ABBYY FineReader - 9.0 User Manual
ABBYY
®
FineReader
Version 9.0
User’s Guide
© 2007 ABBYY. All rights reserved.
ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not bear any commitment on the part of ABBYY.
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 specifically 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.
© 2007 ABBYY. All rights reserved.
© 19872003 Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe® PDF Library is licensed from Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Microsoft Reader Content Software Development Kit © 2004 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington
980526399 U.S.A. All rights reserved.
Fonts Newton, Pragmatica, Courier © 2001 ParaType, Inc. Font OCRvGOST © 2003 ParaType, Inc.
© 19992000 Image Power, Inc. and the University of British Columbia, Canada. © 20012002 Michael David Adams. All rights
reserved.
ABBYY, the ABBYY logo, ABBYY FineReader, ADRT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of ABBYY Software Ltd.
Adobe, the Adobe logo, the Adobe PDF logo and Adobe PDF Library are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems
Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
Microsoft, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States and/or other countries.
Unicode is a trademark of Unicode, Inc.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
Contents
Introducing ABBYY FineReader........................................................................................ 6
What Is ABBYY FineReader?................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6
What's New in ABBYY FineReader 9.0 ............................................................................... 7
Working with ABBYY FineReader 9.0................................................................................ 9
Using ABBYY FineReader 9.0 Step–by–Step........................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Getting a Document Image....................................................................................................................................... 9
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) ....................................................................................................................10
Checking and Editing the Recognized Text.............................................................................................................10
Saving the Recognized Text ....................................................................................................................................11
Converting Paper Documents into Microsoft Word Documents.......................................................................................................................... 11
Converting Images or PDF Documents into Microsoft Word Documents.....................................................................................................11
Converting Paper Documents into Microsoft Excel Worksheets..........................................................................................................................12
Scanning Paper Documents to Create PDF Documents ..............................................................................................................................................12
Converting Digital Photos into Microsoft Word Documents................................................................................................................................... 12
Scanning and Saving Images.............................................................................................................................................................................................................12
Running ABBYY FineReader from Another Program.....................................................................................................................................................13
Improving OCR Quality .................................................................................................. 14
Taking Into Account Some of the Features of Your Paper Document.............................................................................................................. 15
Print Type............................................................................................................................................................... 15
Print Quality...........................................................................................................................................................15
Document Languages ............................................................................................................................................. 16
Getting Images............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................16
Selecting a Scanning Interface................................................................................................................................17
Font Is Too Small ....................................................................................................................................................17
Tuning Brightness................................................................................................................................................... 17
Adjusting Image Resolution ....................................................................................................................................18
Scanning Facing Pages ...........................................................................................................................................18
Straightening Text Lines..........................................................................................................................................18
Editing Images ........................................................................................................................................................19
Photographing Documents .....................................................................................................................................19
Reducing Image Size............................................................................................................................................... 21
Tips for Improving OCR Quality....................................................................................................................................................................................................21
OCR Options........................................................................................................................................................... 21
Incorrect Font in Recognized Text or Some Characters Are Replaced with"?" or "□" ............................................22
Paper Document Contains Decorative (Non–Standard) Fonts..............................................................................22
Complex Structure of Paper Document Not Reproduced in Electronic Document................................................. 23
Table Not Detected .................................................................................................................................................23
Table Cells Detected Incorrectly.............................................................................................................................. 23
Picture Not Detected............................................................................................................................................... 24
Barcode Not Detected............................................................................................................................................. 24
Vertical or Inverted Text Not Recognized Properly................................................................................................. 25
Adjusting Area Types and Area Borders .................................................................................................................25
Checking and Editing the Recognized Text.......................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Checking the Text in the Text Window ...................................................................................................................27
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
Checking Spelling....................................................................................................................................................27
User Dictionary: Adding and Removing Words ......................................................................................................27
Using Styles .............................................................................................................................................................28
Editing Hyperlinks ..................................................................................................................................................28
Editing Tables......................................................................................................................................................... 29
Editing Headers, Footers, and Footnotes................................................................................................................29
Saving the Results .....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................29
Saving: General ...................................................................................................................................................... 30
Saving in RTF/DOC/WordML/DOCX ...................................................................................................................... 30
Saving in XLS/XLSX ................................................................................................................................................ 31
Saving in PDF......................................................................................................................................................... 32
