Matching documents to trades

Every document needs to end up on the right trade before its discrepancy checks can run and before you approve it. Matching is the first step of reviewing a document in the Inbox, and Mercora does most of the finding. How far it goes depends on how sure it is:

• When it’s sure, it links the document itself and shows you why.
• When it’s less sure, it recommends a trade and waits for you to click Match.
• When a reference could point to more than one trade, it doesn’t guess.

Either way, the document still waits for you to approve it, and you can always change the trade. See How Mercora works for the trust model behind this.

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What Mercora links on its own

Mercora links a document to a trade without asking in two cases:

• An exact reference that identifies exactly one trade. Mercora looks for the trade reference, the contract number, the deal reference that ties a purchase and a sale contract together, and the B/L (bill of lading) number. If one of these matches exactly one trade, the document goes on that trade.
• Strong evidence across the document. When there’s no exact reference, Mercora weighs the rest of the document, such as the parties, product, quantity, vessel and dates, against your open trades. If the evidence clearly points to one trade, it links the document to it.

Under the Trade field, the review panel says why, for example:

• “Trade reference ALU-2026-0012 on the document”
• “B/L RCLLCH2607841 on the document”
• “AI match · Shipping marks explicitly cite CONTRACT VCS-S-2026-0714”

Mercora then runs the document’s checks against that trade straight away, so it’s ready for you to review. If the same reference appears on two or more trades, Mercora doesn’t pick one. It treats them as candidates and leaves the choice to you.

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Recommended trades

When Mercora has a likely trade but isn’t sure, it doesn’t link the document. Instead, it pre-selects that trade in the Trade field with a Recommended label and a short reason, for example “Recommended · AI suggestion · This is purchase contract VCS-P-2026-0688”. The line beside the button reads “Links it and runs the checks”. Nothing is linked until you click Match. For a contract or a recap that no trade carries yet, Mercora may recommend New trade from this contract (or from this recap) instead. See Starting a trade from a contract. If Mercora has nothing to recommend, the field is empty and the document sits in the Match section of Needs you with the status Unmatched. A note under the field may say why nothing was recommended.

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Match a document yourself

Under a trade you matched, the panel records who did it: “You matched it”, or “Matched by name”.

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A document that belongs to no trade

Some documents don’t belong to any trade, for example a general certificate or a document for a deal you don’t track in Mercora. Choose No trade at the bottom of the list and click Match. This “Records that it belongs to no trade · nothing to check”. When you approve it, the button reads Approve without a trade and asks you to confirm: “It won’t be on any deal or shipment.”

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Several documents at once

To put several unmatched documents on the same trade, tick them in the Match section of the rail (shift-click selects a range), choose the trade in Assign selected documents, and click Assign N documents. See The Inbox.

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Choosing the trade when you upload

If you pick a trade in Associate with Trade (Optional) when you upload, or upload from a trade’s Documents tab, the documents go straight onto that trade and Mercora doesn’t try to match them elsewhere.

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Starting a trade from a contract or recap

A contract or a recap is often the first document for a deal. When no trade carries it yet, the Trade list offers New trade from this contract (or New trade from this recap), and Mercora may pre-select it as its recommendation. The line under the field reads “Approve creates the new trade · nothing to check yet”. Click Approve: the approval flow opens and creates the trade from the document. Nothing is created until you approve.

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Trade legs

A trade usually has a purchase leg (buying from your supplier) and a sale leg (selling to your customer). Mercora never puts a document on a leg by itself. You set the leg for a contract when you approve it, in the approval flow’s Should this document create a trade leg? step. Other documents sit on the trade as a whole. See The Inbox.

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Change the trade before approving

On a matched document, click Change next to ✓ Match, pick another trade (or No trade), and click Match. Click Cancel to keep the current trade. If you’ve already resolved discrepancies against the current trade, moving the document drops them, because they were about that trade. The panel warns you, for example “Leaving trade drops 2 resolved differences”, and the button reads Match anyway.

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Move or unmatch an approved document

Once a document is approved, the Match step is fixed. To move it:

1. Open the ⋯ menu at the top of the document.
2. Choose Reassign to Trade.
3. Pick the new trade (the current one is marked Current), or choose Unmatched (remove from trade) to take it off its trade.

Mercora confirms with “Moved to trade” or “Document unmatched”. For documents that belong to a shipment, it then offers the new trade’s shipments so you can pick the right one. You can also do this from the ⋯ menu on the document in a trade’s Documents tab.

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When trades change

If a trade is created or changed while documents are still waiting for a match, Mercora tries to match them again. While it does, the Trade field says “Matching it again after a trade changed…”.

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Next steps