converting text based documents to PDF using DocuWare Import-1523056364

Is there a tool available in DocuWare desktop apps to convert documents to be imported to PDF automatically?  A customer wants to import raw EDI transaction information and capture a piece of information from the documents on import with an import template but the documents are in text format with a .edi extension.

Troy,
DocuWare contains no processor for EDI. Therefore, even though the EDI file is human readable, you will need a program that can open and understand the EDI format. Of course you could print it with Notepad, but the resulting PDF file in DocuWare will look just like the jumbled mess that you see in Notepad. Since the EDI standard has been around forever, you should be able to find something to pre-process it for you.
Keep in mind, that EDI files were always meant to be read by a program to extract and disseminate the data for the target application according to the required format. In my experience EDI was never a document but simply information. Perhaps that has changed over the years?

 

Phil Robson
Senior Director Support Americas

Thanks Phil.  The client doesn't want the file formated just converted to PDF format on import.  I found that interesting as well.  I discovered some additional info that the customer really only needs an order number from the EDI document which is also included in the file name.  I know we can use the filename as a dynamic index value but it does not offer a way to parse that from the complete file name.  (ex. HPO01538143_20180315130732_850.edi)  where the bold information is the Order Number.

I think parsing would be a nice feature request. I never understood why you can do it with the barcode on import but not with a readout or from the file name.  

There is a suggestion for something similar that you can add your vote to here https://docuware.uservoice.com/forums/230571-desktop-apps-english/suggestions/12460602-split-filename-during-import

It's more for splitting a name into different index values but parsing the name would be a great add.

There is currently no tool available from DocuWare that converts text files to PDF files. The only way would be to print them via DocuWare Printer, which is nothing automatic and probably not the way to got when having a lot of files.

PDF conversion

However there are a lot of applications available that can do the job and place the PDF file into a folder. For example this cheap utility: http://www.verypdf.com/app/text-to-pdf-converter/index.html.There is also a nice description how to do this from command line: http://www.verypdf.com/wordpress/201107/text-to-pdf-batch-conversion-using-wildcards-1022.html

Index field

After the conversion you can setup a DocuWare Import job to import the files. Depending on the structure of the EDI files you then might be able to read out the order number from the content of the PDF (maybe you need to use anchors). If this is not possible (e.g. because the order number is eventually at the end of a line and gets broken up), then you could write the full file name into an index field and then use Workflow Manager to split it into the correct field. Here is a description about this: https://www.docuware.com/forum/english-forums/docuware-questions-about-usage-and-configuration/arithmetic-expression-functions. 
 

Hi Phil,

Is it possible to store .EDI documents in DocuWare?

Regards,

Hi Victor, 

you can store .EDI in DocuWare, yes. Keep in mind that those files might not be formatted well by the DocuWare Viewer. For more info please see the help website: http://help.docuware.com/en/#b57855t64139n87333

 

Greetings from Germany,
Simon H. Hellmann
DocuWare System Consultant

Hi Simon,

Thanks for your answer. Linked with the .EDI files, the idea is to store the .pdf associated with each of these .EDI files, so when the user search for an invoice they can see the pdf document but also has a link to the .EDI document associated with it. Actually, this customer has the .EDI files stores in a platform and the pdf's printed and stored in paper, with DocuWare they pretend to have both type of documents stored in the same platform. Do you know if this solution has been implemented in other DocuWare customers?

Hi Victor,

I have not heard of such a use case yet. However, theoretically it would be possible to store both the PDF and the EDI Document in the same archive and link them by either a common index field entry, a linked document or even as stapled documents. Just keep in mind that the EDI File might not be displayed correctly by the DocuWare Viewer.

Greetings from Germany,
Simon H. Hellmann
DocuWare System Consultant

Thank you very much Simon.

Best regards!

Hi,<br> <br> I just wanted to check in on this topic.<br> <br> One of our customers wants to store txt-files. They already have the final layout and for sending them they use pre-printed paper.<br> We want to import these txt-files into DocuWare an automatically read out a few index values, but the import-configuration can only process pdf-files.<br> <br> Does anybody have experience with similar cases?<br> <br> Thanks in advance.

I did something similar.&#160; In my case I had an e-mail and I wanted to read text on it when storing it, so I did a multi-step process using several different modules. <ul> <li>I have an Outlook Mail configuration that stores the e-mail - you can just use an Import job in your scenario.</li> <li>I have a simple DW Workflow that triggers when the e-mail document is stored, it just e-mails the document&#160;out (which turns it into PDF)</li> <li>Then I have another Outlook Mail configuration that stores the 2nd e-mail, attachment first, and uses Document Processing to read the data on the PDF attachment and stores it.</li> <li>To clean up, I have a Deletion Policy to get rid of the original document that is no longer needed.</li> </ul>

Hi Markus Kober,<br> <br> you need some piece of software which parses the txt files for the values and then stores the document with these values as index entries to DocuWare.<br> <br> If you are using a DocuWare Cloud organization you could do this with an iPaaS platform (e.g. Make.com) easily. If you are able to develop, you could also create a small application/service which does this. This could then be used on premises and Cloud.<br> <br> Another option would be to import the txt files just by their file name and have the index values in a separate database/csv-file and use Autoindex to add these index entries after storage.<br> <br> --<br> Tobias Getz<br> Team Leader Product Management | DocuWare GmbH