Extract data from delivery notes and proof of delivery
A delivery note travels with the goods and becomes a proof of delivery, a POD, the moment the consignee signs for them. It is the document a receiving dock reaches for first: it lists what should be in the shipment, the order it relates to, who sent it and who is receiving it, and it leaves space for a signature, a date such as 2026-04-22, and any exception noted at the door. For a haulier such as DB Schenker or Kuehne Nagel moving a consignment by road across a European Union border, the delivery note doubles as the record behind the CMR consignment note that governs the contract of carriage. Once it is signed, that same page is the evidence a delivery happened, the trigger that lets the supplier invoice, and the reference a claims team pulls when a carton arrives short or damaged. Detail that matters lives in the gap between ordered and delivered. A driver hands over 48 of 50 cartons on 2026-04-21, marks two as damaged, and the consignee signs subject to that exception, so the note records delivered quantity, ordered quantity, and the condition at handover per line, each keyed to a SKU. Signatures land as scrawls, printed names, or a scanned mobile-capture screen, and the signed-by field is the whole point of a proof of delivery. Reference numbers connect the note to its purchase or sales order in the buyer's ERP, to its booking or transport contract, and to the carrier's own tracking number, while the place of receipt and the place of delivery mark the two ends of the leg. Notify parties, shipping marks, and a delivery status of completed, partial, or refused round out the record. Talonic reads the delivery note and returns the header parties, the reference and tracking numbers, the delivery date and status, the signatory, and a line array comparing delivered against ordered quantities. A note recording 48 of 50 cartons delivered by DB Schenker and signed on 2026-04-22 arrives as structured fields, whether the source is a clean PDF from a EU carrier or a photographed stub from a US courier, so a receiving team clears the POD and releases the supplier's invoice from data rather than from a scanned signature.
What gets extracted from delivery notes and proof of delivery
How extraction works for delivery notes and proof of delivery
Delivery notes and PODs come off warehouse and transport systems, carrier mobile-capture apps, and paper pads signed at the loading bay, whether the shipment is a US LTL delivery or an EU road consignment, so a clean printed PDF and a photographed signed stub have to be read the same way. Talonic classifies the document and maps it to the delivery-note model in the Field Registry, which holds the shipper, consignee, carrier, and notify party alongside the reference, booking, and tracking numbers and the per-line delivered-versus-ordered comparison keyed to each SKU and its UOM. The signatory and the delivery date are captured because they are what turn a delivery note into proof of delivery, and a delivery status of completed, partial, damaged, or refused is read from the exceptions marked at handover. Delivered and ordered quantities are kept on each line so a short delivery is visible without recounting, and place of receipt and place of delivery are preserved as the endpoints of the carriage. Each field returns with a confidence score and a pixel-region pointer into the source page in line with DIN SPEC 91491, so a receiving clerk can check a signed quantity or an exception note against the scanned POD before the supplier's invoice is approved for payment.
Sample extraction
A signed delivery note for a road consignment, two cartons short
{
"document_number": "DN-2026-04-3391",
"document_date": "2026-04-21",
"delivery_date": "2026-04-22",
"reference_order_number": "SO-88231",
"booking_reference": "BK-DE-55210",
"shipper_name": "Rhenus Kontor GmbH",
"consignee_name": "Baumann Fertigung GmbH",
"consignee_address": "Werk 2, Marie-Curie-Str. 8, 85055 Ingolstadt, Germany",
"carrier_name": "DB Schenker",
"tracking_number": "77450219DE",
"place_of_receipt": "Duisburg",
"place_of_delivery": "Ingolstadt",
"freight_and_charges": "Freight prepaid",
"signed_by": "K. Vogel",
"delivery_status": "partial",
"notes": "2 cartons damaged in transit, refused at the door",
"line_items": [
{
"item_number": "1",
"product_code": "BF-2200",
"description": "Aluminium housing",
"quantity_ordered": 50,
"quantity_delivered": 48,
"unit_of_measure": "CTN"
},
{
"item_number": "2",
"product_code": "BF-2205",
"description": "Gasket set",
"quantity_ordered": 20,
"quantity_delivered": 20,
"unit_of_measure": "BOX"
}
]
}Frequently asked
What makes a delivery note a proof of delivery?
The signature, the signatory name, the delivery date, and the delivery status are what turn a plain delivery note into proof that the goods arrived. Talonic captures all of them, so the POD stands as the evidence that lets the supplier bill and the buyer close the receipt.
How are short or damaged deliveries captured?
Delivered quantity and ordered quantity are kept on each line, so a shortfall (48 of 50 cartons) is visible without a recount, and the delivery status plus a free-text exception note record damage or a refusal at the door.
Does it read mobile-captured or handwritten signatures?
Yes. A signature panel, a printed recipient name, or a scanned mobile-capture screen all populate the signed-by field. Low-quality captures come back with a lower confidence score so a clerk can verify against the source image.
How does the POD link to the order and the carrier tracking?
The reference order number ties the note to the purchase or sales order it fulfils, the booking reference points at the transport contract, and the carrier tracking number links it to the shipment, so the delivery reconciles across all three systems.
Ready to extract from your own delivery notes and proof of delivery?
Author note
Reviewed by Talonic engineering · last reviewed 2026-07-06