Will it read handwriting?

Often, yes, especially block capitals and numbers in ruled boxes. Anything it cannot read confidently is left blank and flagged for review rather than guessed at.

Does one sheet count as one document?

Yes. One document read is one credit, however many shifts are on it.

Can it total the hours for me?

It extracts start, finish and break as data, which means your spreadsheet can total them. Datanem does not calculate pay or apply working time rules.

Turn handwritten timesheets into hours you can total.

Photograph a timesheet and see a row per shift in seconds. No account, no card.

Drop your file here.

Upload PDFs, images or documents.

No account needed to try it. No card. Your file is stored in the EU, and never used to train anything.

A timesheet goes in. Shift rows come out.

Timesheet · photograph

Weekly timesheet — J. Fairhurst

Site: Parkgate Way
Week ending: 09/08/2026

Mon 03 Aug · 07:30–16:30 · 30 min break8.5
Tue 04 Aug · 07:30–17:00 · 30 min break9.0
Wed 05 Aug · 08:00–16:00 · 45 min break7.25

Date	Start	Finish	Break	Hours
03/08/2026	07:30	16:30	30 min	8.5
04/08/2026	07:30	17:00	30 min	9.0
05/08/2026	08:00	16:00	45 min	7.25

Three of the shifts on this sheet. The hours are the ones written on it; Datanem does not calculate pay. Invented worker, invented site.

How it works

1. Upload
Add PDFs, scans, images or documents.
2. Structure
Datanem works out the columns from the page itself and turns the useful information into clean rows.
3. Use it
Download the data as a spreadsheet, or carry on working with it in Datanem.

Create an account to customise the columns and save the design for future batches.

That worked. Now make it yours.

A free account is where you choose what gets extracted, instead of taking what the first read gave you.

Choose the exact fields
Rename, remove or add columns until the table is the one you wanted, then extract against it.
Save the design and reuse it
Next month's pile goes through the same columns without designing anything again.
Process whole batches
Up to 250 files in one go, and one row per document at the end of it.
Export the finished dataset
Excel and CSV, plus SQL, JSON, JSONL and Python for anything that has to load it automatically.

Start free

20 documents to start. No card.

For payroll

Timesheets into hours you can total

Timesheets are the last handwritten document in a lot of businesses. They come back from site as photographs, signed at the bottom, and somebody adds up the hours by hand on a Monday morning.

Datanem reads the batch and gives you a row per shift, so the totalling is done by the spreadsheet and the argument about hours is about the timesheet rather than about the arithmetic.

Columns you can expect

There is no fixed template for this document type. Datanem reads your own documents and proposes columns like these; inside an account you can rename, remove or add any of them and save the design for future batches.

Worker name
Payroll or worker reference
Site or client
Week ending
Date
Start time
Finish time
Break minutes
Hours
Rate type
Approved by

Handwriting is the hard part, and it is handled

Photographed and scanned timesheets go through optical character recognition before extraction. Neat block capitals read very well, hurried cursive less so, and anything the model cannot read confidently is left empty and flagged rather than guessed.

That is the right trade for payroll. A blank cell gets checked. A confidently wrong finish time gets paid.

A row per shift, not per sheet

One sheet usually covers a week, so it becomes several rows: one per day worked, linked back to the worker and the week. Totalling by worker, by site or by week is then a pivot table rather than a chore.

There is no built-in timesheet design. Datanem reads a sample of your own sheets and proposes columns from those; in an account you confirm or change them before the batch is extracted. A single sheet tried without an account is just read and handed back.

Personal data, handled properly

Timesheets identify individuals. Files and extracted data are stored in the EU, deleted automatically after your plan's retention window, and never used to train models.

Datanem transcribes what is on the sheet. It does not calculate pay, apply working time rules or check compliance, all of which belong to your payroll process.

Your structured data isn't locked inside Datanem

Once it's structured, the data is yours. Take it to a spreadsheet, a database or a script.

Excel— one sheet per table, ready to open.

CSV
SQL
JSON
JSONL
Python

Where your document goes

It is stored in the EU
Uploads sit in an EU-only bucket and the database is EU-constrained. Neither leaves. Reading the document is done by a French provider whose standard endpoint does not commit to an inference location, so that step may run outside the EEA: the detail is on the security page.
It is deleted
Uploads and the data drawn from them are removed automatically after 30 days on the free plan, longer on paid plans. You can delete a job yourself at any point before that, and the file leaves storage immediately when you do.
It never trains a model
We have no training pipeline. Our extraction provider offers training as an opt-out and we have opted out, so your content is excluded.
Nothing here is a certification
We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office and the measures above are the ones actually in place. We hold no security certification and do not claim one.

Security & privacy · Privacy notice · Sub-processors · Data processing

What it costs

What can I do for free?: One document with no account at all, which is the trial at the top of this page. Create a free account and you get 20 documents to start with, then 10 a month after that, for ever. No card either way.
What uses it up?: Documents, not pages and not fields. A file of up to 10 pages counts as one document; a longer one counts as another document per 10 pages, so a 30-page statement counts as three.
What happens when the free documents run out?: Nothing is deleted and nothing is charged. Extraction stops until the monthly allowance resets, you buy credit, or you take a plan.
What is the first paid option?: Starter, at £9 a month for 150 documents. Monthly, no contract.
Is there pay as you go?: Yes. £0.20 per document with no subscription, bought from 25 upwards. Bought documents do not expire.
What are the limits on a file?: Up to 10 MB per file and up to 250 files in one batch. PDFs, Word documents, plain text and photographs; scans go through optical character recognition first.

Full pricing, including what each plan keeps and how long files are held.

Questions

Will it read handwriting?: Often, yes, especially block capitals and numbers in ruled boxes. Anything it cannot read confidently is left blank and flagged for review rather than guessed at.
Does one sheet count as one document?: Yes. One document read is one credit, however many shifts are on it.
Can it total the hours for me?: It extracts start, finish and break as data, which means your spreadsheet can total them. Datanem does not calculate pay or apply working time rules.