PDF Security Settings ...............................................................................................................................................33
Saving in HTML .......................................................................................................................................................33
Saving in PPT ......................................................................................................................................................... 34
Saving in TXT .........................................................................................................................................................35
Saving in DBF......................................................................................................................................................... 35
Saving in CSV.......................................................................................................................................................... 35
Saving in LIT........................................................................................................................................................... 36
Saving an Image of the Page .................................................................................................................................. 36
Advanced Features.......................................................................................................... 38
Customizing the Workspace.............................................................................................................................................................................................................38
Using Area Templates............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 39
User Languages and Language Groups...................................................................................................................................................................................... 40
Creating an OCR Language.................................................................................................................................... 40
Creating a Language Group................................................................................................................................... 41
ABBYY FineReader Document........................................................................................................................................................................................................41
ABBYY FineReader Document: General..................................................................................................................42
Working with ABBYY FineReader Documents......................................................................................................... 42
Renumbering Pages in ABBYY FineReader Documents ..........................................................................................43
Recognition with Training................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 43
Training User Patterns............................................................................................................................................ 43
Selecting a User Pattern.......................................................................................................................................... 44
Editing a User Pattern ............................................................................................................................................45
ABBYY FineReader Automated Tasks........................................................................................................................................................................................45
Running an Automated Task.................................................................................................................................. 45
Managing Automated Tasks ...................................................................................................................................45
Creating an Automated Task..................................................................................................................................46
Custom Automated Tasks .......................................................................................................................................47
Group Work in a LAN............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 48
Processing the Same ABBYY FineReader Document on Several LAN Computers.................................................... 48
Using the Same User Languages and Dictionaries on Several Computers.............................................................. 49
ABBYY Hot Folder & Scheduling.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 49
Installing and Starting ABBYY Hot Folder & Scheduling.........................................................................................50
Main Window .........................................................................................................................................................50
Creating a Task ......................................................................................................................................................51
Results Log ..............................................................................................................................................................52
Additional Options .................................................................................................................................................52
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
Appendix........................................................................................................................53
Supported Saving Formats................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 53
Supported Image Formats..................................................................................................................................................................................................................53
Regular Expressions................................................................................................................................................................................................................................55
Glossary............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 56
Keyboard Shortcuts.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................58
How to Buy an ABBYY Product....................................................................................... 62
ABBYY Offices and Technical Support Contacts...............................................................................................................................................................62
Technical Support .......................................................................................................... 64
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
Introducing ABBYY FineReader
This chapter provides an overview of ABBYY FineReader and its features.
Chapter Contents
● What Is ABBYY FineReader?
● What's New in ABBYY FineReader 9.0
What Is ABBYY FineReader?
ABBYY FineReader, an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) application, converts printed and PDF documents and document
images into editable computer files.
ABBYY FineReader features
Fast and accurate recognition
● ABBYY FineReader allows you to transform printed and PDF documents into an editable electronic document with QuickTasks
that provide easy access to all major scanning, conversion, and recognition scenarios.
● ABBYY FineReader can recognize texts printed in virtually any font and is largely immune to printing defects.
● Seamless integration with Microsoft Office enables you to recognize documents directly from Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or
Microsoft Outlook.
● ABBYY FineReader detects Web links, e–mail addresses, headers, and footers on paper and PDF documents and recreates them in
the resulting electronic texts.
Ease of use
● ABBYY FineReader's neat and intuitive resultsdriven interface allows you to master the main features of the application in almost
● The program's highly customizable interface lets you adjust the workspace by changing the size and location of the windows,
● The flexible settings make working with large documents faster and easier. You can choose to recognize only selected pages rather
● This User's Guide documents these features and provides instructions and tips for non–standard or complex document conversion
no time at all.
selecting color schemes, and customizing the toolbars and other interface elements.
than recognizing the entire document. You can also control the size of the output file.
cases.
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
What's New in ABBYY FineReader 9.0
Version 9.0 of ABBYY FineReader provides a number of major enhancements and features. Some features (as specified below) are
specific to ABBYY FineReader 9.0 Corporate Edition or ABBYY FineReader 9.0 Site License Edition.
Intelligent document processing
● Proprietary OCR technology
ABBYY FineReader uses ABBYY's latest groundbreaking Adaptive Document Recognition Technology to analyze multi–page
documents in their entirety rather than page by page. This approach preserves the logical organization of the document, retaining
not only the original text and columns, but also headers, footers, fonts, styles, footnotes, and the numbered captions of tables and
pictures. The resulting electronic version can be easily edited and re–used.
● Matching fonts and styles
Significant changes have been made to the font recognition module, which now identifies the fonts used in the original
document and finds the best matches from among the available fonts on your computer.
● Multi–lingual recognition
This new version recognizes 179 recognition languages.
