OmniPage Pro ® User's Manual ScanSoft, Inc. 9 Centennial Drive Peabody, MA 01960 USA Please Note 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 9 Copyright© 2001 ScanSoft Inc. All rights reserved. The Caere logo, Caere®, OmniPage®, OmniPage Pro®, PageKeeper®, Language Analyst®, 3D OCR®, AutoOCR ToolbarTM, True Page®, and OCR Proofreader are trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Such designations appearing in this manual have been printed in initial capitals. ii 800-1288-030B Table of Contents Welcome Using This Manual ............................................................................................................viii Chapter 1 Installation and Setup Minimum System Requirements.........................................................................................2 Installing OmniPage Pro .....................................................................................................2 Starting and Closing OmniPage Pro...................................................................................3 Registering OmniPage Pro ..................................................................................................5 Chapter 2 Introduction to OmniPage Pro What Is Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?................................................................8 OmniPage Pro's OCR Capabilities ..............................................................................8 Basic Steps of OmniPage Pro OCR .............................................................................9 The OmniPage Pro Desktop .............................................................................................10 AutoOCR Toolbar .......................................................................................................11 Standard Toolbar..........................................................................................................12 Zone Toolbar.................................................................................................................12 Options Dialog Box ......................................................................................................13 Getting Online Help ...........................................................................................................14 Help Menu ....................................................................................................................14 Context-Sensitive Help................................................................................................15 Product Support ..................................................................................................................16 Chapter 3 Processing Documents Ways to Process Documents ..............................................................................................18 Using the OCR Wizard................................................................................................18 Automatic Processing .................................................................................................19 Performing Multiple Tasks at Once...........................................................................19 Starting the OCR Process Outside OmniPage Pro ..................................................19 Bringing Document Images into OmniPage Pro ...........................................................20 Scanning Pages .............................................................................................................20 Loading Image Files ....................................................................................................20 Creating Zones for OCR ....................................................................................................22 Creating Zones Automatically ...................................................................................22 iii Performing OCR on a Document .....................................................................................23 Proofreading OCR Results ................................................................................................24 Verifying Text ..............................................................................................................25 Proofreading OCR Results in Microsoft Word .......................................................25 Using OCR in Other Applications ...................................................................................29 Working with Documents .................................................................................................30 Resizing a Page View .................................................................................................31 Changing Pages ...........................................................................................................31 Reordering Pages ........................................................................................................32 Deleting Pages .............................................................................................................32 Printing a Document ..................................................................................................33 Closing a Document ...................................................................................................33 Exporting Documents ........................................................................................................34 Saving a Document......................................................................................................34 Copying a Document to the Clipboard ....................................................................36 Sending a Document as a Mail Attachment ............................................................37 Chapter 4 OmniPage Pro Settings Setting AutoOCR Toolbar Commands ............................................................................40 AUTO Button Commands ..........................................................................................41 Image Button Commands ...........................................................................................41 Zone Button Commands.............................................................................................42 OCR Button Commands .............................................................................................43 Export Button Commands ..........................................................................................44 Selecting OmniPage Pro Settings......................................................................................45 Accuracy Settings ................................................................................................................46 Scanner