Document Layout Analyzer
Detect text blocks, tables, figures, and reading order in complex documents using surya.
Your PDF has two-column text, tables that wrap across pages, sidebars mixed with body text, and figures with captions. Standard OCR reads it top-to-bottom and scrambles everything. You need layout understanding, not just text extraction.
Who it's for: data engineers processing complex document layouts, researchers extracting structured data from academic papers, legal teams parsing multi-column contracts, developers building document processing pipelines, anyone whose PDFs have layouts that break standard text extraction
Example
"Analyze the layout of these 50 research papers to extract figures and tables" → Layout detection identifying text blocks, tables, figures, and captions with correct reading order — even in two-column papers with floating elements — ready for structured downstream processing
New here? 3-minute setup guide → | Already set up? Copy the template below.
# Layout Analyzer
## Overview
This workflow enables document layout analysis using **surya** - an advanced document understanding system. Detect text blocks, tables, figures, headings, and determine reading order in complex documents.
## How to Use
1. Provide the document image or PDF
2. Specify what layout elements to detect
3. I'll analyze the structure and return detected regions
**Example prompts:**
- "Analyze the layout of this document page"
- "Detect all tables and text blocks in this image"
- "Determine the reading order for this PDF page"
- "Find headings and paragraphs in this document"
## Domain Knowledge
### surya Fundamentals
```python
from surya.detection import DetectionPredictor
from surya.layout import LayoutPredictor
from surya.reading_order import ReadingOrderPredictor
from PIL import Image
# Load image
image = Image.open("document.png")
# Detect layout elements
layout_predictor = LayoutPredictor()
layout_result = layout_predictor([image])
```
### Layout Element Types
| Element | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| Text | Regular paragraph text |
| Title | Document/section titles |
| Section-header | Section headings |
| List-item | Bulleted/numbered items |
| Table | Tabular data |
| Figure | Images/diagrams |
| Caption | Figure/table captions |
| Footnote | Footnotes |
| Formula | Mathematical equations |
| Page-header | Headers |
| Page-footer | Footers |
### Text Detection
```python
from surya.detection import DetectionPredictor
from PIL import Image
# Initialize detector
detector = DetectionPredictor()
# Load image
image = Image.open("document.png")
# Detect text regions
results = detector([image])
# Access results
for page_result in results:
for bbox in page_result.bboxes:
print(f"Text region: {bbox.bbox}")
print(f"Confidence: {bbox.confidence}")
```
### Layout Analysis
```python
from surya.layout import LayoutPredictor
from PIL import Image
# Initialize layout predictor
layout_predictor = LayoutPredictor()
# Analyze layout
image = Image.open("document.png")
layout_results = layout_predictor([image])
# Process results
for page_result in layout_results:
for element in page_result.bboxes:
print(f"Type: {element.label}")
print(f"Bbox: {element.bbox}")
print(f"Confidence: {element.confidence}")
```
### Reading Order Detection
```python
from surya.reading_order import ReadingOrderPredictor
from surya.layout import LayoutPredictor
from PIL import Image
# Get layout first
layout_predictor = LayoutPredictor()
image = Image.open("document.png")
layout_results = layout_predictor([image])
# Determine reading order
reading_order_predictor = ReadingOrderPredictor()
order_results = reading_order_predictor([image], layout_results)
# Access ordered elements
for page_result in order_results:
for i, element in enumerate(page_result.ordered_bboxes):
print(f"{i+1}. {element.label}: {element.bbox}")
```
### OCR with Layout
```python
from surya.ocr import OCRPredictor
from surya.layout import LayoutPredictor
from PIL import Image
# Initialize predictors
ocr_predictor = OCRPredictor()
layout_predictor = LayoutPredictor()
# Load image
image = Image.open("document.png")
# Get layout
layout_results = layout_predictor([image])
# Run OCR
ocr_results = ocr_predictor([image])
# Combine results
for layout, ocr in zip(layout_results, ocr_results):
for layout_elem in layout.bboxes:
print(f"Element: {layout_elem.label}")
# Find OCR text within this layout element
for text_line in ocr.text_lines:
if boxes_overlap(layout_elem.bbox, text_line.bbox):
print(f" Text: {text_line.text}")
```
### Processing PDFs
```python
from surya.layout import LayoutPredictor
from pdf2image import convert_from_path
def analyze_pdf_layout(pdf_path):
"""Analyze layout of all pages in PDF."""