Ease of use
● Auto–detection of document languages
● Improved interface
● New QuickTasks
● Running OCR from within other applications
● Multi–core processor support
PDF/A, DOCX, and XLSX support
● PDF/A
● DOCX and XLSX
Professional features
● Working with legal texts
● Section 508 Compliance
Processing e–mail messages with ABBYY Hot Folder & Scheduling
Windows Vista Certified
FineReader no longer requires you to manually select recognition languages for your documents prior to starting OCR. The
program uses advanced algorithms to detect the languages used.
FineReader’s new resultsdriven interface has been enhanced to be simpler and more intuitive. Windows, toolbars, keyboard
shortcuts, as well as scanning, OCR, and saving options, can be customized. New interactive tips streamline user learning and help
you get results faster.
FineReader provides numerous predefined QuickTasks that allow you to quickly convert your PDF documents, images, digital
photos or scanned paper documents into a Microsoft Word document, Microsoft Excel worksheet, or PDF file. You can launch
any of the QuickTasks with a single mouse click:
– from the Quick Tasks window
– from Start>Programs>ABBYY FineReader 9.0
– or from the shortcut menu of a file.
Version 9.0 adds support for Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Outlook to the previous integration with Microsoft Word.
ABBYY FineReader 9.0 harnesses the capabilities of the increasingly popular multi–core processors. This technology allows users
to perform several document processing steps simultaneously without slowing down the system.
Now you can save your documents in PDF/A, a commonly used for long–term document storage in archives and libraries.
Integration with Microsoft Office 2007 allows you to save recognized documents in DOCX and XLSX.
ABBYY FineReader 9.0 automatically identifies the specialized elements and formatting found in legal documents. The product
automatically identifies legal documents and preserves their original attributes, such as signatures in contracts and line numbers
from pleading documents.
ABBYY FineReader 9.0 complies with Section 508. The software’s accessibility features include customizable keyboard shortcuts
and wizards that can be easily read by screen readers; beep signals that single the end of operations; and text that is automatically
scaled to the screen’s width.
(only in ABBYY FineReader 9.0 Corporate Edition and ABBYY FineReader 9.0 Site License Edition)
You can specify which images sent by MFPs or faxes to your email box should be automatically processed by FineReader.
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
ABBYY FineReader 9.0 has been officially certified for Windows Vista devices and software. The Windows Vista Certified logo
ensures the program's compatibility with the advanced features of the Windows Vista operating system.
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
Working with ABBYY FineReader 9.0
This chapter will teach you to use ABBYY FineReader 9.0 to get an editable electronic version of your paper or PDF documents.
Chapter Contents
● Using ABBYY FineReader 9.0 Step–by–Step
● Converting Paper Documents into Microsoft Word Documents
● Converting Images or PDF Documents into Microsoft Word Documents
● Converting Paper Documents into Microsoft Excel Worksheets
● Scanning Paper Documents to Create PDF Documents
● Converting Digital Photos into Microsoft Word Documents
● Scanning and Saving Images
● Running ABBYY FineReader from Another Program
Using ABBYY FineReader 9.0 Step–by–Step
Four simple steps convert a paper or PDF document into an editable file:
● getting an image of your document
● performing OCR
● checking the results and
● saving the document in an editable format
Getting a Document Image
To begin, ABBYY FineReader needs an image of your document to perform OCR on it. There are several ways to create an image,
including:
● scanning your paper document
● opening existing image files or PDF documents
● photographing your paper document
Scanning Paper Documents
1. Make sure that your scanner is connected and turned on.
2. Place your document face down on the scanner.
3. In ABBYY FineReader, click Scan or select Scan Pages… from the File menu.
Document quality and the selection of scanning options greatly affect the quality of OCR. Work to achieve the best results possible,
since recognition reliability can be adversely affected when recognizing poor quality images.
Opening Image Files and PDF Documents
Once you have scanned or photographed your document, you can open the resulting image in ABBYY FineReader (see Supported
Image Formats for the complete list of supported formats). Open PDF files in the same way.
There are several ways to open an image file or a PDF document:
● In ABBYY FineReader, click Open or select Open PDF File/Image… from the File menu.
● In Windows Explorer, right–click the desired image file and then select Open with ABBYY FineReader from the shortcut menu.
Consult your scanner's documentation to ensure it is set up correctly. Be sure to install the software provided with your scanner.
Some scanner models must be turned on prior to turning on your computer.
Soon, an image of the scanned page will appear in the ABBYY FineReader main window.
Tip: Typical office documents are best scanned at 300 dpi.
