There are quite a few ways that you can scan pages into Excel. The method that you choose will depend on a number of factors. The most important factor is the structure or formatting of the pages. Data that is formatted into columns and rows using tabs to separate or delimit the text usually provides the best results with the conversion. Another consideration is the quality of the scanned files. Generally, pages with poor image quality, small font size or spreadsheets with complicated design generate errors that require time consuming correction.
The best way to decide on the right solution is to test or ask for a sample. But the solutions on the following list may help you to decide.
OCR software: The least expensive and fastest option as long as the automatic conversion is accurate. Documents with tabulated data that are delimited with tabs and spaces give the best result. Sheets with errors caused by non-standard columns or rows may be resolved with some manual adjustment.
Zonal Software: The program automatically recognizes and populates characters into database format. The user sets a zone sometimes referred to as a rubber band which reads a specific area of the document. The rubber band area is then captured to a corresponding cell. Zonal indexing is not suitable for all projects. Jobs that have different document types may cause conversion issues. Another disadvantage is that the area to be processed needs to consistent on each image. Otherwise the automated process will not work accurately.
Adobe Acrobat: It is possible to convert a PDF file to Excel. First recognize the PDF with OCR Text Recognition (Choose Document > OCR Text Recognition > Recognize Text). You will then need to save the file as tables into an Excel spreadsheet.
Programming with VBA or Visual Basic: Information not formatted into columns and rows like mailing lists may employ VB scripts to move the data into a CSV -Comma-separated values-format. The CSV file will open into the spreadsheet for easy analysis and viewing. Programming is also a method to solve formatting issues when the information contains fields with specific lengths like zip codes or State abbreviations. A function may also be written to identify stop words instead of using formatting to separate the page into a spreadsheet.
Copy and Paste: Copy and Paste is not the ideal solution. But can save time over retyping the pages. This solution is typically used for small jobs with few errors but the data is not formatted.
Data Entry Service: A valuable alternative for projects where software technology does not work for poor quality images where a lot of time consuming corrections are required. It is more cost effective to manually retype poor quality documents using data entry specialists. The results are highly accurate and cost effective. Especially when the work is performed offshore, so you receive the most favorable rates.
