Using "find" Function In Pdf Document

[InfoResearcher]

Hi, all:

 

I am brand new to this forum but I have purchased Macro express for a while and know it is a powerful tool if one knows how to apply it correctly. I am so thankful for whoever invented the software because it saves me a lot of time and manual work!!!

 

Right now I am having a little difficulty in this task and I hope someone can help me with that (I'll do my best to explain). I am doing this data-entry thing where I need to go to certain website, open documents one by one, then based on the search criteria I will then enter data from the chosen doc into a excel spreadsheet. My problems are: 1) these docus are all locked into PDF file, so I have to literally use my eyes to find the data that fits my search criteria (for example, one of the criteria is zipcode, so that means I have to scroll through the doc with my own eyes to see if the desired zipcode is there, and if so, I would insert most info from that docs) I tried using the "Find" buttom but could not perform the function on PDF file docs. 2) going between two programs. Like I said,I would go to the website, find the docs, look through it, and as soon as I find it, then I would go to a excel spreadsheet (which is already opened), and enter the data. This is pretty much the standard procedure and I am wondering how I could program a macro to do that.

 

Thank you in advance for any advise!!!!

 

 

 

Linda

InfoResearcher

[Cory]

It’s hard to fathom exactly what your workflow is and therefore it is difficult ot make suggestions. You see one little tidbit of info on how things are can radically change how one would best approach a macro. However I am fairly certain that you can use ME to ease your workload but I would need to know more specifics to be able to give you the best advice.

 

One question that comes up is about the PDF files you are searching. Are you saying that if you use CTRL+F you can’t find any matches? Maybe the PDF files are scans and therefore raster images instead of text. This would make a big difference in how we might be able to employ ME.

 

Are the websites the same all the time? What criteria do you use to look up these PDFs?

 

Personally I would try to avoid using Excel at the time when you are browsing. Instead I would have it create a tab delimited file of the results of my labor that I would open with Excel later. You could have ME open the web pages and enter the search criteria as long as it follows some definable procedure. I’ve had a lot of experience using ME to do this and it can be made to work surprisingly well. Usually however the best you can hope for is a semi-automatic process when the user and ME work together.

 

For instance I have a scanning macro when users scan in huge amounts of data and use a macro to file them. ME can’t tell from the scanned image who the person is, what the SSN is and all that so ME monitors a folder and when it sees a new one opens it for the user and prompts them to gather info then updates all the meta data in the PDF and saves it according to a complex filing scheme on the server. So even though it can’t ‘read’ the file it can still eliminate 80% of the work. I also have fax monitor macros that do similar things.

 

So yes it can be done but I would need more info to even begin to fathom a macro design. Also if you contact me privately I would be happy to set up a phone call with you. Message boards are nice but a phone conversation in these cases is usually more efficient. Oh, you can also IM me.