User manual NUANCE OMNIPAGE PRO 8

OmniPage® Pro Users Manual CAERE CORPORATION 100 Cooper Court Los Gatos, California 95032 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 Windows documentation if you have questions about how to use menu commands, dialog boxes, scroll bars, edit boxes, and so on. OmniPage Pro for Windows Version 8 Copyright© 1997 Caere Corporation. All rights reserved. CAERE®, OmniPage®, OmniPage Pro®, Language Analyst®, 3D OCR®, AutoOCRTM, and True Page® are trademarks of Caere Corporation 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. PD 802-0584-030A 2 Welcome Welcome to OmniPage Pro, and thank you for buying our software! The following documentation has been provided to help you learn about OmniPage Pro. This Users Manual This manual introduces you to the basics of using OmniPage Pro. It includes an introduction to OmniPage Pro, installation and setup instructions, task-oriented instructions, ways to customize processing, settings guidelines, and technical information. Online Help OmniPage Pro's online help contains detailed information on features, settings, and procedures. The online help conforms to Windows online help conventions and has been designed for quick and easy information retrieval. Please see "Getting Online Help" on page 12 for more information. Release Notes The Release Notes booklet contains last-minute information about OmniPage Pro. Please read this before installing the application. Scanner Setup Notes The Scanner Setup Notes booklet contains the latest information about supported scanners and scanner setup. Welcome ­ 3 Using This Manual Using This Manual This manual is written with the assumption that you know how to work in the Microsoft Windows environment. Please refer to your Windows user's manual or online help if you have questions about how to use dialog boxes, menus, and so on. The following conventions are used in this manual. Convention Italicized text Purpose · Emphasizes menu commands, dialog box options, labeled buttons, and file names For example: "Choose Open... in the File menu." · Emphasizes new terms the first time they are used · Emphasizes important words in a sentence Note symbol Introduces a tip or an item of note Introduces cautionary text Warning symbol Welcome ­ 4 Chapter 1 Introduction to OmniPage Pro You probably use your computer for most business correspondence and other written projects. The problem is that certain sources of information cannot be immediately used on a computer. For example, if you want to incorporate information from a magazine article into a document in your word processor, you somehow have to get the text from the article into your computer. Painstakingly retyping the article is not an appealing solution. OmniPage Pro offers a smart solution to increase your work productivity. OmniPage Pro's optical character recognition (OCR) technology accurately and easily converts scanned paper documents and image files into editable text for use in your favorite computer applications. OmniPage Pro does the retyping for you. Please continue reading this chapter for information on these topics: · What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)? · The OmniPage Pro Desktop · Getting Online Help · Product Support Introduction to OmniPage Pro - 5 What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)? What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)? Optical character recognition (OCR) is the process of turning an image into computer-editable text. An image is an electronic picture of text such as a scanned paper document or an electronic fax file. Images do not have editable text characters; they have many tiny dots (pixels) that together form a picture of text. During OCR, OmniPage Pro analyzes an image and defines characters to produce editable text. After OCR, you can export the resulting text to a variety of word-processing, page layout, and spreadsheet applications. OmniPage Pro OCR In addition to text recognition, OmniPage Pro can retain the following elements of a document during OCR. Graphics Photos, logos, and drawings are examples of graphics. Text formatting Font types, font sizes, and font styles (such as bold or italic) are examples of text formatting. Page formatting Column structure, paragraph spacing, and placement of graphics are examples of page formatting. The graphics, text formatting, and page formatting elements that OmniPage Pro retains are determined by the settings you select. See "Settings Guidelines" on page 54 for more information. OmniPage Pro only recognizes machine-printed characters such as laser-printed or typewritten text. However, it can retain handwritten text, such as a signature, as a graphic. Introduction to OmniPage Pro - 6 What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)? Basic Steps of OmniPage Pro OCR These are the basic steps of OmniPage Pro's OCR process. 1 Bring a document image into OmniPage Pro. You can scan a paper document, load an image file, or load a fax from Microsoft. The resulting image appears in OmniPage Pro's image viewer. See "Bringing Document Images into OmniPage Pro" on page 23 for more information. 2 Create zones to identify areas you want to recognize as text or retain as graphics. Zones are borders that enclose the parts of a document image that will get processed. You can create zones manually, automatically, or with a template. Any areas not enclosed by zones are ignored during OCR. See "Creating Zones for OCR" on page 26 for more information. 3 Perform OCR to convert text information into editable text characters. During OCR, OmniPage Pro defines text characters in an image. After OCR, you can check and correct errors in the text. See "Performing OCR on a Document" on page 27 for more information. 4 Export the document to the desired location. You can save your document to a specified file format, place it on the Clipboard, or send it as a mail attachment. See "Exporting Documents" on page 39 for more information. There are different ways to start the OCR process in OmniPage Pro. See "Ways to Process Documents" on page 21 for more information. Introduction to OmniPage Pro - 7 The OmniPage Pro Desktop The OmniPage Pro Desktop OmniPage Pro's desktop displays the pages of a document in its thumbnail viewer, image viewer, and text viewer. You can use buttons in the Standard, AutoOCR, and Zone toolbars to perform various tasks on the document. Zone toolbar Standard toolbar AutoOCR toolbar The thumbnail viewer displays a picture of each page in the document. The current page has a box around it. The image viewer displays the current pages original image. Drag this splitter to the left or right to resize a viewer. The text viewer displays the current pages recognized text and retained graphics. Introduction to OmniPage Pro - 8 The OmniPage Pro Desktop AutoOCR Toolbar The AutoOCR toolbar contains buttons that can activate each step of the OCR process. AUTO button Image button Zone button OCR button Export button Click the down arrow to display the commands in a buttons drop-down list. Set commands in the AutoOCR toolbar buttons for the operations you want to perform. You can choose commands in a buttons's drop-down list. · The AUTO button allows you to activate automatic processing or use the OCR Wizard. · The Image button allows you to bring in images by scanning or loading pages. · The Zone button allows you to automatically create zones on images based on their original page layouts or predefined templates. · The OCR button allows you to perform OCR or train characters for OCR. · The Export button allows you to save, copy, or send your recognized document as a mail attachment. Please see "Setting AutoOCR Toolbar Commands" on page 43 for more information on each toolbar button. Introduction to OmniPage Pro - 9 The OmniPage Pro Desktop Standard Toolbar The Standard toolbar contains buttons and drop-down lists for performing various tasks. New Save Check Recognition Copy Undo Image Editor Rotate Image Zoom Open Print Cut Paste View Options Straighten Image Help Zone Toolbar The Zone toolbar contains buttons that allow you to draw and define zones on a page image. Draw Rectangular Zones Add to Zone Reorder Zones Draw Irregular Zones Subtract from Zone Zone Properties See "Customizing Zones" on page 65 for more information. Introduction to OmniPage Pro - 10 The OmniPage Pro Desktop Options Dialog Box You can select settings for OmniPage Pro in the Options dialog box. To open it, click the Options button or choose Options... in the Tools menu. Click the tabs in the Options dialog box to view and select different settings. See Chapter 4, OmniPage Pro Settings, for more information on settings. Introduction to OmniPage Pro - 11 Getting Online Help Getting Online Help After installing OmniPage Pro, you can use its online help system to get information on features and procedures. Please refer to your Windows documentation to learn more about using Windows online help systems. Help Menu Use commands in the Help menu to open topics that provide information on features and procedures. · Choose OmniPage Pro Help Topics to get contents and index listings for OmniPage Pro help topics. · Choose Getting Started to get introductory topics to OmniPage Pro, including tutorial exercises. · Choose Product Support to find out how to get product support services for OmniPage Pro. · Choose Tip of the Day to get hints for using OmniPage Pro. Context-Sensitive Help You can get on-the-spot information about a particular OmniPage Pro command, toolbar button, or dialog box option in the following ways. · Click the Help button in the Standard toolbar and then click any toolbar button, menu command, or area of the OmniPage Pro desktop to display information about that item. · Click the question-mark button in the upper-right corner of a dialog box and then click an item in the dialog box to get an explanation of that item. · Some dialog boxes have a Help button. Click Help to get information about that dialog box. Introduction to OmniPage Pro - 12 Product Support Product Support For the fastest and easiest way to get help, please look for solutions in this manual or in the online help. For troubleshooting tips, see "General Troubleshooting Solutions" on page 86. If you need additional help, product support and information are available to registered users through the services listed in this table. Service World Wide Web home page (common Q&A, patches, updates, troubleshooting procedures, and product information) Download Service (BBS) (patches, updates) Automated Fax Response Service (common Q&A, updates) Telephone Support in North America (fee-based troubleshooting) For international telephone numbers, please refer to the insert in your OmniPage Pro package. Caere Product Support +1 408 395-1631 (8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit) +1 408 354-8471 (US fax numbers only) +1 408 395-8319 How to Contact http://www.caere.com Please have the following information ready for the best service if you call Caere Product Support: · OmniPage Pro version and serial number · The make and model of your computer system, scanner, and other peripheral devices (printer, monitor, and so on) · The names and version numbers of any other scanning software you use · The amount of memory (RAM) on your system To get memory information, choose Start Settings Control Panel in the Windows taskbar. Double-click the System icon in the Control Panel to open the System Properties dialog box. On Windows 95, click the Performance tab to see memory information. On Windows NT, click the General tab to see memory information. · The amount of free hard disk space on your system To get disk space information, open Windows Explorer and select the drive letter for your hard disk. The status bar will report how much free hard disk space is available. Introduction to OmniPage Pro - 13 Chapter 2 Installation and Setup This chapter provides installation and setup information for OmniPage Pro and the Scan Manager. For technical and troubleshooting information, please read Chapter 6, Technical Information. For specific scanner information, please read the Scanner Setup Notes included in your OmniPage Pro package. This chapter contains the following topics: · Minimum System Requirements · Installing OmniPage Pro · Setting Up Your Scanner with OmniPage Pro · Starting OmniPage Pro · Registering OmniPage Pro Installation and Setup - 14 Minimum System Requirements Minimum System Requirements You need the following setup, at minimum, to install and run OmniPage Pro: · Computer with a 486 or higher processor · Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 · 8MB of memory (RAM) for Windows 95 16MB of memory for Windows NT · 30MB of free hard disk space to install application files, the Scan Manager, and one OCR language 40MB to install above files and all OCR languages 10MB of free hard disk space for temporary files during installation · SVGA or VGA monitor · Windows-compatible mouse · A compatible scanner if you plan to scan documents Please see the Scanner Setup Notes for a list of tested scanners. Performance and speed will be enhanced if your system exceeds these minimum requirements. Installing OmniPage Pro OmniPage Pro's Setup program takes you through installation with onscreen instructions at every step. For best results, do not run any other programs -- especially anti-virus programs -- during installation. Be sure your scanner is connected, turned on, compatible with your system, and runs with the software provided by the scanner manufacturer before you install OmniPage Pro. To install OmniPage Pro: 1 Insert OmniPage Pro's CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive. The Setup program should start automatically. If it does not start, locate your CD-ROM drive in Windows Explorer and double-click the 6HWXSH[H program at the top-level of the CD-ROM. Installation and Setup - 15 Setting Up Your Scanner with OmniPage Pro 2 3 Click Next to continue with installation. Follow the onscreen instructions to finish installation. During installation, you are prompted to enter a serial number. You can find the serial number on the label of the CD-ROM. Setting Up Your Scanner with OmniPage Pro To use your scanner with OmniPage Pro, you must install the Scan Manager and select your scanner. You are prompted to do this during OmniPage Pro's regular installation. However, you can also install the Scan Manager at a separate time. The Scanner Setup Notes contain the most detailed information about scanner support and setup. You can also find more information in "Scanner Setup Issues" on page 91. Use the following procedure to install the Scan Manager if you did not install it during OmniPage Pro installation. To install the Scan Manager: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Make sure your scanner is turned on when you start your computer. Close OmniPage Pro if it is open. Insert OmniPage Pro's CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive. Cancel the regular Setup program if it starts automatically. Double-click the VHWXSH[H program located in the Scanmgr\Disk 1 folder. Select your scanner when you are prompted. The Scan Manager finishes installing after you make your scanner selection. Once your scanner is set up with OmniPage Pro, you can select scanner settings in OmniPage Pro's Options dialog box. See "Scanner Settings" on page 49 for more information. Installation and Setup - 16 Starting OmniPage Pro To change your scanner selection in the Scan Manager: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Make sure your scanner is turned on when you start your computer. Close OmniPage Pro if it is open. Click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose Settings Control Panel. Double-click the Caere Scan Manager 3.0 icon to open the Scan Manager. Click the Select Scanner tab. Select the name of the scanner you want to use in the Supported Scanners list box. Click Set as Current Scanner and then click Apply. You are prompted to select the directory containing the files that need to be installed. Insert OmniPage Pro's CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive. Cancel the regular Setup program if it starts automatically. Select Scanmgr\Disk 1 as the installation directory and click OK. 8 9 10 Click Close in the Scan Manager after processing is complete. Starting OmniPage Pro If you plan to scan, make sure your scanner is attached to your computer and turned on before you start OmniPage Pro. To start OmniPage Pro, click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose Programs Caere Applications OmniPage Pro 8.0. (Use the program group you selected during installation if it is different than Caere Applications.) Or, double-click the OmniPage Pro icon located in the folder where you installed OmniPage Pro. See "The OmniPage Pro Desktop" on page 8 for an introduction to OmniPage Pro's user interface. Installation and Setup - 17 Registering OmniPage Pro Registering OmniPage Pro Registering your copy of OmniPage Pro entitles you to product support, notification of special offers, and the lowest price offered on the next OmniPage Pro upgrade. You can use OmniPage Pro for 25 sessions without registering it. The Register dialog box appears the 26th time you launch OmniPage Pro, and the program exits if you do not register at that time. If you purchased your product directly from Caere or if you are already a registered user, you should not be prompted to register again. To register OmniPage Pro by telephone: 1 Click the Register menu to open the Register dialog box. This dialog box appears automatically the first time you start OmniPage Pro. You will be asked to provide your serial and key numbers. When you get your registration number, enter it here. Closes the Register dialog box without registering. Prints out your registration information. 2 3 Click the Call drop-down list and locate the phone number for your country. Call the phone number and ask for a registration number. You will be asked to provide your serial and key numbers that are listed in the Register dialog box. Enter the registration number in the Registration Number text box and click OK. 4 Installation and Setup - 18 Registering OmniPage Pro The Registration menu disappears from the menu bar after you register. To register OmniPage Pro at Caeres Web site: 1 Click the Register menu to open the Register dialog box. You will need to enter your serial and key numbers. When you get your registration number, enter it here. Opens a help topic that provides instructions and a link to Caeres Web site. 2 3 Open your Web browser and go to the following address: http://www.caere.com/registration Enter the requested information in the fields provided. You will need to enter your serial number and key numbers that are listed in the Register dialog box. Click Submit Information when you are finished entering information. You will be given a registration number. Enter the registration number in the Registration Number text box and click OK. The Register menu disappears from the menu bar after you register. 4 5 Installation and Setup - 19 Chapter 3 Processing Documents This chapter describes how to work with documents in OmniPage Pro, including each step of the OCR process. There are different ways to accomplish the same tasks in OmniPage Pro. You can use toolbar buttons or menu commands to start procedures. OmniPage Pro can perform all OCR steps automatically, or you can start each step individually. You can even do different tasks at the same time. Please continue reading this chapter for information on these topics: · Ways to Process Documents · Bringing Document Images into OmniPage Pro · Creating Zones for OCR · Performing OCR on a Document · Checking OCR Results · Using OCR in Other Applications · Working with Documents · Exporting Documents For complete information on all OmniPage Pro commands, settings, and procedures, please use OmniPage Pro's online help. See "Getting Online Help" on page 12 for more information. Processing Documents - 20