---
description: An overview of the basics to get started
---

# Overview

Getting started with Cohesive's extraction workflows involves three concepts:

1. [**Templates**](templates)**:** these represent the expected output to be extracted from uploaded files. Cohesive supports a robust set of output fields, including mathematical or date-based expressions (e.g., adding 30 days to a date from a specific field in the document)
2. **Extraction:** this represents the action of taking one or more uploaded files, and running extractions based on the chosen template. The status of extractions will be shown on the `jobs` page
3. **Export:** this represents the action of exporting the data out of Cohesive, such as exporting to a `CSV` or syncing to `Netsuite` or `Google Sheets`. Exports can be triggered on the `jobs` page, and you have the option of adjusting the data before completing the export.

## Getting started: example workflow (export to CSV)

### Step 1: uploading the files

To upload files (you can upload in bulk), navigate to the `Files` page, and press `Upload files`. Choose the files you wish to upload, and press `Upload`. Once the files are successfully uploaded, you will see them on the table

<figure><img src="https://1659501652-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FgXnl6gX6OwfIRspyklk3%2Fuploads%2F6vEjMCpNPtJnBdM5z8TN%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=aa466e76-7e19-4b85-95e8-dd087bc1b706" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Step 2: running a bulk extraction

_Note that this assumes that you've already set up a template. See the_ [_templates_](templates) _page for more information about setting up a template._

Select the files you wish to extract at once (using the checkboxes on the left-most column of the table), and press `Bulk extract`. Enter a name for the bulk extraction job, and choose a `template` to use for the bulk extraction.

The results of the bulk extraction will show up on the `jobs` page as a row in the table.

<figure><img src="https://1659501652-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FgXnl6gX6OwfIRspyklk3%2Fuploads%2FfzUr2ugiDth9m6W2ZBuj%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=aa5bdb51-becd-47a1-88bb-fc0a791f90ff" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Step 3: export to CSV

In the `jobs` table, press the `Export` button on the rightmost column of the table. You can check the extracted data by pressing `edit` for a specific file, and adjust as necessary on the right table.&#x20;

Once done adjusting, press `Export to CSV`, and the CSV export should be automatically downloaded. That's it :tada:

<figure><img src="https://1659501652-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FgXnl6gX6OwfIRspyklk3%2Fuploads%2FszRarE59iCGIBYfhOSF8%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=0c51af1a-2a6a-4f4c-9b47-59a0d78b9ddb" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="info" %}
By default, if a template has a `List` field, then each entry within the `List` field will result in a new row in the CSV export, with the other fields being repeated for each row.&#x20;

To prevent this, manually clear out the value (in the rightmost table) for the `List` field for the first file. For example in the image above, if `accountNumber` was hypothetically a `List` field and we DIDN'T want a separate row for each entry, then delete the 607B5E0 value.
{% endhint %}
