Field filters in the Validation Station

Field filters in the compact Validation Station view: showing only selected fields, hiding fields by state, and how the two combine while validating a document.

Field filters narrow the list of extracted fields shown in the Validation Station, so that a document type with a long field list does not have to be reviewed in full to find the values that still need attention. They are available in the compact view only, and have no effect in the classic view.

A filter changes what the field list displays. It never changes the action, the document, the taxonomy, or the extraction result, and it never confirms or clears a value.

The filter bar sits above the field list and holds four controls: the hide menu, the field search box, Clear, and an information icon that restates what the filters apply to.

Both filters apply to the top-level fields of the selected document type:

• The document type field itself is always shown, whichever filters are active.
• Table columns and the fields inside a field group are never hidden on their own. They are evaluated only to decide whether their parent table or field group is hidden.

Showing only specific fields

The Show only specific fields… box lists the top-level fields of the current document type, each with a checkbox. Once at least one field is selected, the field list shows only those fields.

The panel holds the following:

• Select all selects every field listed. Its label and its scope both change while a search is active, as described in the following section.
• The counters next to Select all report how many fields are selected, and how many the document type has in total.
• Arrow keys move through the rows, including the Select all row, Enter toggles the row in focus, and Escape closes the panel.

While the panel is closed and a selection is active, the box shows a selected chip with the number of selected fields. Pointing to the chip lists their names.

Searching for a field

The box is also a search box, which matters for document types whose field list is long enough to scroll. Text entered in it narrows the panel to the matching fields, so that a field can be reached without scrolling to it.

Searching behaves as follows:

• A field matches when the text appears anywhere in its name, in any letter case. Every occurrence is highlighted in the row.
• Select all becomes Select all, followed by the number of matches, and it then applies to the matching fields only. Fields selected before the search stay selected.
• The total field count is hidden while a search is active, leaving the count of selected fields.
• When no field matches, the panel reports that no field matches the text entered.

Two separate controls remove a search. The clear icon inside the box empties the text and restores the full list, leaving the selection untouched. Clear, at the end of the bar, resets the filters themselves.

Hiding fields by state

The filter icon opens the Hide fields menu, which holds three independent checkboxes. Each one hides the fields that match its condition, and a badge on the icon reports how many of the three are active.

• Confirmed hides the fields that have been confirmed.
• Not extracted hides the fields that hold no value.
• With no flagged issues hides the fields that the Validation Station is not flagging, leaving only the fields with something to resolve.

What counts as a flagged issue

A field counts as having a flagged issue when any of the following is true:

• A business rule on the field is broken, at any criticality.
• One of its values fails validation, for example a required value that is empty, or a value that does not match the format expected for its type.
• One of its values is neither confirmed nor above both of the confidence thresholds that apply to it.

The two thresholds are the field's extraction confidence threshold and the document type's optical character recognition (OCR) confidence threshold, both defined in the taxonomy. Where a threshold is not set, 0.9 applies.

A field group counts as having a flagged issue when a rule on the group itself is broken, or when any field inside it has one. A table counts as having a flagged issue when a rule on the table itself is broken, or when any cell in its body rows has one.

When both filters apply

The two filters combine. A field appears in the list when it is selected in the field search box and it also clears every active hide filter, which means a selected field is still hidden while a hide filter matches it.

A warning icon in the field search box marks that situation. Pointing to the icon reports how many of the selected fields are hidden, and names them.

Clearing the filters

Clear resets both filters at once: it clears the three hide checkboxes and empties the field selection. It is available only while at least one filter is active.

When the active filters leave no field to display, the field list reports that all fields are hidden and offers its own Clear button in place of the fields, so the filters can be reset without reopening either control. The document type field stays visible above the message.

How filters affect the rest of the screen

Hidden fields remain part of the action, and the rest of the screen continues to account for them.

Business checks

The Business checks panel lists every broken business rule, including the rules that belong to hidden fields. A rule whose field is hidden carries a Hidden by active filters pill, so that the rule can still be read without hunting for a field the list is not showing.

Selecting one of those rules highlights its value in the document, instead of opening the field. Selecting a rule whose field is visible continues to focus the field.

Fields referenced in the document

Selecting a token in the document lists the fields that reference it. A field that the active filters hide is marked (hidden) in that list.

Selecting a field marked that way closes the list without moving focus to the field, because the field is not in the list to move to.

Keyboard navigation and selection

Keyboard navigation follows the filtered list, so moving between fields skips the hidden ones.

A field can also disappear while it is being worked on. With With no flagged issues active, a field stays in the list only while it has an issue left to resolve. So an edit that resolves the last issue will automatically hide the field. For example, if a table is in the list only because one of its cells is flagged, resolving that cell hides the whole table, and the table editor closes with it.

Confirming and submitting with filters active

Filters change which fields are displayed, not which fields are processed.

Important:

Confirming all values and submitting the action cover every field, including the ones the active filters hide. The counts reported before submitting are calculated over the whole document type, not over the filtered list.

Where the filter choices are saved

Filter choices are kept in the browser, per document type. Switching to another document type applies that document type's own choices, and switching back restores the previous ones. The choices also survive a page reload.

Because they are stored in the browser, filter choices are not shared:

• Another browser, or another device, starts with no filter active.
• Another user working on the same action starts with no filter active.

Availability

Field filters are available in Automation Cloud, in the compact view of the Validation Station. The view an action opens in is set by the DisplayMode property of the Create Document Validation Action activity.

Related information

• Create Document Validation Action
• Report a technical issue button
• Document Understanding activities