> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mercora.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Mercora works

> What happens to a document from arrival to approval, and why a person always approves.

Mercora reads your trade documents, files them against the right trade and checks them. You make the decisions. This page explains each step and where you stay in control.

## From document to trade

**1. A document arrives**

You [upload it](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/uploading.md) or it comes in by [email](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/email-ingestion.md). Mercora splits a saved email into its attachments, and a scanned pack into separate documents. With **Bundle review** on, it holds the pack until someone confirms the split.

**2. Mercora reads it**

It works out the document type and reads the fields that matter, such as parties, references, quantities, prices, dates and vessel. See [Document processing](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/processing.md).

**3. Mercora matches it to a trade**

Mercora links a document on its own only when a reference (trade, contract, deal or B/L number) matches exactly one trade, or the match is highly confident. It always shows why. Otherwise it recommends the most likely trade and waits for you to click **Match**. If a reference fits several trades, it asks you; if nothing fits, the document stays **Unmatched**. You can change the match at any time. See [Matching documents to trades](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/matching.md).

![The Match step with a recommended trade and the Match button](https://mintcdn.com/placeholder-f4ffdeec/22McaegbdDRSI41b/images/documents/match-step-recommended.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=22McaegbdDRSI41b\&q=85\&s=02a8088829f6d0daa68f1aa1f8624703)

The purchase contract doesn't carry the trade's reference, so Mercora recommends a trade, says why, and waits for you.

**4. Mercora checks it**

It compares the document with the trade and the trade's other documents, and flags differences such as a quantity outside tolerance or a weight that differs between the B/L and the invoice. See [Discrepancies](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/discrepancies.md).

**5. You review and approve**

In the [Inbox](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/inbox.md), you check what Mercora read beside the original, correct anything wrong, settle the discrepancies and click **Approve** (available once the document is matched and checked). Until you approve, the document isn't part of your trade records.

Approved data then feeds the trade, its financials, shipments and the P\&L, depending on your [modules](https://docs.mercora.io/concepts/modules.md). The [walkthrough](https://docs.mercora.io/getting-started/walkthrough.md) shows the whole flow on one trade.

## A person approves

Mercora recommends; a person on your team approves.

* **Nothing counts until approved.** Mercora never approves a document or changes your trade records by itself. Workflows such as deal capture, hedging and automations start off, and your admin turns each one on.
* **You can see why.** Mercora shows what it read, where, and why it matched or recommended a trade. When it's unsure, it says so.
* **You can change it.** Correct a field, move a document to another trade, or reclassify it. Your decisions are kept if the document is processed again. Mercora records who approved and who matched by hand.

The same rule applies everywhere. The [Copilot](https://docs.mercora.io/copilot/overview.md) only sees data your role can see, and anything it would do outside Mercora, such as sending an email, waits for your **Approve**. Workflows and automations put their proposals in the Inbox. Requests sent through the [API](https://docs.mercora.io/api-reference/introduction.md) land in the Inbox too: a hedge request isn't sent to your broker until someone on your team sends it.

## Next steps

* [Walk through a trade](https://docs.mercora.io/getting-started/walkthrough.md): the whole flow on one trade.
* [Matching documents to trades](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/matching.md): how matches and recommendations work.


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