How to export indexed data in to a database?
There are a variety of ways to connect to your database. SimpleIndex offers you different options for exporting into your type of database. Detailed instructions are provided in the Manual (check the Help menu).
Disable StopFile
If you have many different users running SimpleIndex on different computers saving to the same Output folder, the STOPFILE from one can cause another user to not be able to export to the folder while the original user is outputting to the folder. In this case the STOPFILE can be disabled, so this no longer happens.
This will not work if you have anyone that needs to add files to an existing file in the output folder, so make sure that won’t happen.
Instructions:
- Close SimpleIndex entirely
- Open the Windows Registry by going to the Windows Search and searching for “RegEdit”
- Go to this location in the Registry Folder Tree: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\SimpleIndex\Misc
- In the right section of the Registry window Right Click in the white space and select New>String Value
- Name the new key “StopFile”
Create Unique Batch Name
SimpleIndex creates a Batch ID each time you run a SimpleIndex Job Configuration, which creates a new batch.
The Batch ID is the Date and Time that the batch was started.
EX. 2020-01-23@145419
In this example 2020 is the Year, 01 is the Month, 23 is the Day, 14 is the Hour, 54 is the Second and 19 is the Millisecond that the batch was started.
When running SimpleIndex as a Windows Service using the Server Add-on or using the Windows Task Scheduler you can set-up multiple Job Configurations to run on different time frames and have them all running at once. This can lead to a very small possibility that two different Job Configurations will start at the same Millisecond, especially when the Job Configurations are set to run on the same time frames. This can lead to errors or missing files during the process.
With the following option you can make every batch name unique in case there are multiple batches that are created at the exact same Millisecond, which can occur with multi-thread processing on the same Input folder.
Instructions for Unique Batch Name:
- Open the Windows Registry Editor by searching for “regedit”
- Find this location in the Registry Editor:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SimpleIndex\Misc - Right click in the right and select New>String Value
- Name the key the following: GUIDBatchNames
- Open the key and set the value to the following: 1
Using alternate database schemas
In SQL Server, Oracle and MySQL (among others) user logons are associated with a default “schema” that determines which tables and views they can see.
Users may have access to other tables and views that aren’t in their schema. When connecting to the database these tables will show up in the list, but when you try to get the list of fields you get an “Invalid object reference” error.
To reference these tables, use [Schema].[Table] for the table name to explicitly reference the table.
You can also change the user’s default schema on the server to the one matching the table.
A third option is to create a view under the user’s default schema that selects the necessary records.
At the present time you cannot enter [Schema].[Table] in the wizard, so if you need to use this workaround configure the job in the wizard and modify the table name in the old job options screen.
Access Database Connection String
If you would like to create a database string for an Access database that includes a password use this format:
Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=path\database.mdb;Jet OLEDB:Database Password=db_password;
MISSING file move with multiple files
If you want to move the MISSING files from the Output folder to another folder and create multiple MISSING files then use this script for the .bat file:
ren “C:\Users\dgraves.META\Desktop\Folder1\Missing.pdf” Missing-%date:~10,4%%date:~7,2%%date:~4,2%_%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%.PDF
Move “C:\Users\dgraves.META\Desktop\Folder1\Missing*.pdf” “C:\Users\dgraves.META\Desktop\Folder2”
This will rename the file to MISSING-DATE_TIME and then move it to another folder.
How do I export index data to a database?
There are a variety of ways to connect to your database. Detailed instructions are provided in the Manual (check the Help menu). Here is a brief overview of the steps involved:
-Create a job configuration to scan and index files
-On the database tab, set the “Database Mode” to “Insert New Records”
-To use ODBC, enter the data source name or file in Data Source
-To connect directly, select your database type under “Select a Data Source” and click Start. A series of dialogs will prompt you for database connection information.
-Select destination Table or View and click Reload
-For each index field, select the corresponding database field that will receive that field value
-The “Output File Field” will receive the path to the exported file
Once you have created records in your database in “Insert” mode, you can change to “Retrieve and View Records” and use SimpleIndex or SimpleSearch to search and view the files.
- Published in Database & Retrieval, Export
SimpleIndex creates output files with upper case file extensions but we use an UNIX-based fileserver which requires lower case file extensions. How can i change the output file extension from upper case to lower case (e.g. from .PDF to .pdf)?
In SimpleIndex 6, file extensions were changed to default to lower case so this should no longer be an issue. If you want to default back to upper case file extensions, you must edit the registry.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\SimpleIndex\Misc
Create a String value called “UpperCaseFileExtension” and set to 1 for upper case or 0 for lower case.
