I work in an accounting firm, and we are in need of an efficient way to organize our workpapers after scanning them into Adobe Acrobat. Ideally, we would like to have each page specifically bookmarked for easy navigation, without the long process of manually creating a bookmark for each page. If you are familiar with "Gruntworx" and their services, we are trying to accomplish something like that to be done in house.
I also know that there are plug-ins available to facilitate bookmarking, but am not sure how accurate or easy they are to use on a daily basis, or even if they really save time.
If you have any knowledge at all on any of these topics, it would be very appreciated!!
**This message was posted on behalf of member haydon.warren due to difficulty posting a new topic ***
Organizing Workpapers in a PDF Document
2010-09-28 08:28:07
2010-09-29 05:22:25
#2
What exactly does OCR mean?
Here is our situation:
We have tax workpapers for a specific client, and since we are a paperless company, we scan everything into the computer through Acrobat so we can archive the workpapers in a "file room" on our network. (If you need details about the scan process, let me know exactly what information you need and I'll try to get that for you.)
Once the workpapers are scanned, we would like to have each page bookmarked, and organized in the same order as a tax return would be. For example.
1. W-2s
-Company 1
-Company 2
2. Interest Income
-Form 1
-Page 1
-Page 2
And so on...with each bookmark description being specific to that client and workpaper.
It would take an immense amount of time to create bookmarks for every tax return we processed, and we were looking for a way to organize these documents more efficiently.
Does this help?
Here is our situation:
We have tax workpapers for a specific client, and since we are a paperless company, we scan everything into the computer through Acrobat so we can archive the workpapers in a "file room" on our network. (If you need details about the scan process, let me know exactly what information you need and I'll try to get that for you.)
Once the workpapers are scanned, we would like to have each page bookmarked, and organized in the same order as a tax return would be. For example.
1. W-2s
-Company 1
-Company 2
2. Interest Income
-Form 1
-Page 1
-Page 2
And so on...with each bookmark description being specific to that client and workpaper.
It would take an immense amount of time to create bookmarks for every tax return we processed, and we were looking for a way to organize these documents more efficiently.
Does this help?
2010-09-29 05:49:57
#3
OCR = optical character recognition - the process whereby Acrobat converts the image from your scanner into a PDF with "real" text where it can find some. Without OCR, Acrobat just sees an image so you couldn't for example search the PDF for a specific word. You may however need to avoid using OCR if you're keeping the content in PDF/A format (the ISO standard for archive material), as OCR-ing degrades the accuracy of the impression.
Given the structure of your bookmarks, there isn't any realistic way to automate the process. While it's possible to create bookmarks programmatically, the problem is that it seems your page counts are going to change, so "Interest Income" won't always be on page four, and you want the bookmarks to say something relating to information on the scanned page. Acrobat can't understand what the scans show to a human observer, so the idea of a script or plugin saying "aha, this is a W-2 for Acme Bolts..." and making the correct bookmark entry isn't possible. Companies do use OCR systems to process forms, but it relies on very specific paper templates and dedicated software - it's not something Acrobat was ever meant to do.
If your page counts *are* always the same, it's possible to create a set of default bookmarks for each page using a script, but entering custom titles for each one will be just as time-consuming (if not more so) than making them by hand. Sorry!
Given the structure of your bookmarks, there isn't any realistic way to automate the process. While it's possible to create bookmarks programmatically, the problem is that it seems your page counts are going to change, so "Interest Income" won't always be on page four, and you want the bookmarks to say something relating to information on the scanned page. Acrobat can't understand what the scans show to a human observer, so the idea of a script or plugin saying "aha, this is a W-2 for Acme Bolts..." and making the correct bookmark entry isn't possible. Companies do use OCR systems to process forms, but it relies on very specific paper templates and dedicated software - it's not something Acrobat was ever meant to do.
If your page counts *are* always the same, it's possible to create a set of default bookmarks for each page using a script, but entering custom titles for each one will be just as time-consuming (if not more so) than making them by hand. Sorry!
2010-09-29 06:11:04
#4
That's what I needed to know! Thank you!
2010-09-29 08:28:12
#5
One more thing...is there a way to create tickmarks inside of Acrobat? So after reviewing we can check off a page to show that it has been reviewed?
2010-09-29 09:46:03
#6
Tickmarks no, but on the Commenting toolbar there are some pre-made stamps you can apply to pages, under "Dynamic" one of which is "Reviewed". Just select it click on an empty area of the page.
Once you've used it the first time, it'll be the default design picked up when you click the Stamp tool, so you only have to trawl through the menus once.
Once you've used it the first time, it'll be the default design picked up when you click the Stamp tool, so you only have to trawl through the menus once.
2010-09-29 11:32:45
#7
Is there some sort of Add-In we could purchase that would provide tickmarks?
2010-09-29 12:01:13
#8
You can use an application folder level script to add tool bar buttons for the various tick marks (stamps) that you use on a regular basis.
See "Stamps Gone Wild" video at PDFScripting.com.
See "Stamps Gone Wild" video at PDFScripting.com.
2010-09-29 19:16:37
#9
this may be an essential tip: expriment with the combine files tool (AA9: file > combine > merge files into a single PDF). when you combine multiple files (any supported file type [PDF, DOC, TIF, etc.) Actobat creates bookmarks in the combined file (default named "binder.pdf") that are labeled identical to the file names and ordered in the order in which the files are combined. in the combine dialog you can rearrange the order of the files to be combined (mover up / down) as you want them to be arranged in the binder. hence, before doing the combine operation you will need to scan each individual document to an separate file and give it a meaningful ("W2 jones"; "1099 jones", etc.) name. you may want to experiment with the process, as there are useful variations that you will likely discover.
2010-09-29 16:03:27
#10
Hi Haydon.warren,
Just to clarify, YES you can have custom tick mark stamps. If you watch the Stamps Gone Wild video at [url] www.pdfscripting.com[/url] towards then end we show 3 different colored tickmarks for use in accounting/tax processing firms. As gkaiseril mentioned it is all done through the magic of Acrobat JavaScript.
Hope this helps,
Dimitri
WindJack Solutions
www.windjack.com
www.pdfscripting.com
Just to clarify, YES you can have custom tick mark stamps. If you watch the Stamps Gone Wild video at [url] www.pdfscripting.com[/url] towards then end we show 3 different colored tickmarks for use in accounting/tax processing firms. As gkaiseril mentioned it is all done through the magic of Acrobat JavaScript.
Hope this helps,
Dimitri
WindJack Solutions
www.windjack.com
www.pdfscripting.com
2011-02-23 11:46:34
#11
Haydon.Warren:
Trapezy with its Lead Sheet functionality was built for the very thing that you wanted. I'm a practicing CPA and built Trapezy to easily add PDF bookmarks to any documents and tax returns. See our website and watch the tutorials videos and the testimonies.
Hope this helps.
Bill Witt, Founder
bill [at] trapezy [dot] com
www.trapezy.com
Trapezy with its Lead Sheet functionality was built for the very thing that you wanted. I'm a practicing CPA and built Trapezy to easily add PDF bookmarks to any documents and tax returns. See our website and watch the tutorials videos and the testimonies.
Hope this helps.
Bill Witt, Founder
bill [at] trapezy [dot] com
www.trapezy.com
If you can reply with some more information on what exactly your ideal solution should do, we can see if it's possible and what tools might be able to help.