ABBYY FineReader - 6.0 Instruction Manual
Optical Character Recognition Program
ABBYY FineReader
Version 6.0
User’s Guide
©2002 ABBYY Software House.
Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not bear any commitment on the part of
ABBYY Software House.
The software described in this document is supplied under a license agreement. The software may only be used or
copied in strict accordance with the terms of the agreement. It is a breach of the “On legal protection of software and
databases” law of the Russian Federation and of international law to copy the software onto any medium unless specif
ically allowed in the license agreement or nondisclosure agreements.
No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any from or by any means, electronic or other, for any
purpose, without the express written permission of ABBYY Software House.
© 2002 ABBYY Software House. All rights reserved.
© 2001 ParaType, Inc. Type 1 fonts are licensed from ParaType, Inc.
ABBYY, BIT Software, FineReader, “fontain image transformation”, Lingvo, Scan&Read, Scan&Translate, “onebutton
principle”, “Your computer reads by itself” are registered trademarks of ABBYY; Try&Buy, DOCFLOW are trademarks of
ABBYY Software House.
Adobe®, Adobe Logo, Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) and Adobe Acrobat® are the registered trademarks of
Adobe Systems Incorporated.
All other trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their legal owners. P.O. Box 72, Moscow, 127015,
Russia. ABBYY.
Contents
Contents
Chapter 1
Installing and Starting ABBYY FineReader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Software and Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Installing ABBYY FineReader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Network Server/Workstation Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Starting ABBYY FineReader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Chapter 2
Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
How to Input a Document in Less than a Minute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
The ABBYY FineReader Main Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
ABBYY FineReader Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Chapter 3
General Features of ABBYY FineReader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
What is an OCR System?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
New Features of ABBYY FineReader 6.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Supported Document Saving Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Supported Image Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Chapter 4
Acquiring the Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Setting Scanning Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Tips on Brightness Tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Scanning Multipage Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Opening Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Scanning Dual Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Adding Business Cards Images to a Batch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Working with the Image. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Page Numbering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Batch Image Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
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ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide
Chapter 5
Page Layout Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
General Information on Page Layout Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Block Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Automatic Page Layout Analysis Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Drawing and Editing Blocks Manually. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Manual Table Layout Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Using Block Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Chapter 6
Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
General Information on Recognition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Recognition Language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Source Text Print Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Other Recognition Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Background Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Recognition with Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
How to Train a User Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
How to Edit a User Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
User Languages and Language Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
How to Create a New Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
How to Create a New Language Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Chapter 7
Checking and Editing Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Checking Text in ABBYY FineReader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Options for Checking and Editing Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Adding and Deleting Words to/from the User Dictionary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Editing Text in ABBYY FineReader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Editing Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Chapter 8
Saving into External Applications and Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
General Information on Saving Recognized Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Text Saving Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Saving Recognized Text in RTF and DOC Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Saving Recognized Text in PDF Format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Saving Recognized Text in HTML Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Saving the Page Image. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Chapter 9
Working with Batches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
General Information on Working with Batches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Creating a New Batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Opening a Batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Adding Images to a Batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Batch Page Number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Closing a Batch Page or the Whole Batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Deleting a Batch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Fulltext Search in Recognized Batch Pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Chapter 10
Network Document Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Work with the Same Batch over a Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Group Work with the Same User Languages and Dictionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Group Work with Customized Dictionaries (Languages with
Dictionary Support only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Hot Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
5
Contents
ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide
Welcome!
Thank you for choosing ABBYY FineReader!
We all need to input text into our computers from time to time, whether
it be newspaper/magazine articles, contracts, business letters, faxes, price
lists, or questionnaires. For years there was only one way to input print
ed documents – you had to type them in from the keyboard. Remember
the long hours you spent typing in text from one document or another?
What a great thing it would have been had the computer been able to
read the text by itself, straight from the sheet of paper.
Sometimes dreams do come true! FineReader Optical Character
Recognition (OCR) software enables your computer and scanner to do
just this – to read printed text by themselves.
But can’t the scanner do the job on its own?
No. The scanner only takes a photograph of the text and converts it into
a set of black and white dots (an image file), which cannot be edited
using word processing applications such as MS Word, WordPerfect, Word
Pro, etc. What is needed instead is an OCR system that looks for symbols
in each set of black and white dots, “recognizes” the letters in each sym
bol, and, finally, converts the image into text that text editors and desk
top systems are able to deal with.
