Best Ways to Convert and Extract from PDF Files into Structured Data

PDF is generally used or accepted by businesses and educational institutions. In today’s work environment, PDF became all-pervasive as a digital alternative to paper and saves all type of important information.

But what would be the possibilities if you want to extract data from PDF files? Manually rekeying PDF file is usually the first reaction but does not work out most of the time for various reasons. In the following paragraphs, we discuss PDF files extraction solutions and ways to remove manual data entry from the workflow.

The Particular Case for Extracting Data from PDF File

As PDF format was first launched in the early ’90s, the PDF (Portable Document Format) saw great usage rates and became common in today’s work environment. PDF documents tend to be the go-to option for sharing or updating business information, especially on online.Sodapdf.com, internally as well as with business partners. A few popular use-cases for PDF file in industries like logistics, business administration, and procurement are:

• HR Forms
• Invoices
• Presentations
• Shipping Notes
• Purchase Orders
• Price & Product Lists
• Reports

Just about all document’s types mentioned above have only one thing in common: All are used to transform important business information from point A to point B.
So far so good. However, there is a catch …The PDF format is actually a replacement for paper.

The Best Way to Extract Data from A PDF File

Fully Programmed PDF Data Extraction Application

Automated PDF data extraction options come in different types, which range from simple OCR tools to workflow automation platform and enterprise-ready document processing. The majority of systems share an identical workflow:

• Gather batches of files which work as a training data
• Instruct the system for each and every type of file you ought to process
• Start a process to fetch data instantly, process them and send the data

The majority of sophisticated solutions use a collaboration of different ways to instruct the data extraction system. An easy method is, for instance, Zonal OCR in which the user easily defines particular locations inside the file with a click system and point. More professional techniques derive from regular pattern and expressions recognition.

Outsourcing Manual Data Entry

Outsourcing data entry is a big business. There are hundreds of data entry companies on the market which you can employ the service of. To be able to offer cheap and fast services, those businesses hire a huge number of data entry workers in low-income states which then do the heavy-lifting.
Outsourcing manual data entry has a lot of expense.

Choosing the best provider, agreeing on terms and conditions and clarify the particular use-case makes sense in case you need to process high volumes of files. But still, then, it will be a lot more productive to let an automated software do the trick