📚 Frequently Asked Questions

Welcome to the CircleUp Help Guide. Find answers to common questions about using the application, creating exclude lists, and getting the best results from your report processing.

📋 Quick Navigation

What is CircleUp?
How to Use the App
Supported File Types
About the Exclude List
How to Create an Exclude File
Exclude Headings Option
Understanding the Outputs
Troubleshooting
Tips for Best Results

🎯 What is CircleUp?

CircleUp is an intelligent report analysis tool designed to automatically detect, extract, and annotate numerical data from PDF reports. It analyze your documents and highlights important numbers with colored circles for easy reference.

📊 Number Detection

Automatically identifies and circles numerical values in tables and text throughout your report.

🎨 Color Coding

Uses different colors to differentiate between data points for easy visual tracking.

🚫 Smart Exclusions

Allows you to exclude specific words or phrases from being annotated.

📖 How to Use the App

Follow these simple steps to process your report:

Upload Your PDF: Click on the upload area or drag and drop your PDF report. The maximum file size is 100MB.
Add Exclude List (Optional): If you want to skip certain numbers, upload a .txt file with your exclusions.
Configure Options: Toggle "Exclude Headings" if you want numbers in headings to be annotated.
Process Report: Click the "Process Report" button to start the analysis.
Download Results: Once processing is complete, download your annotated PDF and Excel reference file.

💡 Tip

                        Processing time depends on the size and complexity of your PDF. A progress bar will show you the current status.

📁 Supported File Types

Input Files:

PDF Reports (.pdf) - Maximum file size: 100MB

Exclude List Files:

Text Files (.txt) - Plain text format, one item per line, maximum size: 1MB

Output Files:

Processed PDF (.pdf) - Your original report with annotated numbers
Reference Excel (.xlsx) - Spreadsheet with extracted data and references

🚫 About the Exclude List

The Exclude List feature allows you to specify words, phrases, or patterns that should be skipped during annotation. When CircleUp encounters any text containing these exclusions, it will not circle or annotate those items.

✅ When to Use Exclude List
To skip reference numbers that are not relevant
To exclude company identifiers or codes that don't need highlighting
To ignore specific dates or year numbers
To exclude specific terms like "F-2", "UK1", or placeholder values

⚠️ Important Notes
The exclude list is case-insensitive - "Total" will match "TOTAL", "total", and "Total"
Partial matches are supported - "2024" will exclude numbers containing "2024"
The exclude list is optional - if not provided, all detected numbers will be annotated

📝 How to Create an Exclude File

Creating an exclude file is simple. Follow these steps:

Open a Text Editor: Use Notepad (Windows), TextEdit (Mac), or any plain text editor.
Add Your Exclusions: Type each word or phrase you want to exclude on a separate line.
Save the File: Save the file with a .txt extension (e.g., my-exclusions.txt).
Upload to CircleUp: Use the "Exclude List" section to upload your file.

Example Exclude File Content:

2023
One example
One of
One roof
One main
1As
COVID-19

📋 File Format Rules
One item per line: Each exclusion should be on its own line
Plain text only: Do not use rich text formatting (no bold, italics, etc.)
Empty lines are ignored: You can use blank lines to organize your list
No special encoding: Use UTF-8 or standard ASCII encoding

More Examples:

Exclude specific years and dates:

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
January
February
Q1
Q2

🔤 Exclude Headings Option

The "Exclude Headings" toggle controls whether numbers appearing in document headings should be annotated or skipped.

Toggle OFF (Default)

Heading numbers are excluded from annotation. Use this when headings contain chapter numbers or section references you don't want circled.

Toggle ON

Numbers in headings will be annotated. Use this when heading numbers are relevant data points you want to track.

💡 Example

If your document has "Section 3.2: Revenue Analysis" as a heading:

Toggle OFF: "3.2" will NOT be circled
Toggle ON: "3.2" WILL be circled

📥 Understanding the Outputs

After processing, you'll receive two downloadable files:

📄 Processed PDF Report

This is your original PDF with colored annotations added. Each detected number is circled with a color-coded highlight for easy identification. The annotations are non-destructive and can be viewed in any PDF reader.

📊 Reference Excel File

This spreadsheet contains:

Extracted table data from your document
Reference numbers and their locations
Color coding reference for the annotations
Page numbers where each value was found

✅ Best Practice

                        Use the Excel file alongside the annotated PDF to cross-reference values and verify data accuracy.

🔧 Troubleshooting

Common Issues and Solutions

❓ Upload Failed
Check that your file is a valid PDF
Ensure the file size is under 100MB
Try refreshing the page and uploading again

❓ Processing Takes Too Long
Large PDFs with many pages take longer to process
Complex tables and images require additional analysis time
If processing exceeds 15 minutes, try with a smaller document

❓ Exclude List Not Working
Ensure the file is saved as plain .txt format
Check that each exclusion is on a separate line
Verify there are no hidden special characters
Make sure the file size is under 1MB

❓ Download Not Starting
Check your browser's download settings
Disable any popup blockers for this site
Try a different browser if the issue persists

💡 Tips for Best Results

Use High-Quality PDFs: Native PDFs (not scanned images) provide the best results for text and number detection.
Prepare Your Exclude List in Advance: Before processing, review your document and note any recurring text you want to skip.
Start with Default Settings: Process your document first without any exclusions to see what gets detected, then refine with an exclude list if needed.
Test with a Sample: If you have many similar documents, test with one first to optimize your exclude list before processing the rest.
Check the Excel Output: Use the reference spreadsheet to verify that all important values were captured correctly.
Keep Files Organized: Download and rename your output files immediately to avoid confusion with multiple processed reports.

🎯 Pro Tip

Create a master exclude list template for your organization's standard reports. This saves time and ensures consistent results across all documents.