Nuance OMNIPAGE PRO 10 User Manual
OmniPage® Pro
User’s Manual
Caere Corporation
100 Cooper Court
Los Gatos, California
95032-7603 USA
Caere GmbH
Innere Wiener Strasse 5
81667 München, Germany
Caere UK Information Centre
Abbey House
4 Abbey Orchard Street
Westminster, London SW1P 2JJ
Centre d’informations Caere
72, rue Baratte-Cholet
94100 Saint-Maur, France
Please Note
To use this program, you should know how to work in the Microsoft Windows environment. Please
refer to Windows documentation if you have questions about how to use menu commands, dialog
boxes, scroll bars, edit boxes, and so on.
OmniPage Pro for Windows
Ve r si o n 1 0
Registration Number:
Copyright© 1999 by Caere Corporation. All rights reserved. The Caere logo, Caere, OmniPage,
OmniPage Pro, PageKeeper, PageKeeper Pro, AutoOCR Toolbar, True Page, and OCR Proofreader
are registered trademarks of Caere Corporation.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.
ii
800-1319-030A
Welcome
Using This Manual..............................................................................................................vi
Getting Online Help ..........................................................................................................vii
Help Menu ...................................................................................................................vii
Context-Sensitive Help...............................................................................................vii
Product Support ................................................................................................................viii
Chapter 1 Installation and Setup
Minimum System Requirements.........................................................................................2
Installing OmniPage Pro .....................................................................................................2
Setting Up Your Scanner With OmniPage Pro .................................................................3
Starting OmniPage Pro.........................................................................................................4
Registering Your Software...................................................................................................5
Chapter 2 Introduction to OmniPage Pro
What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?................................................................8
OmniPage Pro’s OCR Capabilities ..............................................................................8
Basic Steps of OmniPage Pro OCR .............................................................................9
The OmniPage Pro Desktop .............................................................................................10
OmniPage Toolbox.......................................................................................................11
Standard Toolbar..........................................................................................................13
Image Toolbar...............................................................................................................13
Table of Contents
Chapter 3 Processing Documents
Different Ways to Process Documents.............................................................................16
Converting Images to Text.................................................................................................17
Processing Documents Using the OCR Wizard.......................................................19
Automatic Processing
Manual Processing
Processing Documents In Other Applications.........................................................22
Improving OCR Results .....................................................................................................23
Adjusting Page Images Before OCR..........................................................................23
Changing Zone Properties..........................................................................................24
Matching Original Document Fonts..........................................................................25
..................................................................................................20
.......................................................................................................21
iii
Proofreading OCR Results .........................................................................................25
Checking Recognized Text Against Original Text ..................................................27
Working with OmniPage Documents .............................................................................28
Resizing a Page View .................................................................................................29
Changing Pages ...........................................................................................................29
Reordering Pages ........................................................................................................30
Deleting Pages .............................................................................................................30
Printing a Document ..................................................................................................31
Closing a Document ...................................................................................................31
Chapter 4 Settings and Commands
The OmniPage Toolbox......................................................................................................34
AutoOCR Toolbar ........................................................................................................34
Manual OCR Toolbar ..................................................................................................34
OCR Wizard..................................................................................................................34
Setting Toolbar Commands........................................................................................35
Activating Toolbar Commands..................................................................................38
Selecting OmniPage Pro Settings......................................................................................39
OCR Settings........................................................................................................................40
Scanner Settings...................................................................................................................40
Tables Settings .....................................................................................................................41
Direct OCR Settings ............................................................................................................42
Process Settings ...................................................................................................................43
Chapter 5 Saving and Exporting
Saving a Document .............................................................................................................45
Copying a Document to the Clipboard ...........................................................................48
Sending a Document as a Mail Attachment ...................................................................48
Converting Text to Speech.................................................................................................49
Chapter 6 Technical Information
General Troubleshooting Solutions .................................................................................52
Solutions to Try First ...................................................................................................52
Testing OmniPage Pro ................................................................................................53
Low Memory Problems...............................................................................................54
Low Disk Space Problems ..........................................................................................54
Supported File Types..........................................................................................................55
OCR Problems .....................................................................................................................57
System Crash During OCR.........................................................................................57
Text Does Not Get Recognized Properly..................................................................58
Problems With Fax Recognition ................................................................................59
Uninstalling the Software ..................................................................................................60
iv
Welcome
Welcome to OmniPage Pro, and thank you for using our software!
The following documentation has been provided to help you learn
about OmniPage Pro.
This User’s Manual
This manual introduces you to the basics of using OmniPage Pro. It
includes installation and setup instructions, an introduction to
OmniPage Pro, task-oriented instructions, ways to customize
processing, and technical information.
