Extracting Data From Forms

Important:

The aim of this page is to help first time users get familiar with Document Understanding.

For scalable production deployments, we strongly recommend using the Document Understanding Process available in UiPath Studio under the Templates section.

This quickstart guides you through the steps required to extract information from W-9 forms using the Intelligent Form Extractor. The W-9 forms are used as an example, but the procedure is similar for other types of documents where the data is structured.

Starting from scratch, these are the steps that need to be followed:

Create a blank process
Install the required activities packages
Create a taxonomy
Digitize the document
Extract the data using the Intelligent Form Extractor
Validate the results using Validation Station
Export Extraction Results

Now, let us see every step in detail.

1. Create a Blank Process

Launch UiPath Studio.

In the HOME backstage view, click Process to create a new project.

The New Blank Process window is displayed. In this window, enter a name for the new project. If you want, you can also add a description to sort through your projects more easily.

Click Create. The new project is opened in Studio.

2. Install the Required Activities Packages

From the Manage Packages button in the ribbon, besides the core activities packages (UiPath.Excel.Activities, UiPath.Mail.Activities, UiPath.System.Activities, UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities) that are added to the project by default, install the following activities packages:

3. Create a Taxonomy

Once Packages are installed, list out the required fields. We will be doing data extraction for the below fields:

1_Name - Text
2_BusinessName - Text
3a_Individual - Boolean
3b_CCorp - Boolean
3c_SCorp - Boolean
3d_Partnership - Boolean
3e_TrustEstate - Boolean
3f_LLC - Boolean
3f_LLCTaxClassification - Boolean
3g_Other - Boolean
3g_OtherDetail - Boolean
5_Address - Text
6_CityStateZip - Text
7_AcctNumber - Text
TIN_SSN - Text
TIN_ETN - Text
Certification_Signature - Boolean
Certification_SignatureDate - Date

Open Taxonomy Manager and create a group named "Structured Documents", a category named "Lending Forms", and a document type named "W-9". Create above listed fields with user friendly names along with respective data types.

4. Digitize the Document

In the Main.xaml file, add a Load Taxonomy activity and create a variable for the taxonomy output.

Add a Digitize Document activity with UiPath Document OCR. Provide the input property Document Path and create output variables for Document Text and Document Object Model.

Remember to add the Document Understanding API Key in the UiPath Document OCR activity.

5. Extract the Data Using the Intelligent Form Extractor

Add a Data Extraction Scope activity and fill in the properties.

Drag and drop the Intelligent Form Extractor within it. The endpoint should be auto-populated with the Intelligent Form Extractor endpoint, namely https://du.uipath.com/svc/intelligentforms. Provide the Document Understanding API key.

Once that is done, to create a new template, click Manage Templates > Create Template. A pop-up window opens.

Under Document Type, select the W-9 document type created earlier.

Under Document name, enter a name for your template.

Under Template document (native PDF if possible), attach a template document where you are going to map the field positions.

Under OCR Engine, select again the UiPath Document OCR. Just like before, the endpoint should be auto-populated, namely https://du.uipath.com/ocr, and you just need to provide the API Key.

Click Configure to move to the next step. The Template Manager pop-up window opens.

Here, we will need to select the areas where we want Intelligent Form Extractor to search for our fields. Configure them by following the steps detailed here. You also have the option of using anchors for your fields. More information on anchors here.

You should end up with something like this:

Click Save. In this screen, you can define the handwritten or signature fields, where applicable. You can also define synonyms for Boolean fields. Close the window after you are done.

The next step is to configure the extractor, which means having the Intelligent Form Extractor process all documents of type W-9.

6. Validate the Results Using Validation Station

To check the results through Validation Station, drag and drop the Present Validation Station activity and provide the input details.

7. Export the Extraction Results

To export the extraction results, validated or not, drag and drop an Export Extraction Results activity to the end of your workflow. This outputs the results into a DataSet that contains multiple tables, which could then be written to an Excel file or be used directly in a downstream process.