Settings...................................................................................................................46 Page Format Settings ..........................................................................................................47 Tables Settings .....................................................................................................................47 Language Settings ...............................................................................................................48 OCR Aware Settings ...........................................................................................................48 Process Settings ...................................................................................................................49 Microsoft Word Settings ....................................................................................................50 Settings Guidelines .............................................................................................................51 Chapter 5 Customizing OCR Adjusting Page Images Before OCR.................................................................................62 Customizing Zones .............................................................................................................63 Zone toolbar..................................................................................................................63 Drawing Zones Manually ..........................................................................................64 Modifying Text and Graphic Zones ..........................................................................65 Modifying Table Zones ...............................................................................................69 Deleting Zones..............................................................................................................71 Changing Zone Properties..........................................................................................71 Creating Zone Templates............................................................................................73 iv Specifying Fonts.....................................................................................................................74 Training OCR for Special Characters ....................................................................................75 Creating User Dictionaries .....................................................................................................77 Saving Settings Files ..............................................................................................................78 Scheduling OCR.....................................................................................................................80 Scheduling Individual Documents ..................................................................................80 Scheduling Documents from an Input Folder ................................................................81 Modifying Output Options for Documents.....................................................................83 Chapter 6 Technical Information General Troubleshooting Solutions .......................................................................................86 Solutions to Try First ......................................................................................................86 Testing OmniPage Pro ....................................................................................................87 Low Memory Problems ..................................................................................................88 Low Disk Space Problems ..............................................................................................88 Supported File-Format Types.................................................................................................89 Scanner Setup Issues ..............................................................................................................91 Scanner Drivers Supplied by the Manufacturer ..............................................................91 Scanner Drivers Supplied by ScanSoft ...........................................................................92 Scan Manager is Needed with OmniPage Pro ...............................................................92 Problems Connecting OmniPage Pro to Your Scanner ..................................................93 Missing Scan Image Command ......................................................................................94 Scanner Message on Launch...........................................................................................94 System Crash Occurs While Scanning............................................................................94 Scanner Not Listed in Supported Scanners List Box ......................................................95 Scanning Tips..................................................................................................................95 OCR Problems........................................................................................................................96 System Crash During OCR .............................................................................................96 Text Does Not Get Recognized Properly........................................................................97 Problems With Fax Recognition .....................................................................................98 Uninstalling the Software.......................................................................................................99 v vi Welcome Welcome to OmniPage Pro, and thank you for using our software! The following documentation has been provided to help you learn about OmniPage Pro. This User's Manual This manual introduces you to the basics of using OmniPage Pro. It includes installation and setup instructions, an introduction to OmniPage Pro, task-oriented instructions, ways to customize processing, settings guidelines, and technical information. This manual is also available as an electronic PDF file. To open the file, click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose Programs!Caere Applications!Caere Documents!OmniPage Pro Manual after OmniPage Pro has been installed. Online Help OmniPage Pro's online Help contains detailed information on features, settings, and procedures. The online Help conforms to Windows 95 Help conventions and has been designed for quick and easy information retrieval. Please see "Getting Online Help" on page 14 for more information. Readme File The Readme file contains last-minute information about the software. Please read it before using OmniPage Pro. To open this text file, click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose Programs!Caere Applications!Caere Documents!OmniPage Pro Readme after OmniPage Pro has been installed. Scanner Setup Notes The Scanner Setup Notes contains information about supported scanners and related issues. To open this PDF file, click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose Programs!Caere Applications!Caere Documents !Scanner Setup Notes after OmniPage Pro has been installed. vii 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 documentation if you have questions about how to use dialog boxes, menu commands, scroll bars, drag and drop functionality, shortcut 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 Warning symbol Introduces important information viii Chapter 1 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 information on supported scanners and scanner setup, read the Scanner Setup Notes. To open this PDF file, click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose Programs!Caere Applications!Caere Documents !Scanner Setup Notes after OmniPage Pro has been installed. This chapter contains the following topics: · Minimum System Requirements · Installing OmniPage Pro · Starting and Closing OmniPage Pro · Registering OmniPage Pro 1 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, Windows 98, or Windows NT 4.0 · 16MB of memory (RAM) · 45MB of free hard disk space to install application files, the Scan Manager, and one OCR language 55MB to install above files and all OCR languages · SVGA or VGA monitor with 256 colors · Windows-compatible pointing device · CD-ROM drive for installation · 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 computer's processor, memory, and available disk space exceed the minimum requirements. Installing OmniPage Pro OmniPage Pro's Setup program takes you through installation with onscreen instructions at every step. Before installing OmniPage Pro: · Make sure your scanner is connected, turned on, and compatible with your system. · Close all other applications, especially anti-virus programs. · Log into your computer with administrator privileges if you are installing on Windows NT. If you own a previous version of OmniPage Pro, or if you are upgrading from OmniPage Limited Edition, it is strongly recommended that you uninstall that product first and then restart your computer. 2 Chapter 1 Starting and Closing 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 Setup.exe program at the top-level of the CD-ROM. Follow the instructions on each screen to install the software. During installation, you may be prompted to enter a serial number. You can find your serial number on the label of the CD-ROM envelope. 2 The Caere Scan Manager is installed during OmniPage Pro installation. You will be prompted to select your scanner manufacturer and model in the Scan Manager so that you can use your scanner with OmniPage Pro. Read the Scanner Setup Notes for the most detailed information about scanner support and setup. You can open the Notes after OmniPage Pro has been installed by clicking Start in the Windows taskbar and choosing Programs!Caere Applications!Caere Documents !Scanner Setup Notes. Starting and Closing 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, do one of the following: · Click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose Programs!Caere Applications!OmniPage Pro 9.0. (Use the program group you selected during installation if it is different than Caere Applications.) · Double-click the OmniPage Pro icon located in the folder where you installed OmniPage Pro. Installation and Setup 3 Starting and Closing OmniPage Pro OmniPage Pro's desktop appears when you open OmniPage Pro. See "The OmniPage Pro Desktop" on page 10 for an introduction to OmniPage Pro's user interface. Standard toolbar Zone toolbar AutoOCR toolbar The thumbnail viewer displays the pages in an open document. The image viewer displays the current page's original image. The text viewer displays the current page's recognized text and retained graphics. Closing OmniPage Pro Choose Exit in the file menu to close OmniPage Pro. You are prompted to save the current document if you have not saved it or have modified it since the last save. 4 Chapter 1 Registering OmniPage Pro Registering OmniPage Pro Register your copy of OmniPage Pro with ScanSoft, Inc.to receive notification of special offers and the best prices on product upgrades. Some versions of OmniPage Pro will only launch 25 times if you do not register it. If you purchased your product directly from ScanSoft or if you were previously registered, you may not need to register again. Your version of OmniPage Pro will not display a Register menu if you do not need to register it. To register OmniPage Pro: 1 2 3 4 Click the Register menu to open the Register dialog box. Click Register Now. Fill out the information requested on the screen and then click Next. Follow the instructions on the screen. OmniPage Pro will decide on the best method of registration according to your country and computer system. It may try using modem, FTP, or HTTP connections to transmit your registration information directly. Or, it may prompt you to call a phone number or print out and mail in your registration information. After registration is complete, you will be given a registration number. Be sure to write that number down and keep it handy in case you need to use it for reinstallation. If you reinstall OmniPage Pro using your registration number on the same computer, you will not have to go through the entire registration process again to reregister it. To reregister OmniPage Pro after reinstallation: 1 2 3 Click the Register menu to open the Register dialog box. Click Reregister. Type in your registration number and click OK. Installation and Setup 5 6 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Introduction to OmniPage Pro You probably use your computer for most business correspondence and other written projects. The challenge 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 eliminates the need for manual retyping. 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 7 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 save the resulting text to a variety of word-processing, page layout, and spreadsheet applications. OmniPage Pro's OCR Capabilities 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, table formats, 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 51 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. 8 Chapter 2 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 or load an image file. The resulting image appears in OmniPage Pro's image viewer. See "Bringing Document Images into OmniPage Pro" on page 20 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 areas of a document image that will get processed. You can create zones automatically, manually, or with a template. Any areas not enclosed by zones are ignored during OCR. See "Creating Zones for OCR" on page 22 for more information. 