Amazon Textract is a machine learning service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that makes it easy to extract text and data from scanned documents, images, and PDF files. It uses advanced OCR (optical character recognition) technology and machine learning algorithms to analyze and extract structured data from unstructured documents.

Key features and capabilities of Amazon Textract include:

1. Document Text Extraction: Amazon Textract can accurately extract text from various types of documents, including invoices, contracts, forms, and tables. It can detect and preserve the formatting and structure of the original document.

2. Data Extraction: Textract goes beyond simple text extraction and can identify and extract key data elements such as names, addresses, dates, and other entities. It can also extract data from tables, including rows, columns, and cell values.

3. Handwriting Recognition: Textract has the capability to recognize and extract text from documents that contain handwritten text. This can be particularly useful for applications that deal with forms or documents that include manual annotations.

4. Document Structure Analysis: Textract can analyze the layout and structure of a document, including tables, forms, and multi-page documents. It can identify relationships between different sections of a document and extract information accordingly.

5. Integration with Other AWS Services: Amazon Textract seamlessly integrates with other AWS services. For example, you can use Textract in conjunction with Amazon S3 to process large volumes of documents stored in S3 buckets. The extracted data can be further processed and analyzed using services like AWS Lambda, Amazon Comprehend, or Amazon Redshift.

6. Security and Compliance: Textract is designed with security and compliance in mind. It encrypts data at rest and in transit, and you have fine-grained control over access permissions using AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). Textract also supports compliance programs such as HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI DSS.

It’s important to note that Amazon Textract is a fully managed service, meaning AWS takes care of the underlying infrastructure, scalability, and maintenance tasks. You pay for the usage of Textract based on the number of pages processed or the amount of data extracted.

Amazon Textract can be used in a wide range of applications, such as document digitization, data extraction for business workflows, intelligent document search, and document analysis for compliance and auditing purposes.