This registry setting will also work to change the default behavior of version 5.
- Published in Export
Is it possible to have the scanned image itself added to a database and not just the image path?
Yes. Image files can be inserted into binary fields in Access, SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL and other databases.
Check the “Store files as binary objects” option on the Database tab and the “Output File Field” setting can be mapped to a binary field.
If using PDF, MS Office or other non-image files, use the File Type Field to store the file extension of the stored file.
SimpleSearch mode will let you view files stored using this method as well.
- Published in Database & Retrieval, Export
When exporting to a database, I get the error “Multi-step operation generated errors”
This error is usually caused when the data you are trying to insert does not match the data type of the database field. This could be a text value being inserted into a number or date field, or a text value that is longer than the maximum length of the field.
To avoid this error, be sure to use the correct Field Type and/or Template on the Index tab to force the user to enter data in the correct format. You may also need to adjust the data types or lengths for your database fields.
- Published in Database & Retrieval
How do you configure a field to select from a list of possible values?
List fields are populated using a text file or database field containing the values for that list. The text file scenario will be described first.
To configure a list field, go to the Index tab in the Job Options. Create a list field by selecting “List” for the field type and give it a name. In the “List File/Field” setting for this field, put the full path or UNC to the text file containing the list or click “Set” to browse to the file. If you have not created a file, you can put the path where you want the file stored here and click the “Edit” button. This will open the file in Notepad; new files will prompt you to create them.
On each line of the text file you will put one of the possible values that you want to be able to select from while you are indexing with SimpleIndex. You can copy this information from another source and paste it into the text file.
Save the file in Notepad and close it. The List field is now configured!
To use a database field, your configuration must be connected to a database using the settings on the Database tab. Any fields defined as “List” on the Index tab that have a corresponding field mapped on the Database tab will use the unique values from that field to populate the list.
You can check “Only allow values in list” to disallow users from entering a value not in the list.
Once the List index field is configured properly you can select the values from a drop down after scanning that appear in the main SimpleIndex window while indexing. It also makes the field autofill the closest match from the list based on the characters that you type in that field.
- Published in Indexing & UI
Is it possible to restrict user access to certain documents in Retrieval Mode?
If the database you use to store index information has security access features, you can use these to manage access to documents with SimpleIndex retrieval mode.
In your database, create user accounts and groups and assign them the appropriate permissions to records in your document database.
In SimpleIndex, check the “Require Logon” option on the Logging tab to force the user to logon to the database using the accounts you created. When they search and view documents, they will only be able to access records that the corresponding database user has been assigned access to.
- Published in Database & Retrieval
How do you configure full text searching in Retrieval mode?
On the Database tab there dropdown in the lower portion of the panel for Full Text OCR Field. Put the name of the field that will store the full-text data there. This must be configured both for Insert and Retrieval mode configurations. The database field needs to be sufficient length to store the entire text of your document.
Of course, the Insert Mode configuration must have “Enable Full Page OCR” checked to generate full text data from images. Text from MS Office documents, PDF files and existing OCR text files can be used without setting this option.
When designing your Retrieval Mode configuration, create a Text field to use for full text search queries. On the Database tab, set the corresponding “Database Field Name” to the full text database field.
When searching on your full text field, SimpleIndex finds the text you enter no matter where it appears in the document. It is able to match partial words. It does not perform boolean or natural language searches. The text entered must match the document text exactly.
- Published in Database & Retrieval, OCR
What is “Match & Attach” mode?
Match & Attach mode lets you batch update multiple records in a database using the index data from your SimpleIndex job. For example, if you have a large backfile of documents that you want to scan and link to records in an existing database, you can use Match & Attach to find the corresponding record and set the Image Path field to the newly scanned file.
For details on how to configure Match & Attach mode, please refer to the manual.
- Published in Database & Retrieval, Export
How do you configure the Autofill feature?
The Autofill feature of SimpleIndex is an easy way to associate many index fields with one document without retyping data that already exists in another application.
Autofill uses a database lookup to retrieve records that match a key value entered by the user. Blank index fields are then filled in automatically with the data from this lookup. The result is a document database with many different possible search fields, of which only one needed to be entered during scanning.
To configure the Autofill feature first go to the Index tab and define the field that will be used to perform the lookup. Each value in this field should correspond to a single record in the database, usually defined as the “Primary Key”. This field can be any type, including Barcode and OCR for full automation.