In the Open Image dialog box, select one or more images. The images will appear as thumbnails in the Document window.
● In Microsoft Outlook, select the e–mail message with the image or PDF attachments you wish to open and then click
toolbar. In the dialog box, select one file.
● In Microsoft Outlook or Windows Explorer, drag the desired image file into the ABBYY FineReader main window. The image will
be added to the current ABBYY FineReader document.
on the
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
Note: The author of a PDF file may choose to restrict access to it. For example, the author may create a password or restrict certain
features, such as the ability to extract text and graphics. To adhere to copyright guidelines, ABBYY FineReader will ask you for a
password to open such files.
Photographing Documents with a Digital Camera
ABBYY FineReader can perform OCR on images created with a digital camera.
1. Take a picture of your document.
Note: For the OCR process to be successful, good quality photos are required.
2. Save the photo to your hard disk.
3. In ABBYY FineReader, click the Open button or select Open PDF File/Image… from the File menu.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
ABBYY FineReader uses Optical Character Recognition technologies to convert document images into editable text. Before performing
OCR, the program analyzes the image and detects areas that contain text, pictures, tables, and barcodes.
When you add new pages to an ABBYY FineReader document, the program automatically performs OCR on the new content using the
current document settings.
Tip: You can turn off automatic analysis and OCR of newly added images from the 1. Scan/Open tab of the Options dialog box
(Tools>Options…).
For best OCR quality, select the optimal OCR options: recognition languages, print type, and reading mode.
Launch the OCR process manually if you have drawn areas on the image manually or if you have changed any of the following options
in the Options dialog box (Tools>Options…):
● document languages on the Document tab
● document print type on the Document tab
● any option on the 2. Read tab
● font matching on the Advanced tab
To launch the OCR process manually:
● Click the Read button in the Image window or
● Select Read Document on the Document menu
Tip: Clicking the Read button launches OCR for the selected image. To perform OCR on all document pages, click the arrow to the
right of the button and select Read Document.
Checking and Editing the Recognized Text
Recognized text is displayed in the Text window with uncertain characters highlighted. You can make corrections either in the Text
window or in the Check Spelling dialog box.
To view an uncertain character:
1. In the Text window, click the desired uncertain character.
ABBYY FineReader will automatically scroll the Image window to that location in the original document. In the Zoom window,
the corresponding fragment will be displayed and the uncertain character identified with a rectangular cursor.
2. Make any necessary changes in the Text window.
This method is particularly convenient when comparing the recognized text with the original document.
ABBYY FineReader provides a built–in spell checker to help correct uncertain characters (Tools>Check Spelling…).
ABBYY FineReader also allows you to adjust the formatting of the recognized text.
Use the buttons on the toolbar at the top of the Text window to perform basic formatting operations. To change the document styles,
right–click anywhere in the Text window and then select Properties from the shortcut menu.
Note: As ABBYY FineReader performs OCR, it automatically detects the styles used throughout the document. All the detected styles
are displayed on the Text Properties panel (to make the panel visible, right–click anywhere in the Text window and then select
Properties from the shortcut menu). Adjustments to the styles are applied to the formatting of the entire text. When saving in RTF,
DOC, WordML, and DOCX formats, ABBYY FineReader preserves all the styles.
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
Saving the Recognized Text
Recognized text can be saved to a file, sent to an application of your choice, copied to the Clipboard, or sent by e–mail in any
supported saving formats. You can save either the entire document or only the selected pages.
Important! Be careful to select the appropriate saving options before clicking Save.
To save the recognized text:
1. In the Text window, click the arrow to the right of the Save button and select the desired command from the menu.
2. From the drop–down lists at the top of the Text menu, select:
● Document saving format
● Saving options
● Exact copy
Produces a document that maintains the formatting of the original.
This option is recommended for documents with complex layouts, such as promotion booklets. Note, however,
that this option limits the ability to change the text and formatting of the output document.
● Editable copy
Produces a document that preserves the original format and text flow but allows easy editing.
● Formatted text
Retains fonts, font sizes, and paragraphs, but does not retain the exact locations of the objects on the page or the
spacing. The resulting text will be left–aligned.
● Plain text
Same as Formatted text, but does not retain font sizes.
● Options…
Opens the 3. Save tab in the Options dialog box, which provides additional options applicable to the saving
format.
Important! The available options may vary depending on the saving format you selected.
3. Click the Save button.
Note: ABBYY FineReader allows you to save the original images as well as the recognized text.
Converting Paper Documents into Microsoft Word Documents
ABBYY FineReader lets you convert your paper documents into Microsoft Word files in minutes.