So now I can input documents into my computer automatically?
Yes, now you can input documents into your computer automatically,
without having to retype them all out on your keyboard.
Enjoy!
User’s Guide
The User’s Guide introduces you to the basics of using ABBYY
FineReader. Each chapter starts with a short summary description and a
list of the chapter’s contents.
Online Help
FineReader’s online Help contains basic and advanced information on
program features, settings and dialogs. Online Help is provided in HTML
format and has been designed for quick and easy information retrieval.
Readme file
The Readme file contains the latest information on the software.
Technical Support
If you have any questions on how to use FineReader, please consult all
the documentation you have available (the User’s Guide and the Help
file) before contacting our technical support service. Also, take a look at
the technical support section on our website at www.abbyy.com. You
may find the information you need there.
If, after having consulted both your documentation and the ABBYY web
site, you still require assistance, email us at support@abbyy.com. Note
that our technical support experts will need the following information
from you to be able to deal with your enquiries:
z The serial number of your copy of FineReader
z Your scanner make and model
z A general description of the problem and the full error message text
(if you have encountered an error message)
z Your Windows operating system version
z Any other information you consider important.
Note: Some system information can be obtained by clicking on
System Info in the About ABBYY FineReader dialog (menu
Help/About).
All licensed users of the current and previous versions of the application
are entitled to free technical support.
Chapter 1
Installing and Starting
ABBYY FineReader
This chapter deals with ABBYY FineReader installation proce
dures and related subjects, such as system requirements and
workstation/network installation.
A special installation program carries out the setup of
FineReader. Always use the diskette/CDROM supplied as part of
your software package. Installation is not possible using copied
files.
Chapter Contents:
z Software and hardware requirements
z Installing ABBYY FineReader
z Network server/workstation installation
z Starting ABBYY FineReader
Software and hardware requirements
For ABBYY FineReader to function correctly your computer must meet the following system
requirements:
01. PC with an Intel
®
Pentium®200 MHz processor or higher
02. Microsoft
®
Windows®XP, Microsoft®Windows®2000, Windows®NT
®
Workstation 4.0 with Service Pack 6 or greater, Windows®95/98/ME
03. 64 Mb (Windows XP/2000), 32 Mb (Windows Me/98/NT 4.0), 16 Mb
(Windows 95) of RAM, plus 16 Mb of RAM for each additional processor (in
case of a multiprocessor system)
04. Microsoft
®
Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher (Microsoft®Internet Explorer 5.5
included on the FineReader CDROM)
05. 90 Mbytes of free harddisk space for minimal program installation
06. 70 Mbytes of free harddisk space for the program operation
07. 100% Twaincompatible scanner, digital camera or faxmodem
08. CDROM drive
09. 3,5'' floppy drive or product activation via the Internet, by email, or by phone
10. Mouse or other pointing device
11. VGA or other highresolution monitor
Installing ABBYY FineReader
Installation options
Once the setup program has run a system check, type in your name and select the folder
you wish to install ABBYY FineReader in. The setup program will then display several instal
lation options. Select the option of your choice.
z
Typical (recommended) – all components are installed including all recog
nition languages, a single interface language selected during installation.
z
Custom installation – any number of program components may be
installed (including all available recognition languages).
Note: If you wish to use user dictionaries and patterns from a previously installed version of
FineReader, do not uninstall it prior to installing the new version. All existing user
patterns
and dictionaries
will then be available for use in the latest version.
Installing ABBYY FineReader
If your software package contains both a CDROM and a floppy disk, proceed as follows:
1. Insert the Installation disk into the floppy disk drive.
2. Insert the CDROM into the CDROM drive.
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ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide
3. Click the Start button on the Taskbar and select the Settings/Control
Panel
item.
4. Doubleclick the
Add/Remove Programs icon.
5. Select the
Install/Uninstall tab and click the Install button.
6. Follow the installation instructions.
If your software package contains only a CDROM, proceed as follows:
1. Insert the CDROM into the CDROM drive.
2. Click the
Start button on the Taskbar and select the Settings/Control
Panel
item.