# Convert PDF to images
images = convert_from_path(pdf_path)
# Initialize predictor
layout_predictor = LayoutPredictor()
# Analyze all pages
results = layout_predictor(images)
document_structure = []
for page_num, page_result in enumerate(results):
page_elements = []
for element in page_result.bboxes:
page_elements.append({
'type': element.label,
'bbox': element.bbox,
'confidence': element.confidence
})
document_structure.append({
'page': page_num + 1,
'elements': page_elements
})
return document_structure
structure = analyze_pdf_layout("document.pdf")
```
### Visualization
```python
from surya.layout import LayoutPredictor
from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont
def visualize_layout(image_path, output_path):
"""Visualize detected layout elements."""
image = Image.open(image_path)
layout_predictor = LayoutPredictor()
results = layout_predictor([image])
# Create drawing context
draw = ImageDraw.Draw(image)
# Color mapping for element types
colors = {
'Text': 'blue',
'Title': 'red',
'Table': 'green',
'Figure': 'purple',
'Section-header': 'orange',
'List-item': 'cyan',
}
for element in results[0].bboxes:
bbox = element.bbox
color = colors.get(element.label, 'gray')
# Draw rectangle
draw.rectangle(bbox, outline=color, width=2)
# Add label
draw.text((bbox[0], bbox[1] - 15),
f"{element.label} ({element.confidence:.2f})",
fill=color)
image.save(output_path)
return output_path
```
## Best Practices
1. **Use High-Quality Images**: 150+ DPI for best results
2. **Preprocess if Needed**: Deskew rotated documents
3. **Validate Results**: Check confidence scores
4. **Handle Multi-page**: Process pages individually
5. **Combine with OCR**: Get text within detected regions
## Common Patterns
### Document Structure Extraction
```python
def extract_document_structure(image_path):
"""Extract hierarchical document structure."""
from surya.layout import LayoutPredictor
from surya.reading_order import ReadingOrderPredictor
image = Image.open(image_path)
# Get layout
layout_predictor = LayoutPredictor()
layout_results = layout_predictor([image])
# Get reading order
order_predictor = ReadingOrderPredictor()
order_results = order_predictor([image], layout_results)
structure = {
'title': None,
'sections': [],
'tables': [],
'figures': []
}
current_section = None
for element in order_results[0].ordered_bboxes:
if element.label == 'Title':
structure['title'] = element
elif element.label == 'Section-header':
current_section = {'header': element, 'content': []}
structure['sections'].append(current_section)
elif element.label == 'Table':
structure['tables'].append(element)
elif element.label == 'Figure':
structure['figures'].append(element)
elif current_section and element.label in ['Text', 'List-item']:
current_section['content'].append(element)
return structure
```
### Table Region Extraction
```python
def extract_table_regions(image_path):
"""Extract table regions from document."""
from surya.layout import LayoutPredictor
image = Image.open(image_path)
layout_predictor = LayoutPredictor()
results = layout_predictor([image])
tables = []
for element in results[0].bboxes:
if element.label == 'Table':
bbox = element.bbox
# Crop table region
table_image = image.crop(bbox)
tables.append({
'bbox': bbox,
'image': table_image,
'confidence': element.confidence
})
return tables
```
## Examples
### Example 1: Academic Paper Analysis
```python
from surya.layout import LayoutPredictor
from surya.reading_order import ReadingOrderPredictor
from pdf2image import convert_from_path
def analyze_academic_paper(pdf_path):
"""Analyze structure of academic paper."""
images = convert_from_path(pdf_path)
layout_predictor = LayoutPredictor()
order_predictor = ReadingOrderPredictor()
paper_structure = {
'pages': [],
'element_counts': {
'Title': 0,
'Section-header': 0,
'Text': 0,
'Table': 0,
'Figure': 0,
'Formula': 0,
'Footnote': 0
}
}
layout_results = layout_predictor(images)
order_results = order_predictor(images, layout_results)
for page_num, (layout, order) in enumerate(zip(layout_results, order_results)):
page_structure = {
'page': page_num + 1,
'elements': []
}
for element in order.ordered_bboxes:
page_structure['elements'].append({
'type': element.label,
'bbox': element.bbox,
'order': element.position
})
# Count element types
if element.label in paper_structure['element_counts']:
paper_structure['element_counts'][element.label] += 1
paper_structure['pages'].append(page_structure)
return paper_structure
paper = analyze_academic_paper('research_paper.pdf')
print(f"Total tables: {paper['element_counts']['Table']}")
print(f"Total figures: {paper['element_counts']['Figure']}")
```
### Example 2: Form Field Detection
```python
from surya.layout import LayoutPredictor
from PIL import Image
def detect_form_fields(image_path):
"""Detect form fields and labels."""
image = Image.open(image_path)
layout_predictor = LayoutPredictor()
results = layout_predictor([image])
form_fields = []
for element in results[0].bboxes:
# Look for text elements that might be labels
if element.label == 'Text':
# Check if there's a box/line nearby (potential input field)
form_fields.append({
'type': 'potential_label',
'bbox': element.bbox,
'confidence': element.confidence
})
return form_fields
fields = detect_form_fields('form.png')
print(f"Found {len(fields)} potential form elements")
```
### Example 3: Multi-column Article
```python
from surya.layout import LayoutPredictor
from surya.reading_order import ReadingOrderPredictor
from PIL import Image
def process_multicolumn_article(image_path):
"""Process multi-column article layout."""