Important! You must have Microsoft Word installed on your computer to run this QuickTask.
1. Start ABBYY FineReader.
2. In the Document window, check that the recognition languages selected correspond to the languages of your document.
3. In the Quick Tasks dialog box, select Scan to Microsoft Word.
The conversion process will begin, using the current program settings.
4. Soon, a new Microsoft Word document will open containing the recognized text.
To change the program settings, make the necessary changes prior to using this QuickTask.
Note: You can also get a Microsoft Word document by setting up and running each processing step manually.
Tip: When you install ABBYY FineReader, the program can be integrated with Microsoft Office applications to let you scan and
recognize a paper document from within Microsoft Word.
Converting Images or PDF Documents into Microsoft Word Documents
PDF is commonly used to send documents by e–mail, publish them on the Web, and archive them. ABBYY FineReader can convert
PDF documents into editable Microsoft Word files.
Important! Running this QuickTask requires Microsoft Word to be installed on your computer.
1. Launch ABBYY FineReader.
2. In the Document window, select the recognition languages that correspond to the languages of your document.
3. In the Quick Tasks dialog box, select Convert PDF/Images to Microsoft Word.
4. In the Open Image dialog box, select the desired files.
The conversion process will begin, using the current program settings.
Note: If the PDF document is password–protected, the program will request a valid password.
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
5. Soon, a new Microsoft Word document containing the recognized text will open automatically.
To change some program settings, such as saving options, make the necessary changes prior to running the Convert PDF/Images to
Microsoft Word QuickTask.
Note: You can also create a Microsoft Word document by setting up and running each processing step manually.
Tip: When you install ABBYY FineReader, the program can be integrated with Microsoft Office applications to allow you to open
images and convert PDF documents directly from within Microsoft Word.
Converting Paper Documents into Microsoft Excel Worksheets
Recreating a worksheet manually based on a paper document can be tiresome and time–consuming. ABBYY FineReader lets you
convert your paper tables into Microsoft Excel worksheets quickly and effortlessly.
Important! Microsoft Excel to be installed on your computer to run this QuickTask.
1. Launch ABBYY FineReader.
2. In the Document window, select the recognition languages that correspond to the languages of your document.
3. In the Quick Tasks dialog box, select Scan to Microsoft Excel.
The conversion process will begin, using the current program settings.
4. Soon, a new Microsoft Excel document containing the recognized text will open automatically.
If you want to change some program settings (for example, the saving options), make the necessary changes prior to running the Scan
to Microsoft Excel QuickTask.
Note: You can also create a Microsoft Excel worksheet by setting up and running each processing step manually.
Tip: When you install ABBYY FineReader, the program can be integrated with Microsoft Office applications to allow you to scan and
recognize paper documents directly from within Microsoft Excel.
Scanning Paper Documents to Create PDF Documents
ABBYY FineReader lets you convert your paper documents into PDF files.
Important! You must have a PDF viewing application installed on your computer to run this QuickTask.
1. Launch ABBYY FineReader.
2. In the Document window, select the recognition languages that correspond to the languages of your document.
3. In the Quick Tasks dialog box, select Scan to PDF.
The PDF creation process will begin, using the current program settings.
4. Soon, a new PDF document containing the text of the original will open.
To change some program settings, such as saving options, make the necessary changes prior to running the Scan to PDF QuickTask.
You can also create a PDF document by setting up and running each processing step manually.
Tip: When saving your scanned document to PDF, you can set passwords to protect your document from unauthorized opening,
printing, or editing.
Converting Digital Photos into Microsoft Word Documents
ABBYY FineReader lets you convert digital photos of your documents to Microsoft Word files.
Important! You must have Microsoft Word installed on your computer to run this QuickTask.
1. Launch ABBYY FineReader.
2. In the Document window, select the recognition languages that correspond to the languages of your document.
3. In the Quick Tasks dialog box, select Convert Photo to Microsoft Word.
4. In the Open dialog box, select the desired photos.
The conversion process will begin, using the current program settings.
5. Soon, a new Microsoft Word document containing the recognized text will open.
To change program settings (such as saving options), make the necessary changes prior to running the Convert Photo to Microsoft
Word QuickTask.
Note: You can also create a Microsoft Word document by setting up and running each processing step manually.
Tip: When you install ABBYY FineReader, the program can be integrated with Microsoft Office applications to allow you to open and
recognize photos directly from within Microsoft Word.
Scanning and Saving Images
ABBYY FineReader allows you to save source images as well as recognized text.
