Document processing

What Mercora does with a document after it arrives, what each Inbox status means, and how to recover a document that fails.

Every document, whether uploaded or emailed, is processed automatically and then waits in the Inbox for someone to approve it. Nothing it says reaches your trade records until then. This page explains the stages, the statuses you’ll see, and what to do when a document fails.

The stages

1. Received. The file is stored. A saved email is opened into its attachments, and Word files are shown as PDF (the original stays downloadable).
2. Classified. Mercora works out the document type, unless you chose one at upload. A multi-document pack is split first. Anything that isn’t a trade document, such as a newsletter or meeting invite, goes to Filtered.
3. Extracted. Mercora reads the fields for that type and checks each against the page. This usually takes a minute or two, longer for long documents.
4. Matched. Mercora finds the trade the document belongs to, or recommends one. See Matching.
5. Reconciled. Mercora compares the document with its trade and flags differences. See Discrepancies.
6. Done. The document moves to Needs you in the Inbox.

Matching and reconciliation only run when your workspace uses the Trades module. Without it, documents complete on their own.

While a document is processing, it sits under Waiting with its stage and progress, for example “Extracting · 5/11”. There’s nothing to do: it moves to Needs you by itself.

Statuses you see in the Inbox

Status	Tab	What to do
Stage and progress, e.g. Matching · 7/11	Waiting	Nothing. Still processing.
Split review	Needs you	Confirm how a pack is split.
Unmatched	Needs you	Match it to a trade, or to no trade.
N disc.	Needs you	Review its N open discrepancies, then approve.
Clean	Needs you	Matched with no open discrepancies. Review and approve.
Failed	Needs you	See When processing fails.
Approved, Closed, Dismissed	Done	Nothing. Approved, an approved invoice that was closed, or rejected.
Filtered	Filtered	Check it if you expected a trade document.

Invoices also show AR (receivable) or AP (payable), or AR/AP? and Credit note? until you set them.

For example, when the twelve documents of sugar trade VCS-S-2026-0714 finish processing, eleven arrive Clean and purchase contract VCS-P-2026-0688 arrives Unmatched.

Document types

Mercora reads different fields for each type, including the references it uses for matching (trade reference, contract, B/L or L/C number).

Type	What it is
Contract (Purchase or Sale)	The signed agreement to buy or sell.
Trade Recap	The summary of terms sent after a deal is struck.
Amendment	A change to, or termination of, a contract.
Invoice	Commercial, freight, demurrage and proforma invoices, debit and credit notes.
Bill of Lading	The carrier’s receipt for cargo shipped by sea (B/L).
Railway Bill of Lading	The transport document for cargo shipped by rail.
Forwarder’s Certificate of Receipt	A forwarder’s confirmation that it received the goods (FCR).
Vessel Nomination	The notice naming the vessel.
Notice of Readiness	The master’s notice that the vessel is ready (NOR).
Statement of Facts	The agent’s timeline of the port call (SoF).
Letter of Credit	The bank’s payment undertaking (L/C).
Documentary Credit Advice	The advising or confirming bank’s notice of an L/C.
Insurance Certificate	Proof of cargo insurance.
Certificate of Origin	Where the goods come from.
Packing List	How the goods are packed, or the cargo manifest.
Quantity Certificate	A surveyor’s weight or quantity certificate, such as a draft survey.
Inspection Certificate	A quality analysis.
Compliance Certificate	A yes-or-no certificate, such as phytosanitary or fumigation. Shown with its own name, for example “Fumigation Certificate”.
Other Trade Document	Anything else trade-related, such as a booking confirmation.
Not Trade Related	Not a trade document. Set aside in Filtered.

Fix the type or reprocess

Both are in the document’s ⋯ menu and need permission to edit documents.

• Reclassify… sets the right type (or a custom label). Mercora keeps your choice and processes the document again under that type. The confirmation usually offers Undo.
• Full Reprocess runs every stage again, for example after a bad scan was replaced. Your field corrections are kept.

Reprocessing an approved document sends it back for review. A closed invoice can’t be reprocessed until you reopen it.

When processing fails

Mercora retries automatically. If a document still fails, it shows as Failed in Needs you, under Recover. Open it to see why, then:

• Force retry to run the whole process again, if the problem looks temporary.
• ⋯ › Reclassify… if it was treated as the wrong type.
• ⋯ › Delete from Record if it shouldn’t be in Mercora. This takes it off its trade and discards its discrepancies. The file is kept for recovery but hidden.

Next steps

• The Inbox: review a processed document and approve it.
• Matching documents to trades: how Mercora finds the trade, and how to settle it yourself.