Clipboard AI User Guide

Last updated Dec 10, 2024

Data mapper

How it works

By default, the data mapper opens automatically for new paste scenarios that Clipboard AI has not seen before. When Clipboard AI recognizes a paste scenario, it does not display the data mapper, as it persists your choices from the last time you performed a similar paste operation. You have the option to always show the data mapper, by selecting the Always show Data mapper setting.

You can always access the data mapper by selecting the Paste with mapper option.

The data mapper, as the name suggests, enables you to map the data, more exactly to match the values from the source document to the values from the destination document. This way, you ensure that the data is moved accurately and no data is lost in between. The data mapper is a preview of what is going to happen when the extracted values are pasted in the destination document.

The data mapper also allows you to make any necessary changes. An important thing to check is to make sure you choose the correct extractor if the one selected by default does not provide the expected results. This can have a big impact on the extraction results.

The changes you make in the data mapper are remembered and then applied automatically in the next iterations of the same copy-paste action. For instance, if you change the data extractor type or if you make certain changes to a data field. In this context, it is important to mention the data fields format can differ based on the type of the source document.

When you have finished checking the data or making the necessary changes, select the Paste data button.

Performing a copy-paste action

To perform a copy-paste action in Clipboard AI, you need to follow these steps:

Select the source document from where you want to copy the data.
Go to the Clipboard AI toolbar and select Copy.
Select the destination document where the data is pasted to.
Go to the Clipboard AI toolbar and select Paste.

Accessing the data mapper

If a similar copy-paste scenario was already performed, the data is pasted directly in the destination document without opening the data mapper as an intermediate step.

Before the data is pasted, if you want to access the data mapper, you can:

select Open Mapper in the notification area below the toolbar while the data is being analyzed
select from the toolbar the Paste with mapper option from the Paste drop-down menu

Note: When the data mapper is open, you cannot access the toolbar, so for instance if you want to copy data from another source, you need to exit the data mapper.

After the data is pasted, to re-open the data mapper, you can:

select Fix in Mapper when the feedback question Are you happy with the result? appears below the toolbar
select from the toolbar the Fix in mapper option from the Paste drop-down menu

When you have finished checking the data or making the necessary changes, select the Paste data button.

Changing the extractor

If the extracted values are not the ones you expected, you can select the Change button from the top of the data mapper. This opens the data extractors panel from where you can select and try out different extractors.

Keep in mind that the extraction results might vary to a great extent based on the selected extractor. To find out more about each extractor, check out the Data extractors page.

Note: When copying data from Excel, the option to change the extractor type is not available because the data is already structured, so it is simply copied from the cells without going through an extractor.

Data fields

A data field consists of a title taken from the destination document, and a value extracted from the source document.

For data extracted from unstructured documents, there is a magnifying glass symbol you can select to enter a query, basically a search term, so that the value you want to extract is better identified in the source document; for example, for the Invoice ID field, you can add invoice number as a query.

Each data field is enabled by default. To disable a certain data field so that you don't use it when populating the destination document with data, you can hover over the blue box and switch off the slider from the top right corner.

Transformations

The extracted values can be modified according to the desired output. These are called transformations and can be applied by hovering over the desired data field and then selecting the double arrow symbol . To find out more, you can check the Transformations page.

See copied data

To see the initial extracted values, especially if you applied transformation to them, select the See copied data button. This opens a panel with two options:

a list symbol which displays all the extracted values; this is selected by default
a camera symbol which displays, when applicable, a screenshot of the source document

Other functionalities

Other functionalities of the data mapper include:

a Pasting to field which indicates where the data is going to be pasted
a help button which opens up a video tutorial
a feedback button which allows you to choose an emoticon based on your satisfaction level and send us your feedback; you can also add a text message further explaining your choice
an exit button which allows you to exit the mapper without pasting the data