Nuance ScanSoft OmniForm User’s Manual

OmniForm Reference

Version 2 for Windows 95/NT/3.1

CAERE CORPORATION

100 Cooper Court Los Gatos, California 95030

European Offices: Caere GmbH Innere Wiener Strasse 5 81667 Munich Germany

Please Note

In order to use this program, you should know how to work in the Microsoft Windows environment. Please refer to your Windows documentation if you have questions about how to use menu commands, dialog boxes, scroll bars, edit boxes, and so on.

OmniForm Reference Version 2 for Windows 95/NT/3.1

are trademarks of Caere Corporation.

Formonix is a trademark of Formonix, Inc.

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Such designations appearing in this manual have been printed in initial caps.

Product Serial Number:

_______________________________________________ (from Disk #1 label)

Chapter 1

Introduction

OmniForm is the easy way to convert your paper forms to electronic forms. Use OmniForm to edit, design, and fill forms, manage information databases, and print, fax, and mail forms among other functions.

This chapter gives an overview of the form creation and information management capabilities OmniForm provides, as well as an explanation of how to use the documentation.

This chapter contains the following sections:

• OmniForm Features

• Using the Documentation

Introduction - 3

OmniForm Features

OmniForm, an easy-to-use environment for working with forms, is more than just form-recognition software. OmniForm includes the following features:

Form Input

OmniForm uses Logical Form Recognition™ to convert your scanned paper forms or imported image files into electronic, editable forms.

Fill View

OmniForm Features

Use OmniForm’s Information entered can easily be searched and sorted.

Design View

Use OmniForm’s forms. A variety of toolbars make formatting easy and convenient. Use the scrapbook to store or copy form objects.

OmniForm Database

All information you enter into a form is stored as a part of an OmniForm database. You can create, duplicate, sort, and search records, and import and export database information.

Field Validation

You can set up OmniForm to OmniForm displays a prompt if you enter incorrect information.

Field Calculations

OmniForm’s built-in operators and functions let you define calculations that display the correct value as you fill the appropriate field(s) in a form. This automates data entry and reduces the possibility of errors.

Form Printing, Faxing, and Mailing

You can print or fax forms from OmniForm. You have a choice of printing or faxing just the form, or just the data entered in a form, or both the form and its information.

fill view

design view

to fill a form with the information you need.

to design your own forms or edit existing

validate

a fillable field automatically.

Use electronic mail to send forms to other users if you have Microsoft Exchange/Mail or Lotus cc:Mail/Notes installed. Microsoft Exchange/ Mail users can also add routing slips to mailed forms.

Introduction - 4

Using the Documentation

This section explains the various instructional and formatting conventions used in this manual.

Screenshots and Instructions

Most screenshots in this manual were taken in Windows 95. Your dialog boxes and windows may look slightly different if you are using Windows NT or Windows 3.1. For example, dialog box titles in Windows 95 appear in the top left of the box. Dialog box titles in Windows NT and Windows 3.1 appear in the top middle of the box.

Both screenshot versions are displayed when they differ significantly. Instructions appropriate to each version of Windows are given where

necessary — for example, double-clicking an icon in a program group (Windows 3.1 and NT) versus using the Taskbar (Windows 95). Any instruction specific to Windows NT and 3.1 appears immediately after the Windows 95 instruction.

Online Help

OmniForm has both online help and context-sensitive help. Use the commands in the Help menu to find information on OmniForm topics and on using Help itself.

Using the Documentation

Click the Help button in the OmniForm standard toolbar to turn your cursor into a question mark icon. Click any command, button, or portion of the window to open context-sensitive help for that topic.

Formatting

Two formatting conventions are used throughout the manual.

Italicized Text

• Labeled buttons, menu commands, dialog box text, and any text in an onscreen form are italicized; for example, “Choose the File menu.”

Menu titles, icon names, dialog box names, and unlabeled buttons are not italicized.

• A new term may be italicized the first time it is used; for example, “This is a Glossary section of the manual.

