> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://sensible.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Classifying documents by type

You can classify a document by its similarity to each document type you define in your Sensible account. For example, if you define a [bank statements](https://github.com/sensible-hq/sensible-configuration-library/tree/main/bank%5Fstatements) type and a [tax\_forms](https://github.com/sensible-hq/sensible-configuration-library/tree/main/tax%5Fforms) type in your account, you can classify 1040 forms, 1099 forms, Bank of America statements, Chase statements, and other documents, into those two types. In this scenario, for a `2023-1-1_bankofamerica_statement_jon_doe.pdf` document, Sensible:

* Classifies this document into the `bank_statements` document type.
* Classifies the statement doc by its similarity to reference documents in the `bank_statements` document type. The highest score is for [a Bank of America sample statement](https://github.com/sensible-hq/sensible-configuration-library/blob/main/bank%5Fstatements/bank%5Fof%5Famerica/boa%5Fsample.pdf).
* Provides metadata for the classification, including similarity scores for this document compared to each document type in your Sensible account and to each reference document in the `bank_statements` type.

Use document classification:

* In an extraction workflow. For example, determine which documents to extract prior to calling a Sensible extraction endpoint.
* Outside an extraction workflow. For example, determine where to route each document or to label each document in a system of record.

To improve classification results, Sensible recommends that a document type includes a sample set of reference documents that represent the diversity you expect to see in the document type. To use a document type for classification, Sensible requires that the type contains at least one reference document.

To classify documents, use the Sensible API or SDKs.