Scanned PDF Processing FAQ

Yes, scanned PDF bank statements can be converted to Excel, but you need OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology to extract text from the images. Standard PDF converters cannot read scanned documents because they only work with text-based PDFs. Zera Books includes proprietary Zera OCR technology specifically trained on financial documents, which accurately extracts transaction data from scanned statements, photographed pages, and image-based PDFs with 95%+ accuracy.

A native PDF contains actual text that you can select, copy, and search. These are created directly from software like Word or downloaded from online banking. A scanned PDF is essentially a photograph of a document saved as PDF—it contains no searchable text, just an image. You can tell the difference by trying to select text: if you cannot highlight individual words, it is a scanned PDF. Converting scanned PDFs requires OCR technology to recognize text in the image.

Generic PDF converters are designed to extract existing text from native PDFs. When you upload a scanned PDF, they encounter an image with no extractable text, so they either produce blank output or error messages. Even converters that claim OCR support often use generic OCR engines not trained on financial documents, resulting in poor accuracy on bank statement layouts, numbers, and financial terminology. Zera Books uses financial document-specific OCR trained on millions of bank statements for reliable extraction.

Zera OCR can process a wide range of scanned document qualities, from high-resolution scans to lower-quality faxes and smartphone photos. Best results come from 300 DPI scans with good contrast and minimal skew. However, the system handles common real-world issues like slight blurriness, shadows, background noise, and tilted pages. Extremely poor quality scans (below 150 DPI, severely faded, or heavily redacted) may require manual review or rescanning for optimal accuracy.

OCR accuracy depends on document quality and the OCR engine used. Generic OCR engines achieve 70-85% accuracy on financial documents. Zera OCR, trained specifically on 2.8+ million bank statements, achieves 95%+ accuracy even on scanned documents. This higher accuracy means fewer manual corrections and faster processing. Critical fields like amounts and dates receive extra validation to ensure financial accuracy, making Zera OCR reliable enough for professional accounting workflows.

Yes, Zera Books can process bank statements photographed with a smartphone, provided the image is reasonably clear and readable. For best results, photograph statements in good lighting, keep the camera parallel to the document to minimize distortion, ensure text is in focus, and capture the entire statement without cutting off edges. While smartphone photos typically have lower resolution than scans, Zera OCR is designed to handle these real-world scenarios where clients submit photos instead of proper scans.

Processing time for scanned PDFs is slightly longer than native PDFs because OCR must first recognize text in the image before extraction. With Zera Books, most scanned bank statements process in 20-45 seconds regardless of length. Compare this to 2-4 hours for manual data entry of the same statement, and OCR processing represents a massive time savings. Batch processing multiple scanned statements runs them in parallel, further reducing total processing time.

Scanned PDFs do not require special formatting, but better scan quality yields better results. Ideal scans are straight (not tilted), high contrast (dark text on light background), 300 DPI or higher, and saved as PDF rather than multi-image formats. If you have control over scanning settings, use black and white or grayscale mode rather than color to reduce file size and improve OCR accuracy. Zera Books automatically handles common issues like slight rotation and shadows.

OCR technology is designed primarily for printed text, not handwriting. If your bank statement has handwritten notes or annotations, Zera OCR will focus on the printed transaction data and ignore handwritten additions. This is intentional—handwritten notes typically do not belong in structured financial data exports. If you need to preserve handwritten information, note it separately before processing, as it will not appear in the Excel output.

Zera Books includes validation checks that flag potentially misread amounts for review. The system understands financial document structure, so if an amount seems inconsistent with surrounding transactions or does not match expected patterns, it highlights it for manual verification. Additionally, you can preview all extracted data before downloading, allowing you to correct any errors. With 95%+ accuracy, misread amounts are rare, but the verification layer ensures financial data integrity.

Yes, Zera Books handles multi-page scanned bank statements seamlessly. The OCR engine processes each page sequentially, extracts all transactions, and compiles them into a single Excel file. The system maintains transaction order across pages and automatically handles page headers, footers, and continued balances. Whether your scanned statement is 2 pages or 50 pages, it processes as one document with all transactions in chronological order.

Zera Books supports scanned PDFs up to 50MB per file, which accommodates even lengthy multi-page statements at high resolution. If you have an extremely large file exceeding this limit, consider splitting it into smaller sections or reducing scan resolution to 300 DPI (which is optimal for OCR anyway). Most standard bank statements are well under 10MB, so file size is rarely a limiting factor for typical accounting workflows.