3. Doubleclick the
Add/Remove Programs icon.
4. Select the
Install/Uninstall tab and click the Install button.
5. Follow the installation instructions.
Note: An Installation Code is required to complete installation if one of the following
applies to your computer: there is no 3.5" floppy disk drive present; installation is being car
ried out using corrupted media. The
Installation Code can be obtained from ABBYY or
one of its resellers, and is created from the
Product ID (issued automatically by the instal
lation program) and the serial number (printed on the registration card). To obtain your
Installation Code, simply fill out the relevant form at www.abbyy.com. Alternatively you
can scan the completed registration card and email it to us, or call the technical support
number.
If you come across an error message, see the ReadmeEng.htm file for assistance (located on
the ABBYY FineReader CDROM).
Network server/workstation installation
Installation on a Network Server
(System Administrators Only)
Installation of the ABBYY FineReader 6.0 Corporate Edition on a network server can only be
carried out by the system administrator. Proceed as follows:
z If your software package contains both a CDROM and floppy disk, insert
the Installation disk and run setup.exe from the FineReader CDROM with
the /a commandline option.
z If your software package contains only a CDROM, run setup.exe from the
FineReader CDROM with the /a commandline option.
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Chapter 1. Installing and Starting ABBYY FineReader
Additional licenses
Following installation on a network server, you will need to add serial numbers if
FineReader is to be used by more than one user simultaneously:
1 Run LicSetup.exe from the folder Program files\ABBYY FineReader 6.0
where ABBYY FineReader 6.0 Corporate Edition was installed. The
Add
License
dialog will be displayed.
2 Enter a new serial number and click the
Add button.
Note: 1. You cannot use logical drives created by the SUBST command.
2. If you choose “Installation to a network”, SP 6 and IE 5.5 will NOT be auto
matically installed on the server. If you choose any other installation
method, SP 6 and IE 5.5 will be automatically installed on your system. To
avoid any difficulties related to the absence of these components, the system
administrator should check if both of these components are installed on the
network station prior to installation. If they are not installed, the system
should be updated before installing ABBYY FineReader.
3. Check before installation that all users have readwrite access to the net
work folder named
Users (this folder is automatically created during appli
cation installation and stores temporary files).
Installation on a Network Workstation
If ABBYY FineReader 6.0 Corporate Edition has been installed on a network server, the setup
program can be run directly from the server.
To install ABBYY FineReader 6.0 Corporate Edition on a workstation:
z Run Setup.exe from the network folder containing ABBYY FineReader 6.0
Corporate Edition. Follow the installation instructions.
Note: 1. You should have administrative rights to the workstation on which ABBYY
FineReader is being installed.
2. If the message “Can’t load FineReader. There is no free license.” is displayed,
check the number of additional licenses added in the
Add License dialog,
as well as the number of users currently working with FineReader.
3. For ABBYY FineReader 6.0 to function correctly, the user must have read
write access to the folder in which the batch is stored.
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ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide
Starting ABBYY FineReader
To start ABBYY FineReader:
z Select the ABBYY FineReader 6.0 Professional (Corporate Edition)
item in the Start/Programs menu.
Note: Make sure your scanner is connected to your computer, pluggedin, and turned on
before you start FineReader. If your scanner has yet to be installed, please consult the user
guide supplied with the scanner for instructions on how to install it.
If you do not have a scanner, you can still recognize image files using FineReader (see the
sample files located in the
ABBYY FineReader/Demo folder).
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Chapter 1. Installing and Starting ABBYY FineReader
ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide
Chapter 2
Quick Start
In this chapter you will learn how to input a document without
having to know anything about the way in which ABBYY
FineReader works! You will also learn which windows and tool
bars are contained within FineReader.
If you already have experience of working with FineReader, you
may wish to skip this chapter altogether and go directly to the
part entitled New features of ABBYY FineReader 6.0.
Chapter Contents:
z How to input a document in less than a minute
z The ABBYY FineReader Main window
z ABBYY FineReader toolbars
How to input a document in less than a minute
1. Turn on the scanner if it has a separate power source to your PC.
Note: Many scanner models have to be turned on before you turn on the
computer.
