PARSER GUIDES

Processing Failures

Common Problems

What to do when document processing fails

Sometimes document processing can fail. This page explains what causes failures and how to fix them.

How to identify failed documents

1. Go to your Document Inbox.

2. Use the status filter and select Failed.

3. Failed documents will show with Failed status.

Common causes of failures

Low credits

Problem: Not enough credits to process the document.

Solution:

• Open the team menu, click Billing, and add credits
• Re-process the document after adding credits

See Credits and Billing for more details.

File format issues

Problem: The file format is not supported or corrupted.

Solution:

• Check that the file is one of the supported types (PDF, images, Office, text)
• Try re-saving or re-exporting the file
• Upload a different version of the file

Password-protected PDF

Problem: The PDF requires a password before PARSER can read it.

Solution:

• Add a PDF password rule in Settings -> Parser Settings -> Document Processing
• Return to the failed document and click Retry processing

See Password-protected PDFs for setup steps.

Processing timeout

Problem: The document took too long to process (rare).

Solution:

• Try re-processing the document
• If it keeps failing, the document might be too complex or corrupted

Upload failure

Problem: The file didn't upload correctly.

Solution:

• Check your internet connection
• Try uploading again
• Check file size and count (up to 100 MB per file and 500 files per app-upload batch)

What to do when a document fails

Check the error message

Open the failed document and look for an error message in the document view or metadata. This tells you what went wrong.

Fix the issue

• Low credits: Add credits and re-process

• File issue: Try a different file or re-save it
• Password-protected PDF: Add a PDF password rule and retry processing
• Upload issue: Try uploading again

Re-process the document

After fixing the issue:

1. Open the failed document.

2. Click More (⋮) -> Re-process document.

3. The document will be processed again.

Preventing failures

• Check credits: Make sure you have enough credits before uploading
• Use supported formats: Stick to PDF, images, Office, or text files
• Check file quality: Use clear, readable files and add password rules for password-protected PDFs
• Reasonable file sizes: Very large files (hundreds of pages) may take longer or timeout

Tips

• Re-process first: Often, simply re-processing fixes temporary issues
• Check file format: Make sure files are in supported formats
• Monitor credits: Keep an eye on your credit balance
• Contact support: If a document keeps failing and you can't figure out why, contact support with the document name and error message

Next steps

• Supported Files and Processing Limits - Check supported formats and limits
• Understand Document Statuses - Understand Failed, Skipped, Queued, and Processing
• Reprocess Documents - Run extraction again after fixing the cause
• Credits and Billing - Understand credits
• Password-protected PDFs - Add rules for encrypted PDFs
• Extraction Accuracy Issues - Fix extraction problems
• Editing Extracted Data - Review and edit documents