Welcome > Set up extraction > Standard Evaluator > Limit the number of possible alternatives

Limit the number of possible alternatives

Limit the number of alternatives returned by the Standard Evaluator to produce a manageable amount of data. Use this option when only the first few results are important.

The alternatives are first ordered according to the "Best of" or "First of" evaluation. The resulting list is then shortened to the number of alternatives you specify in Maximum number of alternatives.

Important If the highest alternatives have equal confidence levels, the limit you set might prevent important data from being considered for the field result. Specify a limit of at least "2" so that the field knows about conflicts between similarly confident alternatives.

For tables you can define a minimum number of rows a table needs to have to be a valid result. Specify the number of rows by entering a number or using the arrows. This option is only available when using the "First of" evaluation.

You can limit the number of possible alternatives by following these steps:

  1. Open the locator properties.
  2. On the Settings tab, in the Maximum number of alternatives field, enter a number.
  3. To ensure all alternatives have a value, select Ignore empty alternatives.

    For example, if you specify a maximum number of three alternatives, and the third alternative after evaluation is blank, the evaluator takes the fourth value.

  4. Open a test document and click Test to test your settings.
  5. Optionally, click Close to close the locator properties window.
  6. Save the changes to your project.