Nuance SCANSOFT OMNIPAGE 15, OMNIPAGE 15 User Manual

LEGAL NOTICES

Copyright © 2005 ScanSoft, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted, transcribed, reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or translated into any language or computer language in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual, or otherwise, without prior written consent from ScanSoft, Inc., 1 Wayside Road, Burlington, Massachusetts 01803-4609. Printed in the United States of America and in Ireland. The software described in this book is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

ScanSoft, Inc. provides this publication "As Is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Some states or jurisdictions do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain transactions; therefore, this statement may not apply to you. ScanSoft reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes from time to time in the content hereof without obligation of ScanSoft to notify any person of such revision or changes.

TRADEMARKS AND CREDITS

ScanSoft, OmniPage, PaperPort, True Page, Direct OCR, Logical Form Recognition, RealSpeak and ASR-1600 are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc., in the United States of America and/or other countries. All other company names or product names referenced herein may be the trademarks of their respective holders.

THIRD PARTY LICENSES/NOTICES

Please see acknowledgements/notices at the end of this guide.

ScanSoft, Inc.

1 Wayside Road Burlington, MA 01803-4609 U.S.A.

ScanSoft Belgium BVBA

Guldensporenpark 32 BE-9820 Merelbeke Belgium

C ONTENTS

WELCOME 5

New features in OmniPage 15 7

INSTALLATION AND SETUP 9

System requirements 9 Installing OmniPage 10 Setting up your scanner with OmniPage 11 How to start the program 13 Registering your software 14 Activating OmniPage 15 Uninstalling the software 15 How to use OmniPage with PaperPort 16

USING OMNIPAGE 17

OmniPage Documents 17 The OmniPage Desktop 18 Basic Processing Steps 19

PROCESSING DOCUMENTS 21

Quick Start Guide 21 Processing methods 23 Manual processing 25 Processing with workflows 25 Processing from other applications 26 Processing with the Batch Manager 28 Defining the source of page images 29 Document to document conversion 31 Describing the layout of the document 32 Preprocessing Images 33 Image Enhancement Tools 35 Using Image Enhancement History 37 Saving and applying templates 37 Image Enhancement in Workflows 38

OmniPage 15 User’s Guide 3

Zones and backgrounds 38 Table grids in the image 42 Using zone templates 42

PROOFING AND EDITING 45

The editor display and views 45 Proofreading OCR results 46 Verifying text 47 The Character Map 48 User dictionaries 49 Languages 50 Training 50 Text and image editing 52 On-the-fly editing 54 Reading text aloud 55 Working with Forms 56

SAVING AND EXPORTING 59

Saving and Exporting 59 Saving original images 60 Saving recognition results 61 Sending pages by mail 65 Other export targets 65

WORKFLOWS 67

Workflow Assistant 69 Batch Manager 73 Creating new jobs 74 Watched folders 78 Watched mailboxes 79 Barcode processing 80 Voice recognition 81

TECHNICAL INFORMATION 83

Troubleshooting 83

INDEX 89

4 Contents

Welcome

Welcome to this OmniPage® 15 text recognition program, and thank you for choosing our software! The following documentation has been provided to help you get started and give you an overview of the program.

This User’s Guide

This guide introduces you to using OmniPage 15. It includes installation and setup instructions, a description of the program’s commands and working areas, task-oriented instructions, ways to customize and control processing, and technical information.

This guide is written with the assumption that you know how to work in the Microsoft Windows environment. Please refer to your Windows documentation if you have questions about how to use dialog boxes, menu commands, scroll bars, drag and drop functionality, shortcut menus, and so on.

We also assume you are familiar with your scanner and its supporting software, and that the scanner is installed and working correctly before it is setup with OmniPage 15. Please refer to the scanner’s own documentation as necessary.

Online Help

OmniPage online Help contains information on features, settings, and procedures. It also has a comprehensive glossary, with its own alphabetical index and a table of contents. The online Help is provided as HTML help, and has been designed for quick and easy information retrieval. Online Help is available after you install OmniPage.