• Variable entries are italicized; for example, “The entry n must be between 4 and 18.”

field.” These terms and others are defined in the

fill text

Introduction - 5

Open

Courier font

Symbols

Using the Documentation

• The Courier font indicates text that you are supposed to enter; for example, “Type Sample1 in the

• The Courier font is also used to distinguish file paths and file and folder names from the rest of the text; for example, “Locate the Sample form in the OmniForm folder.”

Two symbols are used in this manual to highlight text.

File Name

text box and click

OK.

”

This symbol means

It introduces a tip or an item of note.

Note.

Warning.

It introduces cautionary text.

Introduction - 6

Chapter 2

Installation and Setup

This chapter describes how to install OmniForm and begin using it. It contains the following sections:

• Registering OmniForm

• System Requirements

• Installing OmniForm

• Starting OmniForm

Installation and Setup - 7

System Requirements

To install and run OmniForm, you need the following setup:

• Computer with an 80386 or higher processor.

• VGA or SVGA monitor.

• Windows-compatible mouse.

• 1.44MB high-density floppy disk drive and internal hard disk.

• A minimum of 11MB hard disk space for the US version; 15MB for the International English version.

• If you plan to scan forms, you need a Hewlett-Packard (ScanJet Plus or above), Visioneer, or TWAIN-compatible scanner.

• Total system memory of at least 8MB RAM for Windows 95 and Windows 3.1; 12MB for Windows NT.

• At least a 4MB permanent swap file for Windows 3.1.

• MS-DOS 5.0 or above for Windows 3.1.

OmniForm 2.01 for Windows 95 and Windows NT will not run on earlier versions of Windows.

System Requirements

Registering OmniForm

Registering your copy of OmniForm entitles you to technical support, notification of special offers and upgrades, and the lowest price offered on the next OmniForm upgrade.

Please complete and send in the registration card included in your OmniForm package.

See “Caere Product Support” on page 271 for information on technical support.

Installation and Setup - 8

Installing OmniForm

This section describes how to install OmniForm on Windows 95, and on Windows NT and 3.1.

OmniForm automatically decides which version of the program to install. If you are running Windows 3.1, for example, OmniForm installs the 16-bit Windows 3.1 version of OmniForm.

Close all applications — including screen savers and mail applications — to free up memory before installing OmniForm.

Installing on a Windows 95 System

1 Start Windows 95.

Installing OmniForm

2 Click

The Control Panel appears.

3 Double-click

The Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box appears. 4 Click 5 Insert OmniForm disk #1 in your computer’s floppy drive and

follow the instruction in the dialog boxes.

Windows fills the

automatically and the InstallShield Wizard appears to guide

you through the setup process. 6 Follow the instructions in each dialog box that appears, and

insert other installation disks as prompted. (Installation may

not require all the disks provided.)

OmniForm installs by default to the location c:\Program

Files. You can select another location if you wish.

in the Taskbar and choose

Start

Add/Remove Programs.

Install...

in the

Install/Uninstall

Command line for installation program

Settings

tab.

Control Panel



text box

Installation and Setup - 9

Installing on a Windows NT or 3.1 System

1 Start Windows NT or 3.1 and open the Program Manager

window. 2 Insert OmniForm disk #1 in drive a: (or b:) of your computer.

Installing OmniForm

3 Choose

The Run dialog box appears. 4Type a:\setup (or b:\setup) in the

and click OK.

The InstallShield Wizard appears to guide you through the

setup process. 5 Follow the instructions in each dialog box that appears.

OmniForm creates a Caere Applications folder if necessary. You

can select another folder in the Select Program Folder dialog

box if you wish. 6 Insert other installation disks as prompted. (Installation may

not require all the disks provided.)

An OmniForm icon is added to the Caere Applications

program group when installation is complete.

in the Program Manager File menu.

Run

Command Line

text box

Installation and Setup - 10

Starting OmniForm

This section describes how to launch OmniForm after it is installed. Any instruction for Windows NT and 3.1, when different from that for Windows 95, appears immediately after the Windows 95 instruction.

