Require that multiple rules pass

This article explains how to have multiple rules in place, all of which must pass for the results of a particular search to be accepted. If you aren't familiar with proximity rules, you may find it helpful to read the Proximity Rules overview article, specifically the importance of using multiple rules.

Since this is the most common multi-rule scenario, there is nothing specifically to do. Leave the Operator parameter as 'And' for all rules. This is the default value and means all the rules must pass in order for the contents of the 'value' search to be passed onwards through the workflow.

An example of this is a bill pay project, where to find the 'minimum amount due' you might connect the following rules:

  • Find the word 'amount', 'payment', 'balance', something that signifies an amount, AND
  • Find the word 'minimum' or 'due', to specifically indicate that this is the minimum or due payment, AND
  • Not find the word 'late' as this might be a description of the one-off charge for a late payment

To require that a value not be found for the rule to pass, set the Exception property to True on the rule that connects the search for the word 'late'.

The configuration could look something like this:

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Identification of minimum amount due for credit card bill - example configuration (click to enlarge)

And could produce the desired results as shown on this image where the outstanding balance, previous payment and late fee are all correctly excluded either by not having both essential positive keywords, or finding the exception keyword:

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Identification of minimum due among other amounts - example 1 (click to enlarge)

Or on this more challenging document where the 25.00 late amount is close to the 'Min' keyword, but the 'late' exception keyword takes priority in ruling out this value:

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Identification of minimum due among other amounts - example 2 (click to enlarge)