scansoft OmniPage Professional 15 User Guide
LEGAL NOTICES
Copyright © 2006 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. Printed in the United States of America and in Ireland.
The software described in this book is furnished under license and may be used or copied
only in accordance with the terms of such license.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Nuance Communications, Inc. provides this publication "As Is" without warranty of any
kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Some states or jurisdictions do not allow
disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain transactions; therefore, this statement
may not apply to you. Nuance reserves the right to revise this publication and to make
changes from time to time in the content hereof without obligation of Nuance to notify any
person of such revision or changes.
TRADEMARKS AND CREDITS
Nuance, ScanSoft, OmniPage, PaperPort, True Page, Direct OCR, Logical Form Recognition,
RealSpeak and ASR-1600 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.
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Belgium
C ONTENTS
WELCOME 5
New features in OmniPage 15 7
INSTALLATION AND SETUP 9
System requirements 9
Installing OmniPage 10
Setting up your scanner with OmniPage 11
How to start the program 13
Registering your software 14
Activating OmniPage 15
Uninstalling the software 15
How to use OmniPage with PaperPort 16
USING OMNIPAGE 17
OmniPage Documents 17
The OmniPage Desktop 18
Basic Processing Steps 19
PROCESSING DOCUMENTS 21
Quick Start Guide 21
Processing methods 23
Manual processing 25
Processing with workflows 25
Processing from other applications 26
Processing with the Batch Manager 28
Defining the source of page images 29
Document to document conversion 31
Describing the layout of the document 32
Preprocessing Images 33
Image Enhancement Tools 35
Using Image Enhancement History 37
Saving and applying templates 37
Image Enhancement in Workflows 38
OmniPage 15 User’s Guide 3
Zones and backgrounds 38
Table grids in the image 42
Using zone templates 42
PROOFING AND EDITING 45
The editor display and views 45
Proofreading OCR results 46
Verifying text 47
The Character Map 48
User dictionaries 49
Languages 50
Training 50
Text and image editing 52
On-the-fly editing 54
Reading text aloud 55
Working with Forms 56
SAVING AND EXPORTING 59
Saving and Exporting 59
Saving original images 60
Saving recognition results 61
Sending pages by mail 65
Other export targets 65
WORKFLOWS 67
Workflow Assistant 69
Batch Manager 73
Creating new jobs 74
Watched folders 78
Watched mailboxes 79
Barcode processing 80
Voice recognition 81
TECHNICAL INFORMATION 83
Troubleshooting 83
INDEX 89
4 Contents
Welcome
Welcome to this OmniPage® 15 text recognition program, and thank you
for choosing our software! The following documentation has been
provided to help you get started and give you an overview of the program.
This User’s Guide
This guide introduces you to using OmniPage 15. It includes installation
and setup instructions, a description of the program’s commands and
working areas, task-oriented instructions, ways to customize and control
processing, and technical information.
This guide is written with the assumption that you know how to work in
the Microsoft Windows environment. Please refer to your Windows
documentation if you have questions about how to use dialog boxes,
menu commands, scroll bars, drag and drop functionality, shortcut
menus, and so on.
We also assume you are familiar with your scanner and its supporting
software, and that the scanner is installed and working correctly before it
is setup with OmniPage 15. Please refer to the scanner’s own
documentation as necessary.
Online Help
OmniPage online Help contains information on features, settings, and
procedures. It also has a comprehensive glossary, with its own alphabetical
index and a table of contents. The online Help is provided as HTML
help, and has been designed for quick and easy information retrieval.
Online Help is available after you install OmniPage.
Press F1 as you are working with the program to see an online
help topic relating to the current screen area, dialog box or warning
message.
Welcome 5
Comprehensive context-sensitive help aims to provide just enough
assistance to let you keep working without delay. You can access the
context-sensitive help in the following ways:
Click the Help tool in the Standard toolbar to get the
help cursor. Click with this on any item on the
desktop outside a dialog box or warning message.