3 Perform OCR to convert text information into editable text characters. During OCR, OmniPage Pro interprets text characters in an image. After OCR, you can check and correct errors in the text using the OCR Proofreader. See "Performing OCR on a Document" on page 23 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 34 for more information. There are different ways to start the OCR process in OmniPage Pro. See "Ways to Process Documents" on page 18 for more information. Introduction to OmniPage Pro 9 The OmniPage Pro Desktop The OmniPage Pro Desktop OmniPage Pro's desktop displays the pages of an open 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. Standard toolbar Zone toolbar AutoOCR toolbar The thumbnail viewer displays a picture of each page in the document. The current page is highlighted with a light border around it. The image viewer displays the current page's original image. Drag this splitter to the left or right to resize a viewer. The text viewer displays the current page's recognized text and retained graphics. 10 Chapter 2 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 button's drop-down list. You can set different commands in the AutoOCR toolbar buttons for the operations you want to perform. Choose a command using each 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, train characters for OCR, or schedule OCR at a later time. · 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 40 for more information on each toolbar button. Also see the separately enclosed OmniPage Pro 9 Reference card, which shows all available AutoOCR toolbar commands. Introduction to OmniPage Pro 11 The OmniPage Pro Desktop Standard Toolbar The Standard toolbar contains buttons and a drop-down list for performing standard tasks. New Save Proofread OCR 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 Move Row Insert Remove/Replace Row All Row and Rectangular Add to Reorder or Column Zone Zones Zones Dividers Dividers Column Dividers Table tools Draw Irregular Zones Subtract Zone Insert Remove Row or from Properties Column Column Dividers Zone Dividers See "Customizing Zones" on page 63 for more information. 12 Chapter 2 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 13 Getting Online Help Getting Online Help In addition to using this manual, you can use OmniPage Pro's online Help topics to learn about features, settings, and procedures. Online Help is available after you install OmniPage Pro. OmniPage Pro's online Help follows the conventions of Microsoft Windows 95 Help. Choose How to Use Help... in OmniPage Pro's Help menu to get information on using Help. Help Menu One way to open OmniPage Pro's online Help is to choose commands in the Help menu. · 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. · Choose How to Use Help... to get Microsoft Windows Help topics that explain how to use and customize Help. · 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. · Choose About OmniPage Pro... to get information about your version of OmniPage Pro. 14 Chapter 2 Getting Online Help 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 a Help topic explaining 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 a popup explanation for that item. · Some dialog boxes have a Help button. Click Help to get information about that dialog box. Introduction to OmniPage Pro 15 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. See "General Troubleshooting Solutions" on page 86 for troubleshooting tips. If you need additional help, please use the following resources: · World Wide Web Go to ScanSoft's Web site for common questions and answers, updates, patches, troubleshooting procedures, and product information: www.scansoft.com · OmniPage Pro Readme file Read the OmniPage Pro Readme file for last-minute information about the software. This is available after installing OmniPage Pro. To open the file, click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose Programs!Caere Applications !Caere Documents !OmniPage Pro Readme. · Scanner Setup Notes Read the Scanner Setup Notes document to learn about supported scanners and related issues. This document has been provided to you as an electronic document in PDF format. To open this document, click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose Programs!Caere Applications!Caere Documents !Scanner Setup Notes. · Technical support For technical support, please contact the manufacturer of the hardware or software with which you received this product. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.01 or greater installed to read PDF documents. To install the Reader, click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose Programs!Caere Applications !Caere Documents !Acrobat Reader. 16 Chapter 2 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 · Proofreading 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 14 for more information. 17 Ways to Process Documents Ways to Process Documents Optical character recognition (OCR) is the process of turning an image into computer-editable text so you do not have to retype the text manually. The basic steps of OmniPage Pro's OCR process are explained on page 9. The following is a summary of those steps. 1 2 Bring a document image into OmniPage Pro. See page 20 for more information. Create zones to identify areas you want to recognize as text or retain as graphics. See page 22 for more information. Perform OCR to convert text information into editable text characters. See page 23 for more information. Export the document to the desired location. See page 34 for more information. 3 4 Using the OCR Wizard The OCR Wizard guides you through the entire OCR process by asking you questions about your document and selecting the appropriate settings for you. To process your document using the OCR Wizard: 1 2 Set OCR Wizard as the command in the AUTO button's dropdown list. Click AUTO or choose OCR Wizard in the Process menu. The first wizard screen appears. 3 4 Answer the question in the first screen and click Next. Continue answering questions in the screens that follow. 18 Chapter 3 Ways to Process Documents Automatic Processing Use the AUTO button to process a new document from start to finish or to finish processing an open document. To process your document automatically: 1 2 Set AutoOCR as the command in the AUTO button's dropdown list. Set the desired Image, Zone, OCR, and Export commands. See "Setting AutoOCR Toolbar Commands" on page 40 for more information. Choose Options... in the Tools menu and check that settings are appropriate for your document. See "Settings Guidelines" on page 51 for more information. Place your document in your scanner if you are scanning. Click AUTO or choose AutoOCR in the Process menu. Each page of the document is processed and finished in order according to the selected commands. If page images in an open document already have zones, OmniPage Pro will skip zoning for those pages and continue with the selected OCR and export operations. 