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Delivery notes as PDFs, straight into your warehouse

Goods arrive with a delivery note — as a PDF in an e-mail, or on paper in the driver's hand — and someone in the warehouse retypes it into a goods receipt, line by line. Structured import solves this only when the supplier can send a clean CSV or XML file; most can't, or won't. When the delivery note is a PDF or a scan, there's nothing to import, so it's keyed by hand — and the stock figures are only as timely as that typing. This is a concrete case where a ready connector doesn't fit and an AI agent that reads the note, matches it to the order and drafts the receipt earns its place.

How do you get PDF or paper delivery notes into a warehouse system?​

An AI agent reads the delivery note — PDF or scan — and extracts the lines: item, quantity, unit, references. It matches them against the open purchase order, drafts a goods receipt, and flags any mismatch between what was ordered and what arrived. A person confirms before stock moves. Unlike a structured import, it doesn't need the supplier to send CSV or XML, because it reads the document the way your warehouse clerk does — and escalates only the exceptions.

Why a normal stock import doesn't help​

Stock import routines need a structured file the supplier exports. A PDF or paper delivery note isn't structured, so there's nothing to import and it's retyped by hand. Where a supplier can send a clean CSV or XML feed, use it — it's simpler than anything custom. The AI step is for the many suppliers who only ever hand you a document a person has to read.

Who has this problem​

Who has it: a distributor receiving deliveries from dozens of suppliers, each with its own delivery-note layout, none of them sending structured files — so the warehouse retypes every receipt and only spots a short delivery weeks later at stock count.

Reading the note is the easy half; the value is matching it to the order and catching mismatches at the door. It's the same shape as invoice data extraction, one door earlier — and one concrete case of the broader problem of tools that don't talk to each other, where the supplier's "tool" is a piece of paper.

Where AI helps — and where it stops​

AI is worth it because the step needs reading and matching: pulling lines from a varied document and reconciling them against the order. Once the lines are clean and matched, updating stock is plain automation. The line holds: AI proposes, a human confirms before stock moves. Our AI solutions overview shows where that fits into a controlled process.

Who it makes sense for​

  • delivery notes arrive as PDFs or paper, not structured files,
  • someone retypes each one into a goods receipt,
  • mismatches between order and delivery get caught late, not at the door,
  • your suppliers won't switch to a structured delivery feed.

Want to see it on your own delivery notes? Get a free diagnostic — we look at a sample from real suppliers, tell you honestly whether a structured feed would be simpler, and if not, show exactly what we'd build, the impact and the cost. No obligation.