Form Field Identification

Requirements

These packages are required to use these features in production. Trial keys have unlimited access to all features

Package: Smart Data ExtractionModule: Data ExtractionLive demo

Apryse's Form Field Identification engine helps you extract structured data from PDFs designed as forms, whether they're interactive or scanned. We currently offer 2 Form Field Identification Engines: "Form Field Detection" and "Form Field Key-Value Extraction".

Both engines require GLIBC 2.31 or newer on Linux, such as Debian 11 or Ubuntu 10.04 or newer

Form Field Detection Engine

Detects likely form fields in scanned or static PDFs based on layout and spacing. Supported field types include:

• Text fields
• Checkboxes
• Radio buttons (coming soon)

Output:

Each detected field includes:

• Field type (e.g., text, checkbox)
• Bounding box coordinates
• Confidence score

Form Field Key-Value Extraction Engine

In addition to detecting field positions, this engine attempts to match each field with a corresponding key (label) and value (user entry).

Output:

• Field type
• Key text
• Value text
• Confidence
• Bounding box

JSON Output Specification

Refer to the following specifications to learn more about the output JSON format:

• JSON Specification for Form Field Identification

Extract form fields as JSON file

Specify the name of the input PDF file and the name of the output JSON file, then select the Form engine:

C#

DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_form);

C++

DataExtractionModule::ExtractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModule::e_Form);

Go

DataExtractionModuleExtractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModuleE_Form)

Java

DataExtractionModule.extractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_form);

JavaScript

await PDFNet.DataExtractionModule.extractData('formfields-scanned.pdf', 'formfields-scanned.json', PDFNet.DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_Form);

PHP

DataExtractionModule::ExtractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModule::e_Form);

Python

DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModule.e_Form)

Ruby

DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModule::E_Form)

VB

DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_form)

Alternatively, you can select the Form Key-Value Extraction engine:

C#

DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_form_key_value);

C++

DataExtractionModule::ExtractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModule::e_FormKeyValue);

Go

DataExtractionModuleExtractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModuleE_FormKeyValue)

Java

DataExtractionModule.extractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_form_key_value);

JavaScript

await PDFNet.DataExtractionModule.extractData('formfields-scanned.pdf', 'formfields-scanned.json', PDFNet.DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_FormKeyValue);

PHP

DataExtractionModule::ExtractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModule::e_FormKeyValue);

Python

DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModule.e_FormKeyValue)

Ruby

DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModule::E_FormKeyValue)

VB

DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields-scanned.pdf", "formfields-scanned.json", DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_form_key_value)

Extract form fields as JSON string

If you are going to parse the JSON right away, you may as well retrieve it as an in-memory string, instead of an external file.

Specify the name of the input PDF file, then select the Form engine:

C#

string json = DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_form);

C++

UString json = DataExtractionModule::ExtractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModule::e_Form);

Go

json := DataExtractionModuleExtractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModuleE_Form).(string)

Java

String json = DataExtractionModule.extractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_form);

JavaScript

const json = await PDFNet.DataExtractionModule.extractDataAsString('formfields.pdf', PDFNet.DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_Form);

PHP

$json = DataExtractionModule::ExtractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModule::e_Form);

Python

json = DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModule.e_Form)

Ruby

json = DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModule::E_Form)

VB

Dim json As String = DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_form)

Alternatively, you can select the Form Key-Value Extraction engine:

C#

string json = DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_form_key_value);

C++

UString json = DataExtractionModule::ExtractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModule::e_FormKeyValue);

Go

json := DataExtractionModuleExtractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModuleE_FormKeyValue).(string)

Java

String json = DataExtractionModule.extractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_form_key_value);

JavaScript

const json = await PDFNet.DataExtractionModule.extractDataAsString('formfields.pdf', PDFNet.DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_FormKeyValue);

PHP

$json = DataExtractionModule::ExtractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModule::e_FormKeyValue);

Python

json = DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModule.e_FormKeyValue)

Ruby

json = DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModule::E_FormKeyValue)

VB

Dim json As String = DataExtractionModule.ExtractData("formfields.pdf", DataExtractionModule.DataExtractionEngine.e_form_key_value)

Extract form fields and add to PDF

You can automatically add detected forms to a PDF in a single step.

C#

PDFDoc doc = new PDFDoc("formfields.pdf");
DataExtractionModule.DetectAndAddFormFieldsToPDF(doc);

C++

PDFDoc doc = new PDFDoc("formfields.pdf");
DataExtractionModule.detectAndAddFormFieldsToPDF(doc);

Go

doc := NewPDFDoc("formfields.pdf")
DataExtractionModuleDetectAndAddFormFieldsToPDF(doc)

Java

PDFDoc doc = new PDFDoc("formfields.pdf");
DataExtractionModule.detectAndAddFormFieldsToPDF(doc);

JavaScript

const doc = await PDFNet.PDFDoc.createFromFilePath("formfields.pdf");
await PDFNet.DataExtractionModule.detectAndAddFormFieldsToPDF(doc);

PHP

$doc = new PDFDoc("formfields.pdf");
DataExtractionModule::DetectAndAddFormFieldsToPDF($doc);

Python

doc = PDFDoc("formfields.pdf")
DataExtractionModule.DetectAndAddFormFieldsToPDF(doc)

Ruby

doc = PDFDoc.new("formfields.pdf")
DataExtractionModule.DetectAndAddFormFieldsToPDF(doc)

VB

Dim doc as PDFDoc = New PDFDoc("formfields.pdf")
DataExtractionModule.DetectAndAddFormFieldsToPDF(doc)

Optional Configurations

Select OCR Language

Password-Protected PDFs

Page Range

Region of Interest

Best Practices

• Use Form Field Detection for basic layout-based detection.
• Use Form Field Key-Value Extraction when you need semantic mapping (label-to-input).