Is it possible to creat a spreadsheet from a paper catalog?

[mikehende]

I have a paper catalog of products and pricing from a Distributor but at 100 pages and thousands of products I am first seeking an option to create a spreadsheet somehow by scanning each page of the catalog, is this possible in any way please? If not, any other options please?

 

[FormatCReturn]

I had a very similar situation recently at my office. We hired a team of data entry personnel!
Other than that, no idea. I'll be watching to see if there are any technical answers to this question - I could use help with that too!

 

[Scuderia]

Your scanning software requires Optical Character Recognition (OCR) which then converts the image into text which could be pasted into a spreadsheet
Google it!
Alternatively does the distributor have a website with their products on it? You may then be able to use Excels web queries to extract the data

 

[Blastphemist]

The distributor should have an electronic version of the catalog, even if only for in-house use. Maybe inquire directly with them?

 

[BadgerRoad]

I have OCR software that came with a printer I recently purchased (an Epson) that works extremely well. So it's available pretty inexpensively.

 

[mikehende]

I have a fairly new Epson Printer so it should have this software, will look into this in the morning. The distributor does not have an electronic version but has sent me a PDF file with the basic info, my basic quick search on the net shows that there ares softwares which will make this much faster and easier option than scanning?

 

[BadgerRoad]

The software I got with the printer is called Abbyy FineReader. It has an option to scan to an Excel spreadsheet.

 

[Smitty]

Welcome to the Board!

The distributor does not have an electronic version but has sent me a PDF file with the basic info

How'd they create the PDF then?

 

[rjwebgraphix]

my basic quick search on the net shows that there ares softwares which will make this much faster and easier option than scanning?

All options to go from paper directly to any digital form utilizes OCR (Optical Character Recognition)

OCR can save you a whole lot of work, although they are not perfect by any means. They can and will mistake an O for 0 or a 1 for l and a variety of other mistakes.

With every page you read in with OCR you will want to proof read it and if you have a lot of part numbers you will want to go over it with a fine tooth comb to make sure there are no mistakes. Mistakes can also vary with the font. 10pt or 12pt works best. If its fine print (smaller than 10pt) be prepared for a lot of mistakes. If its an off the wall font, also be prepared for a lot of mistakes. Fixed width fonts also work better than True Type Fonts, but I'm sure OCR technology has gotten better since the last time I had to do it for an Access DB project back in 03. Hopefully your source material is a common font at 10 or 12pt. Otherwise, no matter how you do it, it's going to be a pain.

Also, if it's in a book form, you're best if you can cut each individual sheet out so they are flat with the scanner. I'm not sure if it will go direct into excel or not. The last time I did it, I went from OCR to Word, then after proofing went from Word to Access.

 

[mikehende]

Welcome to the Board!
How'd they create the PDF then?

Thanks for the welcome! My guess is they simply created a PDF by manually typing in only the important info as the PDF is only a condensed version of the much larger printed catalog.