Question 1

What file types do you accept?

Accepted Answer

PDF, JPEG, PNG, and TIFF. That covers everything — digitally-created PDFs, photos taken on a phone, fax-quality scans, and multi-page TIFFs. If it has readable text, CargoParse will get it.

Question 2

What document types can you extract?

Accepted Answer

Bill of Lading, Proof of Delivery, Rate Confirmation, Carrier Invoice, Commercial Invoice, Lumper Receipt, and Warehouse Receipt. That covers the core freight paperwork stack — any of those can be uploaded and extracted immediately.

Question 3

Do I need to install any software?

Accepted Answer

No. CargoParse runs entirely in your browser — nothing to download or configure. Upload a document, review the results, export. That's it.

Question 4

Who can access my documents?

Accepted Answer

Only you and members of your organization. Documents are stored encrypted at rest in AWS S3 and are accessible only to your account. CargoParse staff do not access your documents unless required for support. Your documents are never sold to third parties or used to train AI models. See our sub-processors page for the services involved in processing.

Question 5

Is my data secure?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Documents are stored encrypted at rest (AES-256) in AWS and in transit (TLS 1.2+). Your documents are never sold to third parties or used to train AI models. Processing involves our listed sub-processors (AWS, Anthropic). See our Privacy Policy and Sub-processors page for details.

Question 6

How long are my documents stored?

Accepted Answer

Extraction results — the structured fields, line items, and search keys we pull from your documents — are kept permanently on every plan, including Free. They're only ever deleted if you delete them. Activity log entries (your audit trail of uploads, exports, deletions, etc.) are also permanent on every plan. Source files (the original PDFs, JPGs, PNGs, or TIFFs you upload) are kept for 90 days on Free; on every paid plan they're kept permanently. Paid plans can shorten retention via account preferences if you have a compliance reason — solo accounts manage this themselves; on team plans, only the Owner or Admin can change the team's window because it applies to every team member. The new window applies to every document already uploaded too, computed from each doc's original upload date (so a 90-day window deletes a 30-day-old doc in 60 days). The account interface previews how many documents a proposed change would queue for deletion before you commit. If you cancel a paid subscription, your extraction results are preserved indefinitely; new source-file uploads after cancellation use the Free 90-day window.

Question 7

What's the difference between the plans?

Accepted Answer

Plans differ on document volume, team size, source-file retention, and automation. Volume: 20 docs/month on Free, 200 on Haul ($29/mo), 750 on Fleet ($79/mo), and 2000 on Terminal ($149/mo). Team: Free is solo-only; Haul supports 5 members, Fleet 10, Terminal 25. Automation and integrations — REST API access, webhooks, and email-to-upload — are paid-plan only; Haul gets 10 API keys at 30 req/min, Fleet 25 at 60 req/min, and Terminal 50 at 120 req/min. Retention: extraction results are permanent on every plan; source files are kept 90 days on Free and permanently on every paid plan. Core extraction, OCR, templates, exports, and email notifications work the same on every plan.

Question 8

What happens when I hit my monthly limit?

Accepted Answer

Uploads are paused until your billing period resets. Your existing documents and exports are still fully accessible. You can upgrade your plan at any time to immediately increase your limit.

Question 9

What if the extraction gets something wrong?

Accepted Answer

You can re-extract any document for free — it doesn't count as a new upload. On the document card click **Wrong type?** to pick the correct type from the dropdown, then **Re-extract as ...**. This is useful when CargoParse picked the wrong document type (e.g., classified a Rate Confirmation as a Bill of Lading), when you want to retry after a failed extraction, or when you just want a second pass on a document with many flagged fields. Each plan allows plenty of re-extractions per billing period.

Question 10

Can I cancel anytime?

Accepted Answer

Yes. No contracts, no cancellation fees. From **Account → Profile** you can either cancel your subscription only (drop to the Free plan, keep your account + data + integrations) or fully delete your account. Cancellation keeps your subscription active until the end of the billing period you've already paid for. After cancellation your extracted data stays accessible indefinitely; new source-file uploads after that point use the Free 90-day window.

Question 11

How accurate is the extraction?

Accepted Answer

Accuracy varies depending on document quality and format. Each extracted field includes a confidence score so you can see which fields may need review. You can edit any field directly in the app. If the extraction is off — wrong document type, too many missing fields — you can change the type and re-extract for free.

Question 12

Do I need to set up templates before I can export?

Accepted Answer

No. CargoParse creates a Smart Template automatically after your first upload — it includes the most important fields for that document type plus any extra fields found in your document. You can export immediately. As you process more documents, CargoParse suggests new fields to add based on patterns it sees. You can also create custom templates with your own column names for your TMS.

Question 13

Can I connect CargoParse to my TMS or other software?

Accepted Answer

Yes — via the REST API, webhooks, and CSV/Excel export. The API lets you submit documents and retrieve results programmatically. Webhooks push a structured payload to any HTTP endpoint the moment a document finishes. Export templates let you map field names to exactly the column names your TMS expects.

Question 14

Do you have an API?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on paid plans (Haul, Fleet, Terminal). API keys can be created from the Account → Developer tab. The API supports the same upload and retrieval workflow as the web interface — submit a document, poll for results, get structured field data back. See the /developers page for the full endpoint reference and code examples.

Question 15

Can I upload documents by email instead of uploading manually?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on paid plans. Each account gets a unique upload address (like upload-abc123@in.cargoparse.com). Forward or CC that address on any email with a PDF or image attachment and CargoParse will process it automatically — no browser visit needed.

Question 16

Can I get extracted data sent to me automatically?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Paid plan users can enable "Attach export to emails" in Account → Notifications. When a document is completed or approved, the notification email includes the extracted data as an attachment in your preferred export format — Excel, CSV, JSON, or PDF. Forward it to your team or drop it into your TMS without logging in. Free plan users receive notification emails but without file attachments.

How to Use CargoParse

Getting Started

Working with Extracted Data

Exporting

Notifications & Automation

Teams & Organizations

Your Account

Mobile & Camera