3 4 5 Performing Multiple Tasks at Once OmniPage Pro takes advantage of your computer's ability to handle more than one process at a time. You can simultaneously scan, create zones, recognize, and edit documents. You do not have to wait for any process to complete before moving on to the next task. For example, if you scan a multiple-page document, you can draw zones on an image as soon as the first page is scanned and you can edit recognized text as soon as it appears in the text viewer. These tasks can be done while other pages are being scanned and recognized. Starting the OCR Process Outside OmniPage Pro You can start the OCR process outside OmniPage Pro in a variety of ways. For example, you can use the OCR Aware feature to initiate OCR from another application and paste recognized text into an open document. See "Using OCR in Other Applications" on page 29 for more information. Processing Documents 19 Bringing Document Images into OmniPage Pro Bringing Document Images into OmniPage Pro You can bring document images into OmniPage Pro by scanning pages or loading image files. Scanning Pages You can scan paper documents to convert them to electronic images in OmniPage Pro. If a document is already open, scanned pages are inserted as new pages. To scan in OmniPage Pro, you must install the Scan Manager and select your default scanner. See "Scan Manager is Needed with OmniPage Pro" on page 92 for more information. To scan pages into OmniPage Pro: 1 Place your page in your scanner. You can scan a stack of pages if you have an automatic document feeder (ADF). Set Scan Image as the command in the Image button's dropdown list. Choose Options... in the Tools menu and click the Scanner tab to make sure the appropriate settings are selected. Select Scan until empty in the Scanner tab if you want to scan all pages in an ADF at once. Otherwise, you must click the Image button to scan each subsequent page. Click the Image button or choose Scan Image in the Process menu. Pages are scanned in order and combined into one working document. 2 3 4 Loading Image Files You can load image files into OmniPage Pro. An image file is an electronic picture of text, such as a scanned paper document or an electronic fax, that is saved in an image file format such as PCX or TIFF. If a document is already open, loaded image files are inserted as new pages. The following procedure is for loading image files only. To open an OmniPage Document (*.met), use the Open... command in the File menu. 20 Chapter 3 Bringing Document Images into OmniPage Pro To load image files into OmniPage Pro: 1 2 Set Load Image as the command in the Image button's dropdown list. Click the Image button or choose Load Image in the Process menu. The Load Image dialog box appears. Click Advanced if you want to select files from more than one folder. 3 Select the folder location and file type of the file you want to load. See "Supported File-Format Types" on page 89 for a complete list of supported file formats. Select the files you want to load. You can Shift-click or Ctrl-click to select multiple files in the same folder. Click Advanced if you want to select files from more than one folder. · Select a file and click Add to put it in the Selected Files list. · Click Add All to add all files from the current folder. 4 5 6 Click Open when you have selected all the files you want to load. Image files are loaded in the order selected and combined into one working document. If you have electronic fax files that you want to convert to editable text, save the fax files in TIFF format and load them into OmniPage Pro using the Load Image command. Processing Documents 21 Creating Zones for OCR Creating Zones for OCR Page images are displayed in OmniPage Pro's image viewer where zones are created before OCR. Zones are borders that identify areas of an image that will be recognized as text or retained as graphics. Any part of an image not enclosed by a zone is ignored during OCR. This is a table zone. It will be kept in a row-andcolumn format during OCR. These are text zones. They will be converted to text during OCR. This is an unzoned area. It will be ignored during OCR. This is a graphic zone. It will be kept as a graphic image during OCR. The easiest way to create zones on a page is to let OmniPage Pro do it automatically for you. However, you may want to draw zones manually if you want to customize the way your page will be processed. For example, if you only want to process certain areas of a page, you would manually draw zones around the desired areas. For information on drawing zones manually, modifying zones, deleting unwanted zones, and using zone templates, please see "Customizing Zones" on page 63. Creating Zones Automatically OmniPage Pro can analyze a page and create zones automatically for you. It uses the selected setting in the Zone button to determine the text flow on a page and breaks it into ordered zones. To create zones automatically: 1 Choose a setting in the Zone button's drop-down list that most closely matches the format of your document. You can choose Single-Column Pages, Multiple-Column Pages, Spreadsheet Pages, Mixed Pages, or a template of your own. See "Zone Button Commands" on page 42 for more information on these settings. 22 Chapter 3 Performing OCR on a Document 2 Click the Zone button or choose Auto Zones in the Process menu. OmniPage Pro automatically draws zones on the current page in the image viewer. Each zone has a number indicating its order and a picture indicating its zone type. Make sure zones are identified correctly before performing OCR. For example, if you want to retain an area as a graphic, that area should be identified as a Graphic zone type. See "Changing Zone Properties" on page 71 for more information. Performing OCR on a Document Performing OCR converts an image to editable text. This is also referred to as recognizing text. 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. To perform OCR: 1 2 Choose Options... in the Tools menu and click the Page Format tab. Select an Output Format setting for your document. OmniPage Pro uses this setting to determine the output formatting of a document during OCR. Set OCR and Proof as the command in the OCR button's dropdown list. Or, set Perform OCR as the command if you do not want the OCR Proofreader to begin automatically after OCR. Click the OCR button. The page is recognized according to the current zones and settings. If there are no zones on the page, zones are created according to the current command in the Zone button. 