Next click “Configure Index Autofill” button. Here is where you will setup the database lookup. The “Match Data Source” is configured the same way as the “Data Source” on the Database tab. It can be the path to an MDB file, an ODBC data source or OleDB connection string. Click “Set” to browse to an Access MDB file or type the connection string.
Once the data source is set, the drop-downs for the Table and Field names will be populated. Select the table or query that contains the data, then select the field in the database that will be used for lookup. Under “SimpleIndex Key Field 1” select the field you defined in the first step.
“Key Field 2” gives you the option to use 2 field values to perform the lookup if a single unique matching value doesn’t exist.
Click OK and go back to the Index tab.
Finally set the field type to “Autofill” on every field you want to populate from the database. In the “Template” for all the Autofill fields put the name of the corresponding database field that will be used to populate it.
Now when a value is entered for the key field, the Autofill fields will be filled in automatically from the database!
Cascading List Mode
Cascading List Mode is a powerful new feature introduced in 8.2 that lets you filter each list field by the values you select. For example, you could have lists for Vendor Name and Invoice Number, and when you select a Vendor from the list, the Invoice Number list will only show invoices from the selected vendor.
- Published in Database & Retrieval, Indexing & UI
How can I configure SimpleIndex to perform bates stamping or page numbering for my images?
This is all done through the electronic imprinting features, which puts the desired information electronically on the output images that are saved in your output folder. This is all done in SimpleIndex by clicking ‘Options’ then going to the ‘Imprint’ tab.
To implement bates stamping or page numbering click the ‘Enable imprinting’ check box and also the ‘Imprint page numbers’ check box. This is the most basic method, but there are also features which allow you to manipulate what this information is, what it looks like and where on the page it will go.
The ‘Font Size’ field allows you to choose what point font you would like the imprinted value to be.
The ‘Page # Length’ lets you determine how many digits you would like the page number or bates number to be. It will add leading zeros to the page number based on the number you enter into this field. This is used to keep images with page numbers in the proper order when saving them. EX. If you put 4 into the ‘Page # Length’ field the number will read starting at 0001 and will count up from there always keeping the page number 4 digits long.
If you would like leading characters on the front of the page number you can add these to the ‘Imprint Text’ field and they will appear in front of the page number. These pages will appear as (leading characters) – (page number). If you would like them to appear directly next to each other you would remove everything from the ‘Imprint Separator’ field, because this field is what is inserted between the imprint values. EX. You want the page numbers to read PMB#####. You would put PMB in the ‘Imprint Text’ field, remove everything from the ‘Imprint Separator’ field and put 5 in the ‘Page # Length’ field.
You will then decide where you want this information to appear on the image. If you want the page number on the top of the image do not check the box marked ‘Measure X,Y from bottom-right’ if you want page number on the bottom of the image check this box. Next, set up the X and Y coordinates to have the imprinted information located in the section of the image that you would like it. The X coordinate measures from top to bottom (bottom to top when ‘Measure X,Y from bottom-right’ is checked) and the Y coordinate measures from left to right (right to left when ‘Measure X,Y from bottom-right’ is checked). The unit of measurement of the X and Y coordinates are pixils. The number of pixils per page change based on the resolution or dpi (dots per inch) that the image was scanned at. So if you are scanning at 200 dpi 1 inch = 200, but at 300 dpi 1 inch = 300 and so on. EX. You have a 300 dpi, 8.5×11″ image that you want to imprint page numbers on the bottom left of the image an inch and a half from the the left and bottom of the page. You would want to have ‘Measure X,Y from bottom-right’ checked, 1950 in the ‘X coordinate’ field (6.5″ from right x 300 dpi) and 450 in the ‘Y coordinate’ field (1.5″ from bottom x 300 dpi).
- Published in Export, Imprinting & Watermarking
How do I connect to an SQL Server database?
On the Database tab, choose “SQL Server” from the drop-down labeled “Configure Data Source”. Click the “Start” button.
You will be prompted to enter the SQL Server name and database name. Once selected, an OLE DB data source will be entered under “Data Source”.
You can add a default user to the “Data Source” using the conventions for OLE DB provider strings. With this configuration, all users will use the same SQL Server login. To configure individual logins, check “Require Logon” on the Logging tab. If you would like the users to select their name from a list, add each user ID using the “Add User” button.
- Published in Database & Retrieval
How do I connect to an existing Access database?
To connect to an existing Access database go to Options then the Database tab. There is a drop-down list next to the “Start” button. Click the arrow and select “MS Access” then click “Start”.
An Open Database dialog will be displayed. Select the Access MDB you want to use then click “Open”.
Select the table or query you want to use from the “Table Name” list and click “Reload”.