Press Shift + F1 to get the same help cursor. Use Shift + F1 to get contextsensitive help for shortcut menu items.
Click the question mark button in the upper right corner of a dialog box
and then click an item in the dialog box to see the popup window.
Some dialog boxes or warning messages have their own Help button, or a
help text. Click the button or the text to get information on the dialog or
message box.
Click anywhere to remove a context-sensitive popup Help window.
Readme File
The Readme file contains last-minute information about the software.
Please read it before using OmniPage. To open this HTML file, choose
Readme in the OmniPage Installer or afterwards in the Help menu.
Scanning and other information
The Nuance
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
15 Installer or afterwards from the Help menu.
®
web site at www.nuance.com provides timely information
Tech Notes
The web site at www.nuance.com contains Tech Notes on commonly
reported issues using OmniPage 15. Web pages may also offer assistance
on the installation process and troubleshooting.
6 Welcome
New features in OmniPage 15
Here are some main areas of innovation compared to OmniPage Pro 14.
If you are upgrading, you may not need to consult this guide very much.
◆ Extended PDF support up to version 1.5.
◆ Batch Manager redesign giving precise schematic information
for each job occurrence. See page 28.
◆ Workflow viewer enhancements make it easier to handle
regular tasks. See page 77.
◆ Image Enhancement tools to optimize page images for OCR
or other re-use. See page 35.
◆ Suspect word and character display clearer and more precise.
See page 45.
◆ Ribbon Character map for easy insertion of non-keyboard
characters. See page 48.
◆ Folder and sub-folder input for specified file types when
loading files.
◆ OCR speed and accuracy improvements, better zoning and
format retention.
More new features appear in the list below.
Features unique to OmniPage Professional 15
OmniPage 15 has a Professional version for office environments. The list
below shows features offered only in OmniPage Professional 15. New
features are denoted with a starburst.
Form recognition and handling. See page 56.
Better Workflow/Job distinction, with more choice for job
type and easier input of timing information. See page 67.
Document to Document conversion to and from a wide range
of formats. See page 31.
New features in OmniPage 15 7
Mailbox watching in Workflows and Batch Manager. See
page 79.
Convert to PDF step in Batch Manager, using PDF Create! for
direct conversion inside jobs.
◆ Folder watching (smart folders) to auto-process incoming files.
Support for sub-folders is new. See page 78.
◆ Barcode cover pages (scanned or from file) for workflow
launching.
◆ Vo ice c omma nds for quick workflow launching and proofing
suggestions.
◆ Integrated programs PDF Converter 3 and Create! 3 to
unlock and create PDF files. Supports tagged, signed, encrypted
PDF files, and much more. See their own documentation.
◆ SharePoint, FTP site and ODMA support. See page 29. New
and streamlined support for SharePoint 2003.
A more complete list of features and differences appears in online Help.
This icon is used throughout the guide to denote features that
are available only in OmniPage Professional 15.
OmniPage 15 is supplied in Enterprise versions for network use. It is also
supplied in Special Editions for selected scanner manufacturers and other
resellers. The feature set in these editions may vary, in line with each
vendor's requirements.
8 Welcome
Installation and setup
This chapter provides information on installing and starting OmniPage.
