The Image Analyzer Extension

Article
09/30/2022

The Image Analyzer extension uses powerful image analytics provided by the Computer Vision API for Azure Cognitive Services to detect attributes in the images that you import for items and contact persons, so you can easily review and assign them. For items, attributes could be whether the item is a table or a car, and whether it is red or blue. For contact persons, attributes can be gender or age.

Image Analyzer suggests attributes based on tags that the Computer Vision API finds, and a confidence level. By default, it suggests attributes only if it is at least 80% sure that the attribute is correct. You can set another confidence level, if needed. To learn more about how the tags and confidence level are determined, see Computer Vision API.

Image Analyzer is free in Business Central, but there is a limit to the number of items that you can analyze during a certain period of time. By default, you can analyze 100 images per month.

After you enable the extension, Image Analyzer runs each time you import an image to an item or contact person. You will see the attributes, confidence level, and details right away, and can decide what to do with each attribute. If you imported images before you enabled the Image Analyzer extension, you must go to the item or contact cards and choose the Analyze Picture action.

Privacy notice

This extension uses the Computer Vision API from Azure Cognitive Services, which may have varying levels of compliance commitments than Business Central. When you enable the Image Analyzer extension, Customer Data such as a contact image or an item image will be sent to the Computer Vision API. By installing this extension, you agree for this limited set of data to be sent to the Computer Vision API. Note that you may disable, and uninstall, the Image Analyzer extension at any time to discontinue use of this functionality. For more information, see Microsoft Trust Center.

Requirements

There are a few requirements for the images:

Image formats: JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP
Maximum file size: Less than 4 MB
Image dimensions: Greater than 50 x 50 pixels

Switch on the Image Analyzer extension

The Image Analyzer extension is built in to Business Central. You just need to switch it on.

Note

To enable the Image Analyzer extension, you must be an administrator. Make sure that you are assigned the SUPER user permission set. For more information, see Assign Permissions to Users and Groups.

To enable the Image Analyzer extension, take one of the following actions:

Open an item or contact card. In the notification bar, choose Analyze Picture, then follow the steps in the assisted setup guide.
Choose the icon, enter Service Connections, and then choose Image Analysis Setup. Choose the Enable Image Analyzer check box, and then complete the steps in the assisted setup guide.

Tip

The Image Analysis Setup page is also where you can change the degree of confidence for attribute suggestions. For example, if you want to require a greater degree of confidence, you can enter a higher percentage.

Analyze an item image

The following steps describe how to analyze an image that was imported before you enabled the Image Analyzer extension.

Choose the icon, enter Items, and then choose the related link.
Choose the item, and then choose the Analyze Picture action.
The Image Analyzer Attributes page displays the detected attributes, the confidence level, and other details about the attribute. Use the Action to perform options to specify what to do with the attribute or choose Add to item description to add the name of the attribute to the item description. For example, this action can be useful for quickly adding detail.

The Action to perform field has following options:

Action	Description
Ignore	No actions will be performed.
Use as attribute	The value is added to the item attributes. Learn more at Work with Item Attributes.
Use as a category	The selected value is added as a category. Learn more at Categorize Items.
Add to blocklist	If the analysis suggests an attribute that you do not want to see, you can block the attribute. Use caution, however. Blocked attributes are not suggested for other items either. If you regret blocking an attribute, choose View Blocked Attributes, and then delete the attribute from the list.

Note

By default Item Attributes displays attributes where Confidence Score is above Confidence Score Threshold % defined in the Image Analysis Setup. To see all detected attributes, choose the View All Attributes action.

Analyze a contact person picture

The following steps describe how to analyze an image that was imported before you enabled the Image Analyzer extension.

Choose the icon, enter Contacts, and then choose the related link.
Choose the contact person, and then choose the Analyze Picture action.
On the Profile Questionnaire FastTab, review the suggestions, and make corrections if needed. Learn more at Use Profile Questionnaires to Classify Business Contacts.
Note

The Computer Vision API returns following attributes:
- age
  
  An estimated "visual age" in years. It is how old a person looks as opposed to the actual biological age.
- gender
  
  Male or female.
The Computer Vision API doesn't return a confidence level for age and gender attributes.

Use your own Computer Vision API account

You can also use your own account for the Computer Vision API, for example, if you want to analyze more images than the default integration offers.

Choose the icon, enter Image Analysis Setup, and then choose the related link.
Enter the API URI and API Key that you received for Computer Vision API.

Note

You must add /analyze at the end of the API URI, if it isn't already there. For example: https://cronus.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/vision/v2.0/analyze.

See how many analyses you have left in the current period

You can view the number of analyses you've done, and how many you can still do, in the current period.

Choose the icon, enter Image Analysis Setup, and then choose the related link.
The Limit Type, Limit Value, and Analyses Performed fields provide the usage information.

Stop using the Image Analyzer extension

Choose the icon, enter Service Connections, and then choose Image Analysis Setup.
Clear the Enable Image Analyzer field.

Alternatively, uninstall the extension completely. You can always fetch it again from AppSource. For more information, see Installing and Uninstalling Extensions in Business Central.