LEGAL NOTICES Copyright © 2002 ScanSoft, 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 ScanSoft, Inc., 9 Centennial Drive, Peabody, Massachusetts 01960. Printed in the United States of America and in the Netherlands. 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 ScanSoft, 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. ScanSoft reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes from time to time in the content hereof without obligation of ScanSoft to notify any person of such revision or changes. TR A D E M A R K S AND CREDITS ScanSoft, OmniPage, OmniPage Pro, PaperPort, Pagis, True Page and Direct OCR are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. All other company names or product names referenced herein may be the trademarks of their respective holders. ScanSoft, Inc. 9 Centennial Drive Peabody, MA 01960 U.S.A. ScanSoft Belgium BVBA Guldensporenpark 32 BE-9820 Merelbeke Belgium Part Number 50-281201-00A C ONTENTS WELCOME Using this Guide Getting online Help Online HTML Help Context-Sensitive Help Tech Notes Glossary 7 8 9 9 9 10 10 1 INSTALLATION AND SETUP System requirements Installing OmniPage Pro Setting up your scanner with OmniPage Pro How to start the program Registering your software New features in OmniPage Pro 12 11 12 13 14 16 17 17 2 INTRODUCTION What is optical character recognition OmniPage Pro's OCR capabilities Documents in OmniPage Pro Basic processing steps The OmniPage Desktop The Menu bar The Toolbars The Image Panel 19 20 20 21 21 22 23 23 24 OmniPage Pro User's Guide iii The Text Editor The OmniPage Toolbox Managing documents Thumbnails Document Manager Customizing Document Manager columns Deleting pages from a document Printing a document Closing a document OmniPage Documents Why save to OPD How to save to OPD Settings 24 25 26 26 27 28 28 29 29 29 30 30 31 3 PROCESSING DOCUMENTS Quick Start Guide Loading and recognizing sample image files Scanning and recognizing a single page Processing overview Automatic processing Stopping and restarting automatic processing Manual processing Combined processing Processing with the OCR Wizard Processing from other applications How to set up Direct OCR How to use Direct OCR How to use OmniPage Pro with PaperPort Processing with Schedule OCR Defining the source of page images Input from image files 33 34 34 34 36 38 39 40 41 43 45 45 45 46 47 48 48 iv Contents Input from scanner Scanning with an ADF Scanning without an ADF Describing the layout of the document Zones and backgrounds Automatic zoning Manual zoning Zone types and properties Working with zones Table grids in the image Using zone templates 49 50 51 51 53 53 54 55 57 59 61 4 PROOFING AND EDITING The editor display and views Proofreading OCR results Verifying text User dictionaries Training Manual training IntelliTrain Training files Text and image editing On-the-fly editing Reading text aloud 63 64 65 66 68 69 69 70 71 72 74 75 OmniPage Pro User's Guide v 5 SAVING AND EXPORTING Saving original images Saving recognition results Saving a document as you work Selecting a formatting level Selecting advanced saving options Saving to PDF Copying pages to Clipboard Sending pages by mail 77 78 79 80 81 82 84 84 85 6 TECHNICAL INFORMATION Troubleshooting Solutions to try first Testing OmniPage Pro Increasing memory resources Increasing disk space Text does not get recognized properly Problems with fax recognition ODMA support Advanced features in Schedule OCR Supported file types File types for opening and saving images File types for saving recognition results Uninstalling the software 87 88 88 89 90 90 91 92 93 93 94 94 95 96 System or performance problems during OCR 92 INDEX 97 vi Contents Welcome Welcome to OmniPage Pro®, and thank you for using 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 Pro 12. 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. The guide is presented in PDF format, allowing you to use hyperlink jumps on cross-references and other navigation tools in your PDF viewer. Online Help OmniPage Pro's online Help contains information on features, settings, and procedures. The online Help is provided as HTML help, and has been designed for quick and easy information retrieval. Comprehensive context-sensitive help aims to provide just enough assistance to let you keep working without delay. See "Getting online Help" on page 9. Readme File The Readme file contains last-minute information about the software. Please read it before using OmniPage Pro. To open this HTML file, choose Readme in the OmniPage Pro Installer or afterwards in the Help menu. Scanning and other information ScanSoft's web site at www.scansoft.com provides timely information on the program. The Scanner Guide contains up-dated information about supported scanners and related issues; ScanSoft tests the 25 most widely used scanner models. Access ScanSoft's web site from the OmniPage Pro Installer or afterwards from the Help menu. OmniPage Pro User's Guide 7 Using this Guide 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 Pro 12. Please refer to the scanner's own documentation as necessary. The following conventions are used in this guide: Bold Italic Non-serif Introduces new terms and presents sub-headings. Names topics in the online Help system. Presents longer option texts in dialog boxes. Presents file names: sample.tif A note presents an item of additional information. A tip presents ideas for using program features to accomplish specific tasks. 