Getting documents in
The simplest habits:- Ask counterparties, agents and banks to copy the workspace mailbox when they send documents. For example, Veltana Commodities SA asks its supplier Kanchana Siam Sugar to copy the mailbox on every invoice and certificate.
- Forward documents you receive in your own mailbox to the workspace mailbox.
- Set up a rule in your own mail client to forward certain senders automatically, if your company allows it.
What gets picked up
Each attachment on an email becomes its own document. Mercora reads these attachment types:
Some things are left out:
- Inline images, such as a logo in an email signature, are not treated as attachments.
- Calendar invites and contact cards (
.ics,.vcf) and attached emails (.eml) are set aside as not being documents. - Other file types that Mercora can’t read are set aside too.
Duplicates
Before storing an attachment, Mercora checks whether exactly the same file is already in your workspace, including files uploaded by hand. If it is, the attachment is skipped, so a document that is sent twice, or that is both emailed and uploaded, appears once. Only an identical file counts. A rescan or a re-saved copy is a different file and comes in as a new document. A document someone deleted from the record doesn’t count, so the same file sent again comes back in.Who owns it in the Inbox
When the email was sent or forwarded by a member of your workspace, from the address they sign in with, the new documents are assigned to that member. In the Inbox, use the Owner filter to see what you forwarded. Documents from anyone else, such as a supplier writing to the mailbox directly, start as Unassigned. If a member forwards a file that’s already in Mercora, the existing document is linked to that member’s email instead of being added again. See The Inbox.Sender filtering
Your Mercora team can limit the mailbox to emails from certain sender domains, for example to keep test messages or spam out of your Inbox. Emails from other domains are then ignored. If documents from a new counterparty don’t arrive, ask your Mercora contact whether a sender filter is in place.What happens to the email itself
The email isn’t thrown away once its attachments are picked up:- It travels with its documents. When you review a document from an email, the email shows in a bar above the document, with its sender, subject and body. You can select text in the email to save it as a note or to fill in a field.
- It’s used to request corrections. When you ask a counterparty to fix a document, Mercora pre-fills the reply to the original sender. See Requesting a correction.
- Its body can be screened for workflows. If your workspace uses them, Mercora checks the email body for a deal recap or contract terms (Deal capture), for carrier rate changes (Freight rates) and for vessel nominations. Anything it finds is staged in the Inbox for a person to confirm. Nothing is booked from an email on its own.
How it shows up in Mercora
New documents from email appear in the Inbox under Waiting while Mercora processes them, then move to Needs you when they’re ready for review. See Document processing.Troubleshooting
An emailed document hasn't appeared
An emailed document hasn't appeared
- Check the Waiting tab: it may still be processing.
- Check the Filtered tab: the file may have been set aside as not a trade document, or as a file type Mercora can’t read.
- Search the Inbox for the file name. If exactly the same file was already in Mercora, the attachment was skipped as a duplicate.
- Check that the email had the document as a real attachment, not as a link or an inline image.
- If none of these explain it, contact your Mercora team. A sender filter may apply.
A document was filtered by mistake
A document was filtered by mistake
Open it from the Filtered tab and use Reclassify… in the ⋯ menu to set the right type. Mercora then processes it again under that type.
Next steps
Document processing
What Mercora does with each attachment once it arrives.
The Inbox
Review what Mercora read and approve the document.