Help choosing the right macro type

[PuffinPanic]

Hi All,

I've recently ventured into the world of macros (as well as the computer vision pallet) and I'd appreciate a bit of advice about which sort of macro I need to use to create the workflow I need. I suspect this will be really obvious to some people, but I'm still finding my way through this.

The situation:

I have many pdf Purchase Order documents. 

There are many different (but similar) formats, and all have tables with identifiable (if variable) headers so that I can choose the right table if I use the pdf tools correctly.

I need to get the product line level detail (product code, description, quantity, etc) from each document and merge that data into a single data list.

I have a list of the file paths to each pdf file to be processed.

What I (think I) need the macro to do:

1 - Take one pdf file 

2 - Identify the correct table (region) (I can do this bit)

3 - Promote the headers to field names (I can do this bit)

4 - Union to the rest of the data

5 - Repeat from step 1 on the next pdf file until all files are processed

This should leave me with a list of product data with a variety of headers (eg I might have headers for both 'Description' and 'product description') containing data that I can then manipulate into unified fields.

What I really need is a bit of advice to get me started with the right type of macro - should this be a batch or an iterative macro?

Any other advice on how to achieve this will also be greatly appreciated. For example, are there any specific weekly challenges that you would recommend that might help me to solve this? 

Also, any tricks for how to choose the right macro type generally would help. 

Thanks for any help!

PuffinPanic

[Garabujo7]

Hello @PuffinPanic ,

I think you'll need to build a batch macro for that.

This article will be helpful:

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Knowledge-Base/Tool-Mastery-Apps-and-Macros/ta-p/3...

This will help you get started with macros:

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Engine-Works/What-the-Heck-Is-a-Macro/ba-p/406214

Here how to create a batch macro:

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Knowledge-Base/Getting-Started-with-Batch-Macros/t...

This article discusses how to open different excel files with different layouts, may be similar to what you are looking to create:

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Knowledge-Base/How-To-Import-Multiple-Excel-Sheets...

Gabriel

[PuffinPanic]

Hi Gabriel, 

Thanks for the quick reply!

Those links look great, I'll go and look at them now.

PuffinPanic