2. Turn on the computer and start FineReader (
Start/Programs/ABBYY
FineReader 6.0 Professional
or Corporate Edition). The FineReader
main window will appear on your screen.
3. Place the page you want read onto the scanner.
4. Click the arrow to the right of the
Scan&Read button. Select the
Scan&Read Wizard item in the local menu.
The
Scan&Read Wizard is a special
Scan&Read/Open&Read mode during which you are
guided through each step of the scanning process. You
can use a sample image file which is contained in the
Demo folder, which, in turn, is located in the folder containing FineReader.
5. Follow the
Scan&Read Wizard instructions.
The document input process is made up of four steps: scanning, reading, spellcheck and sav
ing the recognized text.
Once scanning is complete, a “photograph”of the source page will appear in the
Image
window. The application then asks you to set the recognition parameters. Once this has
been done, it starts recognizing the image, analyzing its layout at the same time. Image areas
already recognized are highlighted in blue.
Recognized text is displayed in the
Text window, where it can be checked and edited. Once
you have checked the document, the
Scan&Read Wizard will prompt you to either send
the recognized text to the application of your choice, save it to file, or go on processing
more images.
The ABBYY FineReader Main window
FineReader performs all document processing in batch mode. A batch is a folder containing
images, recognized text files and other FineReader information files. Each scanned image is
converted into a separate batch page. If there are several images in a single image file (for
example, if you are dealing with a multipage TIFF), each file image will be converted into a
separate batch page.
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ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide
When you start FineReader for the first time, the default batch is opened. You can choose to
work with the default batch or create a new batch of your own. See “General Information
on Working with Batches” for more information.
You will see the FineReader main menu at the top of the FineReader
Main window. The fol
lowing four toolbars are displayed under the main menu: the
Standard, Formatting,
Image Tools, and WizardBar toolbars. You may show/hide any toolbar.
To show/hide a toolbar, click the
Toolbar item in the View menu or the local menu. Right
click any toolbar to open the local menu. You will see the toolbar list, with the currently
selected toolbars highlighted. Click the name of the toolbar you want shown/hidden.
At the bottom of the FineReader Main window you will find the status bar, which displays
information on application status and the operations currently being performed, as well as
brief information on menu items and buttons selected.
17
Chapter 2. Quick Start
Main window
Standard toolbar
Formatting toolbar
WizardBar
Provides tools for full
text processing:
Scanning, Recognition,
Spelling Check and
Saving
Text window
displays the recognized
text for checking and
editing
Image window
displays the scanned image
for viewing
and drawing blocks
Zoom window
displays the
zoomedin image of the
text line you edit or
part of an image you
are working on
Batch window
displays the pages of the
open batch in one of two
modes: thumbnails (as
now) or details
Image Tools toolbar
provides tools for drawing
and editing blocks, zoom
tools and tools for image
editing
The Batch window is always displayed in the Main window. Three more windows may also
be displayed: the
Image, Zoom and Text windows.
The
Image, Zoom and Text windows are interconnected: when you doubleclick a certain
image area in the
Image window, the respective area is displayed in the Zoom window, and
the pointer in the
Text window is moved to the position clicked on (if text has already
been recognized on the page).
To alter the onscreen windows arrangement:
z Select one of the following items: Batch Window >...; Image and Text
Windows
>...; Zoom Window >.... in the View menu.
Some recommended windows arrangements: Useful if/when:
Batch
window on the left; Batch View: …a batch contains only
Thumbnails; Image, Text and Zoom windows a small number of pages
Batch window at the top: Batch View: Details; …a batch contains a large
Image, Text and Zoom windows number of pages
Batch window at the top; Batch View: Details; …you perform layout
Image and Zoom windows analysis and recognition
Batch window at the top; Batch View: Details; …you edit the recognized
Text and Zoom windows text
To switch between windows:
z Press CTRL+TAB.
z Press
ALT+1 to activate the Batch window.
z Press
ALT+2 to activate the Image window.
z Press
ALT+3 to activate the Text window.