Press F1 as you are working with the program to see an online help topic relating to the current screen area, dialog box or warning message.

Welcome 5

Comprehensive context-sensitive help aims to provide just enough assistance to let you keep working without delay. You can access the context-sensitive help in the following ways:

Click the Help tool in the Standard toolbar to get the help cursor. Click with this on any item on the desktop outside a dialog box or warning message.

Press Shift + F1 to get the same help cursor. Use Shift + F1 to get contextsensitive help for shortcut menu items.

Click the question mark button in the upper right corner of a dialog box and then click an item in the dialog box to see the popup window.

Some dialog boxes or warning messages have their own Help button, or a help text. Click the button or the text to get information on the dialog or message box.

Click anywhere to remove a context-sensitive popup Help window.

Readme File

The Readme file contains last-minute information about the software. Please read it before using OmniPage. To open this HTML file, choose Readme in the OmniPage Installer or afterwards in the Help menu.

Scanning and other information

The ScanSoft information on the program. The Scanner Guide (http://www.scansoft.com/scannerguide/) contains up-dated information about supported scanners and related issues; ScanSoft tests the 25 most widely used scanner models. Access ScanSoft’s web site from the OmniPage 15 Installer or afterwards from the Help menu.

web site at www.scansoft.com provides timely

Tech Notes

The web site at www.scansoft.com contains Tech Notes on commonly reported issues using OmniPage 15. Web pages may also offer assistance on the installation process and troubleshooting.

6 Welcome

New features in OmniPage 15

Here are some main areas of innovation compared to OmniPage Pro 14. If you are upgrading, you may not need to consult this guide very much.

◆ Extended PDF support up to version 1.5.

◆ Batch Manager redesign giving precise schematic information

for each job occurrence. See page 28.

◆ Workflow viewer enhancements make it easier to handle regular tasks. See page 77.

◆ Image Enhancement tools to optimize page images for OCR or other re-use. See page 35.

◆ Suspect word and character display clearer and more precise. See page 45.

◆ Ribbon Character map for easy insertion of non-keyboard characters. See page 48.

◆ Folder and sub-folder input for specified file types when loading files.

◆ OCR speed and accuracy improvements, better zoning and format retention.

More new features appear in the list below.

Features unique to OmniPage Professional 15

OmniPage 15 has a Professional version for office environments. The list below shows features offered only in OmniPage Professional 15. New features are denoted with a starburst.

Form recognition and handling. See page 56.

Better Workflow/Job distinction, with more choice for job

type and easier input of timing information. See page 67.

Document to Document conversion to and from a wide range of formats. See page 31.

New features in OmniPage 15 7

Mailbox watching in Workflows and Batch Manager. See

page 79.

Convert to PDF step in Batch Manager, using PDF Create! for

direct conversion inside jobs.

ISIS high-volume scanner driver support.

◆ Folder watching (smart folders) to auto-process incoming files. Support for sub-folders is new. See page 78.

◆ Barcode cover pages (scanned or from file) for workflow launching.

◆ Vo i ce co mman ds for quick workflow launching and proofing suggestions.

◆ Integrated programs PDF Converter 3 and Create! 3 to unlock and create PDF files. Supports tagged, signed, encrypted PDF files, and much more. See their own documentation.

◆ SharePoint, FTP site and ODMA support. See page 29. New and streamlined support for SharePoint 2003.

A more complete list of features and differences appears in online Help.

This icon is used throughout the guide to denote features that are available only in OmniPage Professional 15.

OmniPage 15 is supplied in Enterprise versions for network use. It is also supplied in Special Editions for selected scanner manufacturers and other resellers. The feature set in these editions may vary, in line with each vendor's requirements.

8 Welcome

Installation and setup

This chapter provides information on installing and starting OmniPage.

