# How to get loads onto a load board when your TMS has no export > If your TMS can't push loads to the load boards, you have four realistic options. You can import its report export (for example the Aljex Big 500 CSV), capture loads from the TMS screen with a browser extension, use the vendor's API or EDI if you can get access, or capture loads upstream from the shippers' own emails and sheets before they're ever keyed into the TMS. SmartLoads uses the first and last together. Shipper feeds arrive directly, the TMS report fills in the rest, and customers that already have their own feed are skipped in the report so nothing posts twice. Source: https://smartloads.io/blog/load-board-tms-without-export ยท Updated 2026-09-26 Some broker TMSs have no way to push loads to DAT or Truckstop. At SmartLoads' first agency customer, that was the daily reality with Aljex. To post a load, a broker keyed it into the TMS and then keyed it again into the load boards, or rebuilt the whole day into one upload spreadsheet at night. There weren't enough hours to get every load posted. If that sounds familiar, here are the realistic ways out, with what each really costs. ## Option 1: Import the TMS's report export Most TMSs can export a report of open loads to CSV, even when they can't push anywhere. Aljex's Big 500 report is one example. **How it works:** someone runs the report and uploads the file, and the load board imports it. **What makes it work well:** - **Stable IDs.** Report rows carry the TMS's own load number, so re-importing the same report updates loads instead of duplicating them. - **Mapping by column header.** Report layouts vary, and some put company names next to cities. Mapping by header puts business names in the customer field, not in the pickup city. - **Skipping loads you already have.** If a customer's loads already arrive from their own email or sheet, their rows in the report should be skipped, or the same load posts twice. SmartLoads skips them by the customer's TMS account number. **Limits:** it's only as fresh as the last time someone ran the report, and a person has to remember to run it. ## Option 2: Capture loads from the TMS screen A browser extension can read loads off the TMS's own web pages while a broker has it open. SmartLoads used this for Aljex spot loads. **Good:** it needs no vendor cooperation, and it's close to real time while someone's working. **Limits:** it only works while a browser is open on the TMS, and it breaks when the vendor changes their screens. We treat it as a bridge, not a foundation, and we're retiring it as better sources take over. ## Option 3: The vendor's API or EDI Some TMS vendors offer an API or EDI feeds (for example the EDI 204 load tender). **Good:** it's structured and reliable, and it's usually the "right" answer on paper. **Limits:** access is often the problem, not the technology. Brokerages that belong to a larger parent company may not control whether the TMS API is switched on for them, and certificate-based access can take weeks to arrange. Plan for it, but don't wait on it. ## Option 4: Capture the loads before they reach the TMS This is the option people miss. Most of the loads in a broker's TMS started as a shipper's email, spreadsheet, PDF or Google Sheet. If you capture those directly, the loads reach the load board without anyone keying them into the TMS first. **How it works:** each shipper's format gets its own reader. Loads are deduplicated as the same sheet is re-sent through the day, then posted: automatically to Truckstop through its API, and to DAT as a ready file ([how that works](/blog/shipper-load-emails-to-load-board)). **At one agency:** 16 automated shipper feeds produced 38,321 load postings between May 21 and September 25, 2026, with no re-keying and no dependency on the TMS's export. ## What we recommend Use option 4 for every shipper that sends loads regularly, and option 1 to catch everything else. Skip the customers that already have their own feed in the TMS report, and keep the report import quick enough that someone actually runs it. Pursue option 3 in parallel if you can get access, and use option 2 only as a bridge. Once loads are on the board, the TMS stays the system of record. When a load is covered, SmartLoads' [Cover Card](/blog/cover-card-shipper-paperwork-to-tms-entry) shows every field in the TMS's own order, so entering the covered load takes seconds instead of minutes. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can SmartLoads push loads into Aljex? SmartLoads fills Aljex with the extension. A person checks the form and clicks Save. Big 500 CSV import brings Aljex loads onto the board; DAT uses an export file and Truckstop uses API posting. ### Won't importing both the TMS report and shipper feeds create duplicates? Not if the import skips report rows for customers that already have their own feed. SmartLoads does this by TMS account number, and it deduplicates everything else by fingerprint. ### Do we have to wait for TMS API access? No. Capturing shipper feeds directly and importing the TMS report covers most loads today. An API can replace the report import later without changing anything else.