Online Help
OmniPage Pro’s online Help contains basic and advanced information
on features, settings, and procedures. The online Help is provided in
HTML format, and has been designed for quick and easy information
retrieval. Please see “Getting Online Help” on page ix for more
information.
Readme File
The
Readme
Please read it before using OmniPage Pro. To open this HTML file,
choose
Scanner Setup Notes
The
Scanner Setup Notes
scanners and related issues. To open this HTML file, choose
Setup Notes
file contains last-minute information about the software.
Readme
in the Help menu after OmniPage Pro has been installed.
contains detailed information about supported
in the Help menu after OmniPage Pro has been installed.
Scanner
v
Using This Manual
Using This Manual
This manual 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.
The following conventions are used in this manual.
Convention Purpose
Italicized text
Note symbol
Warning symbol
• Emphasizes menu commands,
dialog box options, labeled
buttons, and file names
For example:
“Choose
menu.”
• Emphasizes new terms the
first time they are used
• Emphasizes important words
in a sentence
Introduces a tip or an item of
note
Introduces important
information
Open...
in the File
vi
Getting Online Help
In addition to using this manual, you can use OmniPage Pro’s online
Help to learn about features, settings, and procedures. Online Help is
available after you install OmniPage Pro.
Help Menu
One way to open OmniPage Pro’s online Help is to choose commands in
the Help menu.
Context-Sensitive Help
You can get on-the-spot information about a particular OmniPage Pro
command, toolbar button, or dialog box option in the following ways:
Getting Online Help
• Click the Help button in the Standard toolbar and then click any
toolbar button, menu command, or area of the OmniPage Pro
desktop to display a Help topic explaining that item.
• Click the question-mark button in the upper-right corner of a
dialog box and then click an item in the dialog box to get a popup explanation for that item.
• Some dialog boxes have a
information about that dialog box.
button. Click
Help
Help
to get
vii
Product Support
Product Support
For the fastest and easiest way to get help, please look for solutions in
this manual or in the online Help. See “General Troubleshooting
Solutions” on page 52 for troubleshooting tips.
If you need additional help, please use the following resources:
• Caere on the World Wide Web
Go to Caere’s World Wide Web site for common questions and
answers, updates, patches, troubleshooting procedures, and
product information. Caere’s Web site address is
www.caere.com. You can also connect to Caere’s Web site by
choosing
• OmniPage Pro Readme File
Read the
about the software. You can view a text version of the
from the first installation screen during installation of OmniPage
Pro. To open an HTML version of the file after OmniPage Pro has
been installed, choose
• Caere Scan Troubleshooter
Use the
listed in Caere Scan Manager or to resolve problems using your
scanner with OmniPage Pro. The
been provided to you in HTML format. Start
Troubleshooter
Scan Manager or OmniPage Pro.
• Caere Product Support document
Read the
telephone numbers, including ones for international product
support. This document has been provided to you as an
electronic document in HTML format. To open this document,
choose
Caere on the Web
OmniPage Pro Readme
Caere Scan Troubleshooter
by choosing it from the Help menu of either Caere
Caere Product Support
Product Support
in the Help menu.
file for last-minute information
Readme
in the Help menu.
in the Help menu.
to set up a scanner that is not
Caere Scan Troubleshooter
document to get a list of support
Readme
has
Caere Scan
file
viii
Chapter 1
Installation and Setup
This chapter provides information on installing and starting OmniPage
Pro.
This chapter contains the following topics:
• Minimum System Requirements
• Installing OmniPage Pro
• Setting Up Your Scanner with OmniPage Pro
• Starting OmniPage Pro
•Registering Your Software
1
Minimum System Requirements
Minimum System Requirements
You need the following setup, at minimum, to install and run OmniPage
Pro:
• Computer with a Pentium or higher processor
• Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, or Windows
NT 4.0
•32MB of memory (RAM)
• 50MB of free hard disk space to install application files and Caere
Scan Manager
• SVGA monitor with 256 colors
• Windows-compatible pointing device
• CD-ROM drive for installation
• A compatible scanner if you plan to scan documents
Please see the
Performance and speed will be enhanced if your computer’s processor,
memory, and available disk space exceed the minimum requirements.
Scanner Setup Notes
for a list of tested scanners.
Installing OmniPage Pro
OmniPage Pro’s Setup program takes you through installation with
instructions on every screen.
Before installing OmniPage Pro:
• Make sure your scanner is connected, turned on, and compatible
with your system.
• Close all other applications, especially anti-virus programs.
• Log into your computer with administrator privileges if you are
installing on Windows 2000 or Windows NT.
If you own a previous version of OmniPage Pro, or if you are upgrading
from OmniPage Limited Edition, it is strongly recommended that you
uninstall that product first and then restart your computer.
