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New Expensify provides a guided onboarding experience to help you set up your account and workspace based on your needs. This comprehensive flow ensures you have the right configuration for your use case.

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Overview

The onboarding flow adapts based on:
  • Your email domain (public vs. private/work domain)
  • Your intended use (personal expenses, team management, etc.)
  • Company size and existing tools
  • Whether you have access to existing workspaces
The entire process takes 5-10 minutes and can be completed on any device.

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Onboarding Steps

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1. Personal Details

Purpose: Set up your profile with basic information. What You’ll Provide:
  • First name: Your given name
  • Last name: Your family name
These details are used across Expensify for your display name in chats, reports, and workspace member lists.
Validation Rules:
  • First name is required
  • Names cannot contain URLs or special characters
  • Maximum length: 50 characters per field
  • Cannot use reserved words
Progress: 20% (or 80% for private domain users with existing workspaces)

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2. Work Email Verification (Conditional)

When This Appears: Only if you signed up with a public email domain (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc.) Purpose: Link a work email to access your company’s workspace and get the best onboarding experience. Benefits of Adding Work Email:
  • Automatic workspace access: Join your company workspace automatically
  • Professional profile: Associates you with your organization
  • Enhanced features: Unlocks domain-specific policies and settings
1

Enter Work Email

Provide your company email address (must be from a private domain)
2

Validate Email

Check your inbox for a validation code and enter it to confirm
3

Merge Accounts

Your personal and work profiles are merged into one account
If you’re merging accounts and your work email has an existing Expensify account, certain restrictions may apply during the merge process.
Skip Option: You can skip this step and continue with your personal email. You can add a work email later from settings. Progress: 10%

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3. Join a Workspace (Conditional)

When This Appears: For private domain users or after work email validation if accessible workspaces exist Purpose: Join existing company workspaces in your organization. What You’ll See:
  • List of workspaces matching your email domain
  • Workspace name and owner
  • Number of members in each workspace
  • Join method (automatic or request to join)
Actions Available:
  • Join Now: For workspaces with automatic joining enabled
  • Ask to Join: Submit a join request to workspace admins
  • Skip: Continue to create your own workspace
If you join a workspace at this stage, the onboarding flow may complete early, taking you directly to the workspace.
Progress: 60%

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4. Purpose Selection

Purpose: Tell us how you plan to use Expensify to customize your experience. Available Options:
For team leads and finance managers who need to:
  • Set up company expense policies
  • Approve team member expenses
  • Integrate with accounting systems
  • Issue company cards
Next Steps: Company size and accounting integration questions
For employees who need to:
  • Submit expense reports to their company
  • Track business expenses
  • Get reimbursed by their employer
Next Steps: Personal details only, then you’re done
For individuals who want to:
  • Monitor personal expenses
  • Categorize spending
  • Track budgets
Next Steps: Create a personal workspace
For casual users who want to:
  • Chat with friends and coworkers
  • Split bills and expenses
  • Send and receive money
Next Steps: Basic setup only
Just exploring Expensify’s featuresNext Steps: Minimal setup, access to demo features
Your selection determines which features are enabled by default and what subsequent onboarding steps you’ll see.
Progress: 20% (or 60% for private domain users)

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5. Company Size (For Team Management)

When This Appears: Only if you selected “Manage Team” as your purpose Purpose: Help us recommend the right features and limits for your organization. Size Options:
  • 1-10 employees (Micro)
  • 11-50 employees (Small)
  • 51-250 employees (Medium)
  • 251-1000 employees (Large)
  • 1000+ employees (Enterprise)
Company size helps Expensify suggest appropriate:
  • Approval workflows
  • Spending limits
  • Integration recommendations
  • Feature configurations
Progress: 80-90%

