ManualOut FAQ: straight answers about the AI order entry software
Plain answers to the questions distributors, ERP teams and partners ask about ManualOut — including what it does not do. If something you need is not here, ask us.
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ManualOut in brief
- What it is
- AI sales order entry software for food and FMCG distributors
- Category
- AI order entry software — also called sales order automation, order entry automation or AI order processing
- What it does
- Turns customer orders sent by email, WhatsApp, PDF, spreadsheet or voice note into sales orders in your ERP
- Who it is for
- Distributors and wholesalers whose orders still arrive as messages and documents that staff retype
- ERPs
- Dynamics 365, Business Central, SAP, SAP Business One, Oracle, NetSuite, Epicor Prophet 21 (pilot), Odoo, Acumatica, Sage, QuickBooks and custom ERPs
- What it is not
- Not an ERP, not a customer portal or ordering bot, and not a replacement for EDI
- Languages
- Reads orders in any language supported by the leading AI models it is built on
- Regions
- Available to distributors in every country and region
- Company
- Founded in 2026 by Vimalraj Vasu; built by TwinArcus Infolab Private Limited, with offices in Madurai, India and Dover, Delaware, US
- Pricing
- Paid subscription plus implementation; prices are not published; no long-term contract currently required
- How to evaluate
- A demo on your own real orders
The basics
What is ManualOut?
ManualOut is AI sales order entry software for food and FMCG distributors. It reads the orders customers already send — emails, PDFs, spreadsheets, WhatsApp messages, photos and voice notes — matches every line to your products, checks your pricing and order rules, and creates the sales order in the ERP you already run. Orders it is unsure about go to a person instead of being guessed.
What is AI sales order entry software?
AI sales order entry software reads incoming customer orders in whatever form they arrive, works out the products, quantities and units, matches them to the distributor's own catalogue, and creates the sales order in the ERP without someone retyping it. It is also called AI order entry, order entry automation, sales order automation or AI order processing. ManualOut is AI sales order entry software built for food and FMCG distributors. More in what is AI order entry software?
What problems does ManualOut solve?
ManualOut removes the retyping of customer orders into the ERP. That retyping is slow, it is where mistakes like a wrong pack size, a missed minimum or a late order get through, orders wait until someone reads them, and nobody can see what is selling until it has all been keyed in. ManualOut reads each order, applies your rules the same way every time, and leaves your team the orders that need a decision.
How is ManualOut different from other order automation software?
ManualOut is built for how food and FMCG distributors actually receive orders: WhatsApp messages, photos of handwritten lists and voice notes as well as email, PDF and spreadsheets. It checks the things that trip distributors up — pack sizes and units, minimum order values and quantities, cutoffs, delivery charges, catch-weight quantities — and flags what it is unsure about instead of guessing. Customers do not change how they order, and the ERP stays your system of record.
Who founded ManualOut, and who builds it?
ManualOut was founded in 2026 by Vimalraj Vasu. It is built by TwinArcus Infolab Private Limited, based in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, with TwinArcus, Inc. in Dover, Delaware, United States. More on the About page.
Who is ManualOut for?
ManualOut is for food and FMCG distributors and wholesalers whose customer orders arrive as free-form messages and documents that staff retype into an ERP. That includes FMCG distribution, foodservice, fresh produce, seafood, meat and poultry, dairy and chilled, frozen, beverages, bakery and wholesale grocery. Inside the business, it is used by the order desk, sales and IT.
Who is ManualOut not a good fit for?
ManualOut is not a good fit for businesses that already receive all their orders through EDI or a customer portal, businesses with very low order volume, or businesses with no ERP to connect to. It is also not built for retail point of sale, manufacturing production planning or consumer (B2C) shops.
Is ManualOut cloud software?
ManualOut is a web application provided as a paid subscription service. It connects to both cloud and on-premise ERPs.
Is there a ManualOut mobile app?
No. ManualOut does not have a mobile app; it is a web application. Your customers do not need one either — they keep ordering by email, WhatsApp and the other channels they already use.
Which countries and regions does ManualOut serve?
ManualOut is available to distributors in every country and region. It reads orders in the languages your customers use and connects to the ERP you run, wherever you are based.
Does ManualOut replace our ERP?
No. ManualOut sits in front of the ERP you already run and writes sales orders into it. Customers, products, prices and orders stay in your ERP, which remains your system of record.
