[GNC-dev] Import PDF to GnuCash

[jeffrey black]

On 7/26/2018 2:56 PM, deltatango wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Very interested in the possibility of importing PDF statements into GnuCash.
>
> I know Quickbooks now has this functionality.
>
> I searched online and found a few clunky possibilities that would convert
> the data into excel which can then be converted to csv and then imported
> into GnuCash.
>
> I was envisioning a system where you select a PDF statement to be imported.
>
> The program then asks you to select the area of the statement which contains
> the transactions, much like a photoshop selection. (And perhaps you could
> save templates of selections for different statements).
>
> Then some kind of OCR scanning reads the columns and data and convert it to
> columns/rows.
>
> Is this in the realm of possibility for some future release?
>
> It is so common now that exporting csv or qfx ,etc files from your bank only
> go so far back and you have to download PDFs instead...
>
> I dream, I hope...
>
> But in vain I wish not...
>
>
>
> --
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>
I don't think this is an option with PDF files in the near future.  
Adobe has gone to great effort to make sure that all of the user 
friendly features of PDF reader are now a paid feature. Quickbook$ can 
afford to add this feature because of the high fees they charge you for 
"improvements and features".

As Jim DeLaHunt mentioned you might find some AI/Auto-learning software 
to convert it to a usable format, though I wouldn't hold my breath at 
this time.

Right now, the only suggestion I can offer, other than finding another 
type of input file, is to print the PDF and then scan it with OCR 
software so you can try to extract the information you are after.

--JEffrey Black M.B.A.