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6. Accounting Software

When This Appears: After company size selection for team managers Purpose: Identify your existing accounting system for seamless integration setup. Supported Integrations:
  • QuickBooks Online
  • QuickBooks Desktop
  • Xero
  • NetSuite
  • Sage Intacct
  • SAP
  • Oracle
  • Microsoft Dynamics
  • Other: For different systems
  • None: Not using accounting software
Selecting your accounting software automatically enables the Connections feature in your workspace, making it easier to sync data later.
What Happens Next:
  • The integration feature is pre-enabled in your workspace
  • You’ll see setup instructions in the workspace settings
  • Categories and tax codes can sync automatically once connected
Progress: 80%

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7. Feature Interests

When This Appears: After accounting software selection for team managers Purpose: Customize which workspace features are enabled from day one. Feature Categories: Already Enabled (based on previous selections):
  • Categories: Organize expenses by department, project, or type
  • Connections: Accounting software integrations
  • Company Cards: Corporate card management
  • Workflows: Approval chains and automation
You May Be Interested In:
  • Travel: Book and manage business trips
  • Rules: Automated expense policies
  • Distance Rates: Mileage tracking and reimbursement
  • Expensify Card: Virtual and physical corporate cards
  • Tags: Multi-dimensional expense coding
  • Per Diem: Daily allowance management
  • Time Tracking: Log billable hours
You can toggle any feature on or off. All features can be enabled or disabled later from workspace settings.
How It Works:
  • Check features you want to use
  • Uncheck features you don’t need
  • Features marked as “requires update” need additional configuration
What Happens After Selection:
  • A workspace is created with your chosen features enabled
  • You’ll receive a welcome message with next steps
  • Onboarding tasks guide you through initial setup
Progress: 90%

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8. Workspace Creation

When This Happens: Automatically after feature selection or purpose selection (depending on your path) What Gets Created:

Workspace

Your company or personal workspace with:
  • Default currency (based on your location)
  • Enabled features from your selections
  • Initial categories and settings

Admins Chat

A private chat room for workspace admins to:
  • Discuss workspace management
  • Receive Expensify notifications
  • Coordinate policy changes
Default Settings Applied:
  • Currency: Based on your personal details (local currency)
  • Categories: Standard expense categories
  • Members: Just you initially
  • Admin: You are the workspace owner

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9. Post-Onboarding Tasks

After completing onboarding, you’ll see a checklist of recommended tasks in the Admins chat or Concierge chat. Common Tasks (vary based on your purpose):
  • Create workspace ✓ (auto-completed)
  • Invite team members: Add employees to your workspace
  • Connect accounting integration: Complete accounting system setup
  • Connect corporate card: Link existing company cards
  • Set up categories and tags: Customize expense coding
  • Add expense approvals: Configure approval workflows
  • Submit test expense: Try the expense submission flow
  • Submit an expense: Create and submit your first expense report
  • Track an expense: Log a personal expense
  • Track an expense: Log your first transaction
  • Create categories: Set up budget categories
  • Start a chat: Message a friend
  • Split an expense: Share a bill with others
Task Features:
  • Click any task to jump directly to the relevant screen
  • Tasks auto-complete when you perform the action
  • You can dismiss or skip tasks at any time
  • Access the task list anytime from the workspace chat

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Special Onboarding Paths

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VSB (Very Small Business) Signup

For micro-businesses (1-10 employees), the flow is streamlined:
  1. Work Email (if public domain)
  2. Skip to Accounting Software (purpose pre-selected as “Manage Team”)
  3. Feature Interests
  4. Workspace Creation
Company size is automatically set to Micro.

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SMB (Small/Medium Business) Signup

For companies with 11+ employees:
  1. Work Email (if public domain)
  2. Skip to Company Size (purpose pre-selected as “Manage Team”)
  3. Accounting Software
  4. Feature Interests
  5. Workspace Creation

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Private Domain with Existing Workspace

If you have a work email and your company already uses Expensify:
  1. Personal Details
  2. Join a Workspace (optional)
  3. Purpose Selection
  4. Based on purpose, you may skip workspace creation
Progress Bar: Starts at 20% instead of the usual starting point.

