OCR Extraction Node

The OCR Extraction node reads uploaded receipts or documents, sends them to the OCR service, and writes structured results into the conversation value bag.

It is typically used between a File Upload node and a List From Carousel node to turn uploaded receipts into prefilled expense items.

Use Case

Use the OCR Extraction node when:

• You want Atlas to extract line items or scalar values from uploaded receipts or documents.
• You want to reduce manual typing by prefilling later steps from OCR results.
• You are building a Document Intelligence flow where uploaded receipts should become candidate rows in an item list.

Example scenarios:

• Health or travel claims where users upload receipts and then confirm the extracted expense lines.
• Flows that need merchant name, transaction date, or receipt totals from the first uploaded document that contains them.
• Item list experiences where [ocr.Items] is used as the prefill data source for a List From Carousel node.

When not to use:
Do not use it for free-text capture or manual form entry. Use input nodes when the data must be typed directly by the user.

UI Examples

TellUs

Backend-only logic item. It does not render its own TellUs UI.

WebChat

Backend-only logic item. It does not render its own WebChat UI.

Behavior

When the OCR Extraction node is executed, it performs the following actions:

1. Reads FullUploadedFilePaths to get the uploaded files from an earlier step.
2. Inspects conversation property keys with the ocr- prefix to decide which fields to request from OCR.
3. Sends each uploaded file to the OCR service.
4. Merges Items from all processed files into one JSON array.
5. Stores scalar values such as Total, MerchantName, and TransactionDate from the first file that returns them.
6. Writes the extracted values to the value bag without the ocr- prefix.
7. Sets Result to Ok, NoDataFound, SearchDataNotProvided, or Exception.

Behavior flow

Additional behavior notes:

• Items, MerchantName, and TransactionDate are always requested because they are used to enrich each extracted receipt line.
• Files that fail to download or return no OCR payload are skipped while the remaining files continue to process.
• If an extracted item already contains MerchantName or TransactionDate, the existing values are preserved.
• OCR results below 80% confidence are discarded automatically.
• The node is backend-only and does not render a customer-facing UI of its own.

Multiple files

When more than one file is uploaded, each file is scanned independently:

• Items are collected from every file and merged into one flat list.
• Scalar fields are taken from the first file that returns a value. Later files do not overwrite those keys.
• Each item is enriched with MerchantName and TransactionDate from its own receipt so the source context stays correct.

Node Metadata

Property	Description
Node class	OcrExtractionNode
Runtime role	Backend logic item
RequireUserResponse	No

Input Properties

Property

Description

FullUploadedFilePaths

OcrExtractionNodeInput.FullUploadedFilePaths stored as a string containing serialized List<FileUploadData> from a previous file upload step. Set this to the upload node's structured file output, for example [receiptUpload.UploadedFileData]. The OCR node reads these files and processes each one independently. This is the only direct node input. The rest of the extraction behavior is controlled by conversation property keys with the ocr- prefix.

Conversation Properties

The node also reads conversation property keys prefixed with ocr- to decide which fields to extract. The value of the conversation property is not used. Only the key matters.

Property key	OCR field requested	Notes
ocr-Items	Items	Triggers item list extraction. Always merged across files.
ocr-Total	Total	Receipt total amount.
ocr-Subtotal	Subtotal	Receipt subtotal.
ocr-TotalTax	TotalTax	Total tax amount.
ocr-MerchantName	MerchantName	Store or merchant name.
ocr-TransactionDate	TransactionDate	Date of the transaction.
ocr-TransactionTime	TransactionTime	Time of the transaction.
ocr-CountryRegion	CountryRegion	Country or region on the receipt.
ocr-ReceiptType	ReceiptType	Receipt type classification.

Items, MerchantName, and TransactionDate are always requested even if no matching ocr- conversation properties are declared, because they are needed to enrich extracted receipt lines.

For the downstream table pattern, see Item List Prefill.

Output Properties

Property	Description
Items	JSON array of extracted receipt line items merged from all processed files. Each item typically includes Description, TotalPrice, MerchantName, and TransactionDate. This output is commonly used as [ocr.Items] in PrefillData on the List From Carousel node. Example: [ { "Description": "Wireless Mouse", "TotalPrice": "29.90", "MerchantName": "Demo Store", "TransactionDate": "2026-05-07" }, { "Description": "USB Cable", "TotalPrice": "9.99", "MerchantName": "Second Store", "TransactionDate": "2026-05-08" } ] Items from all processed files are merged into one list. Each item is enriched with merchant and date values from its own receipt.
Total	Receipt total amount from the first processed file that returns a value. Available when the ocr-Total conversation property key is configured.
Subtotal	Receipt subtotal from the first processed file that returns a value. Available when the ocr-Subtotal conversation property key is configured.
TotalTax	Receipt total tax amount from the first processed file that returns a value. Available when the ocr-TotalTax conversation property key is configured.
MerchantName	Merchant or store name stored as a plain string. This value is also used to enrich each extracted item record with the merchant name from its source receipt.
TransactionDate	Transaction date stored as a plain string. This value is also used to enrich each extracted item record with the date from its source receipt.
TransactionTime	Transaction time from the first processed file that returns a value. Available when the ocr-TransactionTime conversation property key is configured.
CountryRegion	Country or region detected on the receipt. Available when the ocr-CountryRegion conversation property key is configured.
ReceiptType	Receipt type classification returned by the OCR service. Available when the ocr-ReceiptType conversation property key is configured.
Result	Execution status for the OCR extraction step. Supported values: Ok when at least one field was extracted successfully. NoDataFound when files were processed but OCR returned no usable values. SearchDataNotProvided when no uploaded files or extraction keys were available. Exception when an unhandled error occurred during processing.

All extracted values are written to the conversation value bag without the ocr- prefix. Scalar outputs are stored from the first file that returns them. Items is merged across all processed files.

Scalar Output Examples

Value bag key	Example value
MerchantName	"Demo Store"
TransactionDate	"2026-05-07"
Total	"129.90"

Editor Example

Try it in the Atlas Editor

This reference flow shows the OCR extraction step between file upload and item list prefill.

Example setup:

FileUpload node variable: receiptUpload
OCR Extraction node variable: ocr

FullUploadedFilePaths = [receiptUpload.UploadedFileData]

Conversation properties:
  ocr-Items = ""
  ocr-MerchantName = ""
  ocr-TransactionDate = ""
  ocr-Total = ""

After processing, the value bag can contain:

Items = "[{\"Description\":\"Wireless Mouse\",\"TotalPrice\":\"29.90\",\"MerchantName\":\"Demo Store\",\"TransactionDate\":\"2026-05-07\"}]"
Total = "129.90"
MerchantName = "Demo Store"
TransactionDate = "2026-05-07"
Result = "Ok"

Typical downstream item list prefill:

{
  "prefillData": "[ocr.Items]",
  "prefillTableDefinition": "[{\"title\":\"Description\",\"value\":\"Description\",\"isSummable\":false},{\"title\":\"Amount\",\"value\":\"TotalPrice\",\"isSummable\":true},{\"title\":\"Date\",\"value\":\"TransactionDate\",\"isSummable\":false},{\"title\":\"Merchant\",\"value\":\"MerchantName\",\"isSummable\":false}]"
}

In the item sub-flow, input nodes can use Start.Description, Start.TotalPrice, Start.TransactionDate, and Start.MerchantName as default values after a user picks a suggested OCR row.