A scanned stack of documents
Invoices and other records in sequence in one PDF, usually in the order they went through the scanner.
Who SmartDocTO is for
For batch scans
Batch scans and files that hold several documents
The scanner saves a whole stack as one PDF, and suppliers send several documents in a single attachment. Once you enable document type recognition and splitting in your intake settings, SmartDocTO recognizes which document types such a file contains, splits it into separate documents, and extracts each one according to its own template.
Starting point
Why documents arrive bundled together
Paper gets scanned in stacks, not one document at a time. Suppliers also attach several files to one message. The first thing anyone does with such a file is take it apart, before any real work on the documents can start.
- The scanner saves the entire stack as one file.
- Someone splits the PDF by hand and watches where one document ends and the next begins.
- Different document types are mixed in one file, each with its own structure.
- The parts are saved under generic file names, so people track them by their position in the stack rather than by what is in them.
- The manual split repeats every day and leaves no record behind.
Documents
What such a file usually contains
Recognition works with the document types you have configured. Whether a specific batch is suitable is verified on a real sample.
A document with its attachments
An invoice followed by a delivery note, purchase order, or handover record that belongs to the same event.
A batch from one supplier
Several documents sent in one message. Each one is processed on its own, unless you turn on merging of PDF attachments in your intake settings.
Proposed process
How SmartDocTO handles the file
Type recognition is enabled for your company, and splitting a file is a separate choice in your intake settings. Without both, the file stays one document, exactly as before. With both on, nobody cuts the stack by hand every morning, and every document that comes out of the file carries its own data and its own record of what happened to it.
1
Recognize the types
When recognition is enabled, SmartDocTO determines which document types the file contains and where they change.
2
Split into documents
Depending on your intake settings, the PDF is split into separate documents. Each part becomes a document in its own right, with its own extracted data and its own processing history, so you find it by what it contains instead of where it sat in the stack. From the recognized parts, you can also have only the selected ones processed later.
3
Extract and review
Each resulting document goes through its own template, validations, and any approval, just like any other document.
4
Deliver the result
For deliveries over SFTP, SharePoint, or OneDrive, you choose whether the document goes out on its own or together with the whole email batch composed into a single PDF.
Division of responsibility
What the application does and what stays with you
What SmartDocTO can be configured to do
- Enable document type recognition for your company.
- Choose whether a PDF with several documents is split or stays whole.
- Apply templates, validation rules, and approvals to each resulting document.
- Compose the delivered file for the SFTP, SharePoint, and OneDrive outbound integrations.
What stays with your team
- Scan quality, page legibility, and the order of documents in the stack.
- Checking that the split matches what the file actually contains.
- Assessing documents that recognition did not classify.
- The professional decision on posting and approving each document.
Pilot
What to verify in the pilot
The pilot should show how reliably your real batches separate into individual documents and how many cases stay with a human reviewer.
Important boundary
Splitting applies to PDF files only and requires type recognition to be enabled. A split file counts against the monthly limit as the number of documents created from it, not as one file.
- 1 A routine scanned batch and the one you consider the worst.
- 2 The document types that alternate inside your files.
- 3 Multi-page documents that must not be split in the middle.
- 4 Scan quality, page orientation, and the legibility of stamps or handwriting.
- 5 The output you expect: separate documents, or one composed PDF when the batch arrives by email and goes out over SFTP, SharePoint, or OneDrive.
Related content
Invoice processing automation
What happens to the invoices once the file is split: extraction, checks, approval, and ROI calculated with your own data.
Read moreDocument processing for accounting firms
How intake, review, and delivery work for documents from several clients in one process.
Read more
Questions and answers
Frequently asked questions
What if one file contains different document types?
That is exactly why recognition comes before splitting. SmartDocTO determines where the document type changes and processes each resulting part with the template that matches it.
How does a split file count toward the monthly limit?
Each document created by the split counts against the limit, and the original file is not counted on top of that. If the split would exceed the remaining limit, it does not run at all and the file is only stored whole as a single document, without extraction.
What happens if the split does not work out?
The file is stored whole as a single document and the processing stops there, so extraction does not run automatically. Nothing is lost. Your team can then have only the selected recognized parts processed, or have the whole file extracted as one document.
Can attachments be split and merged at the same time?
No, one intake configuration can have at most one of them turned on. Both are off by default. You either enable splitting, so a PDF with several documents becomes separate documents, or you enable merging, so the PDF attachments from one message become a single document.
Other sectors
Your document type
Where else SmartDocTO can help
Pilot with your own scans
Send us one real batch
On your own sample we show how the file separates into individual documents and where human review will be needed.
Discuss a pilot