image = Image.open(image_path)
layout_predictor = LayoutPredictor()
order_predictor = ReadingOrderPredictor()
layout_results = layout_predictor([image])
order_results = order_predictor([image], layout_results)
# Group elements by column
image_width = image.width
column_threshold = image_width / 2
columns = {
'left': [],
'right': [],
'full_width': []
}
for element in order_results[0].ordered_bboxes:
bbox = element.bbox
element_center = (bbox[0] + bbox[2]) / 2
element_width = bbox[2] - bbox[0]
# Determine column
if element_width > column_threshold * 1.5:
columns['full_width'].append(element)
elif element_center < column_threshold:
columns['left'].append(element)
else:
columns['right'].append(element)
return {
'layout': 'multi-column',
'columns': columns,
'reading_order': order_results[0].ordered_bboxes
}
article = process_multicolumn_article('newspaper_page.png')
print(f"Left column: {len(article['columns']['left'])} elements")
print(f"Right column: {len(article['columns']['right'])} elements")
```
## Limitations
- Handwritten layouts may be inaccurate
- Very small text regions may be missed
- Complex nested layouts challenging
- GPU recommended for batch processing
- Multi-language support varies
## Installation
```bash
pip install surya-ocr
# For PDF processing
pip install pdf2image
```
## Resources
- [surya GitHub](https://github.com/VikParuchuri/surya)
- [Model Documentation](https://github.com/VikParuchuri/surya#models)
- [Examples](https://github.com/VikParuchuri/surya/tree/master/examples)What This Does
This workflow enables document layout analysis using surya - an advanced document understanding system. Detect text blocks, tables, figures, headings, and determine reading order in complex documents.
Quick Start
Step 1: Create a Project Folder
mkdir -p ~/Documents/LayoutAnalyzer
Step 2: Download the Template
Click Download above, then:
mv ~/Downloads/CLAUDE.md ~/Documents/LayoutAnalyzer/
Step 3: Start Working
cd ~/Documents/LayoutAnalyzer
claude
How to Use
- Provide the document image or PDF
- Specify what layout elements to detect
- I'll analyze the structure and return detected regions
Example prompts:
- "Analyze the layout of this document page"
- "Detect all tables and text blocks in this image"
- "Determine the reading order for this PDF page"
- "Find headings and paragraphs in this document"
Best Practices
- Use High-Quality Images: 150+ DPI for best results
- Preprocess if Needed: Deskew rotated documents
- Validate Results: Check confidence scores
- Handle Multi-page: Process pages individually
- Combine with OCR: Get text within detected regions
Examples
Example 1: Academic Paper Analysis
from surya.layout import LayoutPredictor
from surya.reading_order import ReadingOrderPredictor
from pdf2image import convert_from_path
def analyze_academic_paper(pdf_path):
"""Analyze structure of academic paper."""
images = convert_from_path(pdf_path)
layout_predictor = LayoutPredictor()
order_predictor = ReadingOrderPredictor()
paper_structure = {
'pages': [],
'element_counts': {
'Title': 0,
'Section-header': 0,
'Text': 0,
'Table': 0,
'Figure': 0,
'Formula': 0,
'Footnote': 0
}
}
layout_results = layout_predictor(images)
order_results = order_predictor(images, layout_results)
for page_num, (layout, order) in enumerate(zip(layout_results, order_results)):
page_structure = {
'page': page_num + 1,
'elements': []
}
for element in order.ordered_bboxes:
page_structure['elements'].append({
'type': element.label,
'bbox': element.bbox,
'order': element.position
})
# Count element types
if element.label in paper_structure['element_counts']:
paper_structure['element_counts'][element.label] += 1
paper_structure['pages'].append(page_structure)
return paper_structure
paper = analyze_academic_paper('research_paper.pdf')
print(f"Total tables: {paper['element_counts']['Table']}")
print(f"Total figures: {paper['element_counts']['Figure']}")
Example 2: Form Field Detection
from surya.layout import LayoutPredictor
from PIL import Image
def detect_form_fields(image_path):
"""Detect form fields and labels."""
image = Image.open(image_path)
layout_predictor = LayoutPredictor()
results = layout_predictor([image])
form_fields = []
for element in results[0].bboxes:
# Look for text elements that might be labels
if element.label == 'Text':
# Check if there's a box/line nearby (potential input field)
form_fields.append({
'type': 'potential_label',
'bbox': element.bbox,
'confidence': element.confidence
})
return form_fields
fields = detect_form_fields('form.png')
print(f"Found {len(fields)} potential form elements")
Example 3: Multi-column Article
Limitations
- Handwritten layouts may be inaccurate
- Very small text regions may be missed
- Complex nested layouts challenging
- GPU recommended for batch processing
- Multi-language support varies
Installation
pip install surya-ocr
# For PDF processing
pip install pdf2image