System requirements

The minimum requirements to install and run OmniPage 15 are:

◆ A computer with an Intel equivalent

◆ Microsoft Me, Windows 2000 (from Service Pack 4), Windows XP or Windows Server 2003

◆ Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5

◆ 128MB of memory (RAM), 256MB recommended

◆ 200MB of free hard disk space for application and sample files

plus 60-65MB working space during installation. Additionally:

◆ 5MB for Microsoft Installer (MSI) if not present (it is included in most Windows operating systems)

◆ Up to 5MB for system updates

◆ 800x600 pixel color monitor with 16-bit color or greater video

card

◆ A CD-ROM drive for installation

◆ A Windows compatible pointing device

Windows® 98 (from second edition), Windows

◆ 20-67MB per RealSpeak languages)

◆ 2MB per ASR speech recognition language (15MB for 7 languages) *

◆ 83MB for ScanSoft PDF Converter *

◆ 16MB for ScanSoft PDF Create! *

Pentium® III processor or

module (343MB for 9

Installation and setup 9

◆ A compatible scanner with its own scanner driver software, if you plan to scan documents. See the Scanner Guide at ScanSoft’s web site (www.scansoft.com) for a list of supported scanners

◆ Web access is needed for product registration, Scanner Wizard database updating and obtaining live updates for the program.

* Supplied with OmniPage Professional 15 only.

Installing OmniPage

OmniPage 15’s installation program takes you through installation with instructions on every screen.

Before installing OmniPage:

◆ Close all other applications, especially anti-virus programs.

◆ Log into your computer with administrator privileges if you are

installing on Windows 2000, XP or Server 2003.

◆ If you own a previous version of OmniPage, or if you are upgrading from demonstration software or an OmniPage Special Edition, the installer asks your consent to uninstall that product.

 To i n s t a l l O m n i Page:

1. Insert the OmniPage CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive. The

installation program should start automatically. If it does not start, locate your CD-ROM drive in Windows Explorer and double-click the

Autorun.exe program at the top-level of the CD-ROM.

2. Choose a language to use during installation. Accept the End-User

License Agreement and enter the serial number shown on the CD envelope.

10 Chapter 1

3. Choose a complete or a custom installation. A complete installation

installs all RealSpeak

9). In OmniPage Professional 15, up to 7 ASR-1600™ Speech

Recognition modules are installed. Custom installation lets you exclude or add modules. To exclude a module, click its down arrow and select ‘This feature will be installed when required’.

Text-to-Speech language modules (currently

4. Follow the instructions on each screen to install the software. All files

needed for scanning are copied automatically during installation.

Setting up your scanner with OmniPage

All files needed for scanner setup and support are copied automatically during the program’s installation, but no scanner setup occurs at installation time. Before using OmniPage 15 for scanning, your scanner should be installed with its own scanner driver software and tested for correct functionality. Scanner driver software is not included with OmniPage.

Scanner setup is done through the Scanner Setup Wizard. You can start this yourself, as described below. Otherwise, it appears when you first attempt to perform scanning. Proceed as follows:

◆ Choose StartAll ProgramsScanSoft OmniPage 15.0 Scanner Setup Wizard

or click the Setup button in the Scanner panel of the Options dialog box.

or choose Scan in the Get Page drop-down list in the OmniPage Toolbox and click the Get Page button.

◆ The Scanner Setup Wizard starts. If you have a web connection, the first panel invites you to update the scanner database supplied with the wizard. Choose Yes or No and click on Next.

Setting up your scanner with OmniPage 11

◆ Choose ‘Select and test scanner or digital camera’, then click Next. If you have a single installed scanner, it appears, along with any scanners previously set up with OmniPage. If the

required scanner is not listed, click Add Scanner... .

◆ You see a list of all detected scanner drivers in the checkmarked categories. This can include network devices. Select one and click OK. To install a second device, you must run the Scanner Wizard again.

◆ The wizard reports whether the chosen scanner model already has settings in the scanner database. If it does, you do not need to test it. If it does not, you should test it. Click on Next.

◆ If you chose not to test, click Finish. If you chose testing, click Next to have the scanner connection tested. If the connection is in order, you see a menu of further tests. Choose which testing steps you want to run. The Basic test scan is recommended.

