> ## 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. # Freight rates > Send carrier rate sheets, emails and notices to Mercora. It proposes the exact changes to your freight master workbook, and you confirm them in the Inbox before anything is written. Your **freight master** is the Excel workbook where your team keeps the freight rates you've agreed with carriers: lanes, ocean freight, surcharges and free time. Keeping it current means reading every rate sheet, email and notice carriers send and retyping the changes. With Freight Rates, you hand those sources to Mercora. It reads them, compares them with your freight master, and proposes the exact cell changes. Nothing is written to the workbook until someone confirms. > [!NOTE] > > Available when the **Freight Rates** module is turned on for your workspace. Ask your workspace admin. Changes are reviewed in the Inbox, so the **Document inbox** module must be on too. ## Before you start: connect the freight master Freight Rates needs a freight master workbook in SharePoint. Without one there is no freight workflow: Mercora tells you to connect it instead. A workspace admin connects it once: **1. Connect Microsoft 365 and turn on Files** Under **Settings → Integrations → Microsoft 365**, connect your organization and switch on **Files**. See [Microsoft 365](https://docs.mercora.io/integrations/microsoft-365.md). **2. Add the workbook** In the **SharePoint** section, under **Add a SharePoint link**, paste the link of the Excel workbook (use **Copy link** in SharePoint). **3. Make it the freight master** Click **Make freight master** on the workbook. It then reads "Changed only through Freight Rates". The freight master is protected: the Copilot's and automations' ordinary file actions can't change it, whoever asks. It changes only through the Freight Rates review described here. ## Send Mercora a freight source A source can be a rate sheet, a carrier's email, a surcharge or free-time notice: Excel, CSV, PDF, Word or plain text. There are three ways in. **Upload** Go to **Upload**, choose **Carrier rate sheet** as the document type, and add the file. Picking the **Carrier** is optional; Mercora detects it. The rate sheet goes to the Inbox, not to your trade documents. **Email** Send or forward the carrier's email to your workspace's email inbox. Mercora recognizes freight from registered carriers and treats a spreadsheet as freight from any sender. The whole email, its body and every readable attachment, becomes one proposal. See [Email ingestion](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/email-ingestion.md). **Copilot** On **Home**, attach the rate sheet or paste the carrier's text, and ask the Copilot to update the freight master from it. With Freight Rates on, the chat also accepts .xls, .ods and saved emails (.eml). Every source from **Upload** or **Email** becomes one freight item in the Inbox. Preparing the proposal takes a few minutes. ## Review the proposed changes Open the freight item in the **Inbox**. It shows the source, and the plan: for each lane (for example Laem Chabang → Singapore), the cells Mercora wants to change, such as ocean freight or a surcharge, from the current value to the new one. Before confirming, you can correct the plan in place: skip a lane, type your own value, or take a column Mercora held back. Mercora flags any lane where the carrier's printed all-in rate doesn't add up from freight plus surcharges, so you can check it. Then: * **Confirm** writes your reviewed plan to the workbook, with your corrections. * **Reject** drops the plan. Nothing is written. (**Dismiss** when there is no plan.) * **Ask Copilot** opens a chat about the item, for example to have the plan reworked. Confirm or reset your corrections first; they live only on the card. If the master already says what the source says, or nothing in the source can be applied, the item reads **Nothing to apply** and nothing is written. ### What happens after Confirm Mercora writes to the sheet in the background. Before writing, it checks that the cells still hold what the plan expected; after writing, it reads every cell back. | Status | Meaning | | - | - | | **Applying** | Writing to the sheet. | | **Applied** | Every planned cell was written and read back. | | **Failed** | Nothing was written to the master. Retry it, or **Prepare again**. | | **Partly written** | Writing stopped part-way. The card says which cells reached the sheet, if known. | **Prepare again** starts from the plan you confirmed, so your corrections are kept, and the new plan comes back for review in a few minutes. ## Changes from the Copilot When you ask the Copilot for a freight change on Home, it prepares the same kind of plan and shows it on a card in the chat. **Approve** writes it; **Reject** drops it. As with every Copilot change, nothing is written until you approve. See [Copilot](https://docs.mercora.io/copilot/overview.md). You can also ask the Copilot freight questions, such as "Which freight rates expire this month?" or "Which forwarders have quoted us rates?". ## House rules House rules are your workspace's own decisions about the freight master, such as how a port is written. Mercora follows them on every Copilot request, upload and email, ahead of its general rules. You add a house rule by telling the Copilot, which proposes it on a card for your approval. **Settings → Freight house rules** lists them as **Active** or **Retired**; retire one there when Mercora should no longer follow it. ## Who can do what Your role needs the **Freight Rates** permission: view to see freight items, edit to upload rate sheets and confirm changes. See [Roles and permissions](https://docs.mercora.io/concepts/roles-and-permissions.md). If the **Freight Rates** module is turned off, the freight workflow stops and freight items are hidden from the Inbox. ## Next steps > **[Microsoft 365](https://docs.mercora.io/integrations/microsoft-365.md#the-freight-master)** > > Connect SharePoint and mark your freight master. > **[The Inbox](https://docs.mercora.io/documents/inbox.md)** > > Where freight changes wait for your Confirm. > **[Copilot](https://docs.mercora.io/copilot/overview.md)** > > Ask freight questions and request changes from a chat. 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