Document Summarization

When working with documents in the repository, users may want to quickly verify that they have found the correct document in the repository without needing to open and read it. Document summarization, powered by Laserfiche AI, allows you to generate a summary of the document that can be viewed when browsing in the folder browser or when viewing documents in the document viewer. The summary can also be included when generating a URL for a document or sending a document via email.

Document summarization is supported for imaged documents, PDFs, Office documents, and audio and video files. It requires text pages; when running summarization on a document without text pages, Laserfiche will attempt to generate them. If a file is an audio or video file, it must be transcribed before it can be summarized. See Working with Audio and Video Files for more information.

Security Considerations

Users must have the following rights on the documents they are working with to use document summaries:

  • Create a summary: Append Data entry access right
  • View a summary: Read and See Through Redactions entry access rights
  • Re-create a summary on a document that already has one: Modify Contents entry access right
  • Delete a summary: Delete Document Pages entry access right

Creating a Document Summary

To generate a document summary, do one of the following:

  • Select or open the document and then select the Summary tab in the right-hand pane. Select the Create Summary button.
  • Select or open the document and then select the More Actions button on the toolbar. Select Create Summary.

This will start an automatic summarization process. If the document later changes, the summary will not be automatically updated; see Re-creating a Document Summary, below, for more information.

Note: Document summarization can only be performed on individual documents. It cannot be performed on folders or on multiple documents at once.

Note: As document summarization requires text pages in the document, text will be generated if it has not been generated before.

Viewing a Document Summary

To view an existing summary on a document, select the document in the folder browser or open it in the document viewer. In the right-hand pane, select the Summary tab, where the summary will appear.

Deleting a Document Summary

To delete an existing summary on a document, do one of the following:

  • Select or open the document and then select the Summary tab on the right-hand pane. Select the Delete icon above the summary.
  • Select or open the document and then select the More Actions button on the toolbar. Select Delete Summary.

Note: Deleting a summary cannot be undone; the summary will not be sent to the recycle bin. However, a new summary can be generated.

Re-creating a Document Summary

When a document is updated in the repository, the summary will not be automatically updated. To update it based on new or changed content, you can re-create the summary. To do so, do one of the following:

  • Select or open the document and then select the Summary tab on the right-hand pane. Select the Create Summary icon above the summary.
  • Select or open the document and then select the More Actions button on the toolbar. Select Create Summary.

Note: Re-creating a summary cannot be undone.

Copying a Summary when Generating a Document URL

When generating a URL to a document to share with other users, you can optionally include the document summary to provide additional context. To do so, select the document in the folder browser or open it in the document viewer. In the right-hand pane, select the Summary tab, and then select the Copy URL with Summary icon.

Including a Summary when Sending a Document via Email

When sending a document or documents via email, you can also include a summary to provide a brief overview of the shared documents by selecting the Include Summary option in the Email Basket dialog box. For more information, see Sharing, Downloading, and Printing Documents.

Administering Document Summaries

Document summarization is enabled by default on Laserfiche Cloud repositories. Administrators with the Manage Repository Configuration privilege can choose to disable it for the entire repository. This will hide all existing summaries and will prevent users from creating new ones. However, if you re-enable document summarization, existing summaries will be displayed and will not need to be re-generated.

To disable or enable document summarization for the repository, open Repository Administration for your repository. In the General tab, select Show Advanced. In the Summary option, select or clear Allow document summarization using Laserfiche AI.

To view the number of summaries you can create from documents, open Account Administration and select the Plan tab. You can view the number of summaries you can generate each year in the Overview section. Under Usage, you can view the number of document summaries you can generate.

Known Issues

  • Users without the See Through Redactions entry access right for a document will not be able to view the summary for that document even if it contains no redactions.
  • If a document contains words in multiple languages, it may generate a summary in either of those languages, even if there is only one word in one of the languages. If this happens, you can re-create the summary to try again.
  • Summaries will be based on the first 10,000 words of the document.
  • If you are creating a summary for a document that does not contain text pages, text pages will first be generated. This may cause the summarization to fail because text page generation was not yet finished. If this happens, wait a few minutes and try again.