Lesson 2 of 5 · 12 min
How key term extraction works
What the AI pulls out automatically, and which terms you configure first.
An analysed document yields two kinds of information: generic entities, dates, amounts and clauses that need no setup, and labelled "key terms" that only appear if you've defined them.
Generic extraction (no configuration)
For an eligible document, the base analysis surfaces named entities, dates, amounts and key clauses with no configuration at all. These populate the Entities, Dates and Clauses tabs of the document preview. This is the part that works out of the box.
Labelled key terms are config-driven
Named values like "Settlement Date" or "Deposit Amount" are not automatic — they come from Key Term Extraction sets you define in Settings › Document AI. If no set defines a term, it won't appear on the Key Terms tab, no matter what the document contains. (The next lesson covers how to create these sets.)
What the Key Terms panel shows
The Key Terms tab is a plain table with three columns: Label, Value and Confidence (a percentage). It doesn't link to, or highlight, the source clause. Details like the page number and surrounding text are kept behind the scenes, but there's no click-a-term-to-jump-to-the-source view in the app.
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Open a document and switch to the Key Terms tab
From the Documents tab, open a document's preview and select the Key Terms tab. Labelled values appear as a Label / Value / Confidence table. There's no highlight-in-source interaction — just the extracted value and how confident the model was.
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See where labelled terms come from
The labelled terms above only exist because a Key Term Extraction set defines them. Open Settings › Document AI and choose the Key Term Extraction tab to see (and edit) those definitions. Generic entities and dates need none of this; labelled terms need a set.
Labelled key terms are driven by the extraction sets on this settings tab. -
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Tell generic from labelled
As a rule of thumb: if the value shows up on the Entities, Dates or Clauses tabs, it's generic and automatic. If you need a specific, named value pulled out reliably — and optionally written onto the matter — it belongs in a Key Term Extraction set.
Tips & pitfalls
- There is no 'click a term to see the highlighted clause' feature. The Key Terms tab shows only Label, Value and a confidence percentage.
- If a labelled term you expected is missing, usually no extraction set defines it, or the document isn't one of the analysed types (PDF/image/text).
- Analysis happens in the background, so if the Key Terms tab is empty right after upload, give it a moment and refresh — larger documents take longer to process.
Key takeaways
- Generic entities, dates, amounts and clauses are extracted with no configuration.
- Labelled key terms (e.g. 'Settlement Date') only appear if you've defined a Key Term Extraction set.
- The Key Terms panel shows Label, Value and Confidence — there is no source-clause highlight.
Put the lesson into practice.
Book a guided session and our team will help you configure MatterFirst for your own practice.
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