Does ManualOut handle invoicing, inventory or deliveries?
No. ManualOut creates sales orders; invoicing, inventory, picking and delivery stay in your ERP and the systems you already use. The one exception is QuickBooks Online, where ManualOut creates an estimate or invoice because outside integrations cannot create sales orders there.
Is ManualOut a customer ordering portal, app or chatbot?
No. ManualOut has no portal, app, catalogue or bot for your customers to use. They keep ordering the way they already do, and the work of turning their messages into structured orders happens on your side.
Does ManualOut replace EDI?
No. EDI works well for the customers already connected to it. ManualOut handles the orders outside EDI — the emails, PDFs, spreadsheets and messages from everyone else — so they stop being typed by hand. See EDI vs AI order automation.
Does ManualOut publish customer names, case studies or results?
No. ManualOut does not publish customer names, case studies or performance figures on this website. The way to judge it is to watch it process your own orders in a demo.
Orders and channels
Which order channels can ManualOut read?
ManualOut reads email bodies and attachments, WhatsApp messages and photos, PDF purchase orders including scanned and faxed ones, Excel and CSV files in any column layout, voice calls and voice notes, direct file uploads, and orders from your own portals. See order capture.
Which email systems does ManualOut connect to?
ManualOut connects to Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Outlook.com and Exchange, and Zoho Mail. Customers keep emailing the same addresses. See email order automation.
Does ManualOut handle customer purchase orders?
Yes. ManualOut reads the customer's purchase order — including scanned and photographed ones — and turns its lines into the sales order you create in your ERP. See purchase order automation and sales order automation.
Which languages can ManualOut read orders in?
ManualOut reads orders written in any language supported by the leading AI models it is built on, which covers most widely spoken languages. The fastest way to check yours is to send real orders in that language to a demo.
Do customers have to change how they order to use ManualOut?
No. Customers keep sending email, WhatsApp, PDFs, spreadsheets and voice notes exactly as they do today.
Can ManualOut read handwritten, scanned or photographed orders?
Yes. ManualOut reads photographed order lists, handwritten lists, scanned purchase orders and faxes, not just clean digital documents. A line that cannot be read with confidence is flagged rather than guessed.
Does ManualOut process orders outside business hours?
Yes. ManualOut reads orders as they arrive, including late at night, so the morning starts with orders already prepared and cutoff rules applied the same way whatever time the order came in.
Does ManualOut keep the original order message?
Yes. The original email, document or message stays attached to the order for good, so anyone can see exactly what the customer sent next to the order created from it. That is also how a dispute is settled.
Can ManualOut connect more than one mailbox or WhatsApp number?
Yes. Connect the order inboxes and WhatsApp Business numbers your teams and depots use, and route each one to the correct company and warehouse. They all feed one review list.
Can ManualOut combine small orders?
Yes. When two orders from the same customer each fall below the minimum but clear it together, ManualOut can hold and merge them, with the delivery date handled.
Does ManualOut use the WhatsApp Business app or the WhatsApp Business API?
ManualOut uses the official WhatsApp Business Platform — Meta's business API — not the WhatsApp Business app on a phone. Orders reach the business rather than a handset, so they do not depend on someone checking a phone. See WhatsApp Business integration.
Can we use our existing WhatsApp number with ManualOut?
Under Meta's registration rules, a number already in use on the WhatsApp Business app or personal WhatsApp has to be deleted from the app before it can be registered on the platform, and the app's chat history does not come across. The alternative is a new number used only for orders. We go through the choice of number with you during setup.
Does ManualOut support WhatsApp coexistence?
No. ManualOut does not support Meta's coexistence option, so a number connected to ManualOut cannot also be used in the WhatsApp Business app.
Does ManualOut reply to customers or send order confirmations on WhatsApp?
No. ManualOut receives and reads order messages; it does not send WhatsApp replies or order confirmations. If your team needs to keep chatting with customers on WhatsApp, a separate number used only for orders keeps the two apart.
Who owns the WhatsApp number connected to ManualOut?
You do. The number is registered under your own Meta business account, and ManualOut is connected to it to receive the order messages.
Who pays for WhatsApp messages when using ManualOut?
WhatsApp message charges are set and billed by Meta, not ManualOut. Meta does not charge for messages your customers send to you.
How does ManualOut handle WhatsApp orders sent as several messages or corrected later?
