Document Data

Document Data is a resource that serves both as an input and output variable, within your Document Understanding workflows. The Document Data object holds all the necessary information about a single document. If you classify a document, the object includes the Document Type. If you extract data, the object contains the corresponding extracted fields. Irrespective of the activity, Document Data consistently contains the document's text and DOM (Document Object Model).

With Document Data you can: collect all the necessary information about a document in one variable, save data to each property of the object, and reuse it for other activities in the workflow.

Document Data holds information about the following attributes:

• DocumentType: Provides data about the identified Document type, populated by activities such as Classify Document or Create Classification Validation Task
• Data: Contains the extracted field values, populated by activities such as Extract Document Data, or Create Document Validation Task
• FileDetails: Contains details about the IResource.
• SubDocuments: Includes a collection of Document Data, populated by activities such as Create Classification Validation Task.
• DocumentMetadata: Contains information about processing the document, such as:
  • Text detected language
  • Extracted fields as Data Table
  • Document Object Model (DOM): Holds the Document Object Model which is used by all activities.
  The DocumentMetadata is updated by the activity that first processes the document. Once populated, the metadata is shared with and used by all the succeeding activities that receive the Document Data object.
  Tip: Unless an activity is the first Document Understanding activity part of a Studio workflow, use Document Data as input. Use the File variable as input only if the activity is the first Document Understanding one part of a Studio workflow.

Properties

The properties of the Document Data variable can be populated and consumed by one or multiple activities. Depending on the activity populating the variable, the properties can differ.

Attribute name	Property	Description	Activities populating the value
Document Type	DisplayName (used for custom models)	Name of the Document Type	Classify Document
	ID (used for out-of-the-box models)	Name of the Document Type
	Confidence	Classification confidence
	URL	URL of where the Document Type is accessible; this can be either custom or predefined, referenced via the respective project in Document Understanding center.
Fields	Field Value	Extraction value of the field	Extract Document Data Create Validation Task Create Validation Task and Wait Wait for Validation Task and Resume
	Extraction Confidence Score	Confidence score of the extraction, as provided by the model
	OCR Confidence Score	Confidence score provided by the OCR engine
File Details	FullName	Full name of the file	Activities creating the Document Data object, receiving a file as input
	Extension	Extension of the file
	Page Range	Page range of the file
Sub-Documents	NA	Collection of Document Data Note: This is not currently populated and will be added in the future together with classification validation and splitting capabilities.	Classify Document
Metadata	NA	Information about processing the document	Activities creating the Document Data object, receiving a file as input.
DOM	NA	The document object model, used by all activities
Text	NA	All extracted text
Detected Language	NA	The language detected in the document
Split Confidence	NA	If the document is split, the document is returned by the splitting model Note: This is not currently populated and will be added in the future together with classification validation and splitting capabilities.	Classify Document
Results as Data Table	NA	Fields exported as Data Table	Extract Document Data

Passing Document Data to activities

When you use Document Data, the first output object is made from your input file. After you created this object, we recommend you to pass it along to your next activities. By passing it along to your next activities, you can reuse the Text and DOM from your original file. This approach saves you from re-digitizing the file each time.

Consuming the extraction results for single and multi-value fields

If you configure a document type field to be multi-valued, the system expects multiple values. An example might be a multiple-choice question on a form. The results appear in the multi-value attribute on the field, returned as a list. If the document type field is configured to be single value, the system returns the result in the value attribute on the field by default.

The following table shows you how Document Data returns single and multi-value fields:

Field type	Has no value	Has one value	Has two or more values	DocumentData.Data.FieldName.Value	DocumentData.Data.FieldName.MultiValues
Single value	Yes	No	N/A	""	null
Single value	No	Yes	N/A	<value that was identified>	null
Multi-value	Yes	No	No	""	[] (empty array)
Multi-value	No	Yes	No	<value that was identified>	[<array with one value identical to the .Value>]
Multi-value	No	No	Yes	<first value that was identified>	[<array with n values, with the first value being identical to the .Value>]

Returning extracted fields as a Data Table

You can return the fields you extracted from a document as a Data Table, using the Document Data object. You can then use the Data Table variable inside Excel activities.

To return the extracted fields as a Data Table, choose the ResultsAsDatatable output for the Extract Document Data activity.