2 Chapter 1
Setting Up Your Scanner With OmniPage Pro
To install OmniPage Pro:
1 Insert OmniPage Pro’s CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.
The Setup program should start automatically. If it does not
start, locate your CD-ROM drive in Windows Explorer and
double-click the Setup.exe program at the top-level of the
CD-ROM.
2 Follow the instructions on each screen to install the software.
During installation, you may be prompted to enter a serial
number. You can find your serial number on the label of the
CD-ROM envelope.
Setting Up Your Scanner With OmniPage Pro
Caere Scan Manager is installed during OmniPage Pro installation. This
sets up your scanner so you can use it with OmniPage Pro. During
installation, Caere Scan Manager prompts you to select your scanner
manufacturer and model.
Read the
Manager and supported scanners. Choose
Help menu after OmniPage Pro has been installed.
After installation, you can use Caere Scan Manager to set up additional
scanners with OmniPage Pro and change various scanner settings.
Caere Scan Manager is located in the Windows Control Panel.
To open Caere Scan Manager:
Scanner Setup Notes
1 Click
Control Panel
2 Double-click the Caere Scan Manager icon.
in the Windows taskbar and choose
Start
.
for more information on Caere Scan
Settings
in the
!
Scanner Setup Notes
Installation and Setup 3
Starting OmniPage Pro
Starting OmniPage Pro
Standard
toolbar
OmniPage
Toolbox
The
thumbnail
view
displays the
pages in an
open
document.
To start Omnipage Pro, click
Programs
Caere OmniPage Pro 10.0
!
in the Windows taskbar and choose
Start
. Or, double-click the OmniPage Pro
icon located in the folder where you installed OmniPage Pro.
OmniPage Pro’s desktop appears when you open OmniPage Pro. See
“The OmniPage Pro Desktop” on page 10 for an introduction to
OmniPage Pro’s user interface.
Image
toolbar
4 Chapter 1
The image view
displays the current
page’s original image.
The text view displays the
current page’s recognized
text and retained graphics.
Registering Your Software
Register your copy of OmniPage Pro with Caere Corporation to receive
notification of special offers and the best prices on product upgrades.
If you purchased your product directly from Caere, you may not need
to register again. Your version of OmniPage Pro will not display a
Register
To register OmniPage Pro:
menu if you do not need to register it.
Registering Your Software
1 Click the
2 Click
3 Fill out the information requested on the screen and then click
Next
4 Follow the instructions on the screen.
You can use your modem, FTP, or HTTP connections to
transmit your registration information directly. Or, you can call
Caere’s registration phone number or print out and mail in
your registration information.
After registration is complete, you will be given a registration number.
Be sure to write that number down and keep it handy in case you need
to use it for reinstallation. If you reinstall OmniPage Pro using your
registration number on the same computer, you will not have to go
through the entire registration process again to reregister it.
To reregister OmniPage Pro after reinstallation:
1 Click the
2 Click
3 Type in your registration number and click OK.
Register
Register Now
.
Register
Reregister
menu to open the Register dialog box.
.
menu to open the Register dialog box.
.
Installation and Setup 5
6 Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Introduction to
OmniPage Pro
You probably use your computer for most business correspondence and
other written projects. The challenge is that certain sources of
information cannot be used immediately on a computer.
For example, if you want to incorporate information from a magazine
article into a document in your word processor, you somehow have to
get the text from the article into your computer. Painstakingly retyping
the article is not an appealing solution.
OmniPage Pro offers a smart solution to increase your work
productivity. OmniPage Pro’s
technology accurately and easily converts scanned paper documents
and image files into editable text for use in your favorite computer
applications. OmniPage Pro eliminates the need for manual retyping.
optical character recognition (OCR)
Please continue reading this chapter for information on these topics:
• What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?
• The OmniPage Pro Desktop
7
What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?
What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?
Optical character recognition (OCR
computer-editable text. An image is an electronic picture of text such as
a scanned paper document or an electronic fax file. Images do not have
editable text characters; they have many tiny dots (
form a picture of text.
During OCR, OmniPage Pro analyzes an image and defines characters
to produce editable text. After OCR, you can save the resulting text to a
variety of word-processing, page layout, and spreadsheet applications.
) is the process of turning an
OmniPage Pro’s OCR Capabilities
In addition to text recognition, OmniPage Pro can retain the following
elements of a document during OCR.
Graphics
Photos, logos, and drawings are examples of graphics.
Text formatting
Font types, font sizes, and font styles (such as bold or
of text formatting.
Page formatting
Column structure, paragraph spacing, table formats, and placement of
graphics are examples of page formatting.
) that together
pixels
) are examples
italic
image
into
The graphics, text formatting, and page formatting elements that
OmniPage Pro retains are determined by the settings you select. Refer to
the Settings Guidelines in the online Help for more information about
selecting settings.