System requirements
The minimum requirements to install and run OmniPage 15 are:
®
◆ A computer with an Intel
equivalent
◆ Microsoft
Me, Windows 2000 (from Service Pack 4), Windows XP or
Windows Server 2003
◆ Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5
◆ 128MB of memory (RAM), 256MB recommended
◆ 200MB of free hard disk space for application and sample files
plus 60-65MB working space during installation. Additionally:
◆ 5MB for Microsoft Installer (MSI) if not present (it is included
in most Windows operating systems)
◆ Up to 5MB for system updates
◆ 800x600 pixel color monitor with 16-bit color or greater video
card
◆ A CD-ROM drive for installation
◆ A Windows compatible pointing device
®
Windows® 98 (from second edition), Windows
◆ 20-67MB per RealSpeak
languages)
◆ 2MB per ASR speech recognition language (15MB for
7 languages) *
◆ 83MB for ScanSoft PDF Converter *
◆ 16MB for ScanSoft PDF Create! *
Pentium® III processor or
TM
module (343MB for 9
Installation and setup 9
◆ A compatible scanner with its own scanner driver software, if
you plan to scan documents. See the Scanner Guide at Nuance’s
web site (www.nuance.com) for a list of supported scanners
◆ Web access is needed for product registration, Scanner Wizard
database updating and obtaining live updates for the program.
* Supplied with OmniPage Professional 15 only.
Installing OmniPage
OmniPage 15’s installation program takes you through installation with
instructions on every screen.
Before installing OmniPage:
◆ Close all other applications, especially anti-virus programs.
◆ Log into your computer with administrator privileges if you are
installing on Windows 2000, XP or Server 2003.
◆ If you own a previous version of OmniPage, or if you are
upgrading from demonstration software or an OmniPage
Special Edition, the installer asks your consent to uninstall that
product.
To i n stall OmniPage :
1. Insert the OmniPage CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive. The
installation program should start automatically. If it does not start,
locate your CD-ROM drive in Windows Explorer and double-click
the
Autorun.exe program at the top-level of the CD-ROM.
2. Choose a language to use during installation. Accept the End-User
License Agreement and enter the serial number shown on the CD
envelope.
3. Choose a complete or a custom installation. A complete installation
TM
installs all RealSpeak
Text-to-Speech language modules (currently
10 Chapter 1
9). In OmniPage Professional 15, up to 7 ASR-1600™ Speech
Recognition modules are installed. Custom installation lets you
exclude or add modules. To exclude a module, click its down arrow
and select ‘This feature will be installed when required’.
4. Follow the instructions on each screen to install the software. All files
needed for scanning are copied automatically during installation.
Setting up your scanner with OmniPage
All files needed for scanner setup and support are copied automatically
during the program’s installation, but no scanner setup occurs at
installation time. Before using OmniPage 15 for scanning, your scanner
should be installed with its own scanner driver software and tested for
correct functionality. Scanner driver software is not included with
OmniPage.
Scanner setup is done through the Scanner Setup Wizard. You
can start this yourself, as described below. Otherwise, it appears
when you first attempt to perform scanning. Proceed as follows:
◆ Choose StartAll ProgramsScanSoft OmniPage 15.0
Scanner Setup Wizard
or click the Setup button in the Scanner panel of the Options
dialog box.
or choose Scan in the Get Page drop-down list in the OmniPage
Toolbox and click the Get Page button.
◆ The Scanner Setup Wizard starts. If you have a web connection,
the first panel invites you to update the scanner database
supplied with the wizard. Choose Yes or No and click on Next.
◆ 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... .
Setting up your scanner with OmniPage 11
◆ You see a list of all detected scanner drivers in the checkmarked
categories. This can include network devices. Select one and
click OK. To install a second device, you must run the Scanner
Wizard again.
◆ The wizard reports whether the chosen scanner model already
has settings in the scanner database. If it does, you do not need
to test it. If it does not, you should test it. Click on Next.
◆ If you chose not to test, click Finish. If you chose testing, click
Next to have the scanner connection tested. If the connection is
in order, you see a menu of further tests. Choose which testing
steps you want to run. The Basic test scan is recommended.
◆ By default OmniPage uses its own scanning interface, located in
the Scanner panel of the Options dialog box. If you want to use
your scanner’s own interface instead, choose Advanced settings...
and select this. Click Hint editor... and choose Edit hints... only
if you are experienced in configuring scanners or have been
advised by Technical Support to do so.