Starting OmniForm

Install your scanner and test it in Windows OmniForm. Consult your scanner documentation or the scanner manufacturer to resolve any scanner problems that occur.

To start OmniForm:

1 Click

Windows NT and 3.1 users: double-click the OmniForm icon in

the Caere Applications folder.

Form Assistant appears. It contains six options. Each is a basic

OmniForm procedure.

in the Taskbar and choose

Start

using it with

before

Programs

OmniForm



2 Select an option and click

Click

choose a particular option.

See Chapter 5, OmniForm Procedures, for detailed information on the basic OmniForm procedures.

to close Form Assistant if you do not want to

Cancel

Next>.

Installation and Setup - 11

Chapter 3

Tutorials

These tutorials guide you through some of the main features of OmniForm. There are four sections in this chapter:

• Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

• Tutorial 2 — Edit and Design a Form

• Tutorial 3 — Design Your Own Form

• Tutorial 4 — The OmniForm Database

Perform these exercises in order if you are new to OmniForm. Each new exercise builds upon skills learned in the previous one. Choose the tutorial you want to practice if you already know the basics of scanning, designing, and using forms.

The tutorials cross-reference sections in this manual for additional information on each subject. Read the other chapters in the manual to learn about OmniForm features not discussed here.

Most screenshots in this chapter were taken in Windows 95. Your dialog boxes and windows may look slightly different if you are using Windows NT or Windows 3.1.

Tutorials - 12

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

You will load the Sample form in this exercise in one of three ways:

• Scan in the Sample form with a scanner if you have one. The form

is supplied inside this manual.

• Fax the Sample form to your computer’s fax modem if you have

no scanner, use your fax software to save it as a PCX or TIFF file, and open it in OmniForm. The form is inside this manual.

• Locate and open the Sample.tif file if you have no scanner and

no fax modem. It was placed in your OmniForm\Sample Forms folder during installation.

Decide which method you want to use. You can try all three methods eventually if you own both a scanner and a fax modem.

After you have loaded the form into OmniForm, you will practice various features of the program.

Launch OmniForm

Click

Windows NT and 3.1 users: double-click the OmniForm icon in

the Caere Applications folder.

The Form Assistant dialog box appears.

in the taskbar and choose

Start

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

Programs

OmniForm



If you accidentally close the Form Assistant dialog box, click the Form Assistant button in the standard toolbar to reopen it.

Tutorials - 13

• See the next section if you have a scanner and want to scan the

form.

• See “Fax the Sample Form” on page 17 if you have a fax machine

and a fax modem and want to fax the form to your computer.

• See “Import an Image File” on page 17 if you do not have a

scanner or a fax modem, or if you want to use this method instead of the other two methods.

Scan the Sample Form

1 Select 2 Select a source for the form in the next window.

Scan in a form

and then click

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

Next>

•Select

3 Click 4 Users who selected

Source...

• Select a source in the Select Source dialog box.

• Click

• Proceed to step 8 on page 15.

5 Click

Hewlett-Packard Scanner

proceed to step 5.

TWAIN (all other scanners)

compatible scanner that is not an HP scanner.

Next>

TWAIN

in the next window to select a TWAIN source.

to return to Form Assistant.

Select

to continue.

Next>

if you have an HP scanner and

if you have a TWAIN-

as the source can click

Select

Tutorials - 14

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

6Select

in the next window if this option is not selected

Letter

already.

The Sample form is a letter-sized page. 7 Click

Next>

The next window offers two form usage options. 8 Select the second option.

You will just fill the form in this exercise, not work on its

design. 9 Click

Next>

The next window prompts you to place a page in your scanner. 10 Make sure the page is aligned correctly in your scanner, and

click

Finish.

Tutorials - 15

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

OmniForm scans the form. The OmniForm window displays

scanning, designing, and straightening progress.

The Sample form opens as Form1 in fill view. It should look the

same as the original copy of the form. 11 Click the Save button or choose

in the File menu.

Save

The Save As dialog box appears. 12 Type Sample1 in the

File name

text box and click

Save.

