---
updatedAt: 2026-10-01T17:11:41.000Z
agentTools:
  projectIndex: https://docs.sensible.so/llms.txt
---

# Layout-based methods

Layout-based extraction methods in Sensible, including Box, Table, Checkbox, Region, Regex, and more for deterministically extracting structured data.

Use the following  [methods](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/method) to extract structured data from documents.

## Layout-based methods

| method                                       | image                                                                                                                           | notes                                                                                                                                          |
| -------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **[Box](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/box)**                           | ![Click to enlarge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sensible-hq/sensible-docs/v0/assets/images/final/box_1099.png)            | Extracts contents from boxes with continuous borders.                                                                                          |
| **[Checkbox](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/checkbox)**                 | ![Click to enlarge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sensible-hq/sensible-docs/v0/assets/images/final/checkbox.png)            | Extracts true/false for the selection status of  checkboxes.                                                                                   |
| **[Column](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/column)**                     | ![Click to enlarge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sensible-hq/sensible-docs/v0/assets/images/final/column.png)              | Extracts text aligned in a column, from an anchor down to the bottom of the page.                                                              |
| **[Document Range](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/document-range)**     | ![Click to enlarge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sensible-hq/sensible-docs/v0/assets/images/final/documentrange_sworn.png) | Extracts text in a range, or extract image metadata (coordinates).  Simpler alternative to the advanced [Paragraph](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/paragraph) method.     |
| **[Fixed Table](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/fixed-table)**           | ![Click to enlarge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sensible-hq/sensible-docs/v0/assets/images/final/fixed_table.png)         | Extracts tables where column headings never vary.                                                                                              |
| **[Intersection](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/intersection)**         | ![Click to enlarge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sensible-hq/sensible-docs/v0/assets/images/final/intersection_1.png)      | Extracts a target line at the intersection of a horizontal line defined by an anchor, and a vertical line defined by a second anchor.          |
| **[Label](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/label)**                       | ![Click to enlarge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sensible-hq/sensible-docs/v0/assets/images/final/labels.png)              | Extracts a line of text that's proximate to another line. Because this method can be very brittle, use alternative methods where possible.     |
| [**Nearest Checkbox**](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/nearest-checkbox) | ![Click to enlarge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sensible-hq/sensible-docs/v0/assets/images/final/nearest_checkbox.png)    | Extracts true/false for the selection status of the checkbox nearest to the anchor.                                                            |
| [**Paragraph**](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/paragraph)               | ![Click to enlarge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sensible-hq/sensible-docs/v0/assets/images/final/paragraph.png)           | Extracts paragraphs that partially span the page width, for example from columnar layouts.                                                     |
| **[Passthrough](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/passthrough)**           | ![Click to enlarge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sensible-hq/sensible-docs/v0/assets/images/final/passthrough.png)         | Extracts anchor text, optionally using RegEx.                                                                                                  |
| **[Regex](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/regex)**                       |                                                                                                                                 | Extracts text matching RegEx. Use RegEx capturing groups in this method to clean up extracted data in combination with the Passthrough method. |
| **[Region](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/region)**                     | ![Click to enlarge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sensible-hq/sensible-docs/v0/assets/images/final/region_ssn.png)          | Extracts data from a rectangular region defined by coordinates. Faster alternative to Box method.                                              |
| **[Row](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/row)**                           | ![Click to enlarge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sensible-hq/sensible-docs/v0/assets/images/final/row.png)                 | Extracts text aligned in a row.                                                                                                                |
| **[Signature](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/signature)**               |                                                                                                                                 | Extracts true/false for the signed status of  a region.                                                                                        |
| **[Text Table](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/text-table)**             | ![Click to enlarge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sensible-hq/sensible-docs/v0/assets/images/final/text_table.png)          | Extracts tables using solely text-positioning data (fast but limited).                                                                         |

## Large language model (LLM)-based methods

See [LLM-based methods](https://docs.sensible.so/docs/llm-based-methods).