Invoice to Text
How to Extract Invoice Data from Multilingual Invoices

How to Extract Invoice Data from Multilingual Invoices

Invoice automation often involves suppliers or documents in multiple languages—posing challenges for field extraction, encoding, and workflow integration. Aspose.OCR Invoice to Text for .NET streamlines multilingual invoice recognition for global businesses.

Real-World Problem

Manually handling invoices in multiple languages is time-consuming and error-prone. Automated data extraction fails if OCR isn’t tuned for each target language and script.

Solution Overview

Leverage Aspose.OCR’s language support to extract data from French, Spanish, Chinese, German, or other invoices—enabling global finance automation and compliance.

Prerequisites

  1. Visual Studio 2019 or later
  2. .NET 6.0 or later (or .NET Framework 4.6.2+)
  3. Aspose.OCR for .NET from NuGet
  4. Folder of invoices in different languages
PM> Install-Package Aspose.OCR

Step-by-Step Implementation

Step 1: Prepare Multilingual Invoice Batch 

string[] invoiceFiles = Directory.GetFiles("./invoices_multilingual", "*.pdf");
// Map file to language for each supplier or region
Dictionary<string, Language> invoiceLanguages = new Dictionary<string, Language>
{
    { "invoice1_fr.pdf", Language.French },
    { "invoice2_es.pdf", Language.Spanish },
    { "invoice3_cn.pdf", Language.Chinese },
};

Step 2: Configure and Run Recognition for Each Language 

InvoiceRecognitionSettings settings = new InvoiceRecognitionSettings();
AsposeOcr ocr = new AsposeOcr();
foreach (var kvp in invoiceLanguages)
{
    settings.Language = kvp.Value;
    OcrInput input = new OcrInput(InputType.PDF);
    input.Add(kvp.Key);
    var results = ocr.RecognizeInvoice(input, settings);
    // Extract and process fields
}

Step 3: Extract Unicode/Non-English Fields Safely

  • Ensure string handling supports Unicode
string fullText = results[0].RecognitionText;
// Use field parsing logic as in prior articles

Step 4: Export Results to CSV/Excel for Multilingual Data

  • Use UTF-8 encoding to support all characters
using (var writer = new StreamWriter("invoice_multilingual.csv", false, Encoding.UTF8))
{
    writer.WriteLine("File,Vendor,Date,Total,Language");
    // Loop through results and write data
}

Step 5: Log Low-Confidence/Flag Issues for Review

  • OCR results may need review for non-Latin scripts or poor scans

Use Cases and Applications

Global Finance and ERP Automation

Extract invoice data from global suppliers without manual entry.

International Audit and Compliance

Maintain accurate records for diverse jurisdictions and reporting.

Multilingual Spend Analytics

Enable reporting and analysis across different languages and markets.

Common Challenges and Solutions

Challenge 1: Unknown or Mixed Language Content

Solution: Pre-label files, or use OCR language detection as a first pass.

Challenge 2: Encoding or Unicode Errors

Solution: Always process and export with UTF-8 or Unicode support.

Challenge 3: Language-Specific Layouts

Solution: Tune extraction logic and field parsing per template or region.

Performance Considerations

  • Process by language for best accuracy
  • Validate outputs in each language set

Best Practices

  1. Map each invoice to its expected language/template
  2. Use sample sets to tune field extraction logic
  3. Log errors or uncertainties for human review
  4. Secure international data for privacy

Advanced Scenarios

Scenario 1: Integrate with Multilingual ERP or Workflow

Export results in format/encoding for direct ERP ingestion.

Scenario 2: Use Language Detection for Dynamic Processing

Use Aspose.OCR’s language detection (if available) to automate recognition pipeline.

Conclusion

With Aspose.OCR Invoice to Text for .NET, you can automate invoice processing for global suppliers—extracting multilingual data with high accuracy and seamless workflow integration.

See Aspose.OCR for .NET API Reference for supported languages and advanced multilingual code samples.

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