3 4 Processing Documents 23 Proofreading OCR Results To schedule a group of documents for OCR at a particular time, see "Scheduling OCR" on page 80. Proofreading OCR Results After performing OCR, recognized text appears in the text viewer where you can proofread the results. Proofreading starts automatically if you chose OCR and Proof as the OCR process command. OmniPage Pro marks suspected errors in green and inserts a red "reject" character for any character it cannot recognize. To turn off these color markers, choose Show Markers in the View menu so that it is deselected. To proofread OCR results and correct errors: 1 Click the Proofread OCR button or choose Proofread OCR... in the Tools menu. If a suspected error is detected, the OCR Proofreader dialog box displays the error and a picture of how it originally looked in the image. This is what OmniPage Pro thought the word was. This window shows a picture of the original image. Click inside it to enlarge or reduce the picture. You can also drag a corner of the dialog box to see more areas of the image. 2 Select one of these options for the word: · Click Ignore to allow the word to remain as is. · Click Ignore All to ignore all instances of the word in the current document. · Click Change to replace the word with the word in the Change to edit box. · Click Change All to replace all instances of the word with the word in the Change to edit box. 24 Chapter 3 Proofreading OCR Results · Click Add to add the word to the current user dictionary. After you choose an option for the word, the OCR Proofreader looks for the next possible error. 3 Click Close to stop proofreading OCR. Color markers are removed from words that have been proofread. Verifying Text After performing OCR, you can compare recognized text against the original image to verify that the text was recognized correctly. To verify text against its original image: 1 Double-click any word in the text viewer or select a word and choose Verify Text in the Tools menu. The Verify Text window opens and shows a picture of the original word and its surrounding area. Close button This window shows a picture of the original image. Click inside it to enlarge or reduce the picture. You can also drag a corner of the window to resize it. 2 Click inside the window to enlarge or reduce the picture. The picture is enlarged on the first two clicks and reduced on the next two clicks. Continue double-clicking words that you want to verify. The display changes as you select new words. Click the Close button to close the window. 3 4 Proofreading OCR Results in Microsoft Word You can proofread OCR results directly in Microsoft Word 95 (version 7) or Word 97 if you have one of those versions installed on your computer. To enable proofreading in Microsoft Word: 1 Select settings in the Microsoft Word tab of OmniPage Pro's Options dialog box. See "Microsoft Word Settings" on page 50 for more information. Processing Documents 25 Proofreading OCR Results 2 Make sure the *.doc file extension is associated with the version of Word you plan to use. Refer to your Windows documentation for more information on associating file extensions with applications. To proofread OCR results and correct errors in Microsoft Word: 1 Perform OCR on your document and then save it as the appropriate file type: · Save as Word for Windows 7.0, 95 if you are using that version. · Save as Word 97 if you are using that version. 2 Open the document in Microsoft Word. The document must be opened on a system that has OmniPage Pro installed. An OmniPage menu appears in Microsoft Word's menu bar as well as this corresponding toolbar: Proofread OCR Verify Text Remove OCR Proofreader Support Close Image Viewer 3 Choose Proofread OCR... in the OmniPage menu or click the Proofread OCR button. If a suspected error is detected, the Verify Text window appears displaying the original image of the text. Use these buttons to zoom in or out on the image. original image 26 Chapter 3 Proofreading OCR Results The OCR Proofreader dialog box also appears. 4 Select one of these options for the word: · Click Ignore to allow the word to remain as is. · Click Ignore All to ignore all instances of the word. · Click Change to replace the word with the word in the Change to edit box. · Click Change All to replace all instances of the word with the word in the Change to edit box. · Click Add to add the word to the current user dictionary. After you choose an option for the word, the OCR Proofreader looks for the next possible error. 5 Click Close to stop proofreading OCR. Color markers are removed from words that have been proofread. To verify recognized text against its original image in Microsoft Word, you must process the document in OmniPage Pro and save it to the appropriate Word format. You cannot verify text against original images using the OCR Aware feature. To verify text against its original image in Microsoft Word: 1 2 Follow steps 1 and 2 in the preceding instructions if your document is not already open in Microsoft Word. Select a word that is a suspected error. Suspect words are marked in the color that was selected in the Microsoft Word tab of OmniPage Pro's Options dialog box. Processing Documents 27 Proofreading OCR Results You can only verify words that are marked as suspected errors. However, once the Verify Text window is open, you can use its scroll bars and zoom buttons to see any part of the original image. 3 Choose Verify Text... in the OmniPage menu. The Verify Text window opens and shows a picture of the original word and its surrounding area. Use these buttons to zoom in or out on the image. 4 Repeat steps 2 and 3 to continue proofreading other suspect words. The display changes as you select new words. Choose Close Image Viewer in the OmniPage menu to close the window when you are done. 5 Removing OmniPage Pro Data from the Word Document After proofreading OCR, you should remove OmniPage Pro data from your document to reduce its file size. You are automatically prompted to remove OmniPage data after all suspect words have been proofread. You can also choose Remove OCR Proofreader Support in the OmniPage menu. The OmniPage menu, toolbar, color markers, and image data will all be removed from the document. 