Enhanced Text Parsing & PDF Support
MS Office and PDF text parsing features are now included in the Basic version of SimpleIndex, making it much more affordable to enable automatic document sorting on the desktop. Additional Office and PDF features include:
- Convert any MS Office, HTML, XML and image files to PDF before processing
- Read and write password protected PDF file
- Searchable PDF output (Image + Hidden Text)
- Interactive template builder and tester
- Easily select PDF or PDF/A output format
- Native PDF viewer and auto-repair of problematic PDFs
- Read data from PDF forms
- Populate blank PDF forms with index data
TaxStacker: Sort & Classify Federal Tax Documents
This is a great way for accountants and tax preparers to organize complex tax returns in a way that makes it easy to find specific documents. It can also be used to ensure all required schedules and supporting documents are present in the finished return.
Use our out-of-the-box TaxStacker configuration to automatically identify all the forms and schedules that make up a U.S. federal income tax return. These can then be sorted into separate PDF files or combined into a single file that has bookmarks to indicate each section.
Check and Repair All PDF Files
You can set SimpleIndex to assume that it needs to check every PDF file and fix it.
Go to this location in the Windows Registry:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\SimpleIndex\Misc
Create a New String Value called “FixAllPDF” and set the value to 1
Keep Pages in Original Order when Bookmarking
If you want to keep all the pages in the same order that they were imported, even though they all go with different bookmarks then do the following.
1. Open the configuration in Notepad.
2. Search for <BOOKMARK_PAGE_ORDER>
3. Change this line from “false” to “true”: <BOOKMARK_PAGE_ORDER>true</BOOKMARK_PAGE_ORDER>
4. Save and close.
Do Not Combine Pages to 1 Bookmark
If you want to keep pages in bookmarks separate instead of combining them into a single bookmark when the same bookmark value is found in several interspersed images in the batch do the following:
1. Open the Job Configuration file in Notepad.
2. Search for this value: <BOOKMARK_PDF1>
3. Enter this directly above the line that has <BOOKMARK_PDF1> if its not already there: <BOOKMARK_UNIQUE_LEVELS>-1</BOOKMARK_UNIQUE_LEVELS>
4. -1 is the default value and that means that no pages should be combined into one bookmark unless they fall in order. 0 means that the first bookmark level should be combined into one bookmark value and the rest should not. 1 means that the first and second bookmark levels should be combined and the rest should not be. ETC.
I have a scanner/copier that creates PDF and TIFF files and saves them to my file server. Can I use SimpleIndex to create a searchable CD/DVD from these files?
This feature is included in SimpleIndex at no additional cost and is called the Media Wizard.
The Media Wizard is located in the “Send” file menu and is called Media Wizard. It allows you to burn your images, indexes, a database and a free SimpleSearch viewer for just the CD or DVD. It also provides an easy way to get the maximum amount of information on the media that you want it on.
You set up the Media Wizard by pointing it to your image folder and database and you select the media that you would like to put it on. It then saves a file folder with all the files that you would need in the size of the media you are using in the location that you designate. You then burn these files using the burning application of your choice.
- Published in Database & Retrieval, Import
How do you configure OCR to read index information from MS Office or PDF documents?
MS Office and PDF files generated by software or PDF printer drivers already have the text you need to recognize in the file. Scanned documents need to use OCR to read text from an image of the page. With Office and PDF files, SimpleIndex can just read the text, which is much faster and accurate than image OCR.
To recognize index fields from the document text, first create OCR fields on the Index tab as you would normally. Next, on the Zones & OCR options tab, check the “Use Full Page OCR for this Field” option for each OCR field. This tells SimpleIndex to process the existing file text.
If the index value is a unique pattern of digits or list of possible values, use Template or Dictionary matching to locate the value within the text. Please see the manual for details on Template and Dictionary matching.
If the value appears in a specific location in each file, coordinates can be used to locate it. When processing text, the X, Y, Width and Height settings correspond to line and column numbers within the file text. This is explained in greater depth in the manual.
