Converting invoices to excel

Question

My goal here is to get my paperwork organized digitally. Invoices from multiple vendors and converting them into spreadsheets to have all my information for one sale easily assessable down the road if I need to look back.
First I purchased one of those systems that analyses your receipts and builds a spreadsheet automatically. I would be better off typing everything out than going through and correcting every invoice with that system.
I write my own invoices in excel, I think I could make a better looking and email able with PDF's and I saw the "easy conversion to excel" so I purchased  acrobat XI pro
Now keep in mind I have hundreds of invoices to convert, so whatever I do would have to be streamlined.
My problem is;
when I convert to excel, everything is moved around and cut off. (when converted from an online typed invoice)
when I use OCR on a printed invoice, I get some alien looking characters.
when I use the automatic form finder it only grabs tow cells of information out of fifty.
I'm just having a very hard time finding information on more advanced use of Acrobat.
I would assume to make this happen I would have to build a template and assign areas of information and attach variables to them so they convert on point every time.
I know I would probably have to figure out how to remove images, buttons, hidden text, web address at the bottom, and ect. to get better results from the automatic form finder.
My main question is, am I asking too much?

Answer 1

I don't believe simple or complicated will work. It's fine if you have to deal with a large number of IDENTICALLY made invoices (from the same company). But anything else, the prospect of automation is terrifying. A human can look at at an invoice and work out the company name, what is an invoice number and what is a fax number, which column is tax and which is shipping, which figure is the total, which the account balance, ... I have been writing software for many years and I would frankly not trust the claims of any software that claimed to do this even half reliably.
If this was, say, adding potential contacts to a database it might be tolerable to have some errors. But for financial data it is frankly madness. It opens you to very large financial errors, and auditing and regulatory failures, fines from the tax authorities, and bankruptcy. Pay a diligent human to do it, or do it yourself, just as it requires a human to answer a customer phone call usefully.
One exception: if all your invoices are to be matched against existing validated financial data in your accounts payable system, I can imagine a system of fuzzy logic could work. This wouldn't try the impossible task of comprehending the invoice. Rather, it could search for matches on sufficient data that is already known (e.g. company name, amount, order number). Using this process, a certain number of invoices could be automatically validated and trigger payment logic (not to an address or details on the invoice, but to prestored details); unmatched invoices could then be left for a human. Caution: sometimes companies change their payment details and the only way to know is careful handling of the invoice. Though this is also used as a scam...