# How loads get onto your board, and when they clear

> Customers email loads to their intake address, and SmartLoads turns the formats it has a reader for into loads. You can also upload a file under Import/Export or add a load with Create Load. Each night, loads from earlier days that aren't booked or covered come off the board, unless Keep loads through ship date is on for that customer.

Source: https://help.smartloads.io/how-loads-get-on-your-board · Updated 2026-10-12

Your board is **Smart Loads** in the left menu. Loads arrive three ways.

## Customer emails

Each customer has an intake email address on their customer page. See [Add a customer](https://help.smartloads.io/add-a-customer).

When a customer sends a load email there, SmartLoads reads it, applies that customer's rules and puts the loads on your board. This works for customers whose format SmartLoads has a reader for. Depending on the customer, the loads come in a spreadsheet, a PDF, an emailed table or the email's own text.

For a new customer, the SmartLoads team sets up their format first. Until then, the email makes no loads, and the SmartLoads team gets an alert.

When a customer sends an updated sheet, SmartLoads updates the loads already on your board instead of adding copies, and adds the new ones. Loads that aren't booked and are no longer on the sheet are removed from today's board, even if someone claimed them. Some sources only add new loads and never remove any.

If a load email has no ship date, or a date that's already past, the load gets today's date. Future ship dates are kept.

## Upload a file

1. In the left menu, click **Import/Export**, then **Import Customer Loads (board)**.
2. In **Import Loads**, open **Choose Customer File** and pick the file type, such as **Aljex / Big 500 (CSV)** or **Manual load spreadsheet (XLSX)**.
3. Choose the file and click **Import**.

Admins can always upload. Other team members need **Import / Export** turned on by an admin.

## Add a load by hand

1. On the board, click **Create Load**.
2. In **Create New Load**, fill in the **Form** tab: the customer, dates, lane, equipment and pay. Leave the load number empty to have one made for you. The **Excel** tab takes a spreadsheet instead.
3. Click **Save Load**.

The load goes on the board as open.

## When the board clears

- **Every night**, SmartLoads archives loads from earlier board days. Booked and covered loads are never archived this way.
- **Clear Board**: an admin can clear the board at any time from the **Board Ledger** page. It archives every load from the last 20 days that isn't booked or covered, archives all leads, removes all of your agency's live Truckstop postings if you're connected (including postings for loads it keeps), and then switches the board off. Booked and covered loads stay unless they've been finalized in Accounting. Turn the board back on with the **Board** switch at the top of the board. If your agency uses auto-post, it also turns back on at the start of work hours.
- **Close and archive at end of day**: an optional switch on the **Board lifecycle** card under **Agency Profile**. It's off unless an admin turns it on. When it's on, the board clears at the end of your work hours.
- **Board** switch: an admin can switch the board off from the top of the board. That pauses it and removes Truckstop postings, but archives nothing.

## Keep loads through their ship date

Some customers send loads days ahead. Turn on **Keep loads through ship date** on that customer's page, under **Customer Setup**.

When it's on, that customer's loads shipping today or later stay on the board overnight and through **Clear Board**. Each one clears the night after its ship date. The switch is off unless you turn it on. It acts on loads from that customer's import source, not loads you create by hand.

## Frequently asked questions

### A customer emailed loads but nothing showed up. Why?

SmartLoads only makes loads from formats it has a reader for. If it doesn't read that customer's format yet, the email adds nothing and the SmartLoads team gets an alert.

### Can I connect a Google Sheet myself?

Not today. Google Sheets syncs aren't self-serve. The SmartLoads team sets them up.

### Does the nightly clear touch booked loads?

No. The nightly clear never archives booked or covered loads.