28 Chapter 3 Using OCR in Other Applications Using OCR in Other Applications You can use OmniPage Pro's OCR Aware feature to use OCR in other applications. For example, you can scan, recognize, and paste text directly into a document without ever leaving your word-processing application. You can use OCR Aware with 32-bit applications that have been registered with OmniPage Pro. An application must be installed on your computer in order to use it with OCR Aware. See page 49 for more information on registering applications with OCR Aware. For information on other ways to start OCR outside OmniPage Pro, please see the "Starting OCR Outside OmniPage Pro" online Help topic. To use OCR Aware in an application: 1 2 Align your document in your scanner if you plan to scan. Open the application in which you want to insert recognized text. The application must be registered to work with OCR Aware. You do not need to open OmniPage Pro itself. Place the cursor at the location in your document where you want to insert recognized text. Choose Acquire Text Settings... in the application's File menu if you want to check the current settings. Choose Acquire Text... in the application's File menu when you are ready to start the OCR process. OCR processing occurs according to the selected settings. Recognized text appears at the cursor location in your application. If no document is open, text is copied to the Clipboard. 3 4 5 Text formatting, such as bold and italics, is retained if the application supports RTF information. Otherwise, only plain text will be pasted. Graphics are retained if the application supports bitmap images. Processing Documents 29 Working with Documents Working with Documents OmniPage Pro's thumbnail, image, and text viewers allow you to look at and work with pages in the current document. Thumbnail viewer Image viewer Drag this splitter to the left or right to resize a view. Text viewer This section describes the following procedures: · Resizing a Page View · Changing Pages · Reordering Pages · Deleting Pages · Printing a Document · Closing a Document 30 Chapter 3 Working with Documents Resizing a Page View You can resize a page displayed in the image viewer or text viewer to enlarge or reduce the view. To resize a page view: 1 2 Click in the viewer you want to enlarge or reduce to make it active. Choose a size option in the Zoom drop-down list in the Standard toolbar. Or, choose Zoom in the View menu and select a size option in the drop-down list. The page resizes as specified. You can also click your right mouse button in the viewer you want to resize and select a size option in the shortcut menu. (If you are resizing the image viewer, click outside of a zone.) Changing Pages The thumbnail viewer, image viewer, and text viewer all display the same page of a document. You can change pages in a document in the following ways: · Click the thumbnail of the page you want to display. The thumbnail of the currently displayed page is highlighted with a light border around it. Processing Documents 31 Working with Documents · Click the Next Page or Previous Page buttons at the lower-right corner of the OmniPage Pro desktop. · Choose Next Page, Previous Page, or Go to Page... in the Edit menu. Reordering Pages You can reorder pages in a document by dragging their thumbnails to different positions in the thumbnail viewer. Click the thumbnail of the page you want to move and drag it above the desired page number. Hold down the Ctrl key while you click thumbnails if you want to select multiple thumbnails to move as a group. Deleting Pages If you delete a page from a document in OmniPage Pro, the thumbnail, original image, and recognized text for that page are all deleted. To permanently delete pages: · Choose Delete Current Page in the Edit menu to delete the currently displayed page. · Select one or more thumbnails of pages you want to delete and press the Delete key. 32 Chapter 3 Working with Documents Undoing Changes You can click the Undo button or choose Undo in the Edit menu to cancel the very last change you made in the text viewer. You can also choose Undo to cancel zone edits in the image viewer. However, page deletions cannot be undone. Printing a Document You can print the current document's original page images or recognized text. To print a document: 1 Choose Print... in the File menu and choose one of the following in the submenu: · Choose Image... to print original page images. · Choose Text... to print recognized text. 2 3 Select the desired print settings in the Print dialog box. Click OK to start the print job. As a shortcut, you can click either the text or image viewer to make it active and then click the Print button to print from that viewer. Closing a Document Choose Close in the File menu to close a document. You are prompted to save your document if you have not saved it or have modified it since the last save. Save a document as an OmniPage Document (*.met) if you want to reopen it in OmniPage Pro again. Processing Documents 33 Exporting Documents Exporting Documents You can export a document to other applications by: · Saving a Document · Copying a Document to the Clipboard · Sending a Document as a Mail Attachment After you export a document, a copy of the document remains open in OmniPage Pro. Save the document as an OmniPage Document (*.met) if you want to reopen it in OmniPage Pro again. OmniPage Documents retain all original images, zones, and recognized text. Saving a Document You can save recognized text and original images to disk in a variety of file types. To save recognized text: 1 Choose Save As... in the File menu. You can also click the Export button with Save As selected in the drop-down list. The Save As dialog box appears. The Add to PageKeeper setting only appears if you have PageKeeper installed on your computer. It puts a link to the saved document in PageKeeper's default folder. 2 Select a folder location and file type for your document. See "Supported File-Format Types" on page 89 for a complete list of supported file types. Type in a file name and select save options. 3 34 Chapter 3 Exporting Documents 4 Click OK. The document is saved to disk as specified. Graphics and formatting are saved in the document only if the selected file type supports them. To save original images: 1 Choose Save Image... in the File menu. The Save Image dialog box appears. The Add to PageKeeper setting only appears if you have PageKeeper installed on your computer. It puts a link to the saved document in PageKeeper's default folder. 