How it all fits together
Merchaint runs one chain, in one direction: a document arrives, it is read into fields, the fields are cleaned and connected to your records, records are compared against each other, and what agrees is reconciled and sent to your accounting software. Every feature in this Help Centre belongs to exactly one link in that chain — and a problem you see late is almost always caused by a link earlier.
Start to finish · the chain
- 1Arrive — getting documents in
Upload, forward to your workspace inbox, or import a spreadsheet. Every document lands in a module as a record, whatever the route.
Stalls when → the sender isn't allowed, or the file is a scan of a scan - 2Read — extraction
Text mode or Vision mode turns the PDF into fields and line items. This is the last point at which what you see is still the document rather than your data.
Stalls when → the wrong mode is set, or the layout is new to the workspace - 3Clean & connect — lookups and mapping rules
Raw text becomes your data: lookups link names to records, mapping rules rewrite codes and labels into your own vocabulary.
Stalls when → a lookup is missing, so values stay as strings - 4Compare — matching
A match block names the two sides and the fields to compare, with tolerances for the differences you are willing to accept.
Stalls when → fields compared are unresolved, or tolerances are too tight - 5Settle — reconciliation and review
What agrees is reconciled automatically. What does not comes to review with a reason, to pair by hand or send back for a fix.
Stalls when → nobody owns the review queue - 6Outcome — sync to accounting
Reconciled records post to Xero, QuickBooks or your ERP, and rules keep the next month running without a person in the middle.
Stalls when → the connection is unauthorised, or a line item or reference was never mapped
Outcome matrix · which feature gets you there
Read a row to find the outcome you want, then work left to right: the feature that does most of the work, what you configure, and where the answer lives.
| Outcome you want | Link in the chain | Feature to use | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stop chasing suppliers for PDFs | Arrive | Workspace inbox forwarding | Email a document in |
| Get totals off a scanned invoice | Read | Vision mode extraction | How Merchaint reads different documents |
| One supplier, one row in reporting | Clean & connect | Lookup on the name field | What Smart Recognition does |
| Codes written your way, not theirs | Clean & connect | Mapping rules | Mapping vs matching rules |
| Invoices checked against their POs | Compare | Match block | Set up a match block |
| Accept a few pence of difference | Compare | Tolerances and fuzzy matching | Tolerances |
| Know why something is still open | Settle | Review queue and match reasons | Why isn't this reconciled? |
| Clear a month without spreadsheets | Settle | Statement reconciliation | Review and pair by hand |
| Numbers in the ledger, not in Merchaint | Outcome | Accounting integration sync | Connect Xero or QuickBooks |