Choosing a Table method

You can choose from among the following options for extracting tables:

Overview of table methods

method	based on	description	comments
NLP Table	large language models (LLM)s	Extracts a table based on your prompt to an LLM.	Low code, doesn’t require an anchor. Slowest table method.
Fixed Table	layout	Extracts tables with a fixed number and layout of columns.	Faster than NLP Table method.
Text Table	layout	Extracts tables based on column coordinates in inches.	Fastest table method.

Features supported

method	multiple pages	merged cells	variable column formatting	checkboxes in cells	Tables-in tables, labeled rows, and other complex formatting
Fixed Table	✅Ignores repeating column headings.	✅ If you specify the Stop parameter, Sensible populates “empty” spanned cells with the spanned value. For an example, see Merged cell example.	❌	✅ If you specify the Stop parameter, Sensible returns the selection status for checkboxes in table cells as “[true]” or “[false]”.	❌Use Sections as an alternative
Text Table	✅Supported if you specify the Stop parameter	❌Sensible returns the first merged cell’s value, and returns subsequent spanned cells as nulls.	❌	❌	❌Use Sections as an alternative
NLP Table	✅ To troubleshoot intervening non-table text, use the Page Span Threshold parameter.	Indeterminate. Usually supported without additional prompting.	✅	Indeterminate.	Indeterminate.Use Sections as an alternative.

Note: The Table method is deprecated. To duplicate this method’s function, use the NLP Table method and set the Rewrite Table parameter to false. For information about the Table method, see (Deprecated) Table method.