ManualOut groups the messages that belong to the same order — text, photo and voice note — instead of creating one order per message. A correction such as “make the milk 5” that arrives before the order is sent to the ERP is applied to the order it belongs to. More in WhatsApp order automation.
AI, accuracy and review
How does ManualOut read an order?
ManualOut's AI extracts the products, quantities, units and prices from the message, then matches each line to your product list using each account's ordering history and the names that customer uses for your products. The result is a matched order, not loose text. See AI extraction.
Is ManualOut just OCR?
No. OCR turns an image of text into characters, which is a first step for scanned or photographed orders. ManualOut goes further: it works out which words are products, quantities, units and prices, and matches each line to your catalogue.
How accurate is ManualOut?
ManualOut does not publish a single accuracy figure, because accuracy depends on your customers and your catalogue. Every order carries a confidence score, so the orders it is unsure about are exactly the ones your team sees.
What happens when ManualOut is unsure about a line?
The line is flagged rather than guessed, and goes to a person with the original message beside it and the reason it was held. The clear lines on the same order carry on, so one ambiguous item does not hold up the rest. See review and exceptions.
Can we set ManualOut's confidence thresholds?
Yes. You decide how sure ManualOut must be before a line proceeds automatically, and you can set tighter thresholds for the fields that carry the most risk.
Does ManualOut learn from corrections?
Yes. When a reviewer resolves a match, ManualOut remembers it, so the same order from the same account is not flagged again next time.
Does every order in ManualOut need a person to review it?
No. Orders ManualOut is confident about go through, and anything below your thresholds stops for a person. For accounts you trust to order cleanly, autopilot lets their orders flow straight into the ERP; you decide which accounts qualify. See customer management.
What results can we expect from ManualOut?
ManualOut does not quote a headline saving, because the result depends on how many of your orders are clean enough to go through without a person. The order entry cost calculator estimates it from your own numbers, and a demo on your real orders shows it directly.
What reporting does ManualOut provide?
ManualOut shows order volume over time, top products and top customers, plus the automation's own numbers: average confidence, product match rate and how many orders still needed a person. See analytics.
Order rules and validation
Which order rules does ManualOut check?
ManualOut checks customer price lists, units of measure and pack sizes, minimum order values, minimum order quantities, delivery charges, order cutoff times, delivery dates, stock availability, and the right company and warehouse — using your own rules, on every order. See rules and validation.
What does ManualOut do with an order that arrives after the cutoff?
It rolls the order to the next working day automatically, so a late order is not quietly promised for today by whoever happened to read it.
Can ManualOut apply different minimum order values per customer?
Yes. ManualOut holds a general minimum and any number of per-account exceptions, checked automatically on every order.
Does ManualOut handle multiple companies and warehouses?
Yes. Each order is routed to the right legal entity and stock location, so multi-entity and multi-depot distributors run one process instead of one per site.
Does ManualOut handle catch weight?
ManualOut captures the quantity exactly as the customer ordered it — six salmon sides, not a guessed weight — so the catch-weight reconciliation in your ERP starts from clean data. ManualOut does not replace that reconciliation. See what catch weight is.
ERP integration
Which ERPs does ManualOut work with?
ManualOut works with Microsoft Dynamics 365, Business Central, SAP, SAP Business One, Oracle, NetSuite, Epicor Prophet 21, Odoo, Acumatica, Sage, QuickBooks and custom or in-house ERPs. See all integrations.
Does ManualOut work with Epicor Prophet 21?
Prophet 21 integration is available for qualified pilot customers. ManualOut is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Epicor Software Corporation.
What does ManualOut create in QuickBooks?
In QuickBooks Desktop, ManualOut creates a sales order. In QuickBooks Online, where Intuit does not let outside integrations create sales orders, it creates an estimate or an invoice. ManualOut is not affiliated with or endorsed by Intuit Inc.
How does ManualOut connect to the ERP?
Through your ERP's own API or a supported import, using credentials you provision and can revoke at any time. For an on-premise ERP behind a firewall, the link is made through a secure connection or a small agent rather than by opening your network to the internet. In-house systems are connected through an API mapped to your schema during onboarding.
How does ManualOut confirm an order reached the ERP?
Each order shows its sync status. Once the ERP accepts it, the ERP's order number is stored against it as confirmation, and every order keeps a timestamped history from received to confirmed. See ERP sync.
What happens if the ERP rejects an order from ManualOut?
