Set up automatic splitting of documents
- 11 Min.
Document Capture can automatically split one document into several smaller documents or merge multiple documents into one. The automatic splitting and merging of documents is carried out when documents are imported.
Automatic splitting can be useful if your company receives documents in physical form, such as traditional paper invoices or shipment notes attached to deliveries. Employees can scan all paper documents in one big batch and then let Document Capture handle the document splitting. This is typically used by organizations whose daily routines include scanning a large number of paper documents of the same type simultaneously, or in cases when a vendor sends multiple documents in one file.
There are several ways of splitting documents automatically, and you can customize the splitting criteria to your liking.
To configure the splitting criteria, follow these steps:
Select the search icon, enter Document Categories, and then select the related link.
Open the relevant document category card. For example, to open the purchase document category, select the PURCHASE line (not the PURCHASE code itself, as this will open the document journal), and then choose Edit in the action bar.
Under OCR Processing, enable Split Documents Automatically.
Several new fields appears on the Document Category card. You can use these to configure the splitting criteria.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Blank Page | Splits whenever a blank page is found. |
| Source ID | Splits whenever a new source is found on a page. For example, the source in the PURCHASE category is the vendor, meaning that Document Capture will split each time a new vendor is identified. |
| Separator Fields | Splits whenever a separator field changes value from one page to the next. Separator fields refer to the template fields that have Use as Document Separator selected. The template field Invoice No. is by default set to be a document separator, meaning that if Document Capture finds two different invoice numbers on two different pages, it will split the document. You can set up any template field to be a document separator by editing the Template Field Card. Separator fields are configured for each template field, so each individual vendor template can have its own customized separator fields. |
| Barcode | Splits when any barcode or QR code is found in a document. |
| Barcode Text | Only splits when the specified barcode text is found in a document. |
The splitting criteria can be combined in any way you prefer to meet your company's needs. If you define multiple splitting criteria, only one criterion needs to be met in order for a document to be split. This means that one split could be triggered by a blank page, while another one could result from the identification of a source ID.
Note
For more in-depth information, please refer to the article Splitting and Merging Documents on Continia Docs.
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Video
This video demonstrates how Document Capture can be set up to automatically split documents.