Question 1

How to use Lido's Data Extraction Solution: The Basics

Accepted Answer

🧾 How to Extract Data from PDFs into Spreadsheets with Lido

Q: Adding AI Columns

<h1 id="howaicolumnswork">How AI Columns Work</h1> You can add any data field to the data extractor that doesn’t exist in the source file (e.g., Invoice Category, Expense Type, GL Code). These appear in your sheet but never need to be present in the uploaded document. Each AI column runs when a document is processed. Common examples of AI column uses: <ul> <li>Classification – “Classify the expense descriptions into the closest of these 4 categories: food, gas, travel, other"</li> <li>Conditional coding – "If status column contains "approved", return 99" to auto-fill a GL code.</li> </ul> <h2 id="extractingthefilenameorpagenumber">Extracting the filename or page number</h2> To include the source file's name or the page number where data was found in your results, add an AI column whose header contains <code>&lt;filename&gt;</code> or <code>&lt;pagenumber&gt;</code>. Without one of these tags in the column header, that metadata won't be extracted. ${youtube}<a href="6fdbGtOMyXw">Adding AI Columns</a>

Q: Managing your subscription

This article has been consolidated. Please see: <ul> <li>Manage your subscription - day-to-day billing mechanics (plan changes, payment method, invoices)</li> <li>Refunds and cancellation policy: </li> <li>Pricing, plans, and page allowance - current plans and allowances</li> </ul>

Q: Pricing

This article has been consolidated into <a href="https://help.lido.app/en/article/pricing-plans-and-page-allowance-15z9f74/">Pricing, plans, and page allowance</a> - please refer to that article for current plans, allowances, and how to get a volume quote. Quick pointers: <ul> <li>Plans and prices up to ~1,000 pages/month are listed there.</li> <li>Above ~1,000 pages/month: email justin@trylido.com or book https://calendly.com/d/cwn6-4hw-y4n/chat-with-justin</li> <li>Refunds and cancellation: cancel anytime and you keep full access until the end of your current billing cycle. Plans are non-refundable outside Enterprise contracts - see <a href="https://help.lido.app/en/article/refunds-and-cancellation-policy-1m48hpv/">Refunds and cancellation policy</a>.</li> </ul>

🎥 Watch the quick tutorial (2 min)

${youtube}Getting started with Lido

If your team handles a high volume of PDFs — invoices, forms, receipts, or reports — you know how time-consuming and error-prone manual entry can be. With Lido, you can automate the entire process. This guide shows you how to extract structured data (like invoice numbers, vendor names, and amounts) directly into spreadsheet rows — no manual typing required.

✅What You’ll Need

A Lido account (lido.app)
One or more documents to extract data from

📁 Supported file types: PDFs, scanned images, JPGs, PNGs, TIFFs, Excel files, and Word documents can all be processed.

🧠 Step 1: Click Extract Data and Upload Your Documents

Click the green Extract Data button on the left side of your file. Next, upload one or more documents you want to extract data from. Once uploaded, Lido automatically analyzes the files and intelligently populates column headers based on the content it detects — for example Invoice Number, Date Due, Vendor Name, and Amount Due. You can:

Add more headers to capture extra fields not automatically suggested
Remove or rename headers for data you don’t need
Reorder headers directly in the spreadsheet or inside the Extract Data interface

💡 The Lido column headers are your main instructions for what to extract. Be

Question 2

Adding AI Columns

Accepted Answer

How AI Columns Work

You can add any data field to the data extractor that doesn’t exist in the source file (e.g., Invoice Category, Expense Type, GL Code). These appear in your sheet but never need to be present in the uploaded document.

Each AI column runs when a document is processed. Common examples of AI column uses:

Classification – “Classify the expense descriptions into the closest of these 4 categories: food, gas, travel, other"
Conditional coding – "If status column contains "approved", return 99" to auto-fill a GL code.

Extracting the filename or page number

To include the source file's name or the page number where data was found in your results, add an AI column whose header contains <filename> or <pagenumber>. Without one of these tags in the column header, that metadata won't be extracted.

${youtube}Adding AI Columns

Question 3

Automating the Data Extractor

Accepted Answer

Automating the Data Extractor

Automatically import files from Google Drive, OneDrive, or Email.

You can automatically fetch new files from a connected Google Drive folder, OneDrive folder, or email. To automatically fetch new files from your connected source, turn on the Process Files toggle.

Automatically process new files from connected drive folder

When the Process Files toggle is turned on, Lido will automatically check for and process new files added to that folder every five minutes.

|| Billing Note: Turning on Process Files for a data extractor counts as one automation. If you enable Process Files on multiple extractors, each one counts separately.

Automatically export extracted data in Excel or CSV format

You can receive extracted data in an Excel or CSV daily at a specified time of your choosing. Lido can either send an email with the Excel/CSV file, or directly upload it to a Google Drive or OneDrive folder of your choice. Automatically export results || Billing Note: Turning on Export Results for a data extractor counts as one automation. If you enable Export Results on multiple extractors, each one counts separately.

Delete emailed rows

Check this box if you want your automated export file to only include newly processed data sinc

Question 4

Managing your subscription

Accepted Answer

This article has been consolidated. Please see:

Manage your subscription - day-to-day billing mechanics (plan changes, payment method, invoices)
Refunds and cancellation policy:
Pricing, plans, and page allowance - current plans and allowances

Question 5

Super-powered Extra Instructions (i.e., Directives)

Accepted Answer

Directives are deterministic instructions you add in the Extra Instructions section of your Data Extractor to fine‑tune extraction.

Each directive has a specific syntax and must appear on its own line at the bottom of the Extra Instructions.

File Extractor

@parallel:true / @parallel:false

What is this?

Controls whether the extractor treats each page separately or processes the whole document as one unit.

Use when

@parallel:true: Each page stands on its own. Example: one form or one table per page that does not need data from other pages.
@parallel:false: Pages depend on each other. Example: page 1 has the employee name and later pages list that employee’s hours. You want the extractor to keep that connection.

Why it helps

@parallel:true: Many documents have each page holding complete data for that page needed for a spreadsheet row output and each page follows the same structure. In this case, parallel mode speeds things up while keeping rows clean (for example, 1 spreadsheet row per page where each row only holds data for its associated page).
@parallel:false: Some documents rely on context set earlier. @parallel:false tells the tool to treat the uploaded document as a whole document. This prevents missing fields or mismatched rows when data spans pages (for example, when you want to output a spreadsheet row that combines page 2 and page 1 data).

How to use Add one line to the end of your Extra Instruc

Question 6

Pricing

Accepted Answer

This article has been consolidated into Pricing, plans, and page allowance - please refer to that article for current plans, allowances, and how to get a volume quote.

Quick pointers:

Plans and prices up to ~1,000 pages/month are listed there.
Above ~1,000 pages/month: email justin@trylido.com or book https://calendly.com/d/cwn6-4hw-y4n/chat-with-justin
Refunds and cancellation: cancel anytime and you keep full access until the end of your current billing cycle. Plans are non-refundable outside Enterprise contracts - see Refunds and cancellation policy.

Featured & Frequently Read Articles

Browse All Categories