Converters

Converters ensure that your data is presented in a value set that is applicable for your use. Documents can include data values that are formatted in many ways, but you might want to have a single format generated from all the variations.

When a document is processed, converters update and save the extracted value. A converter is enabled when the document processing user or an application uploads a document.

The following converters are available to you in Document Processing Designer:

Clean up

The Clean up converter clears the field value when the value does not match the required regular expression pattern. For example, if the pattern is [a-z], the converter clears the field value if it contains anything other than lowercase characters. Available for all field types.

Date

You can use the Date converter to ensure that the date you extracted is stored with a consistent output format. Available for the Date field type.

Dates are converted to the format YYYY-MM-DD, for example 2021-12-17. Common date formats are converted by default.

Common date formats include:
  • YYYY-MM-DD - For example: 2021-12-17
  • DD-Month-YYYY - For example: 17-December-2021
  • MM-DD-YYYY - For example: 12-17-2021
  • YYYY.MM.DD - For example: 2021.12.17
  • YYYY-MM-D - For example: 2021-12-2
  • Month DD, YYYY - For example: December 17, 2021
  • YYYY-Mon-DD - For example: 2021-Dec-17

If the converter does not recognize the date format, it returns the original value. To avoid this problem, you can use the Format field to indicate to the converter how to parse the value. For example, the following value is not among the types that are recognized by the date converter:

Thursday, April 16, 2021 at 8:23:02 AM Central Daylight Time.

If you leave the Format field blank, this value is returned as is. If you specify the format as follows:

%A, %B %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S %p

Then the converter returns: 2021-04-16.

Note: The optional Format field is only taken into account if the default converter fails to recognize the date format. The format that you specify in this field corresponds to the original value, not the target format, which is always YYYY-MM-DD.
Decimal

Cleans values such as currency to remove other non-numeric characters and converts to the decimal format that you want. Available for the Decimal field type.

Two parameters describe the decimals that are converted.
  • The Decimal point parameter is the decimal point character of the input text. The format is a '.' or ','.
  • The Max digits after decimal point parameter is the maximum length of the fractional part of the input text.

If the decimal part of the input text does not satisfy the two parameters that you define, then the Decimal converter does not convert the input text.

As an example, if Decimal point is '.' and Max digits after decimal point is '2', then "$9,999.99" is converted to "9999.99". Input values like "1.0005", "14.56999", and "9.999%" are not converted since they exceed the defined numbers after the decimal point.

Map

Maps original values to converted values to produce a standard output. You take various different inputs and produce the same output, no matter how it comes into the document. Available for all field types.

For every possible variation on the value that might be included in a document, you create an entry to convert each one to the value that you want to collect. The input is case-insensitive; you do not need separate entries if the only difference is the capitalization of the text.

For example, you might get Wisconsin, Wisc. or Wi., but the value that you want to extract is the simple two-letter postal abbreviation of WI.

You create an entry for each of those, which leads to the converted format WI for each of the possible values.

You can also use this converter to convert a currency symbol to a currency code, or a currency code to a currency symbol. Use the Symbol location option to specify whether to convert at the beginning, end, or anywhere in the field. The currency conversion maps the currency symbol to a currency code by using the following mapping:

C$ > CAD; Can$ > CAD; AU$ > AUD; A$ > AUD; £ > GBP; € > EUD; $ > USD

Alternatively, you can map from the currency code to the currency symbol.

Percentage

For values that include percentages, you can convert the data in the way that makes the most sense for your applications, for example:

Convert to decimal (for example, 15% becomes .15)

Remove % (for example, 15% becomes 15)

Available for the Percentage field type.