OmniPage Pro only recognizes machine-printed characters such as
laser-printed or typewritten text. However, it can retain handwritten
text, such as a signature, as a graphic.
8 Chapter 2
What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?
Basic Steps of OmniPage Pro OCR
These are the basic steps of OmniPage Pro’s OCR process.
1 Bring a document image into OmniPage Pro.
You can scan a paper document or load an image file. The
resulting image appears in OmniPage Pro’s image view.
2 Perform OCR to convert text information into editable
text characters.
During OCR, OmniPage Pro creates
processed, and then interprets text characters or graphics in each
zone. After OCR, you can check and correct errors in the
document using the OCR Proofreader.
3 Export the document to the desired location.
You can save your document to a specified file format, place it on
the Clipboard, or send it as a mail attachment. You can also listen
to your document before saving it by having OmniPage Pro read
the text out loud.
There are different ways to start the OCR process. See “Different Ways
to Process Documents” on page 16 for more information.
around areas that will be
zones
Introduction to OmniPage Pro 9
The OmniPage Pro Desktop
The OmniPage Pro Desktop
OmniPage Pro’s desktop displays the pages of an open document in its
thumbnail view, image view, and text view. You can use the Standard,
AutoOCR, Manual OCR, and Image toolbars to perform various tasks
on the document, or the OCR Wizard to walk you through the entire
process.
Standard
toolbar
OmniPage
toolbox
The thumbnail view
displays a picture
of each page in the
document.
The current page
is highlighted
with a light
border around it.
Image
toolbar
The image view
displays the current
page’s original image.
Drag this splitter to the
left or right to resize a
view.
The text view displays the
current page’s recognized
text and retained graphics.
10 Chapter 2
AutoOCR
tab
OmniPage Toolbox
The OmniPage Toolbox contains the AutoOCR® toolbar, the Manual
OCR toolbar, and the OCR Wizard.
AutoOCR Toolbar
The AutoOCR toolbar contains drop-down lists where you can select
process commands, and buttons to start, stop, finish, and continue
automatic processing.
Document
Source
You can set different commands in the AutoOCR toolbar drop-down
lists for the operations you want to perform. Click the Start button to
process your document from start to finish according to the selected
settings and commands.
Original
Layout
Click the down arrow to
display the commands in the
Output
Format
drop-down list.
The OmniPage Pro Desktop
Export
Destination
Additional
Start,
Finish,
Stop
• The Document Source drop-down list allows you to set how you
want OmniPage Pro to retrieve your document. You can bring in
images by scanning or loading pages.
• The Original Layout drop-down list allows you to select the
setting that describes the appearance of your original document.
• The Output Format drop-down list allows you to select how
much of your document’s original formatting you want to keep.
• The Export Destination drop-down list allows you to select
whether you want to save, copy, send your recognized document
as a mail attachment, or have recognized text read out loud.
Introduction to OmniPage Pro 11
The OmniPage Pro Desktop
Manual
OCR tab
Manual OCR Toolbar
The Manual OCR toolbar contains buttons that can activate each step of
the OCR process individually.
Document
Source
Original Layout
& Output Format
Click the down arrow to
display the commands in a
button’s drop-down list.
Export
Destination
You can set commands in the Manual OCR toolbar buttons’ drop-down
lists for the operations you want to perform. Click each button to process
your document step-by-step.
OCR Wizard
The OCR Wizard guides you through the entire OCR process by asking
you questions about your document and selecting the appropriate
settings for you. Click the OCR Wizard tab in the OmniPage Toolbox to
display the Wizard button. Click the button to open the first Wizard
screen.
Click the Wizard button to
Wizard
tab
12 Chapter 2
display the first Wizard
screen.
Standard Toolbar
The Standard toolbar contains buttons and a drop-down list for
performing standard tasks.
The OmniPage Pro Desktop
New
Save
Open
Image Toolbar
Draw
Rectangular
Zones
Add to
Proofread
OCR
Print
Cut
Copy
Paste
Undo
Options
Zoom
Help
The Image toolbar contains buttons that allow you to work with zones
in an image, rotate or straighten an image, or zoom in and zoom out on
an image. The Image toolbar can be moved anywhere on the desktop,
and docked anywhere within the image view.
Remove/
Zone
Reorder
Zones
Move Row
or Column
Dividers
Insert
Row
Dividers
Replace All
Row and
Column
Dividers
Straighten
Zoom
Out
Image
Draw
Irregular
Zones
Introduction to OmniPage Pro 13
Subtract
from
Zone
Zone
Properties
Insert
Column
Dividers
Remove
Row or
Column
Dividers
Rotate
Image
Zoom
In
14 Chapter 2
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