PDF Automation

PDF automation enables you to interact with and manage PDF documents efficiently. While it generally encompasses functionalities such as extracting data and merging files, currently, Zoho RPA primarily supports the extraction of data from PDF files. This capability allows you to enhance your processes and streamline workflows by automating data retrieval, reducing the need for extensive manual work.

Supported RPA Agent Platforms : Windows

Common use cases for data extraction in PDFs

Invoice Processing
Extract key information from received invoices such as invoice numbers, dates, vendor details, line items, and total amounts to streamline accounting and payment processes.
Analyzing reports
Extract specific data points, tables, and metrics from financial reports or sales reports and other business documents for analysis and decision-making.
Extracting Information from Legal Documents
Identify and extract key clauses, dates, names, and contract terms from legal agreements for review and compliance purposes.
Managing Healthcare Records
Retrieve patient details, medical codes, test results, and other pertinent information from healthcare documents for efficient record management and analysis
Bank Statement Processing
Extract transaction details, account balances, and other relevant data from PDF bank statements for financial reconciliation and analysis.
Handling Shipping Documents
Extract addresses, product details, and tracking numbers from PDF shipping labels and manifests for logistics and inventory management.

Note : The Extract Data from PDF functionality currently supports the recognition of printed text in PDFs. Handwritten text is not supported.

Get text from a PDF document

Configuration

Variable name: Specify the name of the output variable that will store the extracted text from the pdf file. This variable can then be used in subsequent steps of your automation flow.

Template file path: This is the file path to a reference pdf that helps the bot understand, where the data you want to extract is located. It's used only during the configuration of the OCR action.

Template file password: Enter the password to open the template PDF file if it is password protected.

Execution file path: This is the file path to the actual pdf that the bot will process to extract text when the workflow is run. The bot will use the configuration and area locations from the template file to read data from this pdf.

Execution File Password: Enter the password required to open the PDF file you are processing in case it is password protected.

Extract text from :

Entire PDF
Extract all printed text from the pdf as a single string.
Specific areas in PDF
Extract only specific portions of text from the pdf

Area image: An image preview of the area you selected in the PDF
Variable name: Holds the extracted text value from the selected area
Areas relative to keys in PDF
Extract text based on a reference or key text found in your PDF. The bot will first locate the specified key text and then extract the value based on its position relative to that key. You will define how close (the relative position) the value is to the key, which is useful when the exact position of the data element might vary slightly.
Key text: Text that we will use to search the area to extract
Variable name: Holds the extracted text value from the selected area.
Advanced settings:
Key matching pattern:
Exact match: The text in the image must be an exact match to the key text you provide.
Contains text: The text in the image must include the key text you provide anywhere within it.
Text starts with: The text in the image must begin with the key text you provide.
Text ends with: The text in the image must end with the key text you provide.

Key occurrence: Specify which instance of the key text to use if it appears multiple times (e.g., 1 for the first occurrence, 2 for the second).
Anchor text: Specific text from the image used to locate the key text, especially when it appears multiple times or its location varies. It's more like a reference point on the image from where the bot will start looking for key text so that it does not have to search through the entire image.
For example, say you want to extract the billing address, which appears twice: once under "Billing Information" and again under "Shipping Information." You can use "Billing Information" as the anchor text to extract only the first instance.
Anchor occurrence: The number of times the anchor text appears before starting extraction.
Data extraction coordinates:
Define the precise location and size of the data you want to extract relative to the key, using pixel offsets for X (horizontal), Y (vertical), and the width and height of the extraction area.

X: The horizontal distance (in pixels) from the left edge of the image to the top-left corner of the data you want to extract.
Y: The vertical distance (in pixels) from the bottom edge of the image to the top-left corner of the data you want to extract
Width: The horizontal size (in pixels) of the data you want to extract, measured from the X coordinate.
Height: The vertical size (in pixels) of the data you want to extract, measured from the Y coordinate.

Delay settings

Delay settings allow you to introduce a pause before or after an action. This is useful to ensure the bot waits for necessary processes to complete, such as file downloads, before proceeding with subsequent steps.

Delay before action (Time in ms): Specify the duration (in milliseconds) the bot should wait before executing the current action. This can prevent errors if the required elements or files are not immediately available.

Delay after action (Time in ms): Specify the duration (in milliseconds) the bot should wait after the current action has been completed. This can be useful for allowing systems to update or stabilize before the bot moves to the next step.

Supported languages for data extraction