Proceed to the section “Filling in the Form” on page 21 to begin using OmniForm’s tools.

Tutorials - 16

Fax the Sample Form

To fax the Sample form, you need the following:

• a fax modem connected to your computer

• fax software that is compatible with your fax modem

• access to a regular fax machine

To fax the form:

1 Make sure your fax modem is turned on and that your fax

software is set up to receive a call.

Refer to your fax manual(s) for information. 2 Place the Sample form in the fax machine.

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

3 Set faxing resolution to

This setting faxes the form at a resolution of 200 x 200 dots per

inch (dpi). OmniForm may have trouble recognizing

documents faxed at a lower resolution. (

200 x 100 dpi.) Check your fax machine’s manual if you need

more information about its settings. 4 Dial your fax modem’s number and fax the Sample form as you

normally would. 5 Once received, use your fax software to open the Sample form

and save it as a PCX or TIFF file.

Again, refer to your fax software manual if you do not know

how to do this. 6 See the next section, “Import an Image File” for instructions on

how to convert your fax file into an electronic form in

OmniForm.

Import an Image File

OmniForm can recognize PCX or TIFF image files. An image is an electronic picture of text and/or graphics. This could be a form created in another program or one received as a fax file. See the previous section, “Fax the Sample Form” if you want to create a fax file to import.

You will import an image file in this exercise. You can import a fax file if you have one, or import the Sample.tif form that was placed in your OmniForm/Sample Forms folder during installation.

Fine

Best

Standard

resolution is

Tutorials - 17

Load the Image File in OmniForm

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

1 Select 2Select

3 Click

Scan in a form Fax or Image

Browse...

in Form Assistant and then click

in the next window and then click

in the next window.

Next>

The Browse dialog box appears.

Tutorials - 18

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

4 This is how the dialog box looks in Windows 3.1 and NT.

5 This is how the dialog box looks in Windows 95.

•Select

TIFF Files

in the

Files of type

drop-down list if you want

to import the Sample.tif file. Locate and select the Sample file in the OmniForm\Sample Forms (omniform\samples in Windows 3.1) folder.

• Locate and select your fax file if you created one in the previous exercise.

• Click

The file name appears in the

6 Click

Next>.

to return to Form Assistant.

Open

File name

text box.

The next window offers two form usage options.

Tutorials - 19

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

7 Select the second option.

You will just fill the form in this exercise, not work on its design.

8 Click

Finish>

The OmniForm window displays scanning, designing, and straightening progress.

The Sample form opens as Form1 in fill view.

Tutorials - 20

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

Filling in the Form

Standard toolbar in fill view

9 Click the Save button or choose

in the File menu.

Save

The Save As dialog box appears.

10 Type Sample1 in the

File Name

text box and click

Save.

The next section shows you how to begin using OmniForm’s tools.

The Sample form you scanned or imported in the previous exercise opens in fill view.

Status text

If you closed the form after the last exercise, click

Cancel

in Form

Assistant if it opens when you next launch OmniForm. Choose in the File menu and locate the Sample1 file where you saved it.

Tutorials - 21

Open...

Fill View Overview

The standard toolbar appears below the menus. The buttons correspond to various menu commands. See “Menu Commands” on page 110 for a description of all menu commands.

Hold the cursor over any button in the toolbar to see its function.

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

1 Place your cursor over one of the buttons and hold it there

without clicking. A ToolTip describes the button’s function.

Corresponding status text simultaneously appears in the status bar at the bottom of the window.

2 Click the Highlight button in the toolbar or choose

Areas

OmniForm highlights all recognized fields in yellow. This

makes it easy to see which fields you can fill. 3 Click the button again to turn field highlighting back on. 4 Click the Zoom button and select a page view in the drop-

down list.

Alternatively, choose

in the cascading menu.

You have a choice of

400%, Page Width, or Whole Page

Fill in the Fields

1 Click the field after

place the cursor there.

This is a 2 Type your name in the fill text field.

