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To read information on forms, a form-processing application has to:
  1. Determine the location of form elements.
  2. Separate field contents from field borders, text marking, backgrounds, explanatory text, etc.
Machine-readable forms enable the program to carry out these tasks. For the first task to be carried out successfully, the forms must correspond to the form pattern or Document Definition, i.e. the location of all form elements must be identical on all forms of the same type. For the second task to be carried out successfully, the forms must be designed with automated input in mind, i.e. so that the program can easily distinguish between the data to be captured and such non-recognizable form elements as field borders, text marking, backgrounds, or explanatory text.