A document that failed to process was not read usefully at all, which is different from a document whose boundaries were flagged. The cause is almost always the image rather than the software. This article covers how to check the page, how to replace it, and what to do when no better copy exists.
The short version: open the document and look at the scan. If you cannot comfortably read it yourself, neither could the extraction, so re-capture it and upload the better copy.
Look at the page first
Open the document and check four things.
Is it blank or nearly blank? A blank page in the middle of a batch, or a scanner that fed two sheets at once and captured the back of one.
Is it sideways or upside down? Rotated pages extract badly.
Is it too faint to read? Faded thermal paper and second-generation photocopies are the usual causes.
Is it a parts document at all? A failed document is sometimes a delivery note, a packing slip, or an unrelated receipt that went through the scanner with the stack.
The last check is worth doing early, because the answer is sometimes that nothing is wrong and the document did not need to be uploaded.
Re-capture and upload the better copy
Go back to the paper and capture it again: flat, square, all four corners, even light. The specifics are in what makes a readable scan.
Upload the new copy.
Delete or ignore the failed document so you are not left with two of the same thing.
Re-uploading the same file produces the same result. The image is what failed, so the image has to change.
When the paper is the problem
Sometimes there is no better copy. The thermal receipt has faded, or the only version available is a photocopy of a fax.
The choice is then between entering what you need by hand and leaving the document as it is, and the amount decides which. A four-figure invoice is worth typing. A $9 shop supply line generally is not. If you do enter it manually, fill in the header fields that carry the reconciliation, which are covered in correct a header field on a document.
Where the amount justifies it, ask the vendor for a clean copy. Most will send one from their portal, and that is less work than reconstructing the document.
When to leave it
A failed document that is small, old, and already reconciled through its statement does not need attention.
Time spent on extraction is time not spent on money that is actually missing, and guidance on where to draw the line is in do not chase 100 percent matching.
If good scans keep failing
A clean, legible document that will not process is worth a support ticket rather than further attempts.
Include the vendor name. The usual cause is one vendor's layout that extraction handles badly, which is fixed on our side rather than yours. A pattern is more useful to report than a single case, so say so if the failures are always the same vendor.
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