> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.seynlabs.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Documents > How Seyn turns folders of DOCX, PDF, and XLSX files, and the folder structure itself, into structured, attributed events. Documents are where the richest process knowledge hides, and the hardest source to do well. A project archive isn't just file contents: the folder structure, the filename conventions, and the version history are all signal. Seyn reads all of it. ## What gets extracted, beyond the text | Signal | What Seyn reads from it | | --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **File contents** | DOCX, PDF, XLSX/XLSM, MSG email files, MPP, parsed to text and sheets. | | **Folder path** | Client or project name, phase, meeting type, document type. `/Acme Corp/Onboarding/Meeting Notes/` is metadata. | | **Filename** | Conventions like `Project_2024-03-15_JS.docx` yield dates and author initials, resolved to [actor identities](/platform/events#actor-identity-resolution). | | **Version structure** | "Old" subfolders and date-ordered files are paired into version histories. *What changed between drafts* is its own signal. | ## Typed extraction Parsed documents are routed to one of several purpose-built extractors based on detected document type: | Extractor | Built for | | ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Meeting notes | Decisions, attendees, action items, follow-ups. | | Contracts & agreements | Parties, key terms, obligations, effective and renewal dates. | | Reports & spreadsheets | Tabular figures, key metrics, and the assumptions behind them. | | Policies & procedures | Steps, owners, approval requirements, and exceptions. | | General purpose | Everything else, flagged as such, so an unrecognised document never masquerades as a confidently-parsed one. | Every extraction is a centrally logged LLM call, so every extracted fact carries full [provenance](/platform/provenance) back to the source file. ## Processing lifecycle Each document moves through an explicit state machine, visible in the dashboard's document monitor: ```mermaid theme={null} flowchart LR Q["queued"] --> P["pending"] --> PR["processing"] PR --> D["done"] PR --> E["error"] PR --> S["skipped"] E -- "reprocess (retry-limited)" --> Q ``` Failed documents can be reprocessed from the dashboard with a bounded retry count. Processing runs with a per-organisation concurrency cap, so one tenant's bulk upload can't starve another's. ## Document Inbox The **Document Inbox** is the self-serve path: any member can upload loose files or a ZIP archive (up to 5 GB) straight from the dashboard, with no source-system credentials required. It's the fastest way to get a real corpus into Seyn: export a project archive, drop the ZIP, watch it process. Uploads go directly to object storage via presigned URLs; ZIP archives are unpacked server-side by a streaming unpacker, then fan out into per-file processing jobs. Self-serve upload means hostile files are a design assumption. The unpacker enforces per-file and total size caps, entry-count and compression-ratio limits (ZIP bombs), path-traversal and symlink rejection, and refuses encrypted archives outright. The full defense table is on [Security](/platform/security#the-ingestion-attack-surface). Operational guardrails: * **Format whitelist.** Only `.docx`, `.pdf`, `.xlsx`, `.xlsm`, `.msg`, `.mpp` are parsed; everything else is skipped with a recorded reason, not guessed at. * **Watchdog.** An unpack with no progress for 30 minutes is failed automatically. No silent zombies. * **Archive lifecycle.** Uploaded ZIPs are auto-purged from storage after 30 days; the extracted records and their provenance remain. ## Cloud documents SharePoint-hosted documents ride the same pipeline, with one addition: cloud files can be parsed by an external parsing service with retry and size guards instead of being downloaded for local parsing. Teams meeting transcripts In testing also enter as documents. ## Common mistakes | Symptom | Cause | Fix | | ------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Upload succeeds, document stuck in `queued` | Background workers process per-org with a concurrency cap; large batches drain gradually | Watch the document monitor; counts advance as workers progress | | A file shows `skipped` | Extension outside the whitelist, or an archive entry tripped a defense | The skip reason is recorded per file in the monitor | | Extracted facts look generic for a specialised document | The type detector routed it to the general-purpose extractor | Check the extractor flag on the document; folder and filename conventions improve routing | | ZIP upload rejected immediately | Encrypted archive, or over 5 GB | Re-export without encryption; split very large archives | ## Related The full source catalog, including the cloud document sources. How parsed documents become events in the common schema.