PDF data entry from invoices at scale: The effective method

PDF data entry

For decades, computers have been helping businesses complete tasks faster and more effectively than ever before. Indeed, today’s globally connected economy would not be possible without this technology. However, computers and software cannot do anything without data. 

The main challenge is that most business data is still not fully digitized. Whether in paper or PDF formats, data is often stored and shared in formats that software cannot readily understand. This has given rise to a process known as data entry.

Data entry is foundational for a variety of business processes, including accounts receivable, accounts payable, claims processing, and any other document-based tasks. Simply put, it is the process of pulling data out of an unstructured format (such as a paper document or a PDF) and transcribing it into a structured format (such as an Excel spreadsheet or another software program). 

This makes the data accessible to computer programs, where it can then be easily and rapidly analyzed, managed, and used to help your business grow. Most data entry is currently done manually. Manual data entry involves employees spending hundreds of hours manually typing the data from documents into the software. This highly inefficient method is no longer tenable in today’s fast-paced environment. The data must be extracted for the business to run efficiently. Fortunately, automatic data entry is possible. 

What does Portable Document Format (PDF) mean? PDFs are an easy way for documents to be shared no matter the operating system used. Understanding the PDF meaning goes further by knowing that it is currently one of the most popular formats for sharing documents across the internet because of that interoperability. 

With potentially trillions of PDFs being shared or stored around the world, PDFs are truly an important format to understand. This is why PDF data entry is one of the most common forms of data entry, and documents often arrive at a business in the form of a PDF. 

The primary reason for the rise of the PDF is its versatility and ease of use. Adobe designed the format to easily be shared across various platforms so businesses could stop relying on fax machines or mail deliveries. 

If you are wondering how to make PDF file, it’s simple. All you’ll need to do is download the Adobe Acrobat software for free from the Adobe website. You can then click “Tools” and then click the “Create PDF” button. You will then be presented with a few options, after which you can simply click “Create.” A PDF file download is also straightforward as most files of this type are small in size and are quickly downloaded from emails or sites. 

Excel data entry PDF

Excel data entry PDF is all about getting the data in PDFs exported into an Excel spreadsheet format. Excel is Microsoft Office’s spreadsheet program and is an incredibly powerful and flexible program. 

The main advantage of relying on Excel is that it stores the data in a compatible, structured format that makes it very easy to use in business applications. For example, many accounts receivable and accounts payable software solutions accept Excel spreadsheets as inputs for analysis and processing. Collaboration between different departments and companies is therefore possible without much hassle. 

Excel has also been designed to facilitate manual data entry. The program makes it simple to create a data entry form in Excel with drop-down list.  By using a data entry in Excel formula, you can speed up the analysis and processing of the data. This form can then be saved as a data entry file and then sent to its appropriate destination within the business. 

To learn more about how Excel can be used in manual data entry, you can also view Excel data entry sample work files. Many of these are available for download online. 

Manual data entry is only one of two types of data entry in Excel. The other method is to rely on automatic data entry. If you are curious about how to automate data entry in Excel, there are many tools and apps available that can help you reduce this workload.

Rossum is an example of a robust platform that can instantly and accurately extract data from hundreds of PDF files with just a few clicks. Our software enables you to easily export the processed data to an Excel spreadsheet. 

Data entry PDF to Word

Another popular data extraction format is Microsoft Word. Data entry PDF to Word converts data from a PDF format to a Microsoft Word format. As with Excel, MS Word documents are also highly versatile, and they do store their data in a structured format. Many business applications also accept Word documents. For some data entry projects, it can be critical to convert the data to a Word document.  

In this case, you could rely on manual data entry. This would involve having employees manually type the data into a Word document directly from the PDF. This is very time-consuming and can negatively affect the morale of your workforce. Furthermore, manual data entry is not an easily scalable process. Middle-market businesses can get bogged down by heavy amounts of paperwork that can end up stalling their growth. 

This is why automated data entry is the superior way of extracting and processing data. Automated data extraction software programs are designed to scan documents and “read” them using either unique templates or artificial intelligence. These solutions are capable of extracting data from documents in bulk, allowing you to be more efficient and keep your employees on higher-value tasks. 

Rossum, for example, is a modern cloud-native solution powered by AI that can extract data from documents quickly and cost-effectively. You can then spend more time on more productive tasks to help your business grow. 

Data entry document sample

Sometimes, the best way to learn is through examples. When trying to pin down the specifics of data entry and whether or not you need software, it can frequently be helpful to look for data entry document sample files or a data entry sample work files download. These examples can also be a great way to help out employees who may be doing manual data entry for the first time. 

There are many great examples of data entry sample work for beginners online. Sometimes, you might even just quickly look at data entry work sample images to get a better idea of how a data entry form should look. When working in a program like Excel, you might also look for a data entry work sample in Excel to help you create the tables and forms needed in manual data entry.

Outsource data entry services

Outside of manual data entry or automated data extraction software, there is a third option that can address your data management needs. There are a variety of different companies in the marketplace to whom you can outsource your data entry needs. This can help you to be more efficient and can be a great way to reduce costs. When you hire a data entry services company, they will bring a team onboard (either on-site or remote) of data entry professionals with experience who can quickly and accurately extract data. 

This has many advantages and means that you don’t have to hire and train data entry staff. A service will often be highly consistent and efficient as well. Finding a data entry company is fairly straightforward as there are many data entry services list examples online. Unfortunately, many outsource data entry services still rely on manual data entry, which has several built-in inefficiencies. 

It is also crucial that you trust your data entry partner, as they will be handling all of your critical business data. Do your own research and ensure the company you choose is trustworthy and secure. 

PDF hover text

A component of some PDF files is the hover text. Adobe hover text (or a hover pop-up) is a self-contained field that contains text that users can see when hovering their mouse over a specific point in the document. This is similar to the tooltips that frequently appear when hovering over options in a variety of programs. 

The interactive PDF hover effect is commonly used to give users extra information about fields or words within the document. Sometimes, a PDF hover-over image effect is used to describe the nature of the image or provide licensing information. This kind of effect is often used as a PDF tooltip. 

If you have a problem with your PDF tooltip not showing, it may be your browser. Many browsers do not support Adobe tooltips, which is why it is always best to use either Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader to view your PDF files. You can even add an image to a popup with the PDF mouseover popup image effect. For other images, you could also add a PDF text layer behind an image to make that image findable by the search bar. 

Although this feature can be helpful, it should be noted that placing business data in PDF hover text is not advisable. This is because the leading OCR solutions (optical character recognition) scan documents by what text is visible in the document. Many automated data entry solutions do not support hover text data extraction.