How to Create Documents

Not every document in a shipment file arrives from someone else. The house bill of lading, the air waybill, the CMR note and often the packing list are written by the forwarder. CargoLint lets you write them in the same place the incoming documents are checked: pick a kind, and the shipment’s parties and goods are already filled in, you complete the rest, and the document goes through the same checks as an uploaded one.

Before you start

• You are not a read-only member of your organization
• The shipment the document belongs to is not settled
• If the document joins an existing shipment, that shipment’s invoice is correct. What is on the invoice is copied, so fix it there first

Steps

1. Start the document

Choose where to start from:

• Shipments page: New document in the header
• A shipment’s page: Create document in the More menu
• Dashboard: Create a document in the Records card, or the link under the upload area before your first upload

2. Pick the kind

The dialog lists every kind CargoLint reads: invoice, packing list, bill of lading, air waybill, road and rail consignment notes, certificate of origin, dangerous goods declaration, insurance, phytosanitary and health certificates. Kinds CargoLint only recognizes but does not read, such as a customs declaration or a freight invoice, cannot be written here.

3. Place it in a shipment

From a shipment’s page, the document joins that shipment. From the Shipments page or the dashboard, choose:

• New shipment: CargoLint suggests a reference; click Change to type your own
• Add to an existing shipment: search by reference, bill or air waybill number, or invoice number

Click Create document. The document opens in the review editor in Review.

4. Check what came filled in

A document placed in an existing shipment starts from that shipment’s invoice, or its packing list when there is no invoice:

• the shipper and consignee: names, tax IDs and every part of their addresses
• one line per invoice line, with the description, quantity and unit, and the HS code and national code when the invoice gives them

Everything that belongs to this document alone stays empty: its number and date, weights, package counts, marks, container and seal numbers. Those differ from one document to the next, and an empty cell is safer than a stale value.

The dangerous goods declaration, and the phytosanitary, health and insurance certificates, describe their lines in their own terms, so they start with the parties CargoLint can match and empty lines. A document that opens a new shipment has nothing to inherit and starts blank.

Copied values show as reviewed values, since the invoice they came from was reviewed. The document itself carries the note Written in CargoLint, not read from a file, and the left pane says No original file: there is no scan behind a written document.

5. Complete and save

Fill in the empty fields and lines the way you correct any document (see Reviewing Documents). Add line item adds a line, the trash icon removes one, and the description cell suggests products from your catalog. The primary button reads Save rather than Approve: there is no extraction to approve, only what you wrote.

6. Download the PDF

Download PDF in the More menu exports the document as a PDF, carrying your logo and footer notes if you’ve set up branding.

What the checks do with it

A written document is a document of the shipment like any other. The document checks hold it against the destination’s requirements, and the shipment checks compare it with the other documents: a package count that does not match the packing list, or a description that matches no invoice line, is flagged the same way it would be on an upload. Seeding from the invoice is what keeps the written document and the file in step from the first keystroke.

Written documents count toward the month’s documents, like uploads and clones (see Billing and Plans). Packing lists generated from an invoice do not.

Tip: Create the document after the invoice is corrected and its lines are right, so the copy starts from the right values.

Tip: A written document says what you entered, not what was shipped. Check it against the cargo before it goes to your carrier, broker or client.

Three ways to start a document

• Create: a new document of any supported kind, seeded from the shipment it joins. This page.
• Clone: a copy of an existing document of the same kind, with the consignment-specific fields cleared, for a new shipment that reuses the same parties and goods. See Sharing & Cloning.
• Generate: a packing list made from an invoice, in the invoice’s shipment. See Generating Packing Lists.

What’s next

• Reviewing Documents - Complete and save the document
• Working with Shipments - See it checked against the shipment’s other documents
• Branding Your Documents - Put your logo on the exported PDF