User's Guide COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Copyright © 1999 by 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 the prior written consent of ScanSoft, Inc., 9 Centennial Drive, Peabody, Massachusetts 01960. This digital version contains the full copyrighted text. 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. TextBridge is a registered trademark, and Smart Zones, Instant Access OCR, and Custom Proof are trademarks, of ScanSoft, Inc. Excel, Word, and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corp. WordPerfect is a registered trademark of WordPerfect Corp. Other terms used in this manual are the trademarks of their respective holders. Animated character designed by Dreamlight Incorporated. www.dreamlight.com Portions of this product copyright © 1994­1999, Inso Corporation. Authors: Lois West and Beth Paddock TRADEMARKS AND CREDITS © SCANSOFT, INC. 9 Centennial Drive Peabody, Massachusetts 01960 TextBridge Pro 9.0 User's Guide Part Number 00-09510-00 March 1999 CONTENTS PREFACE About This User's Guide ............................. vii Organization of this user's guide ....................viii Documentation conventions.........................ix Related Documentation ............................... x Technical Support ...................................xi 1 INTRODUCTION TO TEXTBRIDGE Basic OCR Concepts ............................... 1­1 Features and Benefits .............................. 1­3 New Features ................................. 1­4 Enhanced Features ............................. 1­6 Other Features ................................ 1­8 Documents TextBridge Can Recognize................. 1­10 Input Image File Formats .......................... 1­11 Output Text File Formats .......................... 1­12 Output Image File Formats ......................... 1­13 Where to Go From Here............................ 1­14 TextBridge Pro User's Guide iii 2 INSTALLING AND SETTING UP TEXTBRIDGE What Comes with TextBridge ........................ 2­2 Supported Scanners................................ 2­2 Installing and Testing Your Scanner ................... 2­4 System Requirements .............................. 2­5 Before Installing TextBridge ......................... 2­6 Using TextBridge with Pagis ...................... 2­6 Uninstalling a Previous Version of TextBridge ........ 2­6 Learning about TextBridge ....................... 2­8 Installing TextBridge .............................. 2­9 Scanner Setup ................................... 2­12 Setting Up Instant Access to TextBridge ............... 2­13 Uninstalling TextBridge ........................... 2­15 Where to Go From Here............................ 2­16 3 OCR AND BASIC TEXTBRIDGE OPERATIONS What is TextBridge OCR? ........................... 3­2 Page types.................................... 3­2 Page sources .................................. 3­4 Recomposition ................................. 3­4 Running TextBridge Standalone and Instant Access ....... 3­6 Standalone Program ............................ 3­6 Instant Access ................................. 3­7 Improving Page Recognition with Settings .............. 3­8 Page Type Settings ............................. 3­8 Text Document Settings ........................ 3­13 Recognizing Other Languages ....................... 3­15 Language Installation .......................... 3­16 Language Processing ........................... 3­16 Where to Go From Here............................ 3­18 iv TextBridge Pro User's Guide 4 LEARNING TO USE TEXTBRIDGE Before You Begin.................................. 4­2 Ways You Can Use TextBridge ....................... 4­2 Starting TextBridge................................ 4­3 Using Automatic Processing ......................... 4­5 Using Manual Processing ........................... 4­8 Performing Basic Operations......................... 4­9 Selecting the Page Source ....................... 4­10 Selecting the Page Type ........................ 4­11 Previewing the Page ........................... 4­12 Zoning the Page............................... 4­14 Proofreading the Document ...................... 4­17 Saving the Document .......................... 4­18 Getting Help While Using TextBridge ................. 4­20 Using the Welcome Window ..................... 4­20 Using the Show Me How Window ................. 4­21 Using Tips................................... 4­22 Getting Information from Help ................... 4­22 Using the TextBridge Web Site ................... 4­24 Where to Go From Here............................ 4­24 5 SAMPLE SESSIONS WITH TEXTBRIDGE Using the Sample Documents ........................ 5­2 Session 1: Recognizing a Simple Document Using Auto Processing............................. 5­7 Session 2: Using Instant Access to TextBridge........... 5­14 Session 3: Recognizing a Complex Document Using Manual Processing ......................... 5­20 Session 4: Processing Text, Pictures, and a Table ........ 5­29 Where to Go From Here............................ 5­38 Table of Contents v 6 ADVANCED SAMPLE SESSIONS Session 1: Processing a Document to Use in a Database..... 6­1 Session 2: Using Zone Templates and Page Types ......... 6­7 Session 3: Training TextBridge OCR .................. 