SimpleIndex will assume that any TXT file with the same name as a file being processed is the OCR text for that file, so this method can work with any type of file.
Find out more about Optical Character Recognition on the SimpleOCR Guide.
- Published in OCR, Office PDF Text Processing
Imprint, Endorse, or Bates Stamp Images Electronically
Many legal applications require documents to have a sequential number, called a bates stamp, printed in a specific location on each page. Usually this requires the purchase of a much more expensive scanner that has a built-in printer, called an imprinter or endorser to print the number on the pages as they are scanned. However, if documents are being submitted electronically, the bates stamp does not have to be physically printed on the page. SimpleIndex‘s Electronic Imprinting feature lets you apply the bates stamp to the images after they are scanned, saving you thousands on specialized scanning hardware.
New in SimpleIndex v9.0 you can now apply image-based semi-transparent watermarks for PDF files to add logos, trademarks or backgrounds.
Electronic imprinting is also useful for anyone looking to apply a page numbering scheme, scan date, copyright notice or any other text to document images as they are scanned.
KB Articles for Imprinting & Watermarking
Network Scanners & Copiers
Most digital copiers have the ability to scan a TIFF or PDF file to a shared folder on your network. However, getting an image with a recognizable filename and index fields you can search on is usually a labor intensive, if not impossible task. SimpleIndex with SimpleCoversheet provides a way for the whole office to organize documents they scan with your existing digital copiers.
SimpleIndex uses barcodes to automate the process of tagging and filing documents. This can be accomplished by embedding barcodes in the documents when they are printed, or by using SimpleCoversheet to create barcode index pages that are encoded with the filing data.
SimpleIndex can be configured to run fully unattended as a Windows service or scheduled task. It monitors the folder for new scanned files, reads the barcodes and files them accordingly. The key values from the barcodes are used to tell SimpleIndex when a new file starts, what folder to store the document in, what to name the file and other tags to use for searching.
The advantages of this approach to scanning are:
- Use your existing digital copiers instead of buying dedicated scanners
- The person creating the document is responsible for indexing it
- Scan the document and forget it
KB Articles for Network Scanners & Copiers
- Connect SimpleIndex to FTP Site
- FastImport to Disable Automatic Processing During Import
- Stop/Turn Off Image Deletion when Blank is Recognized
- Disable StopFile
- Continue with Post Process Command Line if Input Folder is Empty
- Check and Repair All PDF Files
- How do I limit the number of files pulled from the input folder?
- Can SimpleIndex read bar codes from existing PDF files?
- I have a scanner/copier that creates PDF and TIFF files and saves them to my file server. Can I use SimpleIndex to create a searchable CD/DVD from these files?
- How do you select what types of files to process?
Patent ID and Title Extraction
To avoid manual data entry, pattern matching is used to automatically read the Patent ID Number and Title from any US patent application straight out of the box.
This job configuration is available for free for SimpleIndex users from the link below.
SimpleIndex Patents Demo Job Configuration
KB Articles for Patent ID and Title
- Languages Supported in SimpleSoftware OCR Engines
- What is Document Imaging?
- Change the Dictionary Separator Value
- Change the OCR Font or Type
- Regular Expression (RegEx) - Syntax or Type
- Autonumber Increment Value
- I'm using full page OCR. The information is all appearing in the txt file but it is losing format about half way through. Data to the right is ending up at the end of the txt doc. Can this be fixed?
- Is there a way to just use part of a bar code or OCR value? For example, extract "50" from the value "124450"
- If I have a form which is filled manually by hand, can SimpleIndex read the data from it?
- How do you train the OCR engine for better accuracy?
MSDS Material Safety Data Sheets Indexing
KB Articles for MSDS
- Change the Dictionary Separator Value
- Regular Expression (RegEx) - Syntax or Type
- Check and Repair All PDF Files
- Keep Pages in Original Order when Bookmarking
- Do Not Combine Pages to 1 Bookmark
- Can I split a PDF based on bookmark values?
