Classification Rules
Control which documents get processed, rejected, or flagged for review.
Classification Rules
When a document arrives in a channel, the first thing Doculent does is classify it — "what type of document is this?" Classification rules let you control what happens next based on that answer.
How Classification Works
Doculent's AI examines each incoming document and identifies its type — for example, "ACORD 125 Application", "Policy Declaration Page", or "Certificate of Insurance."
Your classification rules then decide what to do with it:
| Action | What happens |
|---|---|
| Accept | Document proceeds through the pipeline normally |
| Reject | Document is automatically declined — no processing, no charge |
| Quarantine | Document is held for your manual review before any processing begins |
Why Set Up Classification Rules?
Without rules, Doculent accepts and processes everything. That's fine for getting started, but as your volume grows, rules help you:
- Save money — don't process documents you don't need
- Reduce noise — keep irrelevant documents out of your results
- Catch edge cases — quarantine unusual documents so you can decide what to do with them
Creating a Rule
- Go to Channels > select your channel > Settings > Classification
- Click Add Rule
- Configure the rule:
- Document type — which type of document this rule applies to
- Action — accept, reject, or quarantine
- Conditions (optional) — additional criteria like sender, subject line keywords, etc.
- Click Save
Example Rules
| Rule | Document type | Action | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Process applications | ACORD 125 | Accept | Core business — always process these |
| Reject spam | Marketing material | Reject | Not relevant, don't waste processing |
| Review unknowns | Unclassified | Quarantine | Let a human decide what to do |
| Hold large packages | Any, >20 pages | Quarantine | Might need special handling |
Rule Priority
Rules are evaluated in order from top to bottom. The first matching rule wins. You can reorder rules by dragging them in the list.
Put your most specific rules at the top and your catch-all rules at the bottom. For example: specific document type rules first, then a general "quarantine everything else" rule at the end.
What Happens to Rejected Documents?
Rejected documents are logged but not processed. You can still see them in your Submissions list (filtered by "Rejected" status) for audit purposes, but no extraction or delivery occurs.
What Happens to Quarantined Documents?
Quarantined documents wait for your decision. From the submission detail page, you can:
- Approve — release it into the pipeline for processing
- Reject — decline it permanently
Quarantined documents don't count toward your processing usage until you approve them.
Tips
- Start broad, then tighten — accept everything at first, then add reject/quarantine rules as you see what types of documents come in
- Check your rejected pile occasionally — make sure you're not accidentally rejecting documents you actually want
- Use quarantine for new document types — when you start receiving a type you haven't seen before, quarantine it until you're confident in how the system handles it