Supplier price lists in PDF
Many suppliers still send their price list as a PDF. Proceny reads the table into rows, matches them to your catalog, compares them with the last list and holds anything it is not sure about — with the line on the page beside it.
- Automatic, exceptions heldDigital PDFText you can select
- You approve · betaClean scanFlat, 200 DPI or more
- Assisted · betaDamaged scanBlurred, photocopied, low resolution
How it works
- Step 1Upload the PDF
Up to 1,000 pages and 50 MB. Scanned PDFs and phone photos too (beta).
- Step 2Read the table
Header rows, columns on every page and the price basis stated for a section are recognised.
- Step 3Match and compare
Rows are matched to your catalog and compared with the supplier's last list, per unit.
- Step 4Review and export
Held rows show their line on the page. Approved rows go into your ERP export.
Three kinds of PDF
How much Proceny can do on its own depends on how the PDF was made. You can tell the first kind by selecting text in it.
- Digital PDF, exported from the supplier's system
- Read automatically, with exceptions. Rows come from the PDF's own text, each value tied to its line on the page. A page laid out differently, a price basis stated twice, an unknown unit or products that cannot be told apart are held with the reason.
- Clean scan or phone photo (beta)
- Read by OCR. Values Proceny is sure of are ready to approve in one step; unclear scanned values are held for review instead of being guessed. Nothing from a scan is used until a person approves it.
- Blurred, photocopied or low-resolution scan (beta)
- Assisted. Many rows are held for you to check or complete. It saves some typing, not the review.
What makes supplier PDFs hard
- Columns that shift from page to page
- Columns are lined up by their labels on each page. A page that does not fit is held, not read into the wrong column.
- Two products side by side on one line
- Read as separate products when the layout repeats; held when they cannot be told apart.
- “Prices per 100” in a heading or page note
- Applied to its section. If the price column says otherwise, the row is held. Price per 100 and pack changes
- Line totals, weights or quantities next to the price
- Never taken as the unit price.
- A number that is unclear in a scan (1.36 or 136?)
- Unclear scanned values are held for review instead of being guessed.
- An item code misread in a scan
- Checked against your catalog and against EAN check digits; a code that is not confirmed is held.
How this is tested
We test the PDF reader on public supplier price lists and on scans of real price-list pages made deliberately worse — skewed, compressed, low resolution, blurred, photocopied — against values worked out independently of Proceny. These are internal tests, not a promise for every layout: when Proceny is not sure, it holds the row and says why.
Scanned pages count towards your plan's monthly limit (pricing). Files are read by Proceny's own code and not sent to AI services (security). To see what changed against last month's list, read how to compare supplier price lists.