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RecordEngine accepts documents through four channels. Use whichever fits your workflow — they all result in the same AI processing, confidence scoring, and structured extraction.

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Supported File Types

CategoryFormatsNotes
PDF.pdfStandard and scanned — OCR fallback activates automatically for scanned files
Images.jpg, .jpeg, .pngVision AI reads directly from the image
Word documents.docxFull text extraction
Spreadsheets.xlsx, .csvTabular data extraction
Text files.txt, .htmlFull text extraction
Audio.mp3, .wav, .m4aTranscribed locally, then extracted
For documents with Chinese characters, stamps, or seals — including Fapiao and Business Licenses — RecordEngine uses vision-first extraction rather than text OCR, which handles stamps and handwriting that OCR-only tools miss.

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Method 1 — Web Upload (UI)

The most common upload method for individual documents or small batches.
1

Go to the Upload page

Click Upload in the left sidebar.
2

Select your files

Drag and drop files onto the upload zone, or click Browse to select from your file system. You can select multiple files at once — each becomes a separate document.
3

Assign contact and folder

Set:
  • Contact — the client or vendor this document belongs to
  • Folder — the folder within that contact (e.g. Q4 Invoices, Documents, Review)
4

Select an extraction profile

Choose the profile that matches your document type. If the contact has a default profile set, it’s pre-selected automatically.
5

Upload

Click Upload. Documents appear in the list immediately with New status, then transition to Processing automatically.
Document upload form with file selected and fields filled

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Method 2 — Email Intake

Send any file as an email attachment to your RecordEngine intake address. No login required — documents land directly in the System → Inbox folder and process automatically. Best for:
  • Clients or vendors submitting documents without access to RecordEngine
  • Forwarding attachments from other email threads
  • Mobile capture (photograph a receipt, email it)
Find your intake address at Settings → Email Intake. See the Email Intake guide for full details.

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Method 3 — Hot Folder (Watch Folder)

RecordEngine monitors a designated folder on the server’s file system. Any file copied into that folder is automatically ingested — no UI interaction needed. Best for:
  • Bulk imports from a scanner or MFP (multi-function printer)
  • Automated file drops from other software
  • Legacy systems that export files to a directory
The hot folder is configured in your docker-compose.yml and is active whenever the xr-watcher container is running. Contact your administrator for the hot folder path on your server.

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Method 4 — REST API

Upload programmatically from any external system using the API. Ideal for automated pipelines where documents are generated or received by software — for example, uploading attachments received in a CRM, or exporting reports from an ERP. 
curl -X POST https://YOUR-INSTANCE/api/documents/upload \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -F "file=@invoice.pdf" \
  -F "contact_id=5" \
  -F "folder_id=12" \
  -F "profile_id=2"
See the Documents API for the full request schema and code examples.

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Duplicate Detection

RecordEngine checks for duplicate filenames within the same folder on upload. If a file with the same name already exists in the target folder, you’re prompted to either:
  • Upload as a new version — links the new file to the existing document as version 2
  • Upload as a separate document — creates an independent new document
See Document Versioning for how versioning works.

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Processing Time

Once uploaded, documents transition through statuses automatically:
StatusTypical duration
NewA few seconds — queued waiting for AI worker
Processing10–45 seconds for clean PDFs and images
Processing1–3 minutes for audio files (transcription first)
Processing2–5 minutes for large multi-page PDFs
Needs ReviewReady for human review
The very first document after a server restart takes longer — typically 2–5 minutes — because the AI model loads into GPU memory. Every subsequent document processes much faster. Run a warmup document after any server restart to pre-load the model.

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Uploading Multiple Files

You can upload multiple files in a single web upload operation:
  1. On the Upload page, select multiple files at once using Ctrl+Click or Shift+Click in the file picker
  2. All selected files share the same contact, folder, and profile assignment
  3. Each file becomes an independent document and processes in parallel
For large batches (50+ files), the hot folder method is more reliable than web upload.

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What Happens After Upload

Once a file is uploaded, RecordEngine automatically:
  1. Stores the original file in the document archive
  2. Detects the file type and chooses the appropriate extraction method (vision, text, audio transcription)
  3. Runs the AI extraction against the selected profile
  4. Generates an AI summary
  5. Calculates a confidence score
  6. Evaluates any matching Rules Engine rules
  7. Sets status to Needs Review
The original file is always preserved — it is never modified or deleted by processing.