◆ Click Next to start the tests. For the Basic scan test, insert a test
page into your scanner. The wizard will scan using your scanner
manufacturer’s software. Click on Next. Your scanner’s native
user-interface will appear.
◆ Click on Scan to begin the sample scan.
◆ If necessary, click on Missing Image… or Improper
Orientation... and make the appropriate selections.
◆ Once the image appears correctly in the window, click on Next.
◆ Move through the remaining requested tests, following the
instructions on the screen.
◆ When all the requested tests have been completed successfully,
the Scanner Wizard reports and invites you to click on Finish.
◆ You have successfully configured your scanner to work with
OmniPage 15!
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.
12 Chapter 1
To test and repair an improperly functioning scanner, open the wizard
and select ‘Test the current scanner or digital camera’ in the second panel,
then work through the procedure described above, maybe using advice
received from Technical Support.
To specify a different default scanner, open the wizard to reach the list of
setup scanners. Move the highlight to the desired scanner and be sure to
close the wizard with Finish.
To get updated settings for your current scanner, open the wizard, request
a fresh database download in the first screen, then choose ‘Use current
settings with current device’, click Next and then Finish.
How to start the program
To start OmniPage 15 do one of the following:
◆ Click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose All Programs
ScanSoft OmniPage 15.0OmniPage [Professional] 15.0.
Double-click the OmniPage icon in the program’s installation
folder or on the Windows desktop if placed there.
Double-click an OmniPage Document (OPD) icon or file
name; the clicked document is loaded into the program. See
“OmniPage Documents” on page 17.
◆ Right click one or more image file icons or file names for a
shortcut menu. Select Open With... OmniPage application. The
images are loaded into the program.
On opening, OmniPage’s title screen is displayed and then its desktop. See
“The OmniPage Desktop” on page 18. It provides an introduction to the
program’s main working areas.
How to start the program 13
There are several ways of running the program with a limited interface:
◆ Use the Batch Manager program. Click Start in the Windows
taskbar and choose All ProgramsScanSoft OmniPage 15.0
OmniPage Batch Manager. See page 28.
◆ Click Acquire Text from the File menu of an application
registered with the Direct OCR™ facility. See “How to set up
Direct OCR” on page 26.
◆ Right-click on one or more image file icons or file names for a
shortcut menu. Select OmniPage 15 and choose a target format
or a workflow from its sub-menu. The files will be processed
according to the workflow instructions. See “Workflows” on
page 67.
◆ Click the OmniPage Agent icon on the taskbar. Choose a
workflow to start the program and run the workflow. In
OmniPage Professional 15, voice selection of workflow is
possible.
◆ Use OmniPage 15 with ScanSoft’s PaperPort
management product, to add OCR services. See “How to use
OmniPage with PaperPort” on page 16.
®
document
Registering your software
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.
14 Chapter 1
Activating OmniPage
You will be invited to activate the product at the end of installation. Please
ensure that web access is available. Provided your serial number is found
at its storage location and has been correctly entered, no user interaction
is required and no personal information is transmitted. If you do not
activate the product at installation time, you will be invited to do this
each time you invoke the program. OmniPage 15 can be launched only
five times without activation. We recommend Automatic Activation.
Uninstalling the software
Sometimes uninstalling and then reinstalling OmniPage will solve a
problem. The OmniPage Uninstall program will not remove files
containing recognition results or any of the following user-created files:
Zone templates (
Training files (
User dictionaries (
OmniPage Documents (
Job files
Workflow files (*.xwf)
To uninstall from Windows 2000, XP or Windows Server 2003 you must
be logged into your computer with administrator privileges.
To uninstall or reinstall OmniPage:
(*.opj)
*.zon)
*.otn)
*.ud)
*.opd)
◆ Close OmniPage.
◆ Click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose the Control
Panel and then Add/Remove Programs.
◆ Select OmniPage and click Remove.
◆ Click Yes in the dialog box that appears to confirm removal.
