Scan OCR > iCal

[DamosMac]

I've had an idea.. which I need a little help to bring it to life.

The Objective
To scan a bill have it converted to a search-able PDF document and have the system find the due date and the total owing, copying the details to iCal.. so creating an event on the due date, with the total owing and the company it is owing to then delete the original file.

Where I'm up to
So far, all I've got is the scanner (a HP Officejet pro 8500) scanning to a network folder located on my Windows XP Professional Server which is running software that will convert the scan to a search-able pdf file. I'm using windows to do this because HP don't supply the search-able pdf option with OCR scanning..

...Anyways..

My idea would be using my Intel iMac running 10.6 use folder actions, and possibly an Automator workflow to actually recoginse a new file was added to the network folder, find the info and create the correct information in iCal.

Has anyone got any better suggestions?

[Aladdin]

Does your HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 do duplex scanning? And are you using HP's OCR, or third-party software?

I'm looking to store all statements and bills on my HDD, and be able to search and sort them, rather than deleting them like you are.

My solution for not missing due dates is to lodge a BPay payment at some date in the future using Internet Banking.

[DamosMac]

Yep duplex scanning, and HP's OCR software..

I do keep a copy of it as well, this is just a secondary reminder lol..

I've got a bit of code together to detect the new files, display a dialog which disappears after 5 seconds then opens the document(s) the hardest part is going to be getting it to find the actual "due date" rather than any other dates on the bill.