# Putting the loads in eats my whole morning. How do I stop retyping?

> Every customer sends loads their own way, as a spreadsheet, a PDF, a few lines in an email or a Google Sheet, so someone retypes each one onto the board before the day can start. Some tools only take one format or a fixed import template, which just moves the retyping to a different screen.

Source: https://smartloads.io/blog/putting-loads-in-time-suck · Updated 2026-10-21

**Example**

It's 7:45 on Monday. Four customers have sent their week. One spreadsheet is called loads_week43_FINAL(2).xlsx, with "KC" for Kansas City, "FB" for flatbed and a weight of 45,000#. There's a PDF tender, an email that just says "2 loads Wichita to Tulsa, step deck", and a Google Sheet that changed overnight. Before you can post a single load or take a call, you're typing.

Agents told us this one plainly: putting the loads in is our time suck. Here's why it eats the morning, what it costs, and how to get it off your desk.

![A messy customer spreadsheet with abbreviations, a ditto mark and odd weights](/blog-images/putting-loads-in-time-suck/a-messy-customer-sheet.webp "What a customer's list really looks like. Illustration. The file and rows are examples.")

## Why load entry takes so long

**Every customer has their own format.** One sends a spreadsheet, one a PDF, one a few lines in an email, one a shared Google Sheet. Each has its own columns, its own abbreviations and its own idea of a date.

**The lists keep changing.** A customer re-sends the whole sheet at 10:00 and again at 2:00. Somebody has to work out what's new, what changed and what's gone, then fix the board to match.

**The data is messy.** "5 loads" on one line means five trucks. A ditto mark means "same as above." Weights come as 45k, 45,000# and 42500. A person can read that, but it takes a person.

**Tools that take one format.** Some load tools import only a CSV in their own template. Someone still has to retype the customer's list into the template first.

## What it costs

**The morning.** Loads that should be posted at 8:00 go up at 10:00, after the early trucks have found freight.

**Hours that add up.** At SmartLoads' first agency customer, about 595 loads a weekday were on its board over the 30 days to September 26, 2026. Even a minute of typing each would be a full day's work for somebody.

**Mistakes.** A wrong city or date sends carriers calling about the wrong load, or none.

![Three numbers: 16 shipper feeds, 17,261 import runs and 38,321 load postings, May 21 to September 25, 2026](/blog-images/putting-loads-in-time-suck/loads-without-typing.webp "SmartLoads' first agency customer, May 21 to September 25, 2026.")

Over May 21 to September 25, 2026, that agency put 38,321 load postings on its board from 16 shipper feeds in five formats, in 17,261 import runs. Nobody retyped any of them onto the board.

## What any agent can do today

1. **Ask for one sheet a day, the whole list every time.** A re-sent full list is easier to check than a pile of changes. Here are [load sheet habits that help](/blog/shipper-load-sheet-email-best-practices).
2. **Agree on a few columns:** pickup city and state, delivery city and state, ship date, equipment, weight and rate.
3. **Ask customers to delete cancelled rows,** not strike them through or color them.
4. **Post the easy loads first.** Get the complete ones up, then type the rest.

## SmartImport: every customer's format, straight to your board

SmartImport turns the loads your customers already send into loads on your board, in whatever format each customer uses.

**Each customer gets their own intake address.** Their emails go there, or a copy of the ones they send you. Google Sheets are re-read on a schedule, every 5 to 30 minutes. Email imports run as soon as the email arrives.

**It reads the formats customers really send:** email text (tables pasted into emails included), Excel files, PDFs (scans included, read with super intelligence (SI) and then checked), Google Sheets and TMS exports.

**It cleans the data.** One spelling per city, load-board equipment codes, and the weight, rate and notes in their own fields. "5 loads" becomes five loads. A ditto mark carries the pickup or delivery city down from the row above. "$500 each stop" across two stops becomes one load paying $1,000, posted to the last stop with the stops in the notes. A missing or past ship date becomes today.

![Loads appear one by one as the list is read](/blog-images/putting-loads-in-time-suck/loads-coming-in.webp "Loads coming in. Illustration. In the app they land on your board. The lanes and count are examples.")

**It keeps up with re-sent lists.** For most customers, when a re-sent sheet arrives, matching loads update, new ones are added, and loads that dropped off come off your board, and off Truckstop. A few sources only add new loads. Loads a person has booked or covered stay.

**It holds what it can't place.** If a city can't be found on the map, that load waits for a person instead of posting wrong.

**Then the loads go to work.** If your admin turns it on, new loads post to Truckstop during your board hours. DAT gets an upload file. A person books every load.

**A new customer takes one setup.** The SmartLoads team sets up each new format once. SI drafts the column mapping and a person confirms it. After that, every list from that customer goes in on its own.

![Every load from the list, cleaned up with city, state and equipment](/blog-images/putting-loads-in-time-suck/every-load-found.webp "Every load on the list, cleaned up. Illustration. The lanes and count are examples.")

What that adds up to:

- **Your morning back.** Loads land on the board as they arrive.
- **Re-sent lists handled,** with no hunting for what changed.
- **The format your customers already use.** Nobody has to change how they send loads.

The video at the top shows it in a few seconds, and the [SmartLoads home page](/) has the rest of the tools. More on [getting shipper emails onto the board](/blog/shipper-load-emails-to-load-board), and on [getting loads to DAT and Truckstop fast](/blog/customer-load-emails-to-dat-truckstop-fast). Agents also told us they're tired of retyping into Aljex: [here's how to fill it from the paperwork](/blog/not-tied-into-aljex). Thinking about running your own desk? Here's [how to become a freight agent](/agent). To see it read one of your own files, [try SmartImport](/smartimport). No signup needed.

## Frequently asked questions

### What formats can SmartImport read?

Email text (tables in emails included), Excel files, PDFs (including scans), Google Sheets and TMS exports. On the free SmartImport sample you can also try a screenshot or photo.

### What happens when a customer re-sends their list?

For most customers, matching loads update, new loads are added, and loads that dropped off come off your board and off Truckstop. A few sources only add new loads. Loads a person has booked or covered stay.

### Does a new customer's format work right away?

The SmartLoads team sets up each new format once. After that, every list from that customer goes in on its own.

### Do imported loads post themselves?

Only if your admin turns on posting to Truckstop, and then only during your board hours. DAT gets an upload file. A person books every load.