Highlight Fill

in the View menu to turn off field highlighting.

in the View menu and select a view

Zoom

50%, 75%, 100%, 150%, 200%, 300%,

views.

on the form or press the Tab key to

Name

fill text

field. The word

on the form is

Name

text

Tutorials - 22

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

3 Continue to press the Tab key to move to and fill in the

City,

and

fields (or click to place the cursor there).

State

You can press Shift-Tab to move to a previous field. 4 Tab to or click in the

This is a

elements.

field. This is a field that is subdivided into

comb

The next fields,

Zip Code

field.

Phone Number

and

Fax Number,

also comb fields. 5 Type five numbers in the

Zip Code

field.

You do not have to click in each box in the field. OmniForm

moves the cursor automatically for you. 6 Tab to or click in the

Phone Number

comb field and type ten

numbers.

The parentheses are already on the form, but you have to type a

hyphen between numbers yourself.

7 Fill in the

The next item is a

Fax Number

comb field.

. A table contains

table

and each cell

cells

contains a field. The cells in the table are all fill text fields. The

headers in the table are text and cannot be changed in fill view.

• Click in the field under

Description

and type Elvis Dancing

Dinner Set.

Address,

comb

are

• Press the Tab key to move to the field under

79.99

• Fill in as many fields as you like.

Quantity

and type

Cost

and type

Tutorials - 23

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

8 Move down the page and click in the square next to the words

Check here to receive our next magazine.

OmniForm provides tools to compensate for missing information on forms. The next section describes how to create the circle text field, as well as other design and formatting techniques.

Design View

There are two views in OmniForm: fill view and design view. You fill in fields in fill view. In design view, you can create and format objects (these become fields in fill view) and add graphics to a form, among other functions.

Click the Design button in the standard toolbar or choose View menu.

As a handy shortcut, click the right mouse button to open a shortcut menu. Choose

An “X” appears in the box. This is a 9 Click the word

more information?

Nothing happens. This should be a

no circle on the form to indicate this to OmniForm during form

recognition.

Design

next to the words

Ye s

in this menu.

check box

Would you like to receive

circle text

field.

field but there was

Design

in the

Tutorials - 24

Standard toolbar

Drawing toolbar

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

OmniForm switches to design view. Any text you entered in fill view disappears in design view. It still exists in fill view.

Font/text toolbar Arrange toolbar

There are four toolbars in design view: the standard toolbar (different in design view than in fill view), the font/text toolbar, the drawing toolbar, and the arrange toolbar.

• Use the standard toolbar for basic file operations such as saving

and printing, and for working with objects.

• Use the font/text toolbar to format characters and paragraphs.

• Use the drawing toolbar to create objects: circles, tables, text, etc.

• Use the arrange toolbar to arrange and align objects on a form.

(Design view also contains the calculation toolbar which appears when you choose

Calculation

in the Tools menu. See Chapter 9, Using

Calculations, for more information.)

Tutorials - 25

Create a Circle Text field

1 Click the Circle Text tool in the drawing toolbar.

Your cursor changes to a plus sign with a circle.

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

2 Draw a circle (or oval) around the word

Format Text

1 Click the table to select it. 2 Click the first field under the word

3 Click the Right Alignment button in the font/text toolbar.

4 Choose

5Select

next to the words

Ye s

Would you like to receive more information?

You will select this circle later in fill view.

in the table to select it.

Cost

In an object with multiple elements — a comb or table — you

must always click to select the whole object first and then click

again to select the specific element.

Hold your cursor over the button without clicking to see the

ToolTip if you have trouble finding the button.

Now numbers entered in this

you format the other cells under

cell will be right-aligned. If

Cost

all the decimal points will

Cost

line up.

Select Special...

in the Edit menu.

The Select Special dialog box opens.

Fill Text

and click

OK.

All fill text fields are selected, including the fill text fields in the

table cells. 6 Click the Bold button in the font/text toolbar

Now all text in the fill text fields will be bold.

Tutorials - 26

Return to Fill View

1 Click the Fill button in the standard toolbar to return to fill

view.