◆ By default OmniPage uses its own scanning interface, located in the Scanner panel of the Options dialog box. If you want to use your scanner’s own interface instead, choose Advanced settings... and select this. Click Hint editor... and choose Edit hints... only if you are experienced in configuring scanners or have been advised by Technical Support to do so.

◆ Click Next to start the tests. For the Basic scan test, insert a test page into your scanner. The wizard will scan using your scanner manufacturer’s software. Click on Next. Your scanner’s native user-interface will appear.

◆ Click on Scan to begin the sample scan.

◆ If necessary, click on Missing Image… or Improper

Orientation... and make the appropriate selections.

◆ Once the image appears correctly in the window, click on Next.

◆ Move through the remaining requested tests, following the

instructions on the screen.

◆ When all the requested tests have been completed successfully, the Scanner Wizard reports and invites you to click on Finish.

◆ You have successfully configured your scanner to work with OmniPage 15!

12 Chapter 1

To change the scanner settings at a later time, or to setup or remove a scanner, reopen the Scanner Setup Wizard from the Windows Start menu or from the Scanner panel of the Options dialog box.

To test and repair an improperly functioning scanner, open the wizard and select ‘Test the current scanner or digital camera’ in the second panel, then work through the procedure described above, maybe using advice received from Technical Support.

To specify a different default scanner, open the wizard to reach the list of setup scanners. Move the highlight to the desired scanner and be sure to close the wizard with Finish.

To get updated settings for your current scanner, open the wizard, request a fresh database download in the first screen, then choose ‘Use current settings with current device’, click Next and then Finish.

How to start the program

To start OmniPage 15 do one of the following:

◆ Click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose All Programs ScanSoft OmniPage 15.0OmniPage [Professional] 15.0.

Double-click the OmniPage icon in the program’s installation folder or on the Windows desktop if placed there.

Double-click an OmniPage Document (OPD) icon or file name; the clicked document is loaded into the program. See “OmniPage Documents” on page 17.

◆ Right click one or more image file icons or file names for a shortcut menu. Select Open With... OmniPage application. The images are loaded into the program.

On opening, OmniPage’s title screen is displayed and then its desktop. See “The OmniPage Desktop” on page 18. It provides an introduction to the program’s main working areas.

How to start the program 13

There are several ways of running the program with a limited interface:

◆ Use the Batch Manager program. Click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose All ProgramsScanSoft OmniPage 15.0 OmniPage Batch Manager. See page 28.

◆ Click Acquire Text from the File menu of an application registered with the Direct OCR™ facility. See “How to set up Direct OCR” on page 26.

◆ Right-click on one or more image file icons or file names for a shortcut menu. Select OmniPage 15 and choose a target format or a workflow from its sub-menu. The files will be processed according to the workflow instructions. See “Workflows” on page 67.

◆ Click the OmniPage Agent icon on the taskbar. Choose a workflow to start the program and run the workflow. In OmniPage Professional 15, voice selection of workflow is possible.

◆ Use OmniPage 15 with ScanSoft’s PaperPort management product, to add OCR services. See “How to use OmniPage with PaperPort” on page 16.

document

Registering your software

ScanSoft’s online registration runs at the end of installation. Please ensure web access is available. We provide an easy electronic form that can be completed in less than five minutes. When the form is filled, click Submit. If you did not register the software during installation, you will be periodically invited to register later. You can go to www.scansoft.com to register online. Click on Support and from the main support screen choose Register in the left-hand column. For a statement on the use of your registration data, please see ScanSoft’s Privacy Policy.

14 Chapter 1

Activating OmniPage

You will be invited to activate the product at the end of installation. Please ensure that web access is available. Provided your serial number is found at its storage location and has been correctly entered, no user interaction is required and no personal information is transmitted. If you do not activate the product at installation time, you will be invited to do this each time you invoke the program. OmniPage 15 can be launched only five times without activation. We recommend Automatic Activation.