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
1. Launch ABBYY FineReader.
2. In the Quick Tasks dialog box, select Scan to Image File.
The image creation process will begin, using the current program settings.
You may also get and save document images manually.
1. Scan your paper documents—the program will save the resulting images to the current document.
2. From the File menu, select Save Images…
Running ABBYY FineReader from Another Program
When you install ABBYY FineReader, you may choose to integrate the program with Microsoft Office applications and with Windows
Explorer. The program will install an ABBYY FineReader 9.0 button onto the Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft
Outlook toolbars and an Open with ABBYY FineReader item will be added to the Windows Explorer shortcut menu. Integration
enables you to check and edit the recognized text using the usual Microsoft Office tools and to open images and PDF files in ABBYY
FineReader directly from Windows Explorer.
To perform OCR on a document from within a Microsoft Office application:
1. Click the button on the toolbar.
2. In the dialog box, choose your desired options and click Start.
ABBYY FineReader will be launched, and the recognized text will be opened in the current Microsoft Office application upon the
completion of OCR.
To open an image or PDF file from Windows Explorer:
1. From Windows Explorer, right–click the desired file.
2. From the shortcut menu, select the Open with ABBYY FineReader command.
Note: The command appears only if the program supports the format of the selected file.
ABBYY FineReader will be launched and the selected image will be added to a new ABBYY FineReader document. If ABBYY
FineReader 9.0 is already running, the image will be added to the current ABBYY FineReader document.
If the ABBYY FineReader button doesn't appear on the toolbar of the Microsoft Office application...
● Rightclick the toolbar and select the ABBYY FineReader 9.0 item from the shortcut menu.
If the ABBYY FineReader 9.0 item does not appear from the shortcut menu, ABBYY FineReader was not integrated with Microsoft
Office applications during custom installation.
To integrate ABBYY FineReader with a Microsoft Office application after installation:
1. Go to Start>Settings>Control Panel and doubleclick Add or Remove Programs.
Note: In Windows Vista, the same command is called Programs and Features.
2. In the list of installed programs, select ABBYY FineReader 9.0 and click Change.
3. In the Custom Setup dialog box, select the desired components.
4. Follow the instructions of the setup program.
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
Improving OCR Quality
This chapter offers practical advice on choosing the best scanning and OCR settings to maximize results on non–standard documents.
Chapter Contents
● Taking Into Account Some of the Features of Your Paper Document
● Getting Images
● Tips for Improving OCR Quality
● Checking and Editing the Recognized Text
● Saving the Results
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
Taking Into Account Some of the Features of Your Paper Document
OCR quality greatly depends on the quality of the source image. Consider the following elements to ascertain whether you will get the
scanning results you desire:
● Print Type
Various devices may be used to produce printed documents, and some (i.e. dot matrix printers, typewriters, etc.) are more difficult
to recognize. To maximize results, you need to choose the correct OCR options. This section provides recommendations for
selecting the right print type.
● Print Quality
OCR quality may be greatly impaired by "noise" that sometimes occurs on poor quality documents. This section provides
recommendations for scanning these documents.
● Document Languages
A document may contain text written in multiple languages. For reliable recognition, the program needs to know which languages
are being used. This section provides recommendations for selecting recognition languages.
Print Type
When recognizing draft dot matrix printouts or typewritten texts, OCR quality can sometimes be improved by selecting the right print
type.
For most documents, the program will correctly detect the print type automatically (requires Autodetect to be selected under
Document print type located in Tools>Options…>Document). However, you may also choose to manually select the print type.
An example of typewritten text. All letters are of equal width (compare, for example, "w" and "a").
Select Typewriter for texts of this type.
An example of draft dot matrix text. Character lines are made up of dots. Select Dot matrix
printer for texts of this type.
Note:
● After completing recognition, re–enable the Autodetect option to recognize normal texts.
● When recognizing code printouts, select Read as plain text formatted with spaces under Document print type.
This mode represents left indents as spaces, makes a separate paragraph for every line, and separates the original paragraphs with
empty lines. This will maintain the look of the paper original in the electronic version when saving the results in TXT format.
Print Quality
Poor–quality documents with “noise” (i.e. random black dots or speckles), blurred and uneven letters, or skewed lines and shifted table
borders may require specific scanning settings.
Fax Newspaper
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
Poor–quality documents are best scanned in grayscale. When scanning in grayscale, the program will select the optimal brightness
value automatically.
Grayscale color mode retains more information about the letters in the scanned text to achieve better OCR results when recognizing
documents of medium to poor quality. You can also correct some print defects using the tools in the Edit Image dialog box.
