Document Intelligence general document model

Important

Starting with Document Intelligence versions 2024-02-29-preview, 2023-10-31-preview and going forward, the general document model (prebuilt-document) is deprecated. To extract key-value pairs, selection marks, text, tables, and structure from documents, use the following models:

Feature version Model ID
Layout model with the optional query string parameter features=keyValuePairs enabled. • v4:2024-02-29-preview
• v3.1:2023-07-31 (GA)
prebuilt-layout
General document model • v3.1:2023-07-31 (GA)
• v3.0:2022-08-31 (GA)
• v2.1 (GA)
prebuilt-document

This content applies to: checkmark v3.1 (GA) | Latest version: purple-checkmark v4.0 (preview) | Previous version: blue-checkmark v3.0

This content applies to: checkmark v3.0 (GA) | Latest versions: purple-checkmark v4.0 (preview) purple-checkmark v3.1

The General document model combines powerful Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capabilities with deep learning models to extract key-value pairs, tables, and selection marks from documents. General document is available with the v3.1 and v3.0 APIs. For more information, see our migration guide.

General document features

  • The general document model is a pretrained model; it doesn't require labels or training.

  • A single API extracts key-value pairs, selection marks, text, tables, and structure from documents.

  • The general document model supports structured, semi-structured, and unstructured documents.

  • Selection marks are identified as fields with a value of :selected: or :unselected:.

Sample document processed in the Document Intelligence Studio

Screenshot of general document analysis in the Document Intelligence Studio.

Key-value pair extraction

The general document API supports most form types and analyzes your documents and extract keys and associated values. It's ideal for extracting common key-value pairs from documents. You can use the general document model as an alternative to training a custom model without labels.

Development options

Document Intelligence v3.1 supports the following tools, applications, and libraries:

Feature Resources Model ID
General document model Document Intelligence Studio
REST API
C# SDK
Python SDK
Java SDK
JavaScript SDK
prebuilt-document

Document Intelligence v3.0 supports the following tools, applications, and libraries:

Feature Resources Model ID
General document model Document Intelligence Studio
REST API
C# SDK
Python SDK
Java SDK
JavaScript SDK
prebuilt-document

Input requirements

  • For best results, provide one clear photo or high-quality scan per document.

  • Supported file formats:

    Model PDF Image:
    JPEG/JPG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, HEIF
    Microsoft Office:
    Word (DOCX), Excel (XLSX), PowerPoint (PPTX), and HTML
    Read
    Layout ✔ (2024-02-29-preview, 2023-10-31-preview)
    General Document
    Prebuilt
    Custom extraction
    Custom classification ✔ (2024-02-29-preview)
  • For PDF and TIFF, up to 2000 pages can be processed (with a free tier subscription, only the first two pages are processed).

  • The file size for analyzing documents is 500 MB for paid (S0) tier and 4 MB for free (F0) tier.

  • Image dimensions must be between 50 x 50 pixels and 10,000 px x 10,000 pixels.

  • If your PDFs are password-locked, you must remove the lock before submission.

  • The minimum height of the text to be extracted is 12 pixels for a 1024 x 768 pixel image. This dimension corresponds to about 8-point text at 150 dots per inch (DPI).

  • For custom model training, the maximum number of pages for training data is 500 for the custom template model and 50,000 for the custom neural model.

    • For custom extraction model training, the total size of training data is 50 MB for template model and 1G-MB for the neural model.

    • For custom classification model training, the total size of training data is 1GB with a maximum of 10,000 pages.

General document model data extraction

Try extracting data from forms and documents using the Document Intelligence Studio.

You need the following resources:

  • An Azure subscription—you can create one for free.

  • A Document Intelligence instance in the Azure portal. You can use the free pricing tier (F0) to try the service. After your resource deploys, select Go to resource to get your key and endpoint.

Screenshot of keys and endpoint location in the Azure portal.

Note

Document Intelligence Studio and the general document model are available with the v3.0 API.

  1. On the Document Intelligence Studio home page, select General documents.

  2. You can analyze the sample document or upload your own files.

  3. Select the Run analysis button and, if necessary, configure the Analyze options:

    Screenshot of Run analysis and Analyze options buttons in the Document Intelligence Studio.

Key-value pairs

Key-value pairs are specific spans within the document that identify a label or key and its associated response or value. In a structured form, these pairs could be the label and the value the user entered for that field. In an unstructured document, they could be the date a contract was executed on based on the text in a paragraph. The AI model is trained to extract identifiable keys and values based on a wide variety of document types, formats, and structures.

Keys can also exist in isolation when the model detects that a key exists, with no associated value or when processing optional fields. For example, a middle name field can be left blank on a form in some instances. Key-value pairs are spans of text contained in the document. For documents where the same value is described in different ways, for example, customer/user, the associated key is either customer or user (based on context).

Data extraction

Model Text extraction Key-Value pairs Selection Marks Tables Common Names
General document ✓*

✓* - Only available in the 2023-07-31 (v3.1 GA) and later API versions.

Supported languages and locales

See our Language Support—document analysis models page for a complete list of supported languages.

Considerations

  • Because keys are spans of text extracted from the document, for semi structured documents, keys need to be mapped to an existing dictionary of keys.

  • Expect to see key-value pairs with a key, but no value. For example if a user chose to not provide an email address on the form.

Next steps