ABBYY FineReader toolbars
There are four toolbars in FineReader: the Standard, Image Tools, Formatting and
WizardBar toolbars. Using the toolbars is without doubt the most convenient way of
accessing the application’s functions. However, the same functions can also be accessed via
menus or hot keys. To find out what function a particular toolbar button has, just move the
mouse pointer to it. The button’s tooltip will then be displayed, and the status bar will also
display additional button details.
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ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide
The WizardBar toolbar
The
WizardBar buttons launch the main FineReader functions: Scanning, Reading,
Checking and Saving the recognition results. The numbers on the buttons indicate the
order in which the respective document input actions should be performed. You may per
form each action separately or combine them into one by clicking the
Scan&Read Wizard
button. In the latter case, the Scan&Read Wizard will then perform the full document
processing cycle automatically.
Each button features several function modes. Click the arrow to the right of the button and
select the mode of your choice in the local menu. The button icon always displays the mode
that was last selected. Click the button itself to run this mode again.
Scan&Read Scan&Read Wizard – launches Scan&Read mode.
FineReader guides you through the document processing
process and advises you on how best to obtain the
desired result.
Scan&Read – starts scanning and reading a document
using the current options.
Scan&Read Multiple Images – scans and reads sever
al consecutive images.
Open&Read – opens and reads the images selected in
the Open dialog.
1Scan Open Image – adds image(s) to the batch. Each added
image is copied to the batch folder.
Scan Image – scans an image.
Scan Multiple Images – scans images continuously.
Select the Stop Scanning item in the
File menu to bring
scanning to a stop.
Options – opens the Scan/Open Image tab (Options
dialog), to allow scanning options to be set.
2Read Read – reads the open batch page.
Read All – reads all unrecognized batch pages.
Options – opens the Recognition tab (Options dia
log) to allow document recognition options to be set.
19
Chapter 2. Quick Start
3Check Spelling Check Spelling – searches the text for misspelt and
uncertain words (i.e. ones containing uncertainly recog
nized characters).
Options – opens the Check Spelling tab (Options
dialog) to allow spellcheck options to be set.
4Save Save Wizard – opens the Save Wizard to allow saving
options and the destination application to be selected.
Save Text to File – saves the recognized text to a disk
file.
Send Selected Pages To – should you only want to
export only selected batch pages, select the pages con
cerned and specify the application to which they should
be exported. FineReader will export the pages to the
application of your choice without saving the text
beforehand.
Send All Pages To – exports all recognized pages to
the application of your choice without saving the text
beforehand.
Options – opens the Formatting tab (Options dia
logue) to allow saving options to be set.
The Standard toolbar
The Standard toolbar features file and image tools (undo/redo an action, scroll the batch
pages, clean and rotate the image) and the list of Recognition languages.
The Formatting toolbar
The
Formatting toolbar features various text formatting tools. You can edit the text and
text formatting in the
Text window.
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ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide
Open
batch
Copy
Undo
Previous
page
Rota te
clockwise
Scale
Zoom Out
Show Image
and Text windows
Show Text
window only
Show Image
window only
Recognition
language
Rota te
counter
clockwise
Next
page
Redo
Pas te
Cut
New
batch
Zoom In
The Image Tools bar
The
Image Tools bar features page layout analysis (e.g. block creation and editing) tools,
as well as tools for increasing/decreasing the image scale and image editing (e.g. eraser).
Note: Block creation and editing buttons can be used both in the Zoom and Image
windows.
Setting up the toolbar
Note: The appearance of the FineReader Main window, or more precisely, the number of but
tonos displayed on FineReader’s toolbars, depends on your monitor’s resolution. To display all
available buttons you need to increase your monitor’s resolution. However, note that FineReader’s
functionality is not reduced if some buttons remain invisible – the buttons represent only one way
of accessing FineReader’s functions, all of which are also accessible via menus.
21
Chapter 2. Quick Start
Font
Bold
Block
drawing tools
Block frame
and position tools
Table block tools
Image Tools
Italic
Subscript Center Justify Previous error
Font size
Align left Align right
Display nonprinted
characters
Next error
Underlined
Analyze layout
Draw recognition area
Draw text block
Draw table block
Draw picture block
Select objects
Add block part
Cut block part
Renumber blocks
Delete blocks
Add vertical separator
Add horizontal separator
Delete separator
Zoom Out
Zoom In
Eraser
Superscript
FineReader allows you to customize the Standard, Image and Formatting toolbars: applica
tion command buttons can be added and removed at will.