◆ Select Yes to restart your computer immediately, or No if you
plan to restart later.
Activating OmniPage 15
◆ Follow instructions until the process is finished.
When you uninstall OmniPage, the link to your scanner is also
uninstalled. You must setup your scanner again with OmniPage if you
reinstall the program. All RealSpeak and ASR modules and the that were
installed with the program will also be uninstalled.
ScanSoft PDF Create! 3 and ScanSoft PDF Converter 3 need to be
uninstalled separately.
How to use OmniPage with PaperPort
The PaperPort® program is a paper management
software product from 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 15 as the OCR package.
OCR settings can be specified, as with Direct OCR.
PaperPort
organized digital documents that everybody in an
office can quickly find and use. PaperPort works with
scanners, multifunction printers, and networked
digital copiers to turn paper documents into digital documents. It then
helps you to manage them along with all other electronic documents in
one convenient and easy-to-use filing system.
provides the easiest way to turn paper into
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.
16 Chapter 1
Using OmniPage
OmniPage 15 uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to
transform text from scanned pages or image files into editable text for use
in your favorite computer applications.
In addition to text recognition, OmniPage can retain the following
elements and attributes of a document through the OCR process.
Graphics (photos, logos)
Form elements (checkboxes, radio buttons, text fields)
Te x t f o r m a t t ing (character and paragraph)
Page formatting (column structures, table formats, headings, placing of
graphics).
Documents in OmniPage
A document in OmniPage consists of one image for each document page.
After you perform OCR, the document will also contain recognized text,
displayed in the Text Editor, possibly along with graphics, tables and
form elements.
OmniPage Documents
An OmniPage Document (.opd) contains the original page
images (optionally pre-processed) with any zones placed on
them. After recognition, the OPD also contains the recognition
results.
When saving, you have two file type choices: OmniPage Document or
OmniPage Document (Extended). The latter allows you to embed a user
dictionary, training file or zone template file in the OPD. This can
increase file size considerably but makes the OPD more portable.
Using OmniPage 17
When you open an OmniPage Document, its settings are applied,
replacing those existing in the program.
The OmniPage Desktop
The OmniPage Desktop has three main working areas, separated by
splitters: the Document Manager, the Image Panel and the Text Editor.
The Image Panel has an Image toolbar and the Text Editor has a
Formatting toolbar.
OmniPage
Toolbox
Standard
Tool bar
Formatting toolbar
Image
toolbar
Document
Manager
Image Panel
Tex t E di to r
OmniPage toolbox: This Toolbox lets you drive the processing.
Document Manager: This provides an overview of your document with a
table. Each row represents one page. Columns present statistical or status
information for each page, and (where appropriate) document totals.
18 Chapter 2
Image Panel: This is displaying the image of the current page, together
with its zones. The image panel can display the current page, thumbnails,
or both. When this displays the current page image, the Image toolbar is
available.
Text Editor : This is displaying the recognition results from the current
page. The illustration shows True Page view.
The Toolbars
The program has five main toolbars. Use the View menu to show, hide or
customize them. The status bar at the bottom edge of the OmniPage
program window explains the purpose of all tools.
Standard toolbar: Performs basic functions.
Image toolbar: Performs image, zoning and table operations.
Formatting toolbar: Formats recognized text in the Text Editor.
Verifier toolbar: Controls the location and appearance of the verifier.
Reorder toolbar: Modifies the order of elements in recognized pages.
Form Drawing toolbar: Creates new form elements.
Form Arrangement toolbar: Arranges and aligns form elements.
The Form toolbars appear only in OmniPage Professional 15.
Basic Processing Steps
There are three ways of handling documents: with automatic, manual or
workflow processing. The basic steps for all processing methods are
broadly the same:
1. Bring a set of images into OmniPage. You can scan a
paper document with or without an Automatic Document
Feeder (ADF) or load one or more image files.