Document Languages
ABBYY FineReader recognizes both mono– and multi–lingual (e.g. written in two languages) documents. For multi–lingual
documents, you must select several recognition languages.
From the Document Languages drop–down list in the Document window, select one of the following:
● Autoselect
ABBYY FineReader will automatically select the appropriate languages from the user–defined list of languages. To modify this list:
1. Select More languages…
2. In the Language Editor dialog box, select the option Automatically select document languages from the following list is
selected.
3. Click the Specify… button.
4. In the Language List dialog box, select the desired languages.
● A language or a combination of languages
Select a language or a language combination. The list of languages includes the languages most often used on the computer, as well
as English, German, and French.
● More languages…Select this option if the language you need is not visible in the list.
In the Language Editor dialog box, select the Specify languages manually option and then select the desired language or
languages by checking the appropriate boxes. If you often use a particular language combination, you can create a new group for these
languages.
There are several reasons that a language may not be listed:
1. Your copy of ABBYY FineReader was purchased in an online store. This version includes only the most common interface and
recognition languages. To download more languages, select Start/Programs/ABBYY FineReader 9.0/Download more
languages and follow the instructions.
2. The language is not supported by ABBYY FineReader.
3. The language was disabled during custom installation.
To install additional recognition languages:
1. Click Start>Settings>Control Panel and then doubleclick Add or Remove Programs.
2. In the list of installed programs, select ABBYY FineReader 9.0 and click Change.
3. In the Custom Setup dialog box, select the desired languages.
4. Follow the setup instructions.
Note: When the program prompts you to select a target folder, provide the path to the folder where ABBYY FineReader is
installed.
Getting Images
OCR quality depends largely on the quality of the image which is affected greatly by the scanning settings used during the document
scanning process.
● Selecting a Scanning Interface
More about scanning via the ABBYY FineReader interface and via the scanner driver interface as well as how to switch between
the two.
● Font Is Too Small
● Tuning Brightness
● Adjusting Image Resolution
● Scanning Facing Pages
● Straightening Text Lines
● Taking Photos of Documents
This section will help you set up your digital camera and get an image of your document that is suitable for OCR.
● Reducing Image Size
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
Selecting a Scanning Interface
ABBYY FineReader can communicate with a scanner in two ways:
● via the ABBYY FineReader interface
In this case, select scanning options (including resolution, brightness, and color mode) from the ABBYY FineReader dialog box.
Additionally, the following options are available:
● scanning multi–page documents on a scanner without an automatic document feeder
● duplex scanning (if supported by scanner)
Note: When using some scanner models, the option Use ABBYY FineReader interface may be unavailable.
● via the TWAIN or WIA driver of the scanner
In this case, select scanning options from the dialog box provided by the driver of the scanner. Consult the technical
documentation that came with your scanner for further information about the dialog box and its elements.
Important! Consult your scanner's documentation to ensure it is set up correctly. Be sure to install the software provided with
your scanner.
By default, the scanner driver interface is used.
Switching between modes is easy:
1. Select Tools>Options… and click the 1. Scan/Open tab.
2. Under Scanner, select either Use ABBYY FineReader interface or Use native interface.
Font Is Too Small
For optimal OCR results, scan documents printed in very small fonts at higher resolutions.
1. Click the Scan button.
2. In the dialog box, specify the desired resolution.
Depending on which scanning interface is being used, either the ABBYY FineReader scanning dialog box or the scanner driver
dialog box will open.
3. Proceed to scan the document.
You may wish to compare the images of the same document obtained at different resolutions by opening them in the Zoom window
in Pixel–to–Pixel mode (View>Zoom Window>Scale>Pixel–to–Pixel):
Source image Recommended resolution
300 dpi for typical texts (printed in fonts of size 10pt or larger)
400–600 dpi for texts printed in smaller fonts (9pt or smaller)
Tuning Brightness
ABBYY FineReader will display a warning message during scanning if the brightness setting is incorrect. You may also need to adjust
the brightness setting when scanning in black–and–white mode.
To adjust the brightness:
1. Click the Scan button.
2. In the dialog box, specify the desired brightness.
Depending on which scanning interface is being used, either the ABBYY FineReader scanning dialog box or the scanner driver
dialog box will open. A medium value of around 50% should suffice in most cases.
3. Proceed to scan the document.
If the resulting image contains too many "torn" or "glued" letters, troubleshoot using the table below.
Your image looks like this Recommendations
This image is suitable for OCR.
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
characters are "torn" or very light
characters are distorted, glued together, or filled
● Lower the brightness to make the image darker.
