Check whether a footnote changes the meaning of a missing value

Read the marker and the note together

Retain that explanation so the spreadsheet does not turn different kinds of missing information into one misleading blank.

Before paying for technical-document extraction, inspect how the source meaning survives in the output. ParseMill’s public material-register example gives you a synthetic PDF and downloadable evidence to compare. Bring your own document type and acceptance checks to a scope discussion; the self-service invoice plan is a separate offer.

A footnote may distinguish not tested from not applicable or not reported. These differences matter when deciding whether an expected observation is absent. Preserve them without assuming why the supplier chose that state.

Build a note-to-cell map

The fixture is invented. Its purpose is to stop the first note from spreading to every dash and the second note from spreading to every blank. Keep the marker in the raw field even after a reviewer confirms the structured state.

Microsoft: M language values allows null to represent absent or indeterminate information. A separate state and note reference preserve distinctions that a null numeric field cannot express alone.

Verify the scope of each note

1. Inspect the rendered cell for a marker that may be faint, superscripted or detached in extracted text. Record its source location.
2. Locate the matching note and capture its exact wording. Check whether the same marker is reused in a different section with another meaning.
3. Map the note to explicit cells or a clearly stated range. Record the evidence supporting any table-wide interpretation.
4. Review unmarked blanks separately. Leave their states unresolved or neutral unless another source statement establishes their meaning.

W3C: PROV Data Model supports explicit relationships between evidence and derived records. Your note mapping should identify both the note source and the affected cell rather than storing only the final label.

Handle conflicting evidence

A marker may point to a note that contradicts the row’s result text, or an extracted marker may have shifted from an adjacent cell. Preserve the conflict and inspect neighboring columns before assigning a state. If the source remains inconsistent, request clarification instead of choosing the interpretation that makes the table complete.

When a report is revised, check whether note numbering or wording changed. Reusing an earlier note map can attach the wrong explanation even if the visible dash remains unchanged.

Check the missing-state output

For this fixture, only S1 becomes not performed and only S3 becomes not applicable. S2 and S4 retain their distinct unresolved or neutral states. A recipient should be able to follow each confirmed state to the exact footnote and cell.

Bring marked and unmarked laboratory missing values to a supplier-report fit discussion. Use the public example to inspect how source evidence is presented, then agree which note relationships a pilot would need to preserve. The invoice trial does not promise laboratory-state interpretation.