Short answer
Optical character recognition converts text in images and scans into machine-readable characters, turning a photographed delivery receipt into data a system can file and search. Modern document extraction goes further, using models that read layout as well as characters to pull named fields from an invoice: supplier, invoice number, line items and due date.
Also called: OCR, Document data extraction
Accuracy depends on the input more than on the software. A flat, well-lit scan of printed text is close to solved. A creased thermal receipt photographed at an angle in a warehouse is not, and handwriting remains the hardest case of all. Before budgeting for a document pipeline, run a sample of your genuinely worst documents through a trial, because the average document flatters the system while the worst one determines how much exception handling you will be paying for.
In Philippine operations the paper trail is often the bottleneck: delivery receipts, purchase orders, permits and hand-filled forms that someone re-types at the end of the day. Extraction becomes dependable in production when every field carries a confidence score and low-confidence fields are routed to a person instead of being written silently into the ledger. Machine reading plus targeted review is what makes the throughput gain safe to rely on.
Common questions
Can OCR read handwritten Philippine forms?
Partially, and with supervision. Printed and typed text is read accurately, block capitals in fixed boxes are usually workable, and free-flowing handwriting is unreliable enough that the output needs checking. A practical build extracts what it can, flags the fields it is unsure about, and puts those in front of a person rather than guessing.
Where this comes up in our work
Related terms
Computer Vision
Computer vision is software that interprets images and video: identifying objects, counting items, reading a gauge, spotting a defect on a production line.
Workflow Automation
Workflow automation is software that runs a defined sequence of business steps without a person moving data between systems: a submitted form creates a record, notifies the right team, files the attachment and schedules a follow-up.
Human-in-the-Loop
Human-in-the-loop is a design pattern where an AI system prepares work and a person approves, edits or rejects it before it takes effect: drafted replies queued for a one-click send, extracted invoice fields shown for confirmation.
AI Agent
An AI agent is a system that uses a language model to decide which actions to take, then takes them through connected tools: reading a database, sending an email, updating a booking record.
Reading definitions because you are scoping a project? Skip ahead and just ask.