Nuance ScanSoft OmniPage Pro - 18.0 User’s Guide
User’s Guide
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Copyright © 2011 Nuance Communications, 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 Nuance Communications, Inc., 1 Wayside Road,
Burlington, Massachusetts 01803-4609.
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
Nuance Communications, Inc. provides this publication "As Is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including bu t not
limited to the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Some states or jurisdictions do not allow disclaimer of
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or changes.
TRADEMARKS AND CREDIT S
Nuance, ScanSoft, OmniPage, PaperPort, True Page, Direct OCR, Logical Form Recognition, RealSpeak are registered trademarks or
trademarks of Nuance Communications, 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.
Nuance Communications, Inc.
1 Wayside Road
Burlington, MA 01803-4609
U.S.A.
Nuance Communications International BVBA
International Headquarters
Guldensporenpark 32
Building D
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C ONTENTS
WELCOME 5
New features in OmniPage 18 7
New features in OmniPage 17 8
Key features in OmniPage Professional 10
INSTALLATION AND SETUP 11
System requirements 11
Installing OmniPage 12
Setting up your scanner with OmniPage 13
How to start the program 14
Registering your software 15
Activating OmniPage 16
Uninstalling the software 16
USING OMNIPAGE 17
OmniPage Documents 17
The OmniPage Desktop and Views 18
24
Basic Processing Steps 24
How to use OmniPage with PaperPort 25
PROCESSING DOCUMENTS 26
Processing methods 26
Defining the source of page imagesFigure 29
Describing the layout of the document 34
Preprocessing Images 35
Zones and backgrounds 43
PROOFING AND EDITING 50
The editor display and formatting levels 50
Proofreading OCR results 51
Verifying text 52
The Character Map 52
User dictionaries 53
Languages 53
Training 56
Text and image editing 57
On-the-fly editing 59
Marking and redacting 60
Reading text aloud 60
Creating and editing forms 61
OmniPage 18 User’s Guide 3
SAVING AND EXPORTING 65
Saving and Exporting 65
Saving original images 65
Saving recognition results 66
Sending pages by mail 71
Sending to Kindle 71
Other export targets 73
WORKFLOWS 74
Workflow Assistant 76
Batch Manager 78
Creating new jobs 78
Watched folders 82
Watched mailboxes 83
Barcode processing 83
File-it Assistant 85
TECHNICAL INFORMATION 86
Troubleshooting 86
Supported file types 89
INDEX 90
OmniPage 18 User’s Guide 4
Welcome
Welcome to this OmniPage® 18 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 18. 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. Descriptions are based on the
Windows 7TM operating system.
In line with Nuance’s environmental polic y, the Guide is supplied as a PDF file only. To have a
printed copy on normal sized paper, we recommend double-sided printing with two pages per
sheet.
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 18. Please refer to
the scanner’s own documentation as necessary.
How-to-Guides
The How-to-Guides can be accessed from the Help menu. They are a series of mini-guides that
help you get started easily by providing concise overviews of key program areas, such as getting
input, image improvement, zoning, recognition, editing, proofreading, new features, and the
like.
Welcome 5
Electronic Help
OmniPage 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 HTML help system has been designed for quick and easy information
retrieval. Help is available after you install OmniPage.
Comprehensive context-sensitive help aims to provide just enough assistance to let you keep
working without delay . It is available from dialog boxes. Press F1 in any dialog box to access it,
or click the help button if the dialog box has one.
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 Nuance® web site at www.nuance.com provides timely information on the program. The
Scanner Guide (http://www.nuance.com/scannerguide/) contains up-dated information about
supported scanners and related issues; Nuance tests the 25 most widely used scanner models.
Access Nuance’s web site from the OmniPage 18 Installer or afterwards from the Help menu.
Tech Notes
The web site at www.nuance.com contains Tech Notes on commonly reported issues using
OmniPage. Web pages may also offer assistance on the installation process and troubleshooting.
Welcome 6
New features in OmniPage 18
If you are upgrading from version 17, you benefit from the following innovations. Click the
links to for more information.
• Start Page: When OmniPage opens it presents clear options to open or scan documents,
open OmniPage Project Documents and provides pre-programmed workflows to take
your documents from one format to another in one easy step.
