "past 7 days", "past 30 days"

• "January to March 2026"

• "this week", "last year"

• "since 2024", "before March"

• "recent" (resolves to the past 30 days)

You can also tell Search Agent to exclude specific values:

• "bills not from ABC Ltd"

• "purchase orders excluding account 4200"

• "expenses not under Tax service line"

Be specific when you can. Adding a date range, document type, or status helps the agent pick the right filters.

Use vendor names as they appear in your accounting system. Vendor and contact names are matched against your connected accounting data. The match requires the correct spelling – autocomplete or fuzzy matching is not available at this time.

Check and adjust. If the results seem off, check which filters were set. You can tweak them manually before searching again.

Use natural date expressions. "Last month", "Q1", "this week", "past 30 days" – the agent resolves them automatically.

One document type per query. If you need to search across both bills and purchase orders, run two separate searches.

Xero and QuickBooks Online only. NetSuite organisations are not supported at this time.

One organisation, one request type at a time. Cross-organisation and cross-request-type searches are not supported. Your query should target a single organisation and a single document type (e.g. bills, purchase orders).

Standalone requests are not supported. Search Agent only works with requests linked to an accounting integration – standalone ApprovalMax requests are out of scope.

No requester filter. You cannot filter by who submitted or created a request. The "Requester" field is not available to Search Agent.

No content or line-item search. Search Agent works with the same filter dimensions available in manual search. It won't search inside document content, descriptions, or line items.

No "overdue" or aging filters. The agent works with document dates and approval statuses, but doesn't have a concept of overdue or aging – there's no due date filter available.

No fuzzy matching on vendor names. Search Agent requires vendor and contact names to be spelled correctly. Typos or abbreviations that don't match the name in your accounting system will not resolve. If a vendor name isn't being picked up, check the exact spelling in Xero or QuickBooks.

Search Agent is a filter-setting tool, not a search engine replacement. It can't answer questions ("how many bills did we approve last month?"), and it can't find things that aren't covered by the existing filter dimensions. Think of it as a faster way to fill in the search form.

We'd love to hear what's working and what isn't. For any questions, comments, or feedback, please contact:

Danila Timerin: [email protected]

ApprovalMax Support: [email protected]