Basic Processing Steps 19
2. Perform OCR to generate editable text. After OCR,
you can check and correct errors in the document using the
OCR Proofreader and edit the document in the Text
Editor.
3. Export the document to the desired location. You can
save your document to a specified file name and type, place
it on the Clipboard, send it as a mail attachment or publish
it. You can save the same document repeatedly to different destinations,
different file types, with different settings and levels of formatting.
Using OmniPage, you can choose from the following processing methods:
Automatic, Manual, Combined, or Workflow. You can start recognition
from other applications, using the Direct OCR feature of OmniPage; and
can also schedule processing to run at a later time.
Processing methods are detailed in the next chapter and in Online Help.
Settings
The Options dialog box is the central location for OmniPage
settings. Access it from the Standard toolbar or the Tools
menu. Context-sensitive help provides information on each
setting.
20 Chapter 2
Processing documents
This tutorial chapter describes different ways you can process a document
and also provides information on key parts of this processing.
Quick Start Guide
This topic takes you step-by-step through the basic OCR process.
You will process the document automatically and save the recognition
results to a file. You will proof the document but will not edit it inside the
Text Editor.
What you do: What happens:
Set up your scanner using the
1.
Scanner Wizard, if this is not
already done.
Select StartAll Programs
2.
ScanSoft OmniPage 15.0
OmniPage [Professional] 15.0
Place the document correctly in
3.
your scanner.
From the Get Page drop-down
list, select a scan option for your
4.
document:
black-and-white, grayscale or
color.
From the Layout Description
drop-down list, check Automatic
is selected. For a wide range of
5.
documents, this is the best
choice.
Configures OmniPage to work
with your scanner.
Opens OmniPage on your computer.
Allows you to determine how pictures or colored texts and backgrounds will look in the exported
document. Color scanning needs
a color scanner.
Configures the program how to
place zones on the page and
decide their properties automatically.
Processing documents 21
What you do: What happens:
From the Export Results drop-
6.
down list, check that Save to File
is selected.
Make sure 1-2-3 is selected in the
7.
Workflow drop-down list. Click the
Start button.
Use the OCR Proofreader to
modify words that the program
8.
suspects have not been recognized correctly.
Click in the Text Editor. Select
Text Editor views one after
9.
another, to see how the page
appears in each view.
Click Resume to restart proofing.
When the message OCR Proof-
10.
reading is complete appears, click
on OK.
Choose a file name, file type, path
and a formatting level to save
11.
your recognized document. Click
on OK.
Inspect the document in your
12.
word processing program.
This means you will be able to
name your export file after you
have proofed the document.
OmniPage will start to scan in
your document. A thumbnail
appears with a progress indicator.
The OCR Proofreader appears.
The OCR Proofreader operates
like a spell checker in a word processing program, but with added
OCR-specific features. It removes
markings from words you proof.
Each Text Editor view defines a
formatting level. This guides you
which level to choose at saving
time.
This ends the OCR Proofreader
process. The Save to File dialog
box will appear.
By default, Save and Launch is
enabled, so your document will
be automatically opened in the
word processing program associated with the file type that you
selected.
You have successfully used
OmniPage 15 to recognize your
document and open it in your target application!
If you succeeded in getting good results from the sample image files, but
not from the scanned page, check your scanner installation and settings:
in particular brightness and image resolution. See “Input from scanner”
on page 30. This provides a model of optimum brightness. See also the
online Help topics Setting up your scanner and Scanner troubleshooting.
22 Chapter 3
Processing methods
Using OmniPage, you can choose from the following processing methods:
Automatic
A fast and easy way to process
documents is to let OmniPage do it
automatically for you. Select settings in
the Options dialog box and in the OmniPage Toolbox drop-down lists
and then click Start. It will take each page through the whole process from
beginning to end, when possible running in parallel. It will typically autozone the pages.
