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What could an invoice app do to make this easy? For example, what if I embed the invoice data in a JSON file in a PDF? Could that make it easier for the user?
by oblib 6y ago
What could an invoice app do to make this easy?
For example, what if I embed the invoice data in a JSON file in a PDF? Could that make it easier for the user?
I really don't know much about PDF, but from what little I just read after checking it is possible to do that.
- visarga 6y agoAdd some kind of markup around keys and values in the PDF. While it's important to know the desired field values, their position on the page could be necessary as well. If you have access to a large number of vendors (invoice templates), these templates are going to be really valuable for creating better models. If you provide samples as a free/open dataset, you could make all invoice models that use your dataset, even if developed by other companies, better on your distribution.
- raxxorrax 6y agoThat would be the smart approach, not too much money in it though.
- jrnkntl 6y agoMost invoicing software can generate a UBL[1] document (XML) and send this alongside a PDF. But this can (as far as I know) unfortunately not be embedded into the PDF. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Business_Language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Business_Language
- pinky07 6y agoThe invoicing standard in France and Germany (factur-x) embed the XML inside the PDF, which is very convenient. Here is a python lib that does it: https://pypi.org/project/factur-x/ https://pypi.org/project/factur-x/ Odoo, an open source invoicing software, produces factur-x invoices systematically (whatever the country): very convenient as it's parsed automatically.
- im3w1l 6y agoInvoices in Sweden have a design created for easy OCR-scanning. I prefer this way because it means that there can be no discrepancy between what I see and what the machine sees. Another benefit is that it's really easy to recognize an invoice at a glance, and you know exactly where all the info is.