8 Welcome Getting online Help In addition to using this guide, you can use OmniPage Pro's online Help to learn about features, settings, and procedures. Online Help is available after you install OmniPage Pro. Online HTML Help Open OmniPage Pro's online Help at its top level by choosing Help Topics at the top of the Help menu. This allows you to see topics arranged in a Table of Contents, search an alphabetical list of keywords or make full-text searches through the topics. Other items in the Help menu provide access to useful topics or web pages. 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. Context-Sensitive Help You can get concise on-the-spot information in a popup window about a particular OmniPage Pro menu item, toolbar button, screen area or dialog box, in the following ways: Click the Help tool in the Standard toolbar to get the help icon. Click this on any item on the desktop outside a dialog box or warning message. Press Shift + F1 to get the same help icon. 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. OmniPage Pro User's Guide 9 Tech Notes ScanSoft's web site at www.scansoft.com contains Tech Notes on commonly reported issues using OmniPage Pro 12. Web pages may also offer assistance on the installation process and troubleshooting. Glossary This guide does not include a glossary. The online Help has a comprehensive glossary, with its own alphabetical index and a table of contents. Please consult it if you want to find the meaning of a term used in this guide or in the program. 10 Welcome Chapter 1 Installation and setup This chapter provides information on installing and starting OmniPage Pro 12. It presents the following topics: X System requirements X Installing OmniPage Pro X Setting up your scanner with OmniPage Pro X How to start the program X Registering your software X New features in OmniPage Pro 12 OmniPage Pro User's Guide 11 System requirements You need the following minimum system requirements to install and run OmniPage Pro 12: X A computer with a Pentium or higher processor X Microsoft Windows 98 (from second edition), Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0 (with at least Service Pack 6), Windows 2000 or Windows XP X 64MB of memory (RAM), 128MB recommended X 90MB of free hard disk space for the application files plus 5MB working space during installation X 5MB for Microsoft Installer (MSI) if not present (This is present as part of the operating system in Windows Me, Windows 2000 and Windows XP) X SVGA monitor with 256 colors, but preferably 16-bit color (called High Color in Windows 2000 and Medium Color in XP) and 800 x 600 pixel resolution X Windows-compatible pointing device X CD-ROM drive for installation X A compatible scanner with its own scanner driver software, if you plan to scan documents. Please see the Scanner Guide at ScanSoft's web site (www.scansoft.com) for a list of supported scanners. Performance and speed will be enhanced if your computer's processor, memory, and available disk space exceed minimum requirements. 12 Installation and setup Chapter 1 Installing OmniPage Pro OmniPage Pro 12's installation program takes you through installation with instructions on every screen. Before installing OmniPage Pro: X Close all other applications, especially anti-virus programs. X Log into your computer with administrator privileges if you are installing on Windows NT, 2000 or XP. X If you own a previous version of OmniPage Pro, or if you are upgrading from demonstration software or an OmniPage Special Edition, the installer asks your consent to uninstall that product. W To install OmniPage Pro: 1. Insert OmniPage Pro's 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. This language will be used for the Text-to-Speech system and as the program's interface language. The program interface language is used for displays such as menu items, dialog boxes, warning messages and so on. You can change the interface language later from within OmniPage Pro 12, but your choice at installation time determines which Text-to-Speech system will be installed with the program. See the second note below. 3. Follow the instructions on each screen to install the software. All files needed for scanning are copied automatically during installation. Sometimes uninstalling and then reinstalling OmniPage Pro will solve a problem. See "Uninstalling the software" on page 96. It is planned to provide Text-to-Speech for English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. This may vary depending on region or version. The Readme file provides latest information. A speech system for only one language can be installed with OmniPage Pro. See "Reading text aloud" on page 75. Installing OmniPage Pro 13 Setting up your scanner with OmniPage Pro All files needed for scanner setup and support are copied automatically during the program's installation. Before using OmniPage Pro 12 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 Pro. Scanner installation and setup are done through the Scanner Wizard. You can start this yourself, as described below. Otherwise, the Scanner Wizard appears when you first attempt to perform scanning. Please follow these steps to use the Scanner Wizard to setup your scanner with OmniPage Pro 12: X Choose StartProgramsScanSoft OmniPage Pro 12.0 Scanner Wizard or click the Setup button in the Scanner panel of the Options dialog box. or choose a scan setting in the Get Page drop-down list in the OmniPage Toolbox and click the Get Page button. The Scanner Setup Wizard starts. The first panel appears only on first setup when called from inside OmniPage Pro. Choose `Select scanner or digital camera', then click Next. You see a list of all detected TWAIN scanner drivers, with the system default scanner selected. Click once to select the driver of the scanner you want to use. Click `Other drivers...' if you need to browse for a driver. Select `Configure Advanced Settings' for an extra panel if you want your scanner's own interface to be hidden during scanning or to modify the image transfer method. Click on Next. Choose Yes to test your scanner configuration, then click Next. The wizard will now test the connection from the computer to your scanner. When completed, click on Next. Insert a test page into your scanner. The wizard is now prepared to do a basic scan using your scanner manufacturer's software. Click on Next. Your scanner's native user-interface will appear. X X X X 14 Installation and setup Chapter 1 X Click on Scan to begin the sample scan. X If necessary, click on Inverse Image... or Missing Image... and X X X X X X X X X X make the appropriate selections. Once the image appears correctly in the window, click on Next. Select the item that most appropriately describes your scanner, then click on Next. Click on Next to proceed to page size. The page sizes that the Scanner Wizard believes your scanner to support are listed in the window. To make any changes to the page sizes, click on Advanced, make the changes and then click on Next. Insert a page with text but no pictures into your scanner. Click on Next to begin a scan in black-and-white mode. If necessary, click on Inverse Image... or Missing Image... and make the appropriate selections. Once the image appears correctly in the window, click on Next. If you have a color scanner, insert a color photograph or a page with a color picture into your scanner. Click on Next to begin a scan in color mode. If necessary, click on Inverse Image... or Missing Image... and make the appropriate selections. Once the image appears correctly in the window, click on Next. If your scanner cannot scan in color, skip this step. Insert a photograph or a page containing a picture into your scanner. Click on Next to begin a scan in grayscale mode. If necessary, click on Inverse Image... or Missing Image... and make the appropriate selections. Once the image appears correctly in the window, click on Next. You have successfully configured your scanner to work with OmniPage Pro 12! Click on Finish. To change the scanner settings at a later time, or to set up a different 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 Scanner Setup Wizard from the Windows Start menu and select `Test scanner or digital camera' in the first panel, then work through the procedure described above. Setting up your scanner with OmniPage Pro 15 How to start the program To start OmniPage Pro 12 do one of the following: X Click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose Programs ScanSoft OmniPage Pro 12.0OmniPage Pro 12.0. X Double-click the OmniPage Pro icon in the program's installation folder or on the Windows desktop if you placed it there. X Double-click an OmniPage Document (OPD) icon or file name; the clicked document is loaded into the program. See "OmniPage Documents" on page 29. On opening, OmniPage Pro's title screen is displayed and then its desktop. See "The OmniPage Desktop" on page 22. It provides an introduction to the program's main working areas. There are several ways of running the program with a limited interface: X Use the Schedule OCR program. Click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose ProgramsScanSoft OmniPage Pro 12.0 Schedule OCR. See "Processing with Schedule OCR" on page 47. X Click Acquire Text from the File menu of an application registered with the Direct OCRTM facility. See "How to set up Direct OCR" on page 45. X Right-click an image file icon or file name for a shortcut menu. Select a sub-menu item from `Convert To...' to define a target. X Use OmniPage Pro 12 with ScanSoft's PaperPort® or Pagis® document management products, to add OCR services. See "How to use OmniPage Pro with PaperPort" on page 46. 16 Installation and setup Chapter 1 Registering your software ScanSoft's registration Wizard runs at the end of installation. We provide an easy electronic form that can be completed in less than five minutes. When the form is filled, and you click Send the program will search an Internet connection to immediately perform the registration online. If you did not register the software during installation, you will be periodically invited to register later. You can go to www.scansoft.com to register online. Click on Support and from the main support screen choose Register on the left-hand column. For a statement on the use of your registration data, please see ScanSoft's Privacy Policy. New features in OmniPage Pro 12 The OmniPage® product family is augmented by OmniPage Pro 12. If you are upgrading, you may not need to consult this guide very much. Here are some main areas of innovation compared to OmniPage Pro 11: X Dramatic increase in accuracy Improved synergy between recognition engines, support for professional dictionaries and the ability to train characters chosen by the user boost accuracy to new levels. X Streamlined interface Automatic and manual processing are now driven directly from the OmniPage Toolbox without separate toolbars. See page 25. Thumbnails now display in the Image Panel; choose to see the current page, thumbnails or both. See page 26. The previous Detail view becomes the Document Manager and includes a Note column for comments and searchable keywords. X New zoning concepts On-the-fly zoning allows zone changes to be processed immediately without having to re-recognize the whole page. See page 74. Page backgrounds are defined as process (auto-zone) or ignore, so all zoning instructions appear on the page and can be Registering your software 17 saved to zone templates. See page 53. Irregular zones can be drawn and zones split and joined more simply, without the need for separate tools. See page 57. X Better proofing and verifying The Proofing dialog box now shows suspect words in a wider context. A dynamic verifier can stay open as text is being checked, with the image display and window tracking the editing position. See page 65. X Formatting levels for display and saving There are three formatting levels for Text Editor display. See page 64. The output formatting level is now chosen at export time; the choices depend on the specified file type. An export choice `Flowing Page' is an improved version of the previous `Retain Flowing Columns' view. It preserves page layout without boxes and frames whenever possible, so text can flow between columns. See page 81. X Superior page analysis The transfer of table formatting has improved, in particular the detection of tables without gridlines in original pages. Web and e-mail addresses can be detected and transferred to the Text Editor; hyperlinks can be inserted. Reading order can now be viewed and changed after recognition in the Text Editor's True Page® view. See from page 72. X Improved PDF handling OmniPage Pro 12 searches background text in PDFs it opens, to deliver higher recognition accuracy. A new file type `PDF Edited' allows good format retention on pages that were modified in the Text Editor after recognition. X Advanced saving options A wider range of saving options is offered for each output file type. User-defined output file types can be created with customized settings. See page 82. If your edition of OmniPage Pro 12 includes the new saving formats XML and eBook, see page 95. 18 Installation and setup Chapter 2 Introduction You probably use your computer for business correspondence, preparing reports, handling data and an ever-increasing number of other uses. The challenge is that, in spite of the digital revolution, certain sources of information still circulate in printed, paper form and cannot be used immediately in a computer. For example, if you want to incorporate information from a magazine article in a report you are preparing, you somehow have to get the text from the article into your computer. Painstakingly retyping the article is not an appealing solution. This chapter introduces you to the solution: optical character recognition (OCR). It describes how OmniPage Pro 12 uses OCR technology to transform text from scanned pages or image files into editable text for use in your favorite computer applications. We present the following topics: X What is optical character recognition · Documents in OmniPage Pro · Basic processing steps X The OmniPage Desktop X Managing documents X OmniPage Documents X Settings OmniPage Pro User's Guide 19 What is optical character recognition Optical character recognition is the process of extracting text from an image. This image can result from scanning a paper document or opening an electronic image file. Images do not have editable text characters; they have many tiny dots (pixels) that together form character shapes. These present a picture of the text on a page. During OCR, OmniPage Pro 12 analyzes the character shapes in an image and defines solutions to produce editable text. After OCR, you can save the resulting text to a variety of word-processing, desktop publishing or spreadsheet applications. OmniPage Pro's OCR capabilities In addition to text recognition, OmniPage Pro can retain the following elements of a document through the OCR process. Graphics Photos, logos, and drawings are examples of graphics. Text formatting Font types, sizes and styles (such as bold, italic and underlines) are examples of character formatting. Indents, tabs, margins and line spacing are examples of paragraph formatting. Page formatting Column structure, table formats, and placement of graphics and headings are examples of page formatting. The graphics, text and page formatting elements that OmniPage Pro retains are determined by the settings you select. Refer to the Settings Guidelines in the online Help for more information about selecting settings. OmniPage Pro only recognizes machine-generated characters such as offset or laser-printed or typewritten text. However, it can retain handwritten text, such as a signature, as a graphic. 20 Introduction