What is data extraction from a fixed position vs a variable position?

Data extraction from a fixed position in AlgoDocs is performed by selecting an area around the data you need to extract. So, you simply draw a rectangle around the data as shown below.

Keep in mind that extracting data by selecting an area should be done only in cases when the data you want to extract is always in a fixed position. Therefore, if there are possibilities that your data will move and change its position, then you should not apply selection of an area, because when it changes its position your data will not be extracted as it will fall outside the area you selected.

On the other hand, for data extraction from a variable position we do not select an area. However, there are several ways we can apply. One of the ways is to extract everything from the document and apply filter to refine the data we need. This is possible by using such filters as ‘Specify Start Position‘ and ‘Specify End Position‘. Using these filters you can easily capture the data you need even from a variable positions, since you can use keywords/labels to search for. With ‘Specify Start Position‘ you can use ‘Text match after‘ option for which you enter at least one keyword. However, if you need to specify several keywords you may do so by separating them with a vertical bar ‘|’. Similarly, with ‘Specify End Position‘ you can use ‘End of line‘ for example, which will capture everything until the end of that line.

Another way of extracting data from a variable position is using ‘Keyword Based Search‘ from the list of ‘Data Extraction Field Types‘. In this case you will need to specify all possible keywords to which your data is related. You can get more information about ‘Keyword Based Search‘ in the following article.

• How to extract data from documents based on keywords?

Please contact our support team in case you have difficulties in setting up an extracting rule for extracting data from a variable position.