Uninstalling the software

Sometimes uninstalling and then reinstalling OmniPage will solve a problem. The OmniPage Uninstall program will not remove files containing recognition results or any of the following user-created files:

Zone templates ( Training files ( User dictionaries ( OmniPage Documents ( Job files Workflow files (*.xwf)

To uninstall from Windows 2000, XP or Windows Server 2003 you must be logged into your computer with administrator privileges.

 To uninstall or reinstall OmniPage:

(*.opj)

*.zon)

*.otn)

*.ud)

*.opd)

◆ Close OmniPage.

◆ Click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose the Control

Panel and then Add/Remove Programs.

◆ Select OmniPage and click Remove.

◆ Click Yes in the dialog box that appears to confirm removal.

◆ Select Yes to restart your computer immediately, or No if you

plan to restart later.

Activating OmniPage 15

◆ Follow instructions until the process is finished.

When you uninstall OmniPage, the link to your scanner is also uninstalled. You must setup your scanner again with OmniPage if you reinstall the program. All RealSpeak and ASR modules and the that were installed with the program will also be uninstalled. ScanSoft PDF Create! 3 and ScanSoft PDF Converter 3 need to be uninstalled separately.

How to use OmniPage with PaperPort

The PaperPort® program is a paper management software product from ScanSoft. It lets you link pages with suitable applications. Pages can contain pictures, text or both. If PaperPort exists on a computer with OmniPage, its OCR services become available and amplify the power of PaperPort. You can choose an OCR program by right-clicking on a text applications’s PaperPort link, selecting Preferences and then selecting OmniPage 15 as the OCR package. OCR settings can be specified, as with Direct OCR.

PaperPort organized digital documents that everybody in an office can quickly find and use. PaperPort works with

scanners, multifunction printers, and networked digital copiers to turn paper documents into digital documents. It then helps you to manage them along with all other electronic documents in one convenient and easy-to-use filing system.

PaperPort’s large, clear item thumbnails allow you to visually organize, retrieve and use your scanned documents, including Word files, spreadsheets, PDF files and even digital photos. PaperPort’s Scanner Enhancement Technology tools ensure that scanned documents will look great while the annotation tools let you add notes and highlights to any scanned image.

provides the easiest way to turn paper into

16 Chapter 1

Using OmniPage

OmniPage 15 uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to transform text from scanned pages or image files into editable text for use in your favorite computer applications.

In addition to text recognition, OmniPage can retain the following elements and attributes of a document through the OCR process.

Graphics (photos, logos) Form elements (checkboxes, radio buttons, text fields) Te x t f o r mattin g (character and paragraph) Page formatting (column structures, table formats, headings, placing of

graphics).

Documents in OmniPage

A document in OmniPage consists of one image for each document page. After you perform OCR, the document will also contain recognized text, displayed in the Text Editor, possibly along with graphics, tables and form elements.

OmniPage Documents

An OmniPage Document (.opd) contains the original page images (optionally pre-processed) with any zones placed on them. After recognition, the OPD also contains the recognition results.

When saving, you have two file type choices: OmniPage Document or OmniPage Document (Extended). The latter allows you to embed a user dictionary, training file or zone template file in the OPD. This can increase file size considerably but makes the OPD more portable.

Using OmniPage 17

When you open an OmniPage Document, its settings are applied, replacing those existing in the program.

The OmniPage Desktop

The OmniPage Desktop has three main working areas, separated by splitters: the Document Manager, the Image Panel and the Text Editor. The Image Panel has an Image toolbar and the Text Editor has a Formatting toolbar.

OmniPage Toolbox

Standard Tool bar

Formatting toolbar

Image toolbar

Document Manager

Image Panel

Tex t Editor

OmniPage toolbox: This Toolbox lets you drive the processing.

Document Manager: This provides an overview of your document with a

table. Each row represents one page. Columns present statistical or status information for each page, and (where appropriate) document totals.

18 Chapter 2

Image Panel: This is displaying the image of the current page, together with its zones. The image panel can display the current page, thumbnails, or both. When this displays the current page image, the Image toolbar is available.

Text Editor: This is displaying the recognition results from the current page. The illustration shows True Page view.

