What Is OCR and How Do Businesses Use It?

OCR — optical character recognition, often called document reading — extracts data from an uploaded file or image and turns it into structured fields. An invoice becomes a record rather than an attachment.

Where it earns its place

The value is concentrated in processes where documents arrive constantly and their contents have to be typed somewhere.

Invoices arriving from many suppliers in different formats
Contracts whose terms are retyped into a registry
Receipts submitted for reimbursement
Any document whose data feeds a downstream decision

What it typically extracts

Values, such as an invoice amount
Dates, including issue and expiry
Parties, with names and registration numbers
Objects and descriptions, where the document contains them
Free text, from images as well as PDFs

How to use it in Jestor

Add a document reader field to the table in Jestor.
Choose which fields the reader should populate.
Upload the file — an invoice, a contract, or an image.
Let the reader extract the data and create or fill the record.
Review the extracted values before the record advances.

Why choose Jestor for document automation?

Jestor meters document reading as pages processed rather than as generic AI credits — a three-page PDF counts as three, an image as one — which makes cost predictable before uploading.

The reader is available inside AI agents as well, so a ticket arriving with an attachment is answered with that document's content rather than without it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is usage measured?

By pages processed — one page or image counts as one. See jestor.com.

Does it create the record automatically?

Yes, it can create the row and fill the selected fields.

Can an agent read attachments too?

Yes, document reading is built into agents.

Video Tutorial: Step by Step

Check out other practical tutorials on the Jestor YouTube channel.

Get to know Jestor

With Jestor, you can automate workflows, connect teams, and build internal systems your way — all without code and powered by AI. Discover Jestor at jestor.com and see how to take your company's operations to a new level of efficiency and control.

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