Extract data from PDFs
In this recipe you turn a stack of supplier contracts into a table: one row per contract, with the counterparty, the start date, the contract value and a risk category filled by AI, and every value backed by a citation that opens the right page of the document.
What you need: a paid plan with credits (AI columns spend them when they run), edit access to a workspace or folder, and a handful of PDF contracts on your computer.
Step 1: Create a project
On a workspace or folder page, click Create, Project (or Create your first project on Home). Name it, for example Supplier contracts (3 to 50 characters), keep Start with on Empty project and click Create project. The project opens with an empty Table 1.
Step 2: Add the contracts as rows
Drag the PDFs onto the grid: "Drop files to add rows". Each file becomes its own row, with the file in the file column. You can also use Add row, Add files in the toolbar and pick the files from your computer or from Files.
Quanty reads each file after the upload (text, tables and scans). A cell that needs a document still being read waits: "Waiting for the document to be processed…".
Step 3: Add the AI columns
Click Add column for each field, name it, pick the Field type from AI fields and write a short prompt:
| Column | Field type | Prompt or setting |
|---|---|---|
| Counterparty | Find entities or Ask the AI | Which company is the other party to this contract? |
| Start date | Find a date | Date format DD.MM.YYYY |
| Contract value | Number, with How this column is filled set to AI | The total contract value, net. |
| Risk category | Classify | Categories low, medium, high |
Each AI column has a Model (the cost per row depends most on it; Cost per model in a saved column compares them) and Cite sources, which is on by default and keeps the page references of each value.
Step 4: Run AI
Click Run AI. Run AI on this table? "Processes pending cells and spends your organization’s credits. You can stop at any time." Check the estimate, pick the columns and click Run. Cells show Queued, then Processing, and fill in row by row; Stop keeps the values already computed. A failed cell shows the error and Retry.
Step 5: Check the values against the source
Right-click a cell and choose View details (or select it and press Enter). The panel shows the Value, the Confidence, Why this value and the Citations: page chips with View in Document, which opens the PDF at the highlighted passage.
- Approve or Reject each value you check.
- Edit value corrects a value by hand.
- Lock keeps a checked value as ground truth: later runs do not overwrite it.
- Refine reruns one cell with a follow-up instruction, for example
exclude one-off setup fees.
Step 6: Export
When the table looks right, use More actions, Export in the grid for CSV (.csv), Excel (.xlsx) or PDF (.pdf), or go on and build a deck from it.
Where to go next
- Columns and AI: prompts, models, running and what it costs.
- Cell details, reviews and history: approving, ground truth and restoring.
- Files: how documents are read and who can see them.