converting number in a pdf to excel

[cornbread_r_square]

Hello - I have some field data which was hand written and would like to convert into an excel sheet, to save time from having to re-enter it all.

I tried to save/convert the pdf file to an excel file, but the results were not satisfactory. Probably because the hand-written version is a bit sloppy for recognition.

Much appreciate any suggestions. I've attached an example of the source that I'm working with, as well as what my initial tempted yielded.

Thx alot

[Zer0Cool]

Your pretty much out of luck.

The only way you get those hand written entries into editable text is using a program that does OCR (optical character recognition) to convert it. Adobe Acrobat Pro can do this. There are many 3rd party options as well.

They are all going to give you results that are less than perfect and require human interaction to polish it up and make it useful. Generally you pass it through every OCR program you have available and go with whatever gives you the best results for that specific file.

It is possible too that the file just isnt able to be converted and you then are left with hand punching everything in.

Excel itself has not built in capacity for this.

[cornbread_r_square]

Thx for your input. Do you know of service wherein I can send the handwritten field data sheets, along w some brief instructions for deliverables, and have them do the data entry that I need (yielding a worksheet)? Maybe pay by paypal, something that's not going to require the transaction of setting up an acct. Thx alot

[Zer0Cool]

I am not aware of any such service. It was a very small part of something I did at my previous job for years. We had 4-5 different programs to do it and like I mentioned it was run them through all of them and pick the best outcome, then clean it up by hand. The company I worked for contracted with other companies to do various things related to MS office, MS Windows, SharePoint, etc. but they didnt do work with individuals as they charged literally by the minute and most people would not be able to afford the rates. Additionally I would not share the name of the company online for various reasons.

The technology for this, regardless of who does it, is far from perfect. Basically these OCR programs "read" the PDF and interpret what they think each character is. This process is iffy when dealing with a PDF that contains type font/computer generated output. Its abysmal with handwriting as everyone's handwriting is literally unique. Another way of putting it, these programs guess what the page says by looking at it.

You could look into services, but if this is for work I would be very cautious about how you share company information with outside parties (I've seen people get fired for sharing seemingly harmless company documents outside of work). I would say short of having the outside party be an established company that signs a NDA, you should do the work in house.

[cornbread_r_square]

tnx for getting back to me