In the method of processing documents relating to shipped articles, automatic means execute the following steps: performing character recognition in at least one document made available by a carrier of the articles; obtaining at least one article reference made up of characters; obtaining at least one character string associated with the reference and distinct therefrom; calculating respective match percentages between the string and templates in a database; determining whether at least one of the percentages satisfies at least one predetermined condition; and when the condition is satisfied, associating the article reference with a template of the database relating to said percentage, and executing an action concerning the article reference by means of the associated template.