The Toolbars

The program has five main toolbars. Use the View menu to show, hide or customize them. The status bar at the bottom edge of the OmniPage program window explains the purpose of all tools.

Standard toolbar: Performs basic functions.

Image toolbar: Performs image, zoning and table operations.

Formatting toolbar: Formats recognized text in the Text Editor.

Verifier toolbar: Controls the location and appearance of the verifier.

Reorder toolbar: Modifies the order of elements in recognized pages.

Form Drawing toolbar: Creates new form elements.

Form Arrangement toolbar: Arranges and aligns form elements.

The Form toolbars appear only in OmniPage Professional 15.

Basic Processing Steps

There are three ways of handling documents: with automatic, manual or workflow processing. The basic steps for all processing methods are broadly the same:

1. Bring a set of images into OmniPage. You can scan a paper document with or without an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) or load one or more image files.

Basic Processing Steps 19

2. Perform OCR to generate editable text. After OCR, you can check and correct errors in the document using the OCR Proofreader and edit the document in the Text Editor.

3. Export the document to the desired location. You can save your document to a specified file name and type, place

it on the Clipboard, send it as a mail attachment or publish it. You can save the same document repeatedly to different destinations, different file types, with different settings and levels of formatting.

Using OmniPage, you can choose from the following processing methods: Automatic, Manual, Combined, or Workflow. You can start recognition from other applications, using the Direct OCR feature of OmniPage; and can also schedule processing to run at a later time.

Processing methods are detailed in the next chapter and in Online Help.

Settings

The Options dialog box is the central location for OmniPage settings. Access it from the Standard toolbar or the Tools menu. Context-sensitive help provides information on each setting.

20 Chapter 2

Processing documents

This tutorial chapter describes different ways you can process a document and also provides information on key parts of this processing.

Quick Start Guide

This topic takes you step-by-step through the basic OCR process.

You will process the document automatically and save the recognition results to a file. You will proof the document but will not edit it inside the Text Editor.

What you do: What happens: Set up your scanner using the

Scanner Wizard, if this is not already done.

Select StartAll Programs

ScanSoft OmniPage 15.0 OmniPage [Professional] 15.0

Place the document correctly in

your scanner. From the Get Page drop-down

list, select a scan option for your

document: black-and-white, grayscale or color.

From the Layout Description drop-down list, check Automatic is selected. For a wide range of

documents, this is the best choice.

Configures OmniPage to work with your scanner.

Opens OmniPage on your computer.

Allows you to determine how pictures or colored texts and backgrounds will look in the exported document. Color scanning needs a color scanner.

Configures the program how to place zones on the page and decide their properties automatically.

Processing documents 21

What you do: What happens: From the Export Results drop-

down list, check that Save to File is selected.

Make sure 1-2-3 is selected in the

Workflow drop-down list. Click the Start button.

Use the OCR Proofreader to modify words that the program

suspects have not been recognized correctly.

Click in the Text Editor. Select Text Editor views one after

another, to see how the page appears in each view.

Click Resume to restart proofing. When the message OCR Proof-

10.

reading is complete appears, click on OK.

Choose a file name, file type, path and a formatting level to save

11.

your recognized document. Click on OK.

Inspect the document in your

12.

word processing program.

This means you will be able to name your export file after you have proofed the document.

OmniPage will start to scan in your document. A thumbnail appears with a progress indicator. The OCR Proofreader appears.

The OCR Proofreader operates like a spell checker in a word processing program, but with added OCR-specific features. It removes markings from words you proof.

Each Text Editor view defines a formatting level. This guides you which level to choose at saving time.

This ends the OCR Proofreader process. The Save to File dialog box will appear.

By default, Save and Launch is enabled, so your document will be automatically opened in the word processing program associated with the file type that you selected.

You have successfully used OmniPage 15 to recognize your document and open it in your target application!

If you succeeded in getting good results from the sample image files, but not from the scanned page, check your scanner installation and settings: in particular brightness and image resolution. See “Input from scanner” on page 30. This provides a model of optimum brightness. See also the online Help topics Setting up your scanner and Scanner troubleshooting.

