Horizontal

The 'Maximum Distance' property limits how far apart elements can be (measured from the right edge of one to the left edge of the next) and still be considered part of the same horizontal array.

• Enter a numeric value (e.g., 1.0) to specify the maximum allowed distance in inches.
• Set to 0 to disable this constraint (no maximum).

This property is useful for preventing unrelated values from being grouped together, especially in documents with wide spacing or multiple columns.

A combination of the following flags:

The VerticalDataAlignment enumeration controls how elements must be vertically aligned to be considered part of the same horizontal array when using the Horizontal layout provider.

This setting is critical for accurately extracting rows from tables, lists, or other horizontally arranged data, especially in documents where alignment may not be perfect due to scanning, formatting, or layout inconsistencies.

How It Works

• The selected value(s) determine which part of each element (top, center, or bottom) is compared for alignment.
• The 'Alignment Tolerance' property specifies how much vertical misalignment is allowed.
• Multiple alignment modes can be combined using flags, allowing for flexible matching.

Configuration Guidance

• Use 'Any' for loosely aligned data, such as lists or rows with variable heights.
• Use 'Top', 'Center', or 'Bottom' for structured tables or forms where fields are expected to align on a specific edge or centerline.
• Adjust 'Alignment Tolerance' to accommodate minor misalignments.

The 'Alignment Tolerance' property specifies how much vertical misalignment is permitted between elements for them to be considered aligned according to the selected 'Alignment' mode.

• Enter a numeric value (e.g., 0.05) to specify the allowed tolerance in inches.
• Increase the value to allow for greater misalignment, which can be helpful for scanned or poorly formatted documents.

Example

If elements are intended to be top-aligned but may be off by up to 0.1 inches, set 'Alignment Tolerance' to 0.1.

The 'Enforce Line Boundaries' property, when set to true, ensures that elements separated by a vertical dividing line in the document layout are not grouped into the same horizontal array.

This is useful for documents with table borders or form lines, where values on opposite sides of a line should not be considered part of the same array.

> Note: If disabled, elements may be grouped even if a vertical line is present between them.

The 'Maximum Size Variation' property controls how much the font size can differ between adjacent array elements for them to be grouped together by the Layout Provider.

• The value is expressed as a percentage (e.g., 0.2 for 20%) and is calculated as the difference between the two font sizes, divided by the smaller of the two.
• A value of 1.0 (the default) disables this constraint, allowing any amount of font size variation.
• Lower values enforce stricter matching, which is useful for documents where array elements are expected to have consistent formatting.
• Increase the value to allow for more variation, which can be helpful for documents with mixed font sizes or inconsistent OCR results.

Example

• If set to 0.2, two elements with font sizes of 10pt and 12pt (a 20% difference) will be grouped, but 10pt and 15pt (a 50% difference) will not.

Usage Notes

• Use a lower value to prevent unrelated elements with different font sizes from being grouped together.
• Use the default value (1.0) to ignore font size differences and group all elements regardless of formatting.