How courier detection works

Every shipment needs a courier, because that is who we ask for its status. You can always tell us the courier, but you don't have to: most tracking numbers follow a pattern that shows which courier issued them. TrackParcel covers the same couriers as the free tracker on trackparcel.in; see the full list of couriers.

When you choose the courier

If you give a courier, in a file column, after a comma when pasting, or with “Pick courier”, we use it as it is. Names, short names and common spellings all work (“Speed Post”, “India Post”, “Blue Dart”). If we can't match the name to a courier, the line shows “Pick courier” so you can choose one.

When we detect it

1. The number's format. When the format points to one courier with a likelihood of at least 0.85 (85%), and at least 0.25 (25%) ahead of the next most likely courier, we use that courier.
2. The couriers you use. If the format fits several couriers and exactly one of them is among your workspace's “Couriers you use” (chosen when you set up the workspace, and editable in Settings → General), we use that one.
3. Asking the couriers. If it is still unclear:
   • when you add a single shipment, we ask the likely couriers in turn, up to 6 of them, and keep the first one that knows the number;
   • when you paste or import many, we do the same for at most 200 numbers, or a tenth of the batch if that is fewer, and group the rest by their possible couriers so you can choose for a whole group at once, for example “Pick courier for these 37 numbers”.

After the first check

If we chose the courier and, on the first check, it says it has no record of the number while the number's format matches another courier, we move the shipment to that courier once. Owners and Admins see the move in Settings → Audit log as “Changed a shipment's courier”. A courier you chose yourself is never changed this way, and a second “not found” doesn't move the shipment again.

Messages you may see

• “Tracking numbers are 6–40 letters or digits.” The value is too short or too long, or has characters no courier uses, so it isn't added.
• “Excel changed this number to 1.23457E+11. Format the column as Text and export again.” Excel showed a long number in scientific notation and lost its last digits. See Importing an Excel or CSV file.
• “This looks like a phone number. Pick a courier if it's a tracking number.” A value shaped like a mobile number is never matched to a courier by itself; it is added once you pick one. An email address is refused with “This looks like an email address, not a tracking number.”
• “This doesn't look like a Delhivery number.” The number doesn't match the courier you chose. It is still accepted, in case you know better.
• “Delhivery tracking is paused by TrackParcel.” We have paused checks on that courier for now. The shipment is added, and it is checked again once the courier is back.
• “Conflicting courier”: the same number appears more than once in one paste or file, with different couriers. Choose one for that number.
• “That's a sample number.” Numbers that start with TPSAMPLE belong to the sample shipments that show how TrackParcel works, and can't be added as real ones.

Duplicates and numbers used before

• A number that is already in the workspace with the same courier isn't added twice: the line says “Already in this workspace.”
• If the same number really is with two couriers, add it with each: each becomes its own shipment, and each shows “Also tracked as” with the other courier's name.
• Couriers reuse numbers. A number we tracked before, whose journey has ended, becomes a new shipment with its own history, and says so, for example “We tracked this number before (delivered Mar 2025). This is tracked as a new shipment.”

Your number is kept as you entered it

We clean up the number to look it up, for example ZZDEMO0012345678 from zzdemo 0012 3456 78, and keep the text you entered in full beside it. Neither is ever shortened, masked or deleted. Removing a shipment archives it: the number and its history stay, and you can restore it.

Changing the courier yourself

• For one shipment: open it and choose ⋯ → Change courier.
• For many: select them in the list and choose “Change courier”. You can let us detect again or pick one.

Either way the shipment is checked again with the new courier, and its history is kept. Statuses are explained in What statuses mean.