22 Chapter 3

Processing methods

Using OmniPage, you can choose from the following processing methods:

Automatic

A fast and easy way to process documents is to let OmniPage do it automatically for you. Select settings in

the Options dialog box and in the OmniPage Toolbox drop-down lists and then click Start. It will take each page through the whole process from beginning to end, when possible running in parallel. It will typically autozone the pages.

Manual

Manual processing gives you more precise control over the way your pages are handled. You can process the document page-by-page with different settings for each page. The program also stops between each step: acquiring images, performing recognition, exporting. This lets you, for instance,

draw zones manually or change recognition language(s). You start each step by clicking the three buttons on the OmniPage Toolbox.

Combined

You can process a document automatically and view results in the Text Editor. If most pages are in order, but a few have not turned out as expected, you can switch to manual processing to adjust settings and rerecognize just those problem pages. Alternatively, you can acquire images with manual processing, draw zones on some or all of them, and then send all pages to automatic processing.

Processing methods 23

Wo rk flo w

A workflow consists of a series of steps and their settings. Typically it will include a recognition step, but it does not have to. Workflows are listed in the

Workflow drop-down list – sample workflows plus any you create. You can choose to place the OmniPage Agent icon on your taskbar. Its shortcut menu lists your workflows. Click a workflow to launch OmniPage and have it run.

Let the Workflow Assistant guide you in creating new workflows. It provides a choice of steps and the settings they need. After each step icon is selected and its settings defined, you get a new set of step icons to choose from. You can use the Assistant just to get more guidance when doing automatic processing. See “Workflow Assistant” on page 69.

In other applications

You can use the Direct OCR feature to call on the recognition services of OmniPage while working in your usual word-processor or similar application. See “How to set up Direct OCR” on page 26. OmniPage is automatically linked to the PaperPort document management program.

At a later time

You can schedule OCR jobs or other processing jobs in

OmniPage Batch Manager to be performed automatically at a later time, when you may not even be present at your computer. This is done through the Batch Manager. When you choose New Job, first the Job Wizard, and then the Workflow Assistant appears - the latter with a slightly modified set of choices and settings. In the first panel of the Job Wizard, you define your job type and name your job; next you are to specify a starting time, a recurring job or watched folder instructions.

A job incorporates a workflow with timing instructions added. See “Batch Manager” on page 73.

24 Chapter 3

Manual processing

1. Manually zone pages where you want to process only part of the page

or if you want to give precise zoning instructions. Use ignore backgrounds or zones to exclude areas from processing. Use process backgrounds or zones to specify areas to be auto-zoned.

2. Click the Start button, then choose Finish Processing Existing Pages in

the Automatic Processing dialog box.

3. After proofing (if requested) you can save or export the document.

The default for manual processing is to have all entered pages automatically selected. This way you can have all new pages recognized by a single mouse click. You can remove this default in the Process panel of the Options dialog box.

Processing with workflows

A workflow consists of a series of steps and their settings. It does not have to conform to the 1-2-3 pattern of traditional processing. Workflows allow you to handle recurring tasks more efficiently, because all the steps and their settings are pre-defined.

To run a workflow with OmniPage closed

Right-click on the OmniPage Agent icon in your taskbar. Select a

workflow from its shortcut menu. OmniPage will start and immediately run the workflow. If you do not see the icon, enable it in the General panel of the Options dialog box.

To run a workflow with OmniPage open

You can use the taskbar icon as described above, or you can select the workflow in the Workflow drop-down list and click Start. When a workflow is running, program settings are not accessible.

Manual processing 25

To modify a workflow

Select the workflow in the Workflow drop-down list and press

the Workflow Assistant button on the Standard toolbar, or choose Workflows... in the Tools menu, select the workflow and click Modify.

To make a new workflow

There are sample workflows supplied with the program. You can modify these, or use them as the source for new workflows. New workflows are made with the Workflow Assistant. See page 69.

