Scraping the Data

Scraping the Data:

  No matter the source ('fancy' Word form, 'fancy' Excel form or Adobe Acrobat pdf form), it is easy to move the data provided in the form into the Instant Database. There are several ways (all leading to the same end). Pick the one that matches your office flow the best.

  Via the Instant Database screen.

    If a Word form, sisplay the completed form (whether plain or fancy) onto the editing screen. If Excel or Adobe, it is probably easier to display the form you intend to scrape in Excel or Acrobat, but if it is not displayed, not worry. Pathagoras will ask you to 'point' to the form at the appropriate time.

    Import: Press <Alt-D> to call up the Instant Database screen. Click the red Power Tools button and then the 'Import' button in the lower right quadrant. The following screen will appear:

For Word forms, click 'From 'Fancy' on-screen table' (second button from top).
To scrape Excel spreadsheets, choose the appropriate third or fourth button.
To scrape an Adobe Acrobat form, click the seventh button from the top.

Via the Pathagoras Features menu:

    Display the completed form onto the editing screen. If the completed form arrived as an attachment to an email, open the attached file. If it arrived in the body of an email, copy and paste the table (or the entire email, it really doesn't matter to Pathagoras) into a Word document.

    Review and edit as appropriate, remembering that the client/customer may have made typographical errors when completing the form.

    Cascade down to the Intake Forms Options:

Click to enlarge.

   Follow the prompts on the succeeding screens to complete the scrape. The data scrapes will appear in a standard Instant Database screen. Save the record as desired. If the underlying form is ready to receive the variables and values, you can click the Next button. Otherwise close the IDB form. The next time you  press <Alt-D> to bring up the Instant Database, the record will be present in the list of Existing Records.

Don't forget: some clients are not good spellers. They don't always accurately remember dates. You still need to double-check the information.

Word Intake forms 'trick'. If the 'fancy' form you wish to scrape has the word 'Intake' in the first row of the first table (as in the example provided here),you can press the Scan button (instead of Power Tools | "Fancy Intake Form"). It will save you a step, but if you only use Word forms, it also makes teaching/learning the scraping steps that much easier.  If this is not the case, use the Import function described below.)