Scanned statements need OCR before table extraction. The hard part is not reading text; it is reconstructing rows, removing noise, and validating the final balance.
OCR turns page images into text, but bank statements still need layout reconstruction. Dates, descriptions, debit, credit and balance columns must be aligned correctly.
Poor scans, tilted pages, shadows and low resolution can create false characters or split rows. Good tools surface confidence rather than pretending every row is perfect.
Use 300 DPI or higher scans, avoid phone camera shadows, keep pages straight, and upload the original PDF when available.
After OCR, balance verification should catch many missing or duplicated rows because the running balance no longer reconciles.
If the OCR text is too noisy, the product should return a clear error and ask for a cleaner statement. Exporting garbage is worse than blocking the conversion.
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