Extraction Guide
Learn how to get the most from your extraction prompts — from simple one-liners to detailed, repeatable workflows
Quickstart: Let AI Write Your Prompt
Not sure where to start? Upload your files, click suggest, and the AI generates a prompt for you.
Upload invoices
Drop your files and click Suggest prompt
AI generates your prompt
The AI examines your documents to generate a tailored extraction prompt.
Review and run
Adjust the prompt to get exactly what you need and run it. Save it to your library for reuse.
Describe Your Goal for Smarter Results
Adding context about your finance process helps the AI handle edge cases you haven't anticipated.
“Extract invoice number, date, and total”
“I'm processing supplier invoices for payment. Extract invoice number, date, and total”
Why this helps
Describing your goal — such as the finance process you're performing — helps the AI make smarter decisions about edge cases (like how to handle bundled documents or ambiguous values) so you don't have to anticipate every scenario in your prompt.
Example goals
Writing Prompts
Start simple and add detail when you need precise control. When your prompt leaves something unspecified, the system uses conservative, accounting-friendly judgment.
Simple Prompts
List the fields you need. The AI selects formats and handles document structure.
“Extract invoice number, invoice date, vendor name, net amount, tax, total”
→ AI returns exactly these fields, correctly formatted
“I’m processing invoices for payment. Extract invoice number, date, vendor, amount due, payment terms”
→ Goal helps AI handle edge cases; listed fields define the output
“Extract line items: description, quantity, unit price, line total”
→ AI creates one row per line item with invoice details repeated
Detailed Prompts
Define exact fields, formats, and business rules for repeatable, auditable workflows.
“I'm preparing AP data for our month-end close.
Extract:
- Invoice Number (alphanumeric, top-right)
- Invoice Date (YYYY-MM-DD)
- Vendor Legal Name (prefer extracting from footer)
- Net Amount (pre-tax invoice total)
- VAT Rate (if no VAT is listed use 0, use Excel type percentage)
- VAT Amount (if no VAT is present use 0)
- Total Amount (invoice final total)
- Document Type (classify as Invoice or Credit Note)
- - For credit notes prefix Invoice Number with 'CR-' and show amounts as negative.
- - One row for each invoice or credit note.
- - Skip any pages that are email cover sheets or summary pages.”
Prompt Library
Save prompts for one-click reuse across future batches.
When to use separate prompts
You don't need separate prompts for different vendors or layouts — the AI adapts. Use separate prompts when the extraction logic itself differs:
- Different tasks (VAT reporting vs. expense tracking)
- Different document types (invoices vs. bank statements)
- Client-specific output formats
- Vendor-specific handling rules
After Extraction: AI Uncertainty Notes
When the AI has to make an assumption, it tells you what it assumed — and suggests how to make your prompt more explicit next time. No notes means no assumptions were needed.
Multiple possible matches
Your prompt says ‘Total’ but the document has both a line item total and an invoice total — the AI tells you which one it used.
Inexact field names
Your prompt says ‘Net’ but the document labels it ‘Subtotal’ — the AI tells you how it matched them.
Mixed document types
Your files contain invoices with attached purchase orders — the AI tells you which pages it extracted from and which it ignored.
Unspecified scenarios
Your prompt didn’t mention credit notes but the AI encountered one — it tells you how it handled it, such as treating amounts as negative.
AI Extraction Assistant Notes
Post-extraction report · 1 observation · 2 prompt suggestions
During this extraction, I made some interpretations based on your instructions and the documents provided. Review these notes to ensure the results match your expectations.
Documents to extract from
Your files often contain a ‘Tax Invoice’ with an attached ‘Delivery Note’. I treated the ‘Tax Invoice’ pages as the main source of data, and ignored the attached ‘Delivery Note’ pages as supporting context.
To confirm this handling:
Extract from ‘Tax Invoice’ onlyTo extract from both:
Extract from ‘Tax Invoice’ and ‘Delivery Note’Prompt Controls & Capabilities
Define exact fields, formats, and rules to control how your data is extracted and structured.
Field Selection & Column Naming
Define exactly which fields to capture and how to name the columns.
“Extract 'Invoice Number', 'Invoice Date', and 'Total'”
“Extract the 'Vendor Legal Name' and use the column header 'Supplier_Name'”
“Only these fields”or“Include related tax fields”
Output Structure & Layout
Control what each row represents, how columns are ordered, and how data is grouped.
“Create one row per invoice”
“Create one row for each line item, and repeat the 'Invoice Number' on each row”
“Join all line item descriptions into a single cell, separated by a semicolon.”
“Order columns as: Date, Vendor, Invoice Number, Total”
Business Logic & Rules
Set hints, default values, and conditional logic to handle real-world variations.
Hint“The 'Product Code' is in the 'Description' column, and it always begins with 'SKU-'”
Default“If 'Tax Amount' is missing, set its value to 0”
Fallback“Find the 'PO Number' in the header. If it is not present, extract it from the 'Reference' field.”
Conditional“If 'Currency' is 'USD', extract 'Tax' from the 'State Tax' field. If 'Currency' is 'EUR', extract 'Tax' from the 'VAT' field.”
Conditional“If 'Vendor' is 'Acme Corp', set 'Internal_Code' to 'ACME-001'”
Document & Page Handling
Apply rules to specific document types or filter out unwanted pages.
“Ignore any pages where the title is 'Email Cover Sheet'”
“For credit notes, prefix the 'Invoice Number' with 'CR-' and show all amounts as negative”
“On pages identified as a Statement of Account, extract each invoice listed in the summary table as a separate row”
Data Standardization & Formatting
Control how dates, numbers, and currencies are stored in Excel — ensuring data is in the correct format for calculations, pivot tables, and system imports.
“Format all dates as YYYY-MM-DD”
“Ensure all currency fields have 2 decimal places”
“Set the 'Invoice Date' column as a text type, not a native date”
Note: Your local Excel settings may display native Excel types (i.e. numbers, dates) according to your settings.
Data Classification & Enrichment
Automatically categorize and enrich transactions based on contextual clues — simplifying expense tracking, departmental budgeting, and tax preparation.
“Add an 'Expense Category' column. Based on the line item description, classify each item as one of the following: 'Office Supplies', 'Software & Subscriptions', 'Travel & Entertainment', or 'Utilities'.”
“Add a 'Payment Priority' column. If the invoice is overdue or due within 7 days, classify as 'Urgent'. Otherwise classify as 'Standard'.”
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