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Workspace settings shape how Mercora works for everyone in your workspace. Most of them are for workspace admins. Open Settings at the bottom of the sidebar. The Workspace group holds the pages on this page. Members, roles, API keys and integrations are covered elsewhere: see Members, Roles and permissions, API keys and Integrations. Use the search box at the top of Settings to jump to a page.

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Workspace profile

Settings → Workspace → Company profile holds three settings that affect numbers across the product.
Settings → Workspace with the Company profile card above the Modules list

Workspace settings for Veltana Commodities SA, reporting in USD on a calendar year, with the Modules list below.

Click Save after changing them.
Changing the reporting currency changes every converted figure in the workspace the next time it’s shown. Amounts in their own currency (an invoice’s face, a payment) don’t change.

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Modules

Settings → Workspace → Modules is where an admin turns parts of Mercora on and off for the whole workspace. Most modules start off, and some sit under a parent: a child switch only takes effect while its parent is on. For example, Cost & income plan needs Trade financials, which needs Trades. Turning a module on makes it available. Each member still needs the matching access in their role to see it. Click Save to apply your changes. See Modules for what each module does.

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Books

Available when the P&L module is turned on for your workspace.
A book is the bucket your firm carries deals in on the P&L, for example an agricultural desk and a metals desk. Settings → Books sets them up. A deal is in a book when:
  • its reference ends in one of the book’s codes, or
  • someone picks the book on the trade. A pick always wins over the code.
A book is never inferred from the cargo. Until you add any books, each deal shows on the P&L under the code at the end of its reference, as written, and nobody can pick a book on a trade. Add a book. Click Add book, give it a Name, and list its Codes (for example “AGRI, GRAIN”). A code can belong to one book only. A book with no codes is filled only by picking it on trades. Codes on your references lists the codes Mercora finds at the end of your deal references that no book claims yet, with how many deals carry each. Click Add as book to make one a book, or Add to book… to group it under an existing one. Adding a code to a book moves its deals into that book on the P&L. Delete a book. If deals were picked into it, you’ll need to pick another book on those deals (or choose Use the reference) first, or rename the book instead. Otherwise its deals go back under their reference codes, and saved P&L views filtered on that book drop the filter.
Available when the P&L module is turned on for your workspace.
Entities are your own companies that deals are booked under, for example Veltana Commodities SA and a sister company that signs some of your contracts. The P&L can group and filter by them. Settings → Entities sets them up. A deal reads its entity from your side of its contract. Each entity has:
  • a Name;
  • an optional Code, such as the prefix your references use;
  • Also written as: other spellings your contracts use for the same company, one per line.
A deal belongs to an entity when your side of its contract carries its name or one of its other spellings. Seen on contracts, not set up lists the company names on your side of contracts that no entity covers yet. Those deals show as No entity. Click Add as entity, or Add as spelling of… to attach the name to an existing one. Until you add any entities, each deal reads its entity straight from the names on its contract, and nobody can change it on a trade. Once you have, members can pick a different entity on a trade, which overrides what the contract says. Removing an entity sends its deals to No entity until it’s listed again.

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Custom fields

Settings → Data model lists the records Mercora keeps: Contracts, Trades, Shipments, Counterparties, Invoices and Derivatives. Open one to see its fields. The Fields tab lists Mercora’s own fields, with where each one’s value comes from (Filled from) and whether Mercora fills it in, suggests a value, or leaves it to you (AI fill: Auto, Suggest or Off), followed by your workspace’s own fields. Create a field.
1

Open the record type

In Data model, open the record you want to add a field to, such as Trades.
2

Create the field

Click Create field. Give it a Name and an optional Description.
3

Pick the type

Choose Text, Number, Decimal, Date, Select or Checkbox. A Decimal field takes a Unit shown after every value, such as % or MT. A Select field takes a list of options. The type and unit can’t be changed after creation.
Your fields appear on each record’s page, in its properties panel or details card, where anyone who can edit the record can fill them in. Each record type holds up to 50 active fields. Archive a field to hide it without losing its values. Archived fields are listed under Archived and can be unarchived. Options on a Select field can be archived the same way. The Relationships tab shows how records link to each other, such as a trade to its shipments. These are fixed by Mercora and can’t be added to. If the module that owns a record type is off, you can still set up its fields. They take effect when the module is turned on.