The text in fill fields is now bold and the number in the table’s

cell is right-aligned.

Cost

Tutorial 1 — Load and Fill a Form

2Click the word

next to the words

Yes

Would you like to receive

more information?

This time, a circle appears around the word

Ye s .

Print the Form

1 Click the Save button or choose 2 Choose

Print...

in the File menu.

Save

The Print dialog box appears. 3 Select the print options you want. 4 Click OK in the Print dialog box to print a copy of your form.

See “Using the Print... Command” on page 97 for detailed information on the Print dialog box.

Fax the Form

You must have fax hardware and software installed in order to fax a form. Refer to your fax documentation for instructions on how to set up your equipment for faxing. Faxing uses the

1 Choose

Print...

in the File menu.

command.

The Print dialog box appears. 2 Select the print options you want. 3 Click OK in the Print dialog box to fax a copy of your form.

Depending on your fax software, more dialog boxes may

appear after you click OK in the Print dialog box.

See “Using the Print... Command” on page 97 for detailed information on the Print dialog box.

You will practice more advanced form editing and design in the next tutorial.

Tutorials - 27

Tutorial 2 — Edit and Design a Form

You will scan or import the Sample form into OmniForm again in this exercise. This time, you will bypass the Form Assistant dialog box so that you can see which buttons and menu commands to use. You will verify and correct OCR, and practice redesigning the form. See Chapter 6, Designing a Form, for detailed information on form design.

Launch OmniForm

If OmniForm is already open, proceed to the next section.

Tutorial 2 — Edit and Design a Form

1 Click

launch OmniForm if it is not open already.

Windows NT and 3.1 users: double-click the OmniForm icon in

the Caere Applications folder. 2 Click

in the taskbar and choose

Start

in the Form Assistant dialog box when it appears.

Cancel

Scan or Import the Sample Form

See below for instructions on scanning the sample form. See page 29 instructions on importing the sample.tif image file.

To scan the form:

1 Click the Scan Form button in the standard toolbar or choose

Scan Form...

The Scan Form dialog box appears.

in the File menu.

Programs

OmniForm



2 Select an option in the

•Select

HP Scanner

HP scanner. Proceed to step 3.

TWAIN

TWAIN-compatible scanner.

in the

drop-down list.

Source

drop-down list if you have an

Source

drop-down list if you have a

Source

Tutorials - 28

Tutorial 2 — Edit and Design a Form

Click

Select Source...

to select a TWAIN source. Click OK to

return to the Scan Form dialog box. Proceed to step 3.

3Select

Auto Form Design

to use Logical Form Recognition to

recognize text and fillable fields in the form. 4 Click

OK.

OmniForm scans the form, recognizes both text and fields, and

opens it in design view. 5 Click the Save button or choose

in the File menu.

Save

The Save As dialog box appears. 6Type Sample2 in the

File Name

text box and click

Save.

Proceed to the section “Verifying the OCR” on page 31 to begin using OmniForm’s design tools.

To import the form as an image file:

1 Click the Scan Form button in the standard toolbar or choose

Scan Form...

in the File menu.

The Scan Form dialog box appears.

2Select 3 Click

Image File(s)

Select Files...

•Select

TIFF Files

in the

drop-down list.

Source

to open the Select Files dialog box.

in the

Files of Type

drop-down list.

• Windows 95/NT users: locate the sample.tif file in the OmniForm\Sample Forms folder.

• Windows 3.1 users: locate the sample.tif file in the omniform\samples directory.

Tutorials - 29

Tutorial 2 — Edit and Design a Form

• Double-click the file to place it in the

Files to Process

list box.

• Click OK to return to the Scan Form dialog box.

4 Click OK in the Scan Form dialog box. 5 OmniForm loads the form, recognizes both text and fields, and

opens it in design view.

6 Click the Save button or choose

in the File menu.

Save

The Save As dialog box appears.

7Type Sample2 in the

File Name

text box and click

OK.

The next section explains how to begin using OmniForm’s design tools.

Tutorials - 30

+ 250 hidden pages