• eDiscovery Assistant for searchable PDF: This process is specially designed to create
Searchable PDF files from image-only PDF files or files that may already contain some
text elements or text pages without altering or applying an OCR process to existing text.
All text-based elements in a PDF remain untouched including document metadata,
annotations, mark-up, stamps and more. The process can run automatically or with
interaction for zoning or proofing. See “eDiscovery Assistant for searchable PDF” on
page 70.
• Connect to the Cloud: Download input files from web storage sites and return
recognition results there. OmniPage provides native integration with Evernote and
Dropbox. In addition, the included Nuance Cloud Connector application provides
access to a number of cloud services including Microsoft Live SkyDrive, GoogleDocs,
Box.net, FTP sites, and many more. The added benefit of the Nuance Cloud Connector
is its ability to integrate directly with Microsoft Windows providing easy drag-and-drop
access directly to cloud services. The Nuance Cloud Connector is also upgradeable to a
more feature rich version of the product called Gladinet Cloud Desktop Pro. This
enhanced version adds additional functionality for using cloud services for automatic
backup and file synchronization. See “Input from the Cloud” on page 30 and “Other
export targets” on page 73.
• New image enhancement (SET) tools: The algorithms for removing speckles and dots
from page images for increased word accuracy are improved, with a choice of
despeckling methods (Normal, Halftone, Salt & Pepper). Auto-crop pages to have
margins detected and reduced; the punch hole remover and border tools produce clean
page borders without scanning shadows and marginal notes. When whiteboard content is
captured by digital camera, the text and diagrams can be enhanced for maximum
readability. See “Image Enhancement Tools” on page 37
Welcome New features in OmniPage 18 7
• Better control over determining blank pages: A new sensitivity setting increases the
accuracy of detecting blank pages that may scan as light gray or colored pages by
allowing the threshold for blankness to be adjusted. This improves the use of two
controls within OmniPage: the new pre-processing option 'Drop blank pages' and the
existing saving option 'Create a new file at each blank page'.
• Automatic language detection: Let the program assign a single language for OCR to
each incoming page during unattended processing. See “Asian language recognition” on
page 54.
• Accept proofing suggestions by shortcuts: Suggestions in the Proofreader are
numbered. As an alternative to clicking a suggestion to select it and Change to accept it,
hold down the Ctrl key and enter the suggestion number. See “Proofing and editing” on
page 47.
• ISIS scanners: Scanners that support ISIS drivers can be used to scan directly into
OmniPage.
New features in OmniPage 17
If you are upgrading from version 16, you benefit from the following innovations. Click the
links to for more information.
• Asian recognition: OCR services are provided for Japanese, Korean, Simplified
Chinese and Traditional Chinese, with support for both horizontal and vertical text flow
and embedded English texts. Results can be viewed and verified in the T ext Editor. See
“Asian language recognition” on page 54.
• Vertical non-Asian texts: Auto-detection of vertical texts in two rotations functions
inside table cells and anywhere on PDF or XPS pages, and in certain cases on other
image file types. Tools allow vertical text zones to be drawn manually. Texts display
vertically and can be edited in the Text Editor, using the Tr ue Page® formatting level. In
other levels the texts are displayed horizontally. See “Automatic zoning” on page 43.
and See “Zone types and properties” on page 44.
• Easy Loader: This provides a Windows Explorer-like display of the file system in one
of the OmniPage windows, to keep files visible during your work and deliver full
Explorer functionality, yielding quick file selections; a dialog box with a lock facility
Welcome New features in OmniPage 17 8
lets a file set be built up before loading starts. With Quick Convert View it allows not
only fast file loading but also 'one-click' total processing: load > recognize > save. See
“Input via Easy Loader” on page 30.
• Expanded ECM support: Links are available to Hummingbird (OpenText) and
iManage (Interwoven). When using SharePoint, the server, login and password
information must be provided only once per session, and is offered in each subsequent
session.
• Support for Office 2007 and 2010: The Direct OCR buttons appear on a separate
Nuance OCR tab instead of being mixed with all other Add-Ins.
• More robust batch processing: The Batch Manager automatically skips files that
cannot be processed – including those blocked by password requirements – without
stopping the main flow of work. The Job results window indicates which files were not
processed.
