Is any AI module smart enough to tell me if a table spanning multiple pages is the same

Question

Is any AI module smart enough to tell me if a table spanning multiple pages is part of a single table?

I have a few use cases:

• A table spans to a new page and the table header also exists on the new page.
• A table spans to a new page but the header is only present on the first page.
• A document uses 2 column structure, e.g. journal or academic paper, and the table spans from the end of the first column to the start of the next columns.

Answer 1

Hi @Bijaya Rai,

Thank you for posting your query. Azure Document Intelligence is well-equipped to handle multi-page tables. The prebuilt layout model can detect tables that span multiple pages, even if headers are repeated or missing. The model uses spatial information to preserve table structures, ensuring continuity across pages.

For more complex scenarios, such as multi-column layouts in journals or academic papers, a custom extraction model can be trained. This allows you to define relationships between rows and columns explicitly, making it easier to handle cases where tables span columns or lack repeated headers.

Custom models provide additional flexibility to address irregular structures like merged cells and varying header formats. This approach ensures high accuracy for extracting structured data from complex documents.

I hope you understand. And, if you have any further query do let us know.

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