Auto-Matching: Let Essal Office Assign Tags Automatically

Essal Office can assign tags to documents automatically based on matching rules you define. Once configured, these rules run every time a document is uploaded, so routine filing happens without any manual action.

How Matching Works

When a document finishes processing, Essal Office checks every tag's matching rule against the document's extracted text content, title, and other metadata. If a rule matches, the tag is assigned. This happens in the background — you won't see it happening, but when you open the document, the tags will already be there.

Matching Algorithms

Essal Office offers several algorithms for how a tag's matching rule is evaluated:

Algorithm: **Any word**
How it works: Matches if any of the words in the match field appear in the document
Best for: Broad matching, multiple keywords

Algorithm: **All words**
How it works: Matches only if *all* words in the match field appear in the document
Best for: Narrowing down documents that mention several specific terms

Algorithm: **Exact match**
How it works: Matches if the exact phrase appears verbatim (word-boundary aware)
Best for: Company names, codes, specific phrases

Algorithm: **Regular expression**
How it works: Matches using a regex pattern
Best for: Power users who need fine-grained control

Algorithm: **Fuzzy match**
How it works: Matches if content is *similar to* the match text (tolerates typos and OCR errors)
Best for: Scanned documents with imperfect OCR

Algorithm: **Auto**
How it works: Essal Office learns from your manual assignments and decides automatically
Best for: Let the system figure it out over time

Configuring a Matching Rule on a Tag

Go to Manage → Tags and open a tag
In the Matching algorithm field, select the algorithm you want
In the Value / Match field, enter the text pattern that should trigger this tag
Enable Case insensitive unless you have a specific reason to require exact case
Save

Examples

Tag: `Finance`
Algorithm: Any word
Match value: `invoice receipt payment`
What it matches: Documents mentioning any of these words

Tag: `Bank: City Bank`
Algorithm: Exact phrase
Match value: `City Bank`
What it matches: Documents where "City Bank" appears as a phrase

Tag: `Tax`
Algorithm: Any word
Match value: `tax VAT GST HMRC`
What it matches: Any document mentioning taxation terms

Tag: `Contracts`
Algorithm: Exact phrase
Match value: `this agreement`
What it matches: Documents with formal contract opening language

Tag: `Invoices`
Algorithm: Regular expression
Match value: `Invoice\s*#?\s*\d+`
What it matches: Documents with an invoice number pattern

The Auto Algorithm

When you select Auto, Essal Office uses machine learning to figure out when to assign the tag based on the documents you've manually tagged in the past. The more documents it sees, the more accurate it becomes.

To start using Auto matching:

Manually assign the tag to at least 10–20 representative documents
Set the matching algorithm to Auto
Save

Going forward, Essal Office will begin assigning the tag to new documents it predicts are a match.

Testing a Rule Before Going Live

After setting up a rule, upload a small test document that you expect to match and check whether the tag is assigned automatically. If it isn't, review the match value and algorithm — a common issue is a phrase mismatch between the match field and the actual text in the document (check the document's Content tab to see exactly what was extracted).

Matching Doesn't Override Manual Assignments

If you manually remove an auto-matched tag from a document, that removal is preserved. Auto-matching only runs at the time the document is first processed (or when rules are re-applied). It does not keep re-adding tags you've deliberately removed.