Each menu item has its own icon. See the full list of commands and their respective buttons
in the
Customize (Tools>Customize menu) dialog in the Commands list.
To add a button to a toolbar:
1. Select the category of your choice in the Categories field.
Note: The list of commands is grouped according to menu item, and the
choice of category will affect the list of commands displayed in the
Commands list.
2. Select the toolbar to which you wish to add a button in the
Toolbars field.
3. Select a command in the
Commands list and click the (>>) button.
The selected command will be added to the list of toolbar commands and displayed on the
chosen toolbar in the main window.
To remove a button from a toolbar:
z Select the button you wish removed in the Toolbar buttons list and click
the
(<<) button.
Note: 1. The order in which buttons are listed also determines their order on the tool
bar. To change button order, select the command in the list of current toolbar
commands and click the Up (Down) button to move the command up
(down) the list.
2. Commands may be distributed between a set of groups: select the
Separator item in the Commands list and click the Add button. A separa
tor will be added to the list of toolbar buttons. The separator may be moved
at will.
3. To restore the default set of buttons on a given toolbar, select the toolbar
concerned in the
Toolbars list and click the Reset button. To restore the
default set of buttons on all toolbars, click the
Reset All button.
22
ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide
Chapter 3
General Features
of ABBYY Finereader
FineReader provides you with all the tools you need for inputting
documents into your computer. Just click on the
Scan&Read
button once and all the rest is done for you – so you don’t have
to spend hours studying the User’s Guide beforehand. You can
either send the recognized text to the word processor or a
spreadsheet application of your choice; save it in RTF/DOC, PDF
or HTML format (and retain the full document layout); or export
the recognized text to a database application.
Chapter Contents:
z What is an OCR system?
z New features of ABBYY FineReader 6.0
z Supported document saving formats
z Supported image formats
What is an OCR system?
An OCR (Optical Character Recognition) system enables you to input printed documents
into your computer automatically via a scanner.
FineReader is an omnifont optical text recognition system. As a result it can recognize texts
set in practically any font without any prior training. FineReader features high recognition
accuracy and low sensitivity to print defects due to its incorporation of special recognition
technology based on the principles of Integral Purposeful Adaptive (IPA) perception.
The document input process can be divided into two stages:
1. Scanning. During the first stage the scanner acts as the computer’s “eye”. It
looks at the image and transfers it to the computer. The acquired image is
nothing more than a picture, a set of black, white, and color dots impossible
to edit in any word processor.
2.
Recognition. During the second stage FineReader carries out OCR image
processing.
Let’s take a closer look at the second stage.
FineReader OCR image processing involves analyzing the image file transmitted by the scan
ner (layout analysis) and recognizing each character. The layout analysis (selecting the
recognition areas, tables, pictures, lines, and individual characters) and image reading
processes are closely related. Page layout analysis is more accurate if the nature of the text
is known to the application.
As mentioned previously, the image recognition process is based on the principles of
Integral Purposeful Adaptive (IPA) perception.
z
Integrity – the identification of recognition objects based on a set of basic
elements and their interrelations.
z
Purposefulness – the generation and purposeful verification of recogni
tion hypotheses.
z
Adaptability – the system’s ability to learn and be trained.
These three principles determine the system’s behavior. The system generates a hypothesis
concerning a recognition object (a character, part of a character, or several glued charac
ters) and then accepts or rejects this hypothesis according to whether the structural ele
ments are present. These structural elements are computer equivalents of character parts
crucial for human perception (arcs, circles, dots etc.). The application then adapts itself to
the text according to the degree of accuracy attained. Purposeful searching and context
information enable the system to recognize even torn and distorted characters, rendering it
almost insensitive to print defects.
The final result is the recognized text that you see in the FineReader window, a text you
can edit and save in any convenient format.
24
ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide
New features of ABBYY FineReader 6.0
General features
z Now you can open and read PDF files in FineReader.
