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Orders that arrive as e-mails, without retyping them

A lot of B2B orders don't arrive as tidy data — they arrive as an e-mail someone typed, or a PDF attachment, in no fixed format. Structured import and EDI assume the other side can export clean XML or CSV; when your customers just write "send me 20 of the usual plus 5 of the blue ones," there's nothing structured to import, so a person reads each message and keys it in. This is the case where a ready connector genuinely doesn't fit — and where an AI agent that reads the e-mail, extracts the order and posts it (with a human confirming) earns its place.

How do you process orders that arrive as free-text e-mails or PDFs?​

An AI agent watches the order inbox, reads each e-mail and any PDF attachment, and extracts the fields that matter — product, quantity, variant, delivery. It maps them to your product codes, assembles the record your system expects, and a person confirms it before it's booked. Unlike structured import or EDI, it doesn't need the customer to send clean XML or CSV, because it reads the message the way a human would — and escalates only what it isn't sure about.

Why a normal import or EDI doesn't help here​

Import routines and EDI need structured data — a file in a fixed format the sender exports. Free-text e-mails and scans have no such structure, so there's nothing to import, and the order gets retyped by hand. If your bigger customers can send clean XML or CSV, use that — it's cheaper than anything custom. The AI step is for the orders that will never be structured: the ones a person types in prose.

Who has this problem​

Who has it: a manufacturer whose customers e-mail orders in free text or as PDFs — each with its own layout, its own shorthand for products — and where two people spend part of every morning retyping them into the production system, occasionally keying the wrong quantity.

This is the same shape as invoice data extraction: reading a document is the easy half; the value is mapping it correctly to your codes and keeping a human on the exceptions. It's one concrete case of the broader problem of tools that don't talk to each other — here the "tool" on the other side is a person's e-mail, which no connector will ever cover.

Where AI helps — and where it stops​

AI is worth it here because the step needs reading and judgement: understanding prose, resolving "the usual" against order history, matching a product named three different ways. Everything downstream — writing the record, updating stock — is plain automation once the fields are clean. And the line holds: AI proposes, a human confirms anything that gets booked. Our AI solutions overview shows where that fits into a controlled process.

Who it makes sense for​

  • a meaningful share of your orders arrive as e-mails or PDFs, not structured files,
  • someone retypes them into your ERP or order system every day,
  • your customers won't (or can't) switch to a structured order format,
  • occasional retyping errors cost you in wrong quantities or mis-shipments.

Want to see it on your own order inbox? Get a free diagnostic — we look at a sample of real orders, 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.