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A workflow is the set of instructions that tells anyformat what to do with your documents. You build it once, and it runs the same way on every document you give it. Think of it as an assembly line made of a few simple nodes:
  • Read the document (Parse)
  • Pull out the fields you care about (Extract)
  • and, when you need them, sort documents by type (Classify), split a multi-document file apart (Split), or check the results against your own rules (Validate)
Each workflow targets one kind of document and one shape of output. Need a different output? Build a different workflow.
You don’t have to assemble these nodes by hand. The fastest way to start is to describe what you want to annie, anyformat’s AI assistant, and let her build a Parse → Extract workflow for you. To arrange the nodes yourself, use Studio, the visual editor.

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The nodes

Every workflow is a graph of nodes. Most workflows only need Parse and Extract; the rest exist for documents that are more complicated, or for when you want something other than data back. See Nodes for what each node does, what it returns, and what it costs.

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Three common shapes

These are the same nodes arranged in different ways. You arrange them visually in Studio.

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Read only

Just Parse, nothing else. You get clean text and tables back — handy when you want to feed anyformat’s output into your own tools (search, a custom AI, etc.) rather than pulling out specific fields.

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Read, then pull out — the usual one

Parse into Extract. This is the default: “read this document and give me these fields.”

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Sort first, then pull out

Classify decides what kind of document it is, then sends it to an Extract node tailored to that type. (Split works the same way for files that hold several documents.)
See the examples for end-to-end examples of each shape, or the Studio guide to build them yourself.

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How to think about workflows

Most users follow the same lifecycle:
1

Create

Describe what you want to annie and she builds it — or arrange the nodes yourself in Studio
2

Refine

Run a few sample documents through it, look at the results, and tighten your fields and instructions
3

Run at scale

Apply it to many documents — by uploading them, connecting cloud storage, or (for developers) calling the API
In the web platform you build workflows by describing what you want to annie from the home screen, then refine them in Studio.

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What’s next?

Nodes

What each node does, what it returns, and what it costs

Studio

The visual editor where you arrange the nodes into a workflow

Runs & results

What happens when you run a workflow, and what comes back

Build your first workflow

A step-by-step walkthrough — start in the UI, no code needed