Extracts repeating data in a document, such as the work history or skills on a resume, the vehicles on an auto insurance policy, or the line items on an invoice. It can find these facts in paragraphs of free text or in more structured layouts, such as key/value pairs or tables.

For tips on authoring this method in Sensible Instruct, see List tips.

Advantages

Low code.
Can reformat or filter extracted data based on your natural-language instructions.
Doesn't require an anchor.

Limitations

Sensible can extract up to 20 pages for a single list field. If the list exceeds that limit, Sensible truncates the list.
For highly complex repeating layouts, such as insurance loss run documents, use the Sections method.

How it works

For more information about how this method works, see Notes .

Parameters
Examples
Notes

Parameters

Note: For the full list of parameters available for this method, see Global parameters for methods. The following table only shows parameters most relevant to or specific to this method.

Note You can configure some the following parameters in both the NLP preprocessor and in a field's method. If you configure both, the field's parameter overrides the NLP preprocessor's parameter. For more information, see Advanced prompt configuration.

key	value	description
id (required)	`list`	The Anchor parameter is optional for fields that use this method. If you specify an anchor, Sensible ignores it.
description (required)	string	A prompt describing the list's subject matter as a whole.
properties (required)	object	An array of objects with the following parameters: -`id` (required): A user-friendly ID for the data in the extraction output. -`description` (required): A prompt describing the list item that you want to extract. The prompt can include instructions to reformat or filter the data. For example, provide prompts like `" transaction amount. return the absolute value"` or `"vehicle make (not model)"`. -`type`: The list item's type. For more information, see types.
promptIntroduction	string. default: `Using the provided context fill out the table below. If the context doesn't contain any of the described items, leave it empty.`	Overwrites the default text at the beginning of the full prompt that Sensible submits to the LLM for this field. For example: `Using the provided context fill out the table below. If the context doesn't contain any of the described items, return \"NONE FOUND\ in each cell`
contextDescription		For information about this parameter, see Advanced prompt configuration
pageHinting		For information about this parameter, see Advanced prompt configuration
chunkCount	20	For information about this parameter, see Advanced prompt configuration
chunkSize	1	For information about this parameter, see Advanced prompt configuration
chunkOverlapPercentage	0	For information about this parameter, see Advanced prompt configuration

Examples

The following example shows using the List method to extract information from a menu about listed menu items.

Config

{
  "fields": [
    {
      /* the id is a user-friendly name for the target list */
      "id": "dinners",
      "type": "table",
      "method": {
        "id": "list",
        /* overall description of list's contents */
        "description": "dinner special menu items",
        "properties": [
          {
            /* for each item in the list, provide a user-friendly ID and 
               description of the data you want to extract
               and optional instructions to filter or reformat the data */
            "id": "dinner_description",
            "description": "entree description"
          },
          /* optional: target data is a currency */
          {
            "id": "price",
            "type": "currency",
            "description": "dinner price"
          },
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "desserts",
      "type": "table",
      "method": {
        "id": "list",
        "description": "dessert special menu items",
        "properties": [
          {
            "id": "dessert_description",
            "description": "dessert description"
          },
          {
            "id": "price",
            "type":"currency",
            "description": "dessert price"
          },
        ]
      }
    },
    /* lists can span roughly a document page, if the list exceeds that,
      Sensible may truncate the extracted list */
    {
      "id": "wines",
      "type": "table",
      "method": {
        "id": "list",
        /* optional: try restricting the list to white wines,
           or try making a new list for liquors and their serving sizes */
        "description": "red wines and white wines (not other drinks such as beers or liquors)",
        "properties": [
          {
            "id": "wine_name",
            "description": "wine brand name"
          },
          {
            "id": "wine_type",
            "description": "wine varietal name (not brand), for example, return 'Red:cabernet savignon' or 'white:varietal not found'"
          },
          {
            "id": "wine_description",
            "description": "wine description"
          },
          {
            "id": "smallest_serving_price",
            "description": "smallest wine serving size and its dollar price, formatted like '6 oz: $11'"
          },
          {
            "id": "second_smallest_serving_price",
            "description": "second-smallest wine serving size and its dollar price, formatted like '6 oz: $11'"
          },
          {
            "id": "bottle_price",
            "type":"currency",
            "description": "price per bottle, in dollars"
          },
        ]
      }
    },
  ],
  "computed_fields": [
    /* optional: for cleaner output, zip each list */
    {
      "id": "dinners_zipped",
      "method": {
        "id": "zip",
        "source_ids": [
          "dinners",
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "desserts_zipped",
      "method": {
        "id": "zip",
        "source_ids": [
          "desserts",
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "wines_zipped",
      "method": {
        "id": "zip",
        "source_ids": [
          "wines",
        ]
      }
    },
    /* optional: for cleaner output, remove the source
       fields. */
    {
      "id": "hide_fields",
      "method": {
        "id": "suppressOutput",
        "source_ids": [
          "dinners",
          "desserts",
          "wines"
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Example document
The following image shows the example document used with this example config:

Click to enlarge

Example document	Download link

Output

{
  "dinners_zipped": [
    {
      "dinner_description": {
        "value": "Grilled salmon with almond rice pilaf and spinach with pine nuts",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "price": {
        "source": "$45",
        "value": 45,
        "unit": "$",
        "type": "currency"
      }
    },
    {
      "dinner_description": {
        "value": "Seared beef with fingerling potatoes and asparagus",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "price": {
        "source": "$56",
        "value": 56,
        "unit": "$",
        "type": "currency"
      }
    }
  ],
  "desserts_zipped": [
    {
      "dessert_description": {
        "value": "Cannoli cake with candied lavender",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "price": {
        "source": "$14",
        "value": 14,
        "unit": "$",
        "type": "currency"
      }
    },
    {
      "dessert_description": {
        "value": "Creme brulee",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "price": {
        "source": "$13",
        "value": 13,
        "unit": "$",
        "type": "currency"
      }
    }
  ],
  "wines_zipped": [
    {
      "wine_name": {
        "value": "House white",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "wine_type": {
        "value": "white:varietal not found",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "wine_description": {
        "value": "Dry with citrus notes reminiscent of grapefruit",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "smallest_serving_price": {
        "value": "6 oz: $10",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "second_smallest_serving_price": {
        "value": "9 oz: $16",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "bottle_price": {
        "source": "32",
        "value": 32,
        "unit": "$",
        "type": "currency"
      }
    },
    {
      "wine_name": {
        "value": "Barone Ventoura",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "wine_type": {
        "value": "white:varietal not found",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "wine_description": {
        "value": "Subtle honey notes with floral aromas",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "smallest_serving_price": {
        "value": "6 oz: $12",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "second_smallest_serving_price": {
        "value": "9 oz: $18",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "bottle_price": {
        "source": "40",
        "value": 40,
        "unit": "$",
        "type": "currency"
      }
    },
    {
      "wine_name": {
        "value": "Val Feuillatte",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "wine_type": {
        "value": "white:varietal not found",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "wine_description": {
        "value": "Bold, distinctive spice notes",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "smallest_serving_price": null,
      "second_smallest_serving_price": null,
      "bottle_price": {
        "source": "65",
        "value": 65,
        "unit": "$",
        "type": "currency"
      }
    },
    {
      "wine_name": {
        "value": "House red",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "wine_type": {
        "value": "red:varietal not found",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "wine_description": {
        "value": "A satisfying blend",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "smallest_serving_price": {
        "value": "6 oz: $11",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "second_smallest_serving_price": {
        "value": "9 oz: $17",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "bottle_price": {
        "source": "33",
        "value": 33,
        "unit": "$",
        "type": "currency"
      }
    },
    {
      "wine_name": {
        "value": "Wrath cabernet sauvignon",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "wine_type": {
        "value": "red:cabernet sauvignon",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "wine_description": {
        "value": "Bold with oak notes",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "smallest_serving_price": null,
      "second_smallest_serving_price": null,
      "bottle_price": {
        "source": "62",
        "value": 62,
        "unit": "$",
        "type": "currency"
      }
    },
    {
      "wine_name": {
        "value": "Turbell Estate Pinot noir",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "wine_type": {
        "value": "red:pinot noir",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "wine_description": {
        "value": "Mellow with dark chocolate notes",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "smallest_serving_price": {
        "value": "6 oz: $13",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "second_smallest_serving_price": {
        "value": "9 oz: $18",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "bottle_price": {
        "source": "35",
        "value": 35,
        "unit": "$",
        "type": "currency"
      }
    },
    {
      "wine_name": {
        "value": "Chappellet Shiraz",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "wine_type": {
        "value": "red:shiraz",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "wine_description": {
        "value": "Complex and subtle",
        "type": "string"
      },
      "smallest_serving_price": null,
      "second_smallest_serving_price": null,
      "bottle_price": {
        "source": "72",
        "value": 72,
        "unit": "$",
        "type": "currency"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Notes

For an overview of how the List method works, see the following steps:

Sensible finds the chunks of the document that most likely contain your target data:

Sensible concatenates all your property descriptions with your overall list description.
Sensible splits the document into equal-sized chunks.
Sensible scores your concatenated list descriptions against each chunk.

Sensible selects a number of the top-scoring chunks, where the number is determined by the Chunk Count parameter. Sensible re-scores the top-scoring chunks to select a smaller list of page numbers containing the most relevant chunks, where the list size is determined by the re-scoring process. The maximum list size is 20 page numbers.
To avoid large-language model (LLM)'s token limits, Sensible batches the page numbers into groups. The chunks in each page group can be non-consecutive in the document.
For each page group, Sensible submits a full prompt for the LLM (GPT-3) that includes the pages' chunks as context, page-hinting data, and your prompts. For more information about the full prompt, see Advanced prompt configuration. The full prompt instructs the LLM to create a list formatted as a table, based on the context.
Sensible concatenates the results from the LLM for each page group and returns a list, formatted as a table.