The field selectors will now be populated with the list of fields from the table/query you selected. The Image Path stores the path to the image file for each record. Each entry in Database Fields list maps the corresponding Field # from the Index tab to the selected field in the database.
Click apply and your Access Database will be configured.
The Log Field, Log Table, Revision Field/Level and the Full Text and PageCount fields on the Advanced tab are option. See the manual for a description of what these items do.
- Published in Database & Retrieval
Can OCR text be saved to MS Word or HTML formats?
Yes. On the Zones & OCR tab of the Job Options, there is a dropdown list for “Full-page OCR file type”. By default it is set to TEXT, but can be changed to WORD, HTML or PDF.
If the output file type is set to PDF, OCR text will be embedded as hidden text in the PDF file.
Find out more about Optical Character Recognition on the SimpleOCR Guide.
- Published in Licensing & Installation, OCR
Can SimpleIndex create searchable PDF Image+Text files with hidden text?
If you enable full-page OCR and output to PDF, the full-page OCR text will be inserted as invisible text on each page.
With the addition of the FineReader Engine in version 7, SimpleIndex now creates PDF files with fully searchable text formatted to flow with the image of the document.
Find out more about Optical Character Recognition on the SimpleOCR Guide.
- Published in Export, OCR, Office PDF Text Processing
SimpleIndex Walkthrough
The SimpleIndex® Design Philosophy
SimpleIndex differs from other high-speed scanning applications in that it is designed around a single batch processing model. More expensive programs are designed to process batches in multiple stages that run on separate computers like an assembly line. These stages are:
- Import (scan or read existing files)
- Process (cleanup, OCR, barcode recognition)
- Index (assign keyword values for filenames or search fields)
- Quality Control (review, revise & rescan)
- Export (create file structure, export index values to log or database)
What if your assembly line only has one worker? Other packages require the user to enter a separate set of commands to launch each stage. SimpleIndex is designed to quickly scan and index a single batch by performing each stage automatically in sequence. This design makes SimpleIndex much faster and easier to use than other scanning software, and lowers the cost as well.
SimpleIndex replaces the series of individual commands required by some applications with a single “Run Job” button. This one click executes all the user-configured settings and batch steps.
SimpleIndex Jobs
Each type of scanned document has different parameters for each processing stage that are used to capture and file the images. In SimpleIndex, a particular set of these parameters is called a Job. When configuring a job, you must specify how you want SimpleIndex to perform each of the processing stages from Import to Export. When a job is executed, SimpleIndex automatically launches all the processing stages in sequence according to the settings you specify.
The settings for a job are saved to a SimpleIndex Configuration File (*.sic). Any configuration file can be launched from Windows Explorer by double-clicking its icon just like any saved document. Doing this will start SimpleIndex and execute the job automatically.
Jobs can even be configured to perform all indexing automatically and hide the SimpleIndex user interface altogether. The user just loads the feeder, double-clicks an icon on the desktop, and all processing is done in the background.
The ability to execute scanning and indexing configurations from a saved file is a unique feature of SimpleIndex that opens many new possibilities for automating user tasks.
Processing the Sample Jobs
The best way to get started with SimpleIndex is to check out the sample configuration files that come with it. These sample configurations demonstrate some of the key features of SimpleIndex and provide a starting point for configuring various types of jobs.
Several online videos are available to walk you through this process:
- Sample Job Videos – demonstrations and presentations
- Simple Software University – how to configure jobs
The Getting Started Guide that appears when you first run SimpleIndex will give you step-by-step instructions for running the sample jobs as well. This can also be accessed from the Help menu.
The sample jobs use images that are bundled with SimpleIndex, so don’t worry if you don’t have a scanner!
KB Articles for SimpleIndex Walkthrough
- How to emulate Server behavior in the client
- Error in Scanning Batch 743
- Start up issues with SimpleIndex
- How to activate SimpleQB?
- How to activate SimpleExport?
- How to activate SimpleView?
- How to activate SimpleCoverSheet?
- How to activate any Add-on or Upgrade to SimpleIndex?
- What is Document Imaging?
- Command Line Sample
- Enable Post-Process when Input Folder is Empty
- Command Line to Auto-close SimpleIndex
- Index With Non-Latin Character Sets
- Skip to Blank Index on Save Index
- Stop Autorun When Double Clicking Configuration
- Workstation Activation in the Concurrent Serial Number Field
- Multiple Sort Fields on Search
- Check and Repair All PDF Files
- Keep Pages in Original Order when Bookmarking
- Max List Size
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