Processing from other applications

You can use the Direct OCR™ feature to call on the recognition services of OmniPage while you work in your usual word-processor or other application. First you must establish the direct connection with the application. Then, two items in its File Menu open the door to OCR facilities.

How to set up Direct OCR

1. Start the application you want connected to OmniPage. Start

OmniPage, open the Options dialog box at the Direct OCR panel and select Enable Direct OCR.

2. Select process options for proofing and zoning. These function for

future Direct OCR work until you change them again; they are not applied when OmniPage is used on its own.

26 Chapter 3

3. The Unregistered panel displays running or previously unregistered

applications. Select the desired one(s) and click Add. You can browse for an unlisted application.

How to use Direct OCR

1. Open your registered application and work in a document. To

acquire recognition results from scanned pages, place them correctly in the scanner.

2. Use the target application’s File Menu item Acquire Text Settings... to

specify settings to be used during recognition. Any settings not offered take their values from those last used in OmniPage. Settings changed for Direct OCR are also changed in OmniPage.

3. Use the File Menu item Acquire Text to acquire images from scanner

or file.

4. If you selected Draw zones automatically in the Direct OCR panel of

the Options dialog box, or under Acquire Text Settings..., recognition proceeds immediately.

Processing from other applications 27

5. If Draw zones automatically is not selected, each page image will be

presented to you, allowing you to draw zones manually. Click the Perform OCR button to continue with recognition.

6. If proofing was specified, this follows recognition. Then the

recognized text is placed at the cursor position in your application,

with the formatting level specified by Acquire Text Settings... .

Processing with the Batch Manager

You can schedule processing jobs to be performed automatically at a specified time in the future. Unscheduled jobs can be activated manually. The job pages can come from a scanner with an ADF or

from image files. You do not have to be present at your computer at job start time, nor does OmniPage have to be running. It does not matter if your computer is turned off after the job is set up, so long as it is running at job start time. If you are scanning pages, your scanner must be functioning at job start time, with the pages loaded in the ADF. Here is how to set up your first job:

1. Click Batch Manager... in the Process menu or in the Windows Start

menu: select All ProgramsScanSoft OmniPage 15.0OmniPage Batch Manager. The Batch Manager window appears. Click the Create Job button to start the Job Wizard.

2. Select the type of your job in the next panel: Normal, Barcode

driven, Folder Watching, Outlook mailbox watching, or Lotus Notes mailbox watching. The mailbox watching job types are only available if you have the given mail system configured properly on your computer.

3. Name your job in the same panel. Click Next.

4. Use the Start and Stop Options panel to specify your job timing and

schedule. When the job is complete, you can choose to have the input image file deleted or an e-mail notification sent to a given address (latter available in OmniPage Professional 15 only).

28 Chapter 3

5. Define a starting point for the new job. This can be a fresh start, or

an existing workflow. Click Next to finish each step.

6. The upcoming panels allow you to build the workflow for the job, as

described in Chapter 6.

7. Click Finish to confirm job creation.

For more information, please see Batch Manager in the online Help and “Batch Manager” on page 73.

Defining the source of page images

There are two possible image sources: from image files and from a scanner. There are two main types of scanners: flatbed or sheetfed. A scanner may have a built-in or added Automatic Document Feeder (ADF), which makes it easier to scan multi-page documents. The images from scanned documents can be input directly into OmniPage or may be saved with the scanner’s own software to an image file, which OmniPage can later open.

Input from image files

You can create image files from your own scanner, or receive them by e-mail or as fax files. OmniPage 15 can open a wide range of image file types. Select Load Files in the Get Pages drop-down list. Files are specified in the Load Files dialog box. This appears when you start automatic processing. In manual processing, click the Get Page button or use the Process menu. The lower part of the dialog box provides advanced settings, and can be shown or hidden.

The minimum width or height for an image file is 16 by 16 pixels; the maximum is 8400 pixels (71cm; 28 inches at the resolution 201 to 600 dpi). See online Help for pixel limits.

Defining the source of page images 29

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