Manual
Manual processing gives you more
precise control over the way your pages
are handled. You can process the
document page-by-page with different
settings for each page. The program also
stops between each step: acquiring
images, performing recognition,
exporting. This lets you, for instance,
draw zones manually or change
recognition language(s). You start each step by clicking the three buttons
on the OmniPage Toolbox.
Combined
You can process a document automatically and view results in the Text
Editor. If most pages are in order, but a few have not turned out as
expected, you can switch to manual processing to adjust settings and rerecognize just those problem pages. Alternatively, you can acquire images
with manual processing, draw zones on some or all of them, and then
send all pages to automatic processing.
Processing methods 23
Wo rk flo w
A workflow consists of a series of steps
and their settings. Typically it will
include a recognition step, but it does not
have to. Workflows are listed in the
Workflow drop-down list – sample
workflows plus any you create. You can choose to place the OmniPage
Agent icon on your taskbar. Its shortcut menu lists your workflows. Click a
workflow to launch OmniPage and have it run.
Let the Workflow Assistant guide you in creating new workflows. It
provides a choice of steps and the settings they need. After each step icon is
selected and its settings defined, you get a new set of step icons to choose
from. You can use the Assistant just to get more guidance when doing
automatic processing. See “Workflow Assistant” on page 69.
In other applications
You can use the Direct OCR feature to call on the recognition services of
OmniPage while working in your usual word-processor or similar
application. See “How to set up Direct OCR” on page 26. OmniPage is
automatically linked to the PaperPort document management program.
At a later time
You can schedule OCR jobs or other processing jobs in
OmniPage Batch Manager to be performed automatically at a
later time, when you may not even be present at your computer. This is
done through the Batch Manager. When you choose New Job, first the
Job Wizard, and then the Workflow Assistant appears - the latter with a
slightly modified set of choices and settings. In the first panel of the Job
Wizard, you define your job type and name your job; next you are to
specify a starting time, a recurring job or watched folder instructions.
A job incorporates a workflow with timing instructions added. See “Batch
Manager” on page 73.
24 Chapter 3
Manual processing
1. Manually zone pages where you want to process only part of the page
or if you want to give precise zoning instructions. Use ignore
backgrounds or zones to exclude areas from processing. Use process
backgrounds or zones to specify areas to be auto-zoned.
2. Click the Start button, then choose Finish Processing Existing Pages in
the Automatic Processing dialog box.
3. After proofing (if requested) you can save or export the document.
The default for manual processing is to have all entered pages
automatically selected. This way you can have all new pages recognized by
a single mouse click. You can remove this default in the Process panel of
the Options dialog box.
Processing with workflows
A workflow consists of a series of steps
and their settings. It does not have to
conform to the 1-2-3 pattern of
traditional processing. Workflows allow
you to handle recurring tasks more
efficiently, because all the steps and their
settings are pre-defined.
To run a workflow with OmniPage closed
Right-click on the OmniPage Agent icon in your taskbar. Select a
workflow from its shortcut menu. OmniPage will start and
immediately run the workflow. If you do not see the icon, enable it in the
General panel of the Options dialog box.
To run a workflow with OmniPage open
You can use the taskbar icon as described above, or you can select the
workflow in the Workflow drop-down list and click Start. When a
workflow is running, program settings are not accessible.
Manual processing 25
To modify a w o r k f l ow
Select the workflow in the Workflow drop-down list and press
the Workflow Assistant button on the Standard toolbar, or
choose Workflows... in the Tools menu, select the workflow and click
Modify.
To make a new workflow
There are sample workflows supplied with the program. You can modify
these, or use them as the source for new workflows. New workflows are
made with the Workflow Assistant. See page 69.
Processing from other applications
You can use the Direct OCR™ feature to call on the recognition services
of OmniPage while you work in your usual word-processor or other
application. First you must establish the direct connection with the
application. Then, two items in its File Menu open the door to OCR
facilities.
