# Sending documents

You can send three documents with an order: a **commercial invoice**, a **packing list** and a **materials safety data sheet**. Send them in the same request as [Create an order](/reference/create-an-order). The API has no call to add or replace one afterwards.

## Sending files with the order


A request carrying files is sent as `multipart/form-data` instead of JSON. Each document is a file part, and every other field of the order becomes a form field named the way its JSON is nested:

| JSON | Form field |
|---|---|
| `order.quote_estimate_id` | `order[quote_estimate_id]` |
| `order.origin_address.city` | `order[origin_address][city]` |
| each item in `order.hs_codes` | `order[hs_codes][][code]`, `order[hs_codes][][description]`, … |
| the commercial invoice | `order[commercial_invoice]` (a file) |
| the packing list | `order[packaging_list]` (a file) |
| the materials safety data sheet | `order[materials_safety_data_sheet]` (a file) |

```bash
curl -X POST "https://sandbox-api.vatit-stream.com/client_api/v2/orders" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_TOKEN" \
  -F "order[quote_estimate_id]=55788" \
  -F "order[purpose_of_shipment_id]=12" \
  -F "order[customer_reference]=GTC-PO-20417" \
  -F "order[description_of_contents]=Cotton shirts and denim trousers" \
  -F "order[origin_address][country_id]=226" \
  -F "order[origin_address][name]=Thandi Mokoena" \
  -F "order[origin_address][company]=Global Trade Corp" \
  -F "order[origin_address][address_1]=14 Bree Street" \
  -F "order[origin_address][city]=Cape Town" \
  -F "order[origin_address][postal_code]=8001" \
  -F "order[origin_address][phone]=+27 21 555 0142" \
  -F "order[destination_address][country_id]=70" \
  -F "order[destination_address][name]=Oliver Bennett" \
  -F "order[destination_address][company]=Bennett & Hale Ltd" \
  -F "order[destination_address][address_1]=221 Shoreditch High Street" \
  -F "order[destination_address][city]=London" \
  -F "order[destination_address][postal_code]=E1 6PJ" \
  -F "order[destination_address][phone]=+44 20 7946 0321" \
  -F "order[commercial_invoice]=@commercial_invoice.pdf;type=application/pdf" \
  -F "order[packaging_list]=@packing_list.pdf;type=application/pdf"
```

Let your HTTP library set the `Content-Type` header for a multipart request. Don't send `Content-Type: application/json` with it.

- **Items:** write every item in `hs_codes` with empty brackets, `order[hs_codes][][code]`, and keep the fields in the same order for each item. Numbered brackets such as `order[hs_codes][0][code]` make the order fail.
- **Items are added to the quote's.** Items you send with the order are declared alongside the quote's. An item the quote already has is refused as a duplicate.
- **Ids** come from the environment you are calling. In the example, `country_id` 226 and 70 are the sandbox's South Africa and United Kingdom. Take `quote_estimate_id` from your own [Create a quote](/reference/create-a-quote), and `purpose_of_shipment_id` from [List purposes of shipment](/reference/list-purposes-of-shipment).


## Files we accept

- Send a **PDF**. We turn a Word or Excel commercial invoice (`.docx`, `.doc`, `.xlsx`, `.xls`) into a PDF for you.
- **Keep the commercial invoice under 2,000,000 bytes.** We try to shrink a bigger PDF, but if it is still that big we can't use it, and the order waits in `awaiting_additional_documentation`.
- Send one file per document.

## When you don't send a commercial invoice

We make one for you from the order, when the shipment crosses a border and you sent its items (`hs_codes`) with the quote or the order. Without items we can't make one, and the order can stop at `awaiting_additional_documentation`.

## Reading documents back

[Get an order](/reference/get-an-order) returns a link for each document the order has, as `<document>_link`: `commercial_invoice_link`, `packaging_list_link`, `waybill_document_link` and so on. A document the order doesn't have yet comes back as `""`.

## A document you forgot

Send it to your account manager, and once they have added it, call [Create a waybill](/reference/create-a-waybill) again if the order is at `awaiting_additional_documentation`. See [Order statuses](/order-statuses).