PDF is one of the standard formats used for publishing documents on the
Internet, as well as for document archiving, etc. You can open, read, and edit
any PDF file in FineReader, and then save it in either PDF or any other for
mat supported by FineReader.
z Integration with Windows Explorer.
Image files and FineReader batches can now be opened directly from
Windows Explorer.
z Saving of recognized documents under source image names.
z Customizable toolbars.
Image processing
z Printing of scanned images and recognized text.
z Automatic and manual splitting of dualpage and business card scans.
Recognition
z 177 recognition languages. See the full list under “Supported languages” in
ABBYY FineReader Help.
z An improved algorithm for the recognition of poor print quality documents.
The improved algorithm incorporates a new adaptive image binarization
method and a new method of background removal, and is particularly effec
tive in the case of images scanned in “gray” mode.
Saving and editing
z Multicolumn WYSIWYGeditor.
Blocks with recognized text, tables, and images are displayed in their origi
nal location.
z More precise saving of the original document layout in MS Word: saving of
nonrectangular images, multicolumn text flows and lists (numbered and
bulleted).
z Support of multilanguage PDF files: FineReader saves multilanguage texts
in PDF format without requiring the user to install additional fonts.
z New PDF saving mode – “Image only”.
z Compression rate selection when saving in HTML and PDF formats.
z JPEG image resolution selection when saving in RTF, DOC and PDF formats.
z Alignment of text in tables when exporting to MS Excel or saving in XLS
format.
25
Chapter 3. General features of ABBYY FineReader
Professional features
z Shared group mode for the use of user languages, user dictionaries, and user
dictionaries for predefined languages (FineReader Corporate Edition only).
z Fulltext and individual searches for words in any form can be carried out in
any document (
Edit>Advanced Search). Available in FineReader
Corporate Edition only.
z A formfilling application ABBYY FormFiller (FineReader Corporate Edition only
– a bonus application for registered ABBYY FineReader Professional users).
Supported document saving formats
ABBYY FineReader saves recognition results in the following for
mats:
z Microsoft Word Document(
*.DOC)
z Rich Text Format (
*.RTF)
z Adobe Acrobat Format (
*.PDF)
z HTML
z Comma Separated Values file (
*.CSV)
z Plain Text (*.TXT). FineReader supports various code pages (Windows, DOS,
Mac, ISO) and Unicode encoding.
z Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet (
*.XLS)
z DBF
Supported image formats
ABBYY FineReader opens image files in the following formats:
PDF:
Files in PDF format (Version 1.3 or earlier).
BMP:
2bit – black and white
4 and 8bit – Palette
16bit – Mask
24bit – Palette and TrueColor
32bit – Mask
PCX, DCX:
2bit – black and white
4 and 8bit – gray
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ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide
JPEG:
gray and TrueColor
TIFF:
black and white – uncompressed, CCITT3, CCITT3FAX, CCITT4, Packbits
gray – uncompressed, Packbits, JPEG
TrueColor – uncompressed, JPEG
Palette – uncompressed, Packbits
multiimage TIFF
PNG:
black and white, gray, color
ABBYY FineReader saves image files in the following formats:
BMP:
black and white, gray, color
PCX:
black and white, gray
JPEG:
gray, color
TIFF:
black and white – uncompressed, CCITT3, CCITT3FAX, CCITT4, Packbits
gray – uncompressed, Packbits, JPEG
color – uncompressed and JPEG
PNG:
black and white, gray, color
27
Chapter 3. General features of ABBYY FineReader
ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide
Chapter 4
Acquiring the Image
Recognition quality depends greatly on the quality of the source
image. In this chapter you will learn how to scan documents
correctly, how to open and read saved images (see the list of
supported image formats under “Supported Image Formats” in
the ABBYY FineReader Help section), and how to process
images and improve recognition quality (by eliminating scan
ning “dust”) etc.
Chapter Contents:
z Scanning
z Setting scanning parameters
z Tips on brightness tuning
z Scanning multipage documents
z Opening images
z Scanning dual pages
z Adding business cards images to a batch
z Working with the image
z Page numbering
z Batch Image Options
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