- Is it possible to search for and retrieve documents with Windows desktop search?
- Can SimpleIndex read bar codes from existing PDF files?
- Is there a way to just use part of a bar code or OCR value? For example, extract "50" from the value "124450"
- How do you configure OCR to read index information from MS Office or PDF documents?
SimpleInvoice Invoice Processing Solution
SimpleInvoice is a preconfigured solution that uses the OCR and dictionary matching functionality of the SimpleIndex scanning and indexing software to automatically scan, name, and organize incoming invoices into your chosen folder structure of searchable PDF files.
SimpleInvoice requires minimal configuration to get started. It comes with everything you need to index most common invoice styles. The customer and vendor lists, as well as your particular Purchase Order and Invoice number styles, can be customized for your company.
Use SimpleInvoice to:
- Automatically receive and enter invoices in your accounting software, especially QuickBooks
- Create full-text searchable invoice files
- Create an organized filing system for archiving invoices
- Quickly find specific invoices based on vendor, date, invoice number and other index fields
Please Contact Us to find out more about SimpleInvoice!
Template Autofill
This feature added in SimpleIndex 8.1 allows you to spell out the specific OCR pattern of a vendor’s invoice number as a column in your Vendor database. When processing invoices only the template specific to that vendor is loaded and all other templates are ignored. This greatly improves the accuracy of the invoice number capture, since each vendor uses a different label and numbering scheme for their invoices.
FAQ Related to Invoice Processing
- Regular Expression (RegEx) - Syntax or Type
- Will your SimpleQB allow me to scan in old invoices or bank statements directly into QuickBooks?
- Is there a way to just use part of a bar code or OCR value? For example, extract "50" from the value "124450"
- Can SimpleQB be used to scan in receipts and invoices which are then matched to the files kept in the QuickBooks System?
- How do you train the OCR engine for better accuracy?
Indexing Solutions with Barcode Recognition
Barcode recognition is the most efficient way to capture index data printed on documents. If you are unfamiliar with the use of barcodes in document scanning, you can learn more about barcodes in our Barcode Scanning Guide, but if you want to know more about barcode use with SimpleSoftware products, read on.
Some documents already have key information in barcode format on them. In many cases adding a barcode to a document is as simple as changing or adding a font. Adding barcodes to new documents is preferable as all the index data is on the document at the time it is created and in a format that can be read with near 100% accuracy.
As an alternative to placing barcodes on the individual documents, it is possible to print out a barcode cover page and place it on the file before it is scanned. The SimpleCoversheet application was designed to make this easy by providing a simple interface for selecting index values and printing a standard coversheet that contains these values in barcode format.
Barcode recognition can also be useful when you have documents with a variable number of pages that will all receive the same index values. If it is not possible to generate an indexed coversheet for these at the time they are created, a generic barcode coversheet can be used to separate the scanned images into multi-page files, one for each document. A second process can then be used to index these images one file at a time instead of one page at a time, greatly increasing throughput.
Barcode Recognition Features
With SimpleIndex Barcode you can:
- Read barcodes printed on scanned paper documents
- Read barcodes embedded in PDF files
- Automatically rename files based on barcodes
- Export barcode data to CSV file or any database
- Separate multi-page documents with cover pages
- Recognize 2D formats like PDF417, DataMatrix, Aztec and QR Code
- Recognize 30 different 1D barcode formatsCode 39, Codabar, UPC, Code 128, EAN 13, 2 of 5, etc.
- Recognize postal barcodes like Planet, PostNet, Royal Post and Australian Post
- Lookup barcode values in a database for additional data
- Complete list of document scanning & indexing features
With SimpleCoversheet you can:
- Create barcode coversheets for use with SimpleIndex and other scanning applications
- Print barcodes on Avery label templates that can be applