How documents become data
Documents reach Merchaint three ways — uploaded, emailed in, or imported as a spreadsheet — and all three land in the same place, the Documents inbox, where Merchaint reads them into fields you can check against the original page.
- A walkthrough video, then why documents become data at all
- The three ways in, and which one to use
- What to expect once a document lands, and how to tell Ready from actually read
- Troubleshooting notes, then FAQ
01 · Video
Feature walkthrough
02 · Why
Why do we have this?
Invoices arrive as PDFs, not as data. Someone has to open each one, work out what it is, type the numbers into a system, then check them against the purchase order.
Merchaint does the opening, the reading and the typing. You still make the decisions.
Why is it set up this way?
Documents reach you in three different ways, so there are three ways in. You might already have a folder of PDFs. A supplier might email you. Another system might give you a spreadsheet.
All three end up in the same place — the Documents inbox. After that they behave the same.
03 · Use cases
The three ways in
| You have | Use | See |
|---|---|---|
| Files on your computer | Upload | Upload documents |
| A supplier who emails invoices | An email inbox | Forward documents by email |
| A spreadsheet | Import | Import a spreadsheet |
Which one should I use?
| Use | When |
|---|---|
| Upload | You already have the files. Also the best way to test a new document type. |
| The documents come from someone else and you don't want to download them by hand. | |
| Import | The data was never a document — old ledgers, opening balances, supplier lists. |
04 · How
- Send the document in using one of the three ways above.
- Watch it in the inbox. Everything lands in
Inboxand shows a status while it is read. - Open it and check. You will see the fields Merchaint found next to the original page.
- Deal with anything that went wrong. Documents that failed show up in
Exceptions.
05 · Expected result
Your document shows up in Inbox within a minute or so, marked Ready, with its type next to it. Open it and you will see the fields Merchaint pulled out. You did not type any of them.
06 · Troubleshooting / notes
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Nothing arrived | The file was turned away. Check the formats and size limits on the upload box. |
It says Ready but there are no fields | It finished, but nothing was read. Open it and try again. |
| The type is wrong | Reprocess it and pick the right schema. See Fix a document that was read wrong. |
It says Failed | It is waiting in Exceptions. |
07 · FAQ
What is this?
Everything that happens between a document arriving and you having data you can use.
What does it do?
It reads invoices, purchase orders, goods receipts and credit notes, and turns them into records you can search, match and export.
Common questions
No. Merchaint works that out and picks a matching schema. If it gets it wrong, you can change it afterwards.
Into the module that matches their type. The inbox row tells you which one.