6­14 Where to Go From Here............................ 6­20 INDEX vi TextBridge Pro User's Guide PREFACE ScanSoft, Inc. welcomes you to TextBridge Pro 9.0 for Windows® 95, 98, 2000, and Windows NT 4.0. (Subsequently referred to as "TextBridge.") The documentation that comes with TextBridge should provide all the information you need to operate TextBridge. The documentation includes this user's guide, a Help system, and Release Notes. ScanSoft invites your comments about the information provided in the documentation. Before going on to find out more about TextBridge, please read this preface because it describes these important items: x x x About this user's guide Related documentation Technical support ABOUT THIS USER'S GUIDE This user's guide is a reference tool that provides information about TextBridge. It is for users with a wide range of computer experience. It assumes that you are familiar with the management and operation of your computer and Windows. This manual is provided both in print and electronic form. The entire user's guide is provided as a digital document in Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF). TextBridge Pro User's Guide vii To view the user's guide you need Adobe Acrobat Reader which is installed with TextBridge unless you already have it on your PC. You can access the user's guide from the installation menu and the TextBridge Program menu from the Start menu, or you can open it from Adobe Acrobat Reader. After you open it, you can view it on your PC and print all or part of it using Adobe Acrobat Reader. Organization of this user's guide The user's guide organization is as follows: This Preface describes the documentation provided with TextBridge and technical support. Chapter 1 "Introduction to TextBridge" discusses TextBridge features. It also describes basic OCR concepts, documents TextBridge can recognize, supported scanners, and input file formats TextBridge can read and output file formats to which TextBridge can save the recognized text. Chapter 2 "Installing TextBridge" describes what comes with TextBridge, system requirements, installation, Instant Access set up, and TextBridge uninstall. Chapter 3 "OCR and TextBridge" explains document recognition and OCR concepts and the basic TextBridge functions. Chapter 4 "Learning to Use TextBridge" describes the basic processes of using TextBridge. Chapter 5 "Sample Sessions with TextBridge" walks you through several practice sessions designed to help you to learn and use the important features of TextBridge. Chapter 6 "Advanced Sample Sessions" describes more complex and less frequent uses of TextBridge. The Index provides a comprehensive list of topics to assist you in quickly locating the information you need. viii TextBridge Pro User's Guide Documentation conventions TextBridge documentation uses certain graphical elements and formatting to emphasize information and give more meaning to text. Table 1: Documentation Conventions bold Introduces a new term or the first use of an important term in a chapter. Sometimes used to denote strong emphasis. Denotes titles of other user's guides or books and generic representations of file name entries in examples; for example, filename Denotes text that appears on the computer screen such as examples, menu text, and messages plus actual file names. Denotes titles of chapters and sections in this user's guide. Introduces tips that provide useful information about a procedural step or system function. Introduces information of note about the current subject. italic monospace " " (quotes) Note Preface ix RELATED DOCUMENTATION TextBridge provides a comprehensive set of printed and digital documentation designed to assist you in learning and operating the product. The documentation provided with TextBridge covers all aspects of installation and operation. Note Information provided in these documents is not duplicated in other documents except for basic information about TextBridge. If you do not find the information you want in a particular document, please check another. Refer to the documentation in the following list for information: x Online Release Notes. Before or after you install TextBridge, read the Release Notes. These provide the most up-to-date information about TextBridge. During installation you can access the Release Notes from the installation menu. After installation you can access the Release Notes from the TextBridge Program menu in the Start menu. Help. The Help system provides you with detailed information about using TextBridge. It includes instructions on how to get started in TextBridge, step-by-step procedures for most operations and user tips. Context-sensitive Help is always available by pressing F1 from any menu command or dialog box. Online User's Guide. An online version of the complete user's guide is provided in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf). Printed User's Guide. A printed version of the user's guide is provided. You may also need to refer to additional publications, such as the manufacturer's documentation for your scanner. x x x Note x TextBridge Pro User's Guide TECHNICAL SUPPORT If you should experience problems with TextBridge that you cannot resolve on your own using the documentation and software, contact TextBridge Technical Support at the following Web site: www.scansoft.com. The ScanSoft Web site provides a link to TextBridge pages, including Technical Support with Frequently Asked Questions, technical information bulletins, and a problem report form. Additional information about contacting TextBridge Technical Support is provided in the TextBridge Help menu. The following information will assist Technical Support in solving the problem: x Your software version number (This is on the back of the CD envelope and in the Help menu under About TextBridge.) x Your software serial number (This is the serial number on the back of the TextBridge CD-ROM envelope and in the Help menu under About TextBridge.) x x x Your scanner make and model A description of the steps that led up to the problem If TextBridge generated an error message, a verbatim description of the error message or its number and when it appeared. Preface xi 1 INTRODUCTION TO TEXTBRIDGE Welcome to ScanSoft's TextBridge TM Pro 9.0, optical character recognition (OCR) software for Microsoft WindowsTM 95, 98, 2000 and Windows NT 4.0. This chapter provides an introduction to TextBridge including: x x x x x x Basic OCR concepts Features and benefits Characteristics of documents TextBridge can recognize Input image file formats Output text file formats Output image file formats BASIC OCR CONCEPTS OCR technology enables you to convert paper documents into fully editable text on y ...