2 Select a folder location and file type for your document. See "Supported File-Format Types" on page 89 for a complete list of supported file types. Type in a file name and select Save and Image options. Click OK. The image is saved to disk as specified. (Zones and recognized text are not saved with the file.) 3 4 Processing Documents 35 Exporting Documents Saving a Document as You Work Click the Save button in the Standard toolbar or choose Save in the File menu to save changes to the current document as you work. The Save As dialog box appears the first time you choose Save if a document has not been saved as an OmniPage Document or text-based file. See "Saving a Document" on page 34 for more information. If a document has been saved as an OmniPage Document (*.met), all the changes you make in the open document are saved when you choose Save. If a document has been saved as a text-based file type, only the text changes are saved out to that file. For example, suppose you save the current document as a text file called Memo.txt, but continue to make changes to the recognized text in OmniPage Pro. Whenever you choose Save, changes in the recognized text will be saved to the Memo.txt file. Copying a Document to the Clipboard You can copy every page of a recognized document to the Clipboard and then paste the text directly into another application. To copy a document to the Clipboard: 1 2 Set Copy to Clipboard as the command in the Export button's drop-down list. Click the Export button or choose Copy to Clipboard in the Process menu. The document is copied to the Clipboard. Text formatting, such as bold and italics, is retained when you paste into an application that supports RTF information. Otherwise, only plain text will be pasted. Graphics are retained if the application supports bitmap images. 36 Chapter 3 Exporting Documents Sending a Document as a Mail Attachment You can send a recognized document as a file attached to a mail message if you have a MAPI-compliant mail application, such as Microsoft Outlook, installed. To send a document as a mail attachment: 1 Choose Send Mail... in the File menu. You can also click the Export button with Send Mail selected in the drop-down list. The Send Mail dialog box appears. 2 3 4 5 Specify a file type and attachment options for your document. Click OK. Log into your mail application if you are prompted to do so. A new message appears ready for addressing. Address your mail message as desired and click the Send button. The document is sent as an attachment to the mail message. Processing Documents 37 38 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 OmniPage Pro Settings This chapter describes the settings in the AutoOCR toolbar and Options dialog box. Please also look in OmniPage Pro's online help for more detailed information on settings. The settings you select for processing documents can greatly affect OCR results. You may have to experiment with different settings to get the results you want. Settings guidelines are provided at the end of this chapter to get you started. Please continue reading this chapter for information on these topics: · Setting AutoOCR Toolbar Commands · Selecting OmniPage Pro Settings · Accuracy Settings · Scanner Settings · Page Format Settings · Tables Settings · OCR Aware Settings · Process Settings · Microsoft Word Settings · Settings Guidelines 39 Setting AutoOCR Toolbar Commands Setting AutoOCR Toolbar Commands The AutoOCR toolbar buttons allow you to take a document through each step of the OCR process. Every toolbar button has different process commands that can be set for the operations you want to perform. OmniPage Pro can go through all steps automatically, or you can start each step individually. AUTO button Image button Zone button OCR button Export button You can set AutoOCR toolbar commands in three locations: · Click the down arrow below each AutoOCR toolbar button and select a process command in the drop-down list. · Choose Process Settings... in the Process menu. · Click the Options button and select process commands in the Options dialog box. The pictures in the AutoOCR toolbar buttons change as you set different process commands. The commands can be activated by clicking the AutoOCR toolbar buttons or choosing commands in the Process menu. A description of the selected process command is displayed below each AutoOCR toolbar button when Large Buttons is checked (default setting) in the Toolbars dialog box. Choose Toolbars... in the View menu to open the dialog box. Toolbars can be "torn off" and relocated anywhere on your desktop. All AutoOCR toolbar commands are shown in their drop-down states on a separately enclosed OmniPage Pro 9 Reference card. 40 Chapter 4 Setting AutoOCR Toolbar Commands AUTO Button Commands Use the AUTO button to process a new document from start to finish or to finish processing an open document. The AUTO button's drop-down list contains AutoOCR and OCR Wizard commands. AutoOCR Select AutoOCR to finish processing a new or open document according to the selected process commands. See "Automatic Processing" on page 19 for more information. OCR Wizard For new documents, select OCR Wizard to have the OCR Wizard guide you through the entire OCR process. See "Using the OCR Wizard" on page 18 for information. Image Button Commands Use the Image button to bring a document image into OmniPage Pro's image viewer. The Image button's drop-down list contains the Load Image and Scan Image commands. Load Image Select Load Image to load existing image files such as TIFF, DCX, BMP, JPG, or PCX files. Scan Image Select Scan Image to scan paper documents in your scanner. This command only appears in the drop-down list if you have installed the Caere Scan Manager and have selected your default scanner. Depending upon your scanner model and software drivers, you may have your scanner turned on. Please see "Bringing Document Images into OmniPage Pro" on page 20 for more information. OmniPage Pro Settings 41 Setting AutoOCR Toolbar Commands Zone Button Commands Use the Zone button to automatically create zones on document images. Zones are bordered areas that specify what will be recognized as text or retained as graphics on an image. The Zone button's drop-down list contains the Single-Column Pages, Multiple-Column Pages, Spreadsheet Pages, and Mixed Pages commands and the names of any zone templates you have created. See "Creating Zones for OCR" on page 22 for more information. Single-Column Pages Select Single-Column Pages to have OmniPage Pro automatically draw and order zones on single-column document images such as letters or memos. Multiple-Column Pages Select Multiple-Column Pages to have OmniPage Pro automatically draw and order zones on multiple-column document images such as magazine or newspaper articles. Spreadsheet Pages Select Spreadsheet Pages to have OmniPage Pro automatically draw and order zones on pages that have information arranged in rows and columns such as spreadsheets. Mixed Pages Select Mixed Pages if your document contains multiple pages with a variety of page layouts. OmniPage Pro will automatically draw and order zones on each page. Zone Templates Select a zone template to create zones on document images using that template. See "Creating Zone Templates" on page 73 for more information. Zone Templates do not appear until you have saved a template. Once created, template names appear, proceeded by the word "Template:" in the drop-down list of the Zone button. 42 Chapter 4