• Running: The program’s launch speed is increased and performance is considerably
improved on multi-core computers. Support for quad-core machines is introduced.
• Linking workflows to scanner buttons: OmniPage functions and workflows can be
associated with scanner buttons, so the whole pre-processing, recognition and storage of
documents can be launched from the scanner. See “Scanning to OmniPage and
workflows” on page 33.
• Output to Kindle: The Kindle Assistant lets you create workflows to send recognition
results to a Kindle account at Amazon and receive them displayed on a Kindle device
registered with that account. See “Sending to Kindle” on page 71.
• Other improvements: Advances to image pre-processing provide better layout
retention and overall accuracy – particularly in XPS files and document-to-document
conversions. HD photo (JPEG XR) image loading is supported. Integration with
Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint is enhanced. Linearized PDF files can be
created, so they are optimized for faster web viewing.
Welcome New features in OmniPage 17 9
Key features in OmniPage Professional
This icon is used throughout the guide to denote features that are available only in OmniPage
Professional 18.
• Extracting data from filled forms: A workflow step allows data to be extracted from
sets of forms and exported to databases, based on a PDF form template. The forms can
be active PDF forms, static forms in a range of image formats or scanned paper forms.
• Marking and redacting: Text can be highlighted, struckout or redacted (made
unreadable) in the T ext Editor. Redacting is useful for legal documents or for those with
confidential content.
• File-it Assistant: A more efficient aid for creating and using barcode cover page
workflows. These allow for automatic processing and storage of documents driven by
the push of just one scanner button.
A more complete list of features, and the differences between various OmniPage versions
appears in Help.
OmniPage 18 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.
Welcome Key features in OmniPage Professional 10
Installation and setup
This chapter provides information on installing and starting OmniPage.
System requirements
The minimum requirements to install and run OmniPage 18 are:
• A computer with a 1 GHz Intel
or Quad-core support recommended.
• Microsoft Windows
®
XPTM 32-bit (SP3) with 400 MHz processor, or Windows®
VistaTM 32-bit (SP2) or Windows® Vista
(32-bit and 64-bit) with a 1 GHz processor.
• 512MB of memory (RAM), 1GB recommended for advanced performance.
• 250MB of free hard disk space for application and sample images plus 100MB working
space during installation. Additionally:
• 230MB for all Nuance RealSpeak
American English language module, additional 10-15MB per RealSpeak Solo
other language modules)
• 30MB for the Nuance Cloud Connector
®
Pentium® processor or higher, or equivalent. Dual-core
TM
64-bit (SP2) or Microsoft Windows® 7TM
®
modules (90MB for RealSpeak® Solo
• 150MB for Nuance PDF Create (Supplied with OmniPage Professional only).
• 500MB for PaperPort
• 1024x768 pixel color monitor with 16-bit color or greater video card.
• A CD-ROM drive for installation or web access suitable for download.
• A sound card and speaker for reading text aloud.
• A Windows compatible pointing device.
• 2-megapixel digital camera or higher, with auto-focus, for digital camera text capture.
®
(Supplied with OmniPage Professional only).
See Help for details.
• A compatible scanner with its own scanner driver software for scanning documents
(WIA, TWAIN, or ISIS scanner driver). See the Scanner Guide at Nuance’s web site
(www.nuance.com) for a list of supported scanners.
Chapter 1 Installation and setup 11
• Web access needed for online Activation, Registration, Live Update, Nuance Cloud
Connectors, and Scanner Wizard database updating.
• East Asian language handling must be installed in the operating system to view
Japanese, Chinese or Korean documents. (Control Panel / Regional and Language
Options).
Installing OmniPage
OmniPage 18’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 own a previous version of OmniPage, or if you are upgrading from demonstration
software or an OmniPage Special Edition, you must uninstall that product first.
To install OmniPage:
1. Download the program file and choose Run when the download is completed, or insert the
OmniPage CD-ROM in your 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 you receive by e-mail or find on the CD envelope.
3. Choose a complete or a custom installation. A complete installation installs all RealSpeak
Text-to-Speech language modules (currently 9). Custom installation lets you exclude or add
modules. To exclude a module, click its down arrow and select ‘This feature will not be
available’.
®
4. Follow the instructions on each screen to install the software. All files needed for scanning
are copied automatically during installation.