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Invoice categories

Every invoice is filed under one category, such as Cargo, Freight or Insurance. Categories drive the Category column on invoices, the cost and income plan, and the cost breakdowns in reports. Open Settings → Data model → Invoices → Category to manage them. Your workspace starts on Mercora’s standard list: Cargo, Freight, Inspection & Analysis, Insurance, Demurrage, Despatch, Port & Terminal, Customs & Duties, VAT, Bank & Finance, Brokerage & Commission, Claims & Adjustments, and Other. Your first change makes the list your own. Each category sits in one of four kinds, and the kind decides how reports treat it:
  • Add category: give it a name, a kind, and a description under When does an invoice belong here? Mercora reads that description when it files new invoices, so the clearer it is, the better invoices are filed.
  • Rename or re-describe a category at any time.
  • Change a category’s kind and every invoice filed under it moves to the new kind in every report. Mercora asks you to confirm.
  • Switch a category off to retire it: invoices already filed under it keep it, but it’s no longer offered for new ones. The fallback category, marked Fallback (Other in the standard list), can’t be switched off. It’s where an invoice goes when no other category fits.
  • Reset to go back to Mercora’s standard list. Categories you added disappear from pickers, and invoices filed under them read as Other in reports until they’re re-filed.
New invoices are filed against your list as soon as you change it. Invoices already filed keep their category until they’re reprocessed or changed by hand.

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Contract templates

Available when the Contract drafting module is turned on for your workspace.
Settings → Contract templates is the library of Word contracts your team drafts from. Admins manage it. Members with Contracts access can view and download templates.
1

Upload

Click Upload template and choose a .docx file.
2

Name and tag it

Give it a Name and a Side (sales or purchase). These two are required. Set an Entity, Incoterm or Commodity only where your team keeps a separate form for it. Left as Any, the template fits every deal.
3

Add drafting notes

Write down how to fill it in, for example “Number as S + YYYYMM + deal number” or which clause to use for arbitration. The Copilot follows these notes for layout and wording. They never supply deal values.
Each template’s menu offers Download, Edit details, Replace file… (upload a new version) and Archive. An archived template leaves the list but its files are kept, and you can Restore it. Members then ask the Copilot to draft a contract from a template. See Draft contracts from your templates.

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Futures instruments

Available when the Derivatives module is turned on for your workspace.
Settings → Derivatives holds the reference data for each futures contract you trade. The fill form only offers instruments defined here. For each instrument, set the Commodity (Cocoa or Coffee), Exchange (LDN or NY), a Display label (the name shown in the fill form), the Currency as a three-letter code, and the Tonnes per lot. Click Add instrument. Tonnes per lot is what turns lots into tonnage across the Derivatives ledger and allocations. See Derivatives.

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Notifications

Notifications are personal: each member sets their own under Settings → Notifications, in the Personal group. A notification tells you when an Inbox item lands for you. Every channel starts off.
  • Browser: shows a notification while Mercora is open in a tab. Your browser asks for permission the first time.
  • WhatsApp: messages your linked number when an automation needs your decision. See WhatsApp.
  • Email: can be switched on, but its page shows Not sending yet: no emails are sent today.
Members without Inbox access see a note instead, since there’s nothing to notify them about.

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Freight house rules

Available when the Freight Rates module is turned on for your workspace.
Settings → Freight house rules lists your workspace’s own decisions for the freight master, which the freight workflow follows ahead of its general rules. To add a rule, tell the Copilot the rule and approve it. To stop following one, retire it here. See Freight Rates.

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Next steps

Members

Invite people and assign roles.

Modules

What each module does and what it needs.

P&L

See the reporting currency, year, books and entities at work.