How to set up Direct OCR
1. Start the application you want connected to OmniPage. Start
OmniPage, open the Options dialog box at the Direct OCR panel
and select Enable Direct OCR.
2. Select process options for proofing and zoning. These function for
future Direct OCR work until you change them again; they are not
applied when OmniPage is used on its own.
26 Chapter 3
3. The Unregistered panel displays running or previously unregistered
applications. Select the desired one(s) and click Add. You can browse
for an unlisted application.
How to use Direct OCR
1. Open your registered application and work in a document. To
acquire recognition results from scanned pages, place them correctly
in the scanner.
2. Use the target application’s File Menu item Acquire Text Settings... to
specify settings to be used during recognition. Any settings not
offered take their values from those last used in OmniPage. Settings
changed for Direct OCR are also changed in OmniPage.
3. Use the File Menu item Acquire Text to acquire images from scanner
or file.
4. If you selected Draw zones automatically in the Direct OCR panel of
the Options dialog box, or under Acquire Text Settings...,
recognition proceeds immediately.
Processing from other applications 27
5. If Draw zones automatically is not selected, each page image will be
presented to you, allowing you to draw zones manually. Click the
Perform OCR button to continue with recognition.
6. If proofing was specified, this follows recognition. Then the
recognized text is placed at the cursor position in your application,
with the formatting level specified by Acquire Text Settings... .
Processing with the Batch Manager
You can schedule processing jobs to be performed automatically at
a specified time in the future. Unscheduled jobs can be activated
manually. The job pages can come from a scanner with an ADF or
from image files. You do not have to be present at your computer
at job start time, nor does OmniPage have to be running. It does not matter
if your computer is turned off after the job is set up, so long as it is running
at job start time. If you are scanning pages, your scanner must be
functioning at job start time, with the pages loaded in the ADF. Here is how
to set up your first job:
1. Click Batch Manager... in the Process menu or in the Windows Start
menu: select All ProgramsScanSoft OmniPage 15.0OmniPage
Batch Manager. The Batch Manager window appears. Click the
Create Job button to start the Job Wizard.
2. Select the type of your job in the next panel: Normal, Barcode
driven, Folder Watching, Outlook mailbox watching, or Lotus Notes
mailbox watching. The mailbox watching job types are only available
if you have the given mail system configured properly on your
computer.
3. Name your job in the same panel. Click Next.
4. Use the Start and Stop Options panel to specify your job timing and
schedule. When the job is complete, you can choose to have the
input image file deleted or an e-mail notification sent to a given
address (latter available in OmniPage Professional 15 only).
28 Chapter 3
5. Define a starting point for the new job. This can be a fresh start, or
an existing workflow. Click Next to finish each step.
6. The upcoming panels allow you to build the workflow for the job, as
described in Chapter 6.
7. Click Finish to confirm job creation.
For more information, please see Batch Manager in the online Help and
“Batch Manager” on page 73.
Defining the source of page images
There are two possible image sources: from image files and from a
scanner. There are two main types of scanners: flatbed or sheetfed. A
scanner may have a built-in or added Automatic Document Feeder
(ADF), which makes it easier to scan multi-page documents. The images
from scanned documents can be input directly into OmniPage or may be
saved with the scanner’s own software to an image file, which OmniPage
can later open.
Input from image files
You can create image files from your own scanner, or receive them by
e-mail or as fax files. OmniPage 15 can open a wide range of image file
types. Select Load Files in the Get Pages drop-down list. Files are specified
in the Load Files dialog box. This appears when you start automatic
processing. In manual processing, click the Get Page button or use the
Process menu. The lower part of the dialog box provides advanced
settings, and can be shown or hidden.
The minimum width or height for an image file is 16 by 16 pixels; the
maximum is 8400 pixels (71cm; 28 inches at the resolution 201 to 600
dpi). See online Help for pixel limits.
Defining the source of page images 29
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