Unless deselcted in the OmniPage Professional installation, Nuance PDF Create 7 installation
starts as soon the installation of OmniPage is completed. Document-to-document conversions
depend on PDF Create being present.
Chapter 1 Installing OmniPage 12
OmniPage Professional is supplied with a complimentary copy of the Nuance PaperPort
®
document management product. This must be installed separately and has its own system
requirements.
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 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 > Nuance > OmniPage 18 > 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.
• 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.
Chapter 1 Setting up your scanner with OmniPage 13
• 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 18!
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 18 do one of the following:
• Click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose All Programs > Nuance > OmniPage 18
> OmniPage [Professional] 18.
Chapter 1 How to start the program 14
• 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” in the next
chapter.
• 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 a view selection panel. OmniPage
has three basic view types. For details, see The OmniPage Desktop and Views in the next
chapter. It provides an introduction to the program’s main working areas.
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 > Nuance > OmniPage 18 > OmniPage Batch Manager. See the Workflows
chapter.
• Click Acquire Text from the File menu of an application registered with the Direct
OCR™ facility. See “How to set up Direct OCR” in the Processing Documents chapter.
• Right-click on one or more image file icons or file names in Wndows Explorer for a
shortcut menu. Select OmniPage 18 and choose a target format, or the Convert Now
Wizard or a workflow from its sub-menu. The files will be processed according to the
workflow instructions. See the Workflows chapter.
• Click the OmniPage Agent icon on the taskbar. Choose a workflow to start the
program and run the workflow.
• Use OmniPage 18 with Nuance’s PaperPort document management product, to add
OCR services. See “How to use OmniPage with PaperPort” in the Using OmniPage
chapter.
Registering your software
Nuance’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.nuance.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 Nuance’ s Privacy Policy.
Chapter 1 Registering your software 15
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 18 can be launched only a limited number of 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 (*.zon)
Image enhancement templates (*.ipp)
Training files (*.otn)
User dictionaries (*.ud)
OmniPage Documents (*.opd)
Job files (*.opj)
Workflow files (*.xwf)
To uninstall you must be logged into your computer with administrator privileges.
To uninstall or reinstall OmniPage:
• Close OmniPage.
• Click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose the Control Panel and then Uninstall a
program (in earlier Windows versions: Add/Remove Programs).
• Select OmniPage and click Uninstall (in earlier Windows versions: 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.
• 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® modules that were
installed with the program will also be uninstalled. With OmniPage 18 Professional, Nuance
PDF Create 7 and PaperPort must be uninstalled separately.
Chapter 1 Activating OmniPage 16
Using OmniPage
OmniPage 18 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)
Text formatting (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 preprocessed) with any zones placed on them. After recognition, the OPD also contains
the recognition results.
An OmniPage Document can contain an embedded user dictionary, training file,
zone template file, or an image enhancement template file. This can increase file size
considerably but makes the OPD more portable. T o embed a file, open the relevant dialog box
from the Tools menu, select the desired file and click Embed. Use the Extract button to get a
local copy of an embedded file inside an OPD you have received.
When you open an OmniPage Document, its settings are applied, replacing those existing in
the program.
Chapter 2 OmniPage Documents 17
The OmniPage Desktop and Views
OmniPage comes with three different views to suit your task.
• Classic View - This view has a similar look and feel to previous versions of
OmniPage.
• Flexible View - This view provides an alternate layout of the OmniPage function
panels stacked in a tabbed view to give each panel more space.
• Quick Convert View - This view is designed for quick and easy document conversion
without having to learn a lot. The most important conversion options are clearly
visible on one screen.
Use the Window menu to switch between views and to save your own custom view (see later).
On starting a new session you receive the view and screen arrangement that was in force
when the program was last closed.
All three views can be reset to default values using ‘Reset Current View’ in the Windows
menu.
Program Panels
OmniPage has a set of panels that can be docked (tabbed or tiled), floated, resized, minimized
and restored separately. These include: Thumbnails, Page Image, Text Editor, Document
Manager, Easy Loader, Workflow Status, and Help. To float a panel double-click its title bar
or tab. To restore the floating panel to its previous docked position, double-click its title bar.
