can i scan a printed page from a workbook then have the data imported into correct rows of sheet

[Amber1023]

I have a bunch of years data from a job. i need to get all the data from each time each year we did that job

the info has been handwritten onto a print out of the blank excel sheet 

is there a way to scan the written notes and have it add it to that years full data log (it has the same columns etc so its just exporting data from handwritten to new log for that entire year

or is there an app for it

[#2]

@Amber1023 

You could use Data | Get Data | From File | From PDF

or if it's a picture:

Data | Geta Data | From Other Sources | From Picture (Not all versions of 365 have this feature)

The above methods will do a quick OCR and allow you to review the data before placing it in the sheet.  You might also consider scanning the hard copy to PDF then try to open the PDF directly in Word to see if the conversion is better than Excel.  This may be a difficult task with scanned hard copies with hand written information.

[#3]

will it put the data in the correct columns i want it to go in or does it put it on a new page?

[#4]

It's difficult to say. The OCR can be unpredictable. In the very least, you can review the conversion before inserting the data in the sheet.

[#5]

i downbloaded microsoft lens and scanned it but how do i move it to excel

[#6]

The features I mentioned above are available within Excel.

You could use Data | Get Data | From File | From PDF

or if it's a picture:

Data | Geta Data | From Other Sources | From Picture (Not all versions of 365 have this feature)

[#7]

will it put it into the columns for me or do i copy each column for each row and paste

[#8]

@Patrick2788
so i did some research and created a plan can you please let me know if this is a correct way of doing this and if theres anything else i need to do or help me get this figured out

I am going to make a new workbook that will be a running working copy and then create a master copy that will keep all historical data & use a macro to automatically sync and to the master copy going forward.

1.) find previous years sheets that have data i need in my new workbook
-create a sheet for each year of data and then in each worksheet create a table with the historical data from that year
-then create a separate worksheet that will become my master copy that will combine all historical data from each year
-sort it by location and then date to properly input it into my new workbook that will be organized based on location in alphabetical order making all data that will be on one long flowing sheet
-going to input using from other sources/get external data/from workbook (then possibly use formulas (index/match or ?? ) to transfer it to the new table i create for this sheet to contain all historical data
-then i will use power query to transform the data into the new sheet unless there's a better option
-add in formulas that will calculate each area location by the area, and then a running calculation by the job for that area and possibly a total by year for that area
-create a master and "working" copy so the guys can add in a new row when they need to add in data and add formula to automate transferring the historical data to be synced to the master copy which stores all data and is not altered using (macros?)

i was told to use structured references or dynamic ranges, absolute cell references to keep formulas accurate and up to date



Please let me know if this sounds correct or where i am wrong and if thats the order of doing this task