Document Parsing and Chunking for Steel Trade Marketing Content

The marketing content documents for steel trade draw from multiple data sources. These include internal quotation ledgers, customer bidding documents

What this category of data looks like

The marketing content documents for steel trade draw from multiple data sources. These include internal quotation ledgers, customer bidding documents, industry trend briefings, product promotion manuals, and customer communication records. Document update cycles vary by business scenario: Quotation sheets are updated daily to reflect steel market prices. Bidding documents are generated irregularly based on project timelines. Industry briefings are released weekly or monthly.

Document structures fall into three categories: structured, semi-structured, and unstructured. Structured documents have fields such as steel grade, specification, weight, unit price, and delivery location. Common units are ton, meter, square meter, and yuan per ton. Semi-structured documents include sections like project name and transaction scale. Unstructured documents are mostly text records of customer interactions.

What constraints these characteristics impose on document parsing and chunking

Structured quotation sheets and ledgers require precise extraction of fields and units during parsing, to avoid incorrect splitting of unit price and weight units. Daily updated price documents must retain timestamp metadata, to prevent outdated information from appearing in search results. Fixed project numbers and section information in bidding documents must be saved alongside text chunks, to ensure search results can be linked to complete business context.

Mixed parsing of different document types needs to adapt to format differences. Using the same splitting rule for unstructured communication records and structured quotation sheets will break business-related information. Additionally, steel trade documents often include professional symbols in specification descriptions. During chunking, adjacent chunks must cover complete specification and corresponding price information, to avoid returning incomplete parameter fragments during searches.

How to set the configurations

Configuration ItemRecommended ValueRationale
PARSE_EXCEL_ENABLEEnabledSteel trade marketing materials include structured quotation sheets, inventory ledgers and other Excel-format documents, requiring complete extraction of business fields
maxChunkSize800–1200 charactersSteel trade documents contain related business fields such as specifications, unit prices, and delivery locations. A single chunk must hold complete information to avoid splitting breaks
chunkOverlap100–150 charactersRetains key context between adjacent chunks, preventing loss of cross-chunk information such as steel grades and specifications
UPLOAD_FILE_MAX_SIZE500 MBMeets upload requirements for large bidding project documents and annual industry reports
PARSE_FILE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS300 secondsLarge structured documents require longer processing time, to prevent timeout interruptions
ENABLE_METADATA_EXTRACTEnabledExtracts metadata such as project numbers, steel grades, and update dates from documents, to link search results with business information

The parameter values provided on this page are common starting points for configuration. Actual values are affected by material format, data volume, and business rules. Specific issues require individual analysis. It is recommended to test on your own samples before finalizing settings.

Three common mistakes

  • Symptom: Search results only return text fragments, without metadata such as steel grades or project numbers. Cause: The ENABLE_METADATA_EXTRACT configuration is not enabled, and associated business fields are not extracted from documents.
  • Symptom: Uploading Excel-format documents fails, and the interface prompts that the file type is not supported. Cause: The PARSE_EXCEL_ENABLE configuration is not enabled, and the Excel parsing function is not activated in the system.
  • Symptom: Parsing times out after uploading a 3MB PDF file. Cause: The PARSE_FILE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS value is not adjusted to fit large files, and the default timeout duration is insufficient.

How to confirm the configuration is correct

  • Upload a structured Excel quotation sheet, check if the parsed text contains complete fields and values, to confirm the PARSE_EXCEL_ENABLE configuration is active.
  • Run a search that includes steel specification keywords, check if returned results include document metadata, to confirm the ENABLE_METADATA_EXTRACT configuration is active.
  • Upload a PDF document larger than 1MB, wait for parsing to complete, and check for parsing timeout errors, to confirm the PARSE_FILE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS value fits the current document size.
  • Review segmented text chunks, check if adjacent chunks retain overlapping key business information, to confirm the chunkOverlap configuration is set appropriately.

Question material comes from public community discussions. Configuration values are common starting points and should be measured against your own samples. Verified on 2026-09-14.