Abstract: A data acquisition system can receive a plurality of files from a plurality of sources and can automate selection of a suitable application for accessing each file and determination of a suitable pattern template for recognizing and extracting data from a respective file. The data acquisition system can store the extracted data in a customized data structure that can be specified for each source and/or each type of data. The data acquisition system further can provide one or more user interfaces that can enable a user to upload, create or define a pattern template for a file and/or document.