● Scan in grayscale. Brightness will be tuned
automatically.
● Increase the brightness to make the image brighter.
● Scan in grayscale . Brightness will be tuned
automatically.
Adjusting Image Resolution
Image resolution shows the fineness of detail that can be distinguished in an image and is measured in dots per inch (dpi).
The best resolution for OCR is 300 dpi.
Important! ABBYY FineReader shows best OCR performance when vertical and horizontal resolutions are the same.
Very high resolution settings (greater than 600 dpi) slow down the OCR process without greatly enhancing quality. Resolution values
lower than 150 dpi adversely affect OCR quality.
You may need to adjust the resolution of your images if:
● The resolution of your image is less than 200 dpi or greater than 600 dpi
● Your image has non–standard resolution.
Faxes, for example, may have a resolution of 204 x 96 dpi.
To adjust the resolution:
1. Click the Scan button.
2. In the dialog box, specify the desired resolution.
Depending on which scanning interface is being used, either the ABBYY FineReader scanning dialog box or the scanner driver
dialog box will open.
3. Scan the document.
Tip: You can also adjust the resolution of your images in the Edit Image dialog box (Page>Edit Page Image…).
Scanning Facing Pages
When scanning facing pages of a book, both pages will appear as a single image. See sample image.
To improve OCR quality, split the facing pages into two separate images. In ABBYY FineReader, images of facing pages can be split
automatically or manually.
To split facing pages automatically:
1. Select Tools>Options… and click the 1. Scan/Open tab.
2. Under Image processing, select Split dual pages.
3. Scan the facing pages.
To split facing pages manually:
1. Open the Edit Image dialog box (Page>Edit Page Image…).
2. Use the options and buttons in the Split menu to split your image.
Straightening Text Lines
When scanning very thick books, the text close to the binding may be distorted. Similarly, when photographing text with a digital
camera, the text close to the margin may be distorted.
To remedy line distortions:
1. Select Page>Edit Page Image…
2. Click Deskew & Straighten and then click Straighten Text Lines.
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
Note: Straightening text lines may take some time.
Editing Images
If your scanned document is noisy or has distorted lines or inverted colors, you can correct these defects manually.
To edit an image:
1. Select Page>Edit Page Image…
2. In the Edit Image dialog box, use the image editing tools to:
● deskew and straighten lines
● rotate the image
● split the image
● crop the image
● invert the image
● change the image resolution
● erase a part of the image
3. Once you have edited the image, close the dialog box by clicking
.
Photographing Documents
Taking photos of documents requires some skill and practice. The characteristics of your camera and shooting conditions are also
important.
Note: For detailed information about the settings of your camera, please refer to the documentation supplied with your camera.
Before taking shots:
1. Make sure that the page fits entirely within the frame.
2. Make sure that lighting is evenly distributed across the page and that there are no dark areas or shadows.
3. Straighten out the page if required and position the camera parallel to the plane of the document so that the lens looks to the
The topics below outline the required camera specifications and shooting modes.
center of the text being photographed.
Digital Camera Requirements
Minimum Requirements
● 2–megapixel sensor
● Variable focus lens (fixed–focus cameras, common in cell phones and hand–held devices, will usually produce images unsuitable
for OCR)
Recommended Requirements
● 5–megapixel sensor
● Flash disable feature
● Manual aperture control or aperture priority mode
● Manual focusing
● An anti–shake system, otherwise the use of a tripod is recommended
● Optical zoom
Shooting Modes
Lighting
Make sure there is enough light (preferably daylight). In artificial lighting, use two light sources positioned to avoid shadows.
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ABBYY FineReader 9.0 User’s Guide
Positioning the Camera
If possible, use a tripod. Position the lens parallel to the plane of the document and point it toward the center of the text.
At full optical zoom, the distance between the camera and the document must be sufficient to fit the entire document into the frame.
Usually this distance will be 50–60 cm.
Flash
Whenever possible, turn off the flash to avoid glare and sharp shadows on the page. In poor lighting conditions, try using the flash
from a distance of about 50 cm, or, preferably, use additional lighting.
Important! Using the flash when photographing documents printed on glossy paper causes the worst glare.
White Balance
If your camera allows, use a white sheet of paper to set white balance. Otherwise, select the white balance mode which best suits the
current lighting conditions.
What do I do if...
There is not enough light
Try the following:
● Select a greater aperture value
● Select a greater ISO value for sensitivity
● Use manual focusing if the camera cannot lock the focus automatically
The picture is too dark and low–contrast
Try using additional light sources. Otherwise, increase the aperture value.
The picture is not sharp enough
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