Automatic Field Detection

DocSpring’s field detection AI can automatically create template fields when you upload a PDF form. It can find field locations, suggest field names, and choose field data types.

You can review and edit the detected fields in the template editor before publishing the template.

Web UI

When creating a PDF template from the DocSpring web app, the Automatically detect fields checkbox is enabled by default.

If the checkbox is enabled:

• PDFs with embedded fillable fields: DocSpring imports the field locations and uses AI to suggest clearer field names and data types.
• Regular PDF forms without embedded fields: DocSpring analyzes the page layout, creates fields, and uses AI to suggest field names and data types.
• Segmented fields, such as SSN boxes, may be configured using DocSpring’s comb field settings.

If the checkbox is disabled, DocSpring skips field detection for that upload.

Note

Field detection creates a draft starting point. Review the detected fields, names, data types, and options before publishing the template.

API

For API-created templates, field detection is disabled by default. This prevents DocSpring from creating fields when your integration plans to add or update fields separately.

Set detect_fields to true when creating a PDF template to enable automatic field detection and AI naming.

{
  "template": {
    "name": "W-9",
    "document": {
      "id": "cache/...",
      "storage": "cache",
      "metadata": {}
    },
    "detect_fields": true
  }
}

API Reference: Create PDF Template Create a PDF template from a cached file upload

Editing Detected Fields

Detected fields are normal DocSpring template fields. You can move, resize, rename, delete, and reconfigure them in the visual editor.

For fields that represent multiple boxes in a single value, such as an SSN split across several boxes, see the comb field guide:

SSN and Comb Fields Use comb fields to split one value across multiple boxes