The rejection and its reason are attached to the order, which waits for a person to correct and retry it. Nothing fails silently.
Can ManualOut change an order after it has been sent to the ERP?
No. Once an order has been sent to the ERP, ManualOut cannot change it. Any change after that point is made by your team in the ERP.
Security and data
What data does ManualOut access in our ERP?
Only what it needs to turn a message into a sales order: your product list, price lists and customer records, which it reads to match each line, and the ability to create sales orders. ManualOut does not need your general ledger, margins, payroll or anything unrelated to order entry. See data and security.
Can we revoke ManualOut's access to our ERP?
Yes. ManualOut connects with credentials you provision, scoped to what it uses, and you can revoke them at any time.
Does ManualOut encrypt data in transit?
Yes. Data moves over encrypted connections.
Who owns the data processed by ManualOut?
You do. Under the ManualOut Terms, you keep ownership of all data and documents you submit, which are processed only to provide the service, and customer data is not sold.
Where does ManualOut host data?
The ManualOut Privacy Policy explains that the service may use infrastructure and providers in different countries. If you need data held in a specific location, raise it during your evaluation.
Does ManualOut have security certifications?
ManualOut does not list security certifications on this website. If your evaluation needs a specific certification or a security questionnaire, raise it with us during the evaluation.
Can different teams have different access in ManualOut?
Yes. The order desk, sales and IT each get their own login and a view built for their job, so nobody shares a password.
Does ManualOut keep an audit trail?
Yes. Every order has a timestamped timeline from received to confirmed, with the original message kept beside it.
Pricing, setup and evaluation
How much does ManualOut cost?
ManualOut does not publish prices on its website. It is sold as a paid subscription, with an implementation to connect your ERP and order channels. Ask for a quote through the contact page.
What are ManualOut's payment terms?
Unless agreed otherwise in writing, subscription fees are billed in advance, are non-refundable and exclude applicable taxes, as set out in the Terms.
Does ManualOut require a long-term contract?
No. ManualOut does not currently require a long-term contract or a minimum term. Subscription fees are billed in advance, as set out in the Terms.
Is there a free trial of ManualOut?
Using ManualOut requires a paid subscription or a separate commercial agreement. To see it before you buy, book a demo and we will run your own orders through it.
How long does ManualOut take to set up?
It depends on your ERP and how customised it is, so ManualOut does not quote a fixed timeline. Setup is mostly mapping: how your customers, product codes, price lists, warehouses and companies line up. ManualOut is then tested on your real orders in a test environment before a single live order is written. More in will AI order entry work with my ERP?
Do we need developers to set up ManualOut?
No. Setup is mapping, not building: someone who knows your ERP works through it with us, and IT provisions the ERP connection and steps back.
Who handles ManualOut implementation and support?
ManualOut does — the demo, the discovery, the ERP integration, the go-live and support. That is the same whether you come to us directly or through a channel partner.
What do we need to provide to set up ManualOut?
Access to the order channels you want automated, a connection to your ERP so orders can be matched to your products, customers and prices, and a handful of real orders — the messier the better.
How can we test ManualOut on our own orders?
Book a demo and send a few real orders: an email with three lines in the body, a long PDF, the spreadsheet one customer always sends, a WhatsApp photo or voice note. We show you what ManualOut reads, what it matches, what it flags, and the sales order that would reach your ERP.
How do we work out what manual order entry costs us today?
Use the order entry cost calculator. It works from your own team size, pay and order volume rather than an industry average.
Company and contact
How do we contact ManualOut?
Email hello@manualout.com, use the contact page, or call +91 93601 70526 (India) or +1 84087 78832 (United States).
Does ManualOut have a partner program?
Yes. The ManualOut channel partner program is for resellers, consultants and anyone who can introduce ManualOut to distributors. Partners open the opportunity; ManualOut handles the demo, implementation and support.
Does ManualOut have a public API or an MCP server?
No. ManualOut does not offer a public API, MCP server or agent tool for third parties to call. It connects to your own ERP through that ERP's integration methods.
Where can AI tools read accurate information about ManualOut?
Every ManualOut page has a markdown version — add .md to the URL — and the site publishes llms.txt and llms-full.txt. This page is the summary of record.
Ask us anything that is not here
Or send us a few of your real orders. We will run them live and show you what ManualOut reads, matches, flags and creates in your ERP.