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Test Drive Mode

At various points in onboarding, you can access Test Drive mode:

What is Test Drive?

A guided demo environment where you can:
  • Explore Expensify features risk-free
  • See sample expenses and reports
  • Practice workflows without affecting real data
  • Learn the interface at your own pace
How to Access:
  • Look for “Take a test drive” links during onboarding
  • Available after completing initial setup
  • Can be dismissed once you’re ready to use the live environment

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Skipping Onboarding

You can skip certain steps in the onboarding flow:
Skipping steps may result in a less optimized experience. You’ll need to configure skipped items manually from settings later.
What You Can Skip:
  • ✅ Work email verification
  • ✅ Joining existing workspaces
  • ❌ Personal details (required)
  • ❌ Purpose selection (required)
When to Skip:
  • You’re just exploring and not ready to set up
  • You want to configure everything manually later
  • You’re in a hurry and will return to complete setup

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After Onboarding

Once onboarding is complete, you’ll land in one of these locations:

Concierge Chat

Your personal Expensify assistant
  • New users with no workspace
  • Individual accounts
  • After skipping workspace creation

Workspace Admins Chat

Your workspace management hub
  • Created a new workspace
  • Joined as workspace admin
  • Team management users

Workspace Chat

The general workspace discussion
  • Joined existing workspace as member
  • Auto-joined through domain

Test Drive Demo

Interactive demo environment
  • Selected Test Drive mode
  • Exploring features

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Resuming Onboarding

If you exit during onboarding, Expensify saves your progress: How Resume Works:
  • Your answers are saved automatically
  • Reopen the app to continue where you left off
  • The progress bar shows your current position
  • Previously entered data is pre-filled
Finding Your Place:
  • The onboarding flow automatically resumes on next launch
  • Check the progress bar percentage to see how much remains
  • You can go back to previous steps using the back button

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Onboarding Flow Navigation

Back Button Behavior:
  • Takes you to the previous onboarding screen
  • May skip certain conditional steps on the way back
  • Doesn’t save changes when going backward
  • Some screens (like work email) cannot be backed out of once submitted
Progress Bar:
  • Shows percentage of onboarding completed
  • Different paths have different total steps
  • Ranges from 10% (start) to 100% (complete)
  • Updates automatically as you progress

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Common Questions

Your initial purpose selection sets up your workspace configuration, but you’re not locked in. You can:
  • Enable/disable any workspace features from settings
  • Change your workspace type later
  • Create additional workspaces with different purposes
Company size is used for initial recommendations but doesn’t restrict functionality. You can adjust workspace settings, limits, and features at any time regardless of the size you selected.
Yes! Go to Settings > Profile > Contact Methods and add your work email. You may then gain access to your company’s workspace.
Select “Other” during onboarding. You can explore other integration options or use manual export features from workspace settings. Some third-party tools may also connect via API.
Onboarding can only be completed once per account. However, you can:
  • Create a new workspace anytime from the workspace menu
  • Access all onboarding settings from workspace configuration
  • Contact Concierge for help resetting your account (data loss may occur)
Yes! The onboarding flow is fully supported on iOS, Android, and web. Your progress syncs across all devices, so you can start on one device and finish on another.
If your company already has a workspace and you join during onboarding, you become a member with the permissions assigned by workspace admins. You won’t go through workspace creation steps.

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Getting Help During Onboarding

Concierge Support

Expensify’s AI assistant is available 24/7 during onboarding. You can:
  • Ask questions about any step
  • Request clarification on features
  • Report issues or bugs
  • Get personalized recommendations
Access Concierge from the help button or chat icon during onboarding.

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Next Steps

After completing onboarding:
1

Complete Onboarding Tasks

Work through the checklist in your workspace chat to fully configure your account
2

Invite Team Members

Add coworkers or employees to your workspace (for team management)
3

Submit Your First Expense

Try creating and submitting an expense to familiarize yourself with the flow
4

Explore Settings

Review workspace settings, categories, and features to customize your experience

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