To dock it to a new location, drag it to that location. A colored rectangle shows the docking
position - release the mouse button to dock it. To see all possible docking positions one after
the other (tiles and tabs), drag the panel over the OmniPage main window, holding down the
left mouse button and pressing the spacebar repeatedly . When the desired location is indicated
by coloring, release the mouse button. To move a floating panel without docking displays,
keep CTRL pushed while dragging.
Classic View
In Classic View, the default OmniPage Desktop has four main tiled working areas, separated
by splitters: the Document Manager, the Page Image, Thumbnails and the Text Editor. The
Page Image has an Image toolbar and the Text Editor has a Formatting toolbar.
Chapter 2 The OmniPage Desktop and Views 18
Standard
Toolbar
Formatting toolbar
Page Image
Text Editor
Document
Manager
OmniPage
Toolbox
Thumbnails
Status bar
Image
toolbar
OmniPage toolbox: This Toolbox lets you drive the processing.
Thumbnails panel: This displays page thumbnails.
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.
Page Image: This displays the image of the current page with its zones. When a page is
displayed, the Image toolbar is available.
Text Editor: Displays recognition results from the current page.
Panels can be re-arranged freely - horizontally or vertically; use the Window menu to open the
Easy Loader, Workflow Status or Help panels. Panels can be minimized or closed, but not
tabbed. To restore the default Classic View appearance, choose Reset Current View in the
Window menu.
Chapter 2 The OmniPage Desktop and Views 19
Flexible View
Use this view to set up the OmniPage workspace so that it fits your task optimally. By default
all panels appear. There are five tabs: Page Image (including Thumbnails), Text Editor, Easy
Loader, Workflow Status and Help. The Document Manager appears in a horizontal panel at
the base of the working area. You can undock, move, minimize, group or close panels as
already described. Drag a tab onto the working area to convert it to a Classic-type tiled panel.
Drag it back to the tab bar to revert to a tabbed panel, or use the Spacebar as already
described. If panels are grouped, the tab name shows the active one. To restore the default
Flexible View appearance, choose Reset Current View in the Window menu.
Easy Loader provides a Windows Explorer type file listing and functionality that can remain
open during the session, allowing quick file selection and assembly (see Chapter 4, page 30).
Suggested scenarios:
Maximizing workspace (single screen)
Load a document. Open the panels you want to use. Grab them by their
captions one by one, and drag them so that they dock beside the active
one as tabs. You can also dock Help to avoid handling two separate
windows.
Working with recognition results (single screen)
Load a document and have it recognized. Close all panels except the
Document Manager and the Text Editor. Maximize both horizontally,
scale down the Document Manager and dock it to the top or bottom.
You can now step through the pages double-clicking them one by one
in the Document Manager, inspecting recognition results in the Text
Editor. The number of suspect words and reject characters in the
Document Manager will help you identify problematic pages.
Chapter 2 The OmniPage Desktop and Views 20
Handling large documents (dual-screen)
Load the document you want to work on. Move its Thumbnail V iew to
your second monitor and maximize it for a large scale overview of
your document and far more space for thumbnail operations.
Verifying (dual-screen)
Place the Page Image on one screen and the Text Editor on the other.
This gives you more space for editing and proofing.
The Page Image is always available for verifying recognition and for
performing on-the-fly zoning and editing.
The scenarios presented above are only examples to give you an
idea of what you can do in Flexible View.
Chapter 2 The OmniPage Desktop and Views 21
Quick Convert View
Quick Convert Options:
document source and layout
output text format, formatting level
output folder and file name
saving options
page range
Page Image
Quick
Convert
toolbar
Processing
buttons
Page Image
panel title
Quick
Convert
Options on
toggled tab
with Easy
Loader
Use the Quick Convert View for fast recognition and saving. You can switch to Quick View
only when you have no opened document and it can handle only one input file and one output
document at a time.
The picture shows the default appearance.
The Easy Loader is by default on a tab that toggles with the Quick Convert Options panel. A
Help panel can be added, but further panels are not available in this view . You can change tabs
to separate panels and minimize them, as in other views.
After loading a file, you should convert it before loading the next file. When an image
conversion is finished, you do not need to explicitly close the image; just load a new file.
The Easy Loader in Quick View provides an additional feature: ‘one-click’ processing.
Choose the Easy Loader sub-menu in the Process menu and choose either Load Files or Get
and Convert. When the latter is chosen, multiple files can be selected – these files are loaded,
recognized and saved using the current settings. For this, set the output file names to be the
same as the source file names. See Chapter 4, page 30 and Help for detail.
Chapter 2 The OmniPage Desktop and Views 22
The Quick View Page Image panel includes the Quick Convert toolbar, offering the most
useful image handling operations. T o access advanced functionality, such as image file saving,
SET tools, on-the-fly zoning, zone reordering and manual zone drawing for vertical text, a
different view should be used.
Custom views
For a custom view, arrange the panels and toolbars as you wish, then choose Window >
Custom Views > Manage. Click Add and name your view. Your screen layouts will be
displayed in the Custom V iews submenu with a checkmark beside the active one. Resetting to
a default is not available for custom views.
Changing views
Use the Window menu to change views. Panels are shown or hidden and arranged as they
were when the chosen view was last used. The Help topic on display remains unchanged
regardless of view. Easy Loader retains its file location regardless of view and the Workflow
Status continues to display information on the last workflow run. On program restart, Help
displays the Welcome topic, Easy Loader the default folder location and Workflow status is
empty.
The Toolbars
The program has eleven main toolbars. Use the View menu to show, hide or customize them.
Status bar texts at the bottom edge of the OmniPage program window explain the purpose of
all tools.
Standard toolbar: Performs basic functions.
Image toolbar: Performs image, zoning and table operations. Three of its tool groups can
now be handled separately (mini-toolbars):
• Zones toolbar: Offers zoning tools.
• Rotate toolbar: Provides rotating tools.
• Table toolbar: Inserts, moves and removes row and column dividers.
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.
Mark Text toolbar: Performs text marking and redacting.
Chapter 2 The OmniPage Desktop and Views 23
Form Drawing toolbar: Creates new form elements.
Form Arrangement toolbar: Arranges and aligns form elements.
All toolbars can be moved and customized in each view to your particular needs, including
use of a secondary monitor.
The Form toolbars and the Mark Text toolbar (for details see Chapter 4, page 60)
appear only in OmniPage Professional 18.
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
from your file system, storage sites in the Cloud, FTP and more.
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
Direct OCR and can also schedule processing to run at a later time.
Processing methods are detailed in the next chapter and in 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.
Chapter 2 24
How to use OmniPage with PaperPort
The PaperPort® program is a paper management software product from
Nuance. 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
application’s PaperPort link, selecting Preferences and then selecting
OmniPage 18 as the OCR package. OCR settings can be specified, as
with Direct OCR.
PaperPort provides the easiest way to turn paper into 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.
PaperPort is included in the OmniPage Professional package. For application
information, refer to PaperPort’s own documentation. PaperPort must be installed
and uninstalled separately from OmniPage.
When PaperPort is available, its folder structure is offered in OmniPage’s Load from File and
Save to File dialog boxes.
Chapter 2 How to use OmniPage with PaperPort 25
Processing documents
This tutorial chapter describes different ways you can process a document and also provides
information on key parts of this processing.
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 auto-zone
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
5. Use button one to get a set of images.
6. 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.
7. Use button two to have the pages recognized.
8. Do proofing and editing as desired.
9. Use button three to save your results.
Chapter 3 Processing documents 26
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.
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 re-recognize 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 by pressing the Start button and choosing to process existing pages.
Workflow
A workflow consists of a series of steps and their settings. Typically it will include
a recognition step, but it does not have to. It does not have to conform to the 1-2-3
pattern of traditional processing. Workflows are listed in the Workflow drop-down list –
sample workflows plus any you create. Workflows allow you to handle recurring tasks more
efficiently , because all the steps and their sett ings are pre-defined. 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 W orkflow Assistant guide you in creating new workflows. It provides a choice of steps
and the settings they need. Click Next after each step to add another one. You can use the
Assistant just to get more guidance when doing automatic processing. See “Workflow
Assistant” in Chapter 4, page 76.
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.
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.
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
Chapter 3 Processing documents 27
It does not matter if your
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” in
Chapter 4, page 78.
Processing from other applications
You can use the Direct OCR™ feature to call on the recognition services of OmniPage while
you work in the following applications: Microsoft Office XP or higher, Corel WordPerfect 12
or X3. First you must check the Enable Direct OCR check box under Tools > Options >
General. Then, two buttons in the Office 2007 or 2010 Nuance OCR tab, or in an OmniPage
toolbar open the door to OCR facilities.
How to set up Direct OCR
Start the application you want connected to OmniPage. Start OmniPage, open the Options
dialog box at the General panel and select Enable Direct OCR.
In the target application, use the Acquire Text Settings button in the OmniPage toolbar (in
Office 2007 or 2010 go to the Nuance OCR tab). Select options in the following panels:
• OCR: languages, dictionaries, layout, fonts.
• Process: Image pre-processing, choices for PDF opening, feature retention.
• Output format: Set a formatting level
• Direct OCR: Automatic or manual zoning, perform or skip proofing, image source.
• Scanner: Set-up or change scanner settings.
These function for future Direct OCR work until you change them again; they are not applied
when OmniPage is used on its own.
How to use Direct OCR
Open your application and work in a document. To acquire recognition results from
1.
scanned pages, place them correctly in the scanner.
2. Use the OmniPage toolbar button Acquire T ext Settings or the same item in the target
application’s File menu (or the Nuance OCR tab in Office 2007 and 2010) to review your
recognition settings, if necessary; the Direct OCR panel lets you specify input from
scanner, image file or digital camera image files.
Chapter 3 Processing documents 28
3. Use the OmniPage toolbar button Acquire T ext or the same item in the File menu (use
the Nuance OCR tab in Office 2007 or 2010) to acquire images from the specified source.
4. If you selected Draw zones automatically in the Direct OCR panel of the Options dialog
box, under Acquire Text Settings, recognition proceeds immediately.
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 in the Output
Format panel under Acquire Text Settings.
Defining the source of page imagesFigure
There are three possible image sources: from image files, from a digital camera 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 multipage 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.
The minimum width or height for an image file is 16 by 16 pixels; the maximum is 8400
pixels (71cm or 28 inches at the resolution 201 to 600 dpi). See Help for pixel limits.
You can govern how PDF files are opened under Tools / Options / Process: open with the text
layer or as image, import tag information to assist layout retention and whether to use PDF
fonts or the mapped system fonts. See the eDiscovery Assistant for searchable PDF section
on how to make image-only PDF files searchable.
Input from image files
You can create image files from your own scanner, or receive them by e-mail or as fax files.
OmniPage can open a wide range of image file types. Select Load Files in the Get Pages dropdown 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.
Chapter 3 Processing documents 29
Input from the Cloud
The Get Pages drop-down list offers direct connections to the following web-based storage
sites: Evernote and Dropbox.
OmniPage 18 is delivered with a Nuance Cloud Connector component that can be
easily configured by choosing it from the Windows Sart menu in the OmniPage
group. Specify which further Cloud sites you wish to access, and also which FTP
sites you want to use for file input.
When taking files from the cloud you may have to provide login information.
In OmniPage Professional, files can also be imported from Microsoft SharePoint
2003, 2007 and 2010, Hummingbird, iManage and ODMA-compliant Enterprise
Content Management sources.
Input from digital camera
You can bring digital camera photos of documents for recognition into
OmniPage. First, make sure that your device driver is installed properly . Then
connect the camera and download images. Click Load Digital Camera Files in
the Get Page drop-down list. If you use this, 3D Deskew, resolution enhancement and
straightening text lines are automatically performed on images. You can also do manual 3D
deskewing, see the section Image Enhancement Tools later in this Chapter.
To acquire digital camera photos containing text from Direct OCR or PaperPort, mark the
Load as digital camera image checkbox. The above mentioned automatic enhancements will
apply.
For tips and advice on working with digital camera images see the How-to-Guides and Help.
Input via Easy Loader
This provides the Windows Explorer interface in an OmniPage window. In Flexible and Quick
Views it appears by default. Choose Easy Loader in the Window menu to add it to Classic
V iew or to show or hide it in other views. It functions as an alternative to the File Open dialog
box; letting you browse your whole file system and efficiently select files to be loaded into
OmniPage. Choose Process / Easy Loader / Folder to view files as Lists, Thumbnails, Tiles,
Icons (arranged as desired) or Details, as you do in Explorer. The Loader can remain
displayed as you work.
Chapter 3 Processing documents 30
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