Azure Document Intelligence

Overview

Azure Document Intelligence transforms the way organizations process documents by applying AI to extract meaningful information from unstructured and semi-structured documents. The service goes beyond basic OCR to understand document layout, identify form fields, extract tables, and recognize document types, enabling automated workflows and intelligent document management.

Built on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform, the service provides pre-built models for common document types (invoices, receipts, business cards, identity documents) and custom model training for specialized documents. With enterprise-grade security, compliance certifications, and seamless Azure integration, it's designed for mission-critical document processing applications.

Key Features

• Advanced OCR with 99%+ accuracy
• Pre-built models for invoices, receipts, IDs, business cards
• Custom model training for specialized documents
• Table and structure extraction
• Key-value pair identification
• Handwriting recognition
• Multi-page document processing
• Support for 100+ languages
• Layout analysis and document structure understanding
• Batch processing capabilities

Use Cases

• Invoice processing and accounts payable automation
• Receipt capture and expense management
• Identity verification and KYC compliance
• Contract analysis and management
• Form processing and data entry automation
• Healthcare records digitization
• Legal document review and discovery
• Banking and financial document processing
• Insurance claims processing
• Supply chain document automation

Pre-built Models

Azure Document Intelligence offers ready-to-use models for common document types. The Invoice model extracts vendor information, line items, totals, and dates. Receipt model captures merchant details, items, and amounts. Identity Document model processes passports, driver licenses, and ID cards. Business Card model extracts contact information. These pre-built models require no training and deliver immediate value.

Custom Models

For specialized documents, organizations can train custom models using as few as five sample documents. The service supports supervised learning with labeled data or unsupervised learning with unlabeled samples. Custom models understand organization-specific formats, terminology, and layouts, enabling accurate extraction from unique document types.

Layout and Structure Analysis

The Layout API provides detailed document structure analysis including reading order, text blocks, tables, selection marks, and spatial relationships. This enables understanding complex documents with multiple columns, embedded tables, forms, and mixed content types, preserving semantic meaning during extraction.

Integration and Workflow

Azure Document Intelligence integrates seamlessly with Azure services including Logic Apps, Power Automate, Cognitive Search, and Azure Functions. This enables building end-to-end document processing workflows from ingestion through extraction, validation, and integration with business systems. REST API and SDKs support custom application development.

Security and Compliance

The service inherits Azure's comprehensive security features including encryption at rest and in transit, RBAC, private networking, and compliance with major standards including HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and industry-specific regulations. Data residency options ensure documents remain in specified regions.

Pricing and Availability

Azure Document Intelligence uses pay-as-you-go pricing based on the number of pages processed, with different rates for pre-built models, custom models, and layout analysis. Free tier provides limited monthly processing for development and testing. The service is available in multiple Azure regions worldwide.