Structured JSON, straight into your own systems
Parseur turns messy documents into clean JSON and POSTs it to the URL you give it, the moment each document is processed. No integration platform in the middle, no polling loop, no app library to check first. If your system can accept an HTTP request, it can accept parsed document data.
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Internal apps and databases
Parseur delivers each parsed document to your own API endpoint as JSON, so proprietary systems that no automation platform lists still receive structured data in real time.
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One call per table row
Parseur's Table Item Processed event fires a separate webhook for each row of a table field, so invoice line items become individual database records instead of an array you have to unpack.
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AI agents and pipelines
Parseur gives agents and data pipelines the reliable structured input they need out of PDFs, scans, and emails, pushed as it happens rather than fetched on a schedule.
How the Webhook integration works
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1. Create your Parseur mailbox
- Sign up and get a dedicated email address where your documents land.
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2. Forward your emails
- Send emails manually or set up auto forwarding so every new one arrives on its own.
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3. AI extracts the data
- Parseur reads each email and pulls out the fields you need as structured data.
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4. Data lands in Webhook
- Parseur pushes the parsed data straight to Webhook in real time with the native integration.
What is Parseur?
Parseur is a powerful document processing software to extract text from emails, PDFs and documents and automate your workflow. All Parseur features.
What is Webhook?
A webhook is used to exchange data between applications and servers using their API. A webhook is a notification event (via HTTP POST) that gets triggered every time a new document is parsed by Parseur and will send the parsed data as JSON.
Trusted for webhook-driven automation in production
Emonkey builds API integrations for accounting systems across Scandinavia. Its platform needed webhook-enabled email intake, which Gmail aliases could not provide, so Piet Deprez moved to Parseur. Incoming client files now trigger his workflows automatically, and the same webhook layer has been running for years.
- Downtime across Emonkey's years running Parseur in production
- 0
- Documents processed by Parseur since 2016
- 100M+
- Parseur rating on Capterra and GetApp
- 5/5
Zapier and Make handle most automation use cases well. But when your destination is a custom application, an internal database, or a system that isn't in any app marketplace, you need a direct connection. That's what Parseur webhooks are for.
Every time Parseur processes a document, it sends an HTTP POST request to a URL you control, with the extracted fields as a JSON payload. Your application receives clean, structured data in real time and handles it however your system requires. No intermediary platform, no mapping through a third-party interface, no per-task billing.
A 2025 Parseur and QuestionPro survey found that employees spend more than 9 hours per week moving data out of documents and into other tools, at an average cost of $28,500 per employee per year. For development teams building document automation into their own products, webhooks are the lowest-latency path from parsed document to live system.
Key Takeaways
- Parseur sends structured JSON to any HTTP endpoint via webhook every time a document is processed. No intermediary platform needed.
- Four event types are supported: Document Processed, Flattened Tables, Table Item Processed, and Export Failed. Each targets a different use case.
- Custom HTTP headers let you add authentication tokens or shared secrets to secure your webhook endpoint.
- Webhooks work for any destination: custom apps, internal databases, ERPs, self-hosted automation tools like n8n, and microservices.
- Use Zapier or Make when your destination is a mainstream app. Use webhooks when it isn't.
Webhook vs Zapier vs Make: when to use each
All three are real-time exports that send Parseur data to other systems. The right choice depends on your destination:
Use Zapier or Make when your destination is a mainstream application already in their app libraries (Google Sheets, HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Airtable, and thousands more). Setup is faster and no coding is required.
Use a webhook when your destination is a custom application, proprietary internal system, a self-hosted tool like n8n, or a database that no-code platforms don't cover. Webhooks give you full control: you write the receiving endpoint, you decide what happens to the data, and you're not bound by any platform's data model or rate limits.
For teams building document automation into their own products or internal tools, webhooks are the standard integration path. Moving a web form to database is a typical example: the form emails a notification, Parseur extracts the fields, and the webhook delivers them to the schema you control.
Webhook events Parseur supports
Parseur fires different events depending on what you need:
| Event | When it fires | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Document Processed | When a document is fully extracted | General-purpose: one payload per document with all fields |
| Flattened Tables | When a document containing tables is processed | Spreadsheet-style output where table rows are flattened |
| Table Item Processed | Once per row in a table field | Inserting each line item as a separate database record |
| Export Failed | When a webhook delivery attempt fails | Error monitoring and Slack/email alerts |
The "Table Item Processed" event is especially useful for invoice line items or order tables, where you want each row to create a separate record rather than processing the whole array at once.
What the JSON payload contains
When a document is processed, Parseur sends a JSON object to your endpoint. The payload includes:
- Your extracted fields as key-value pairs (field names matching the template you defined)
- Table rows as arrays of objects, one object per row
- Document metadata: document ID, mailbox ID, processing timestamp, and original filename
The exact structure mirrors your template. A field named invoice_number in your Parseur template arrives as invoice_number in the JSON. Table fields arrive as arrays, with each row containing the column values you defined.
For the full payload schema and field types, see the webhook documentation.
Step-by-step: Set up Parseur webhooks
Step 1: Upload a document and define your extraction template
Drag and drop a document into your mailbox, or forward an email to your Parseur mailbox address. Set up an auto-forwarding rule to handle incoming documents automatically at scale.
Once your document appears in Parseur, highlight the fields you want to extract and name each one. Parseur's AI applies that template to every future document of the same type.
Step 2: Create your webhook
Go to Export, then Webhook, then New Webhook. Paste in your endpoint URL and choose your trigger event.
If you're testing the integration first, use webhook.site to get a temporary public URL that logs every incoming request. This lets you inspect the exact JSON payload before connecting your production endpoint.
Paste the URL into Parseur under the target URL field.
Step 3: Add authentication headers (recommended)
For production endpoints, add a custom HTTP header with an authorization token or shared secret. Your receiving endpoint validates the header before processing the payload. This prevents unauthorized requests from reaching your system.
Step 5: Test the integration
Reprocess a document in your Parseur mailbox to trigger a webhook delivery. Check your endpoint logs or webhook.site to confirm the payload arrived and matches the structure you expect.
Once the test passes, your endpoint will receive a JSON payload automatically for every document Parseur processes.
For the complete setup guide, see the webhook documentation.
Developer use cases
Teams use Parseur webhooks to connect document parsing to systems that no-code platforms don't reach:
- Custom databases: Push invoice line items directly into PostgreSQL or MySQL. Each "Table Item Processed" event inserts one row, keeping your schema clean without batch imports.
- Internal ERPs: Route extracted purchase order data directly into an ERP system via its REST API, without building a file import pipeline.
- Microservices: Trigger a downstream service when a document is processed, for example kicking off a validation step or notifying a fulfillment service when a new order arrives.
- Self-hosted n8n: Use Parseur as the document extraction layer in an n8n workflow running on your own infrastructure. See the n8n integration guide for the full setup.
- CRM and lead routing: Forward lead email data directly into a CRM's inbound API endpoint, bypassing Zapier entirely.
Free tools for related document types
If you need to inspect the JSON output from specific document types before building your integration, these free converters show you the structure in the browser:
- PDF to JSON converter: see what a PDF looks like as structured JSON
- Invoice to JSON converter: inspect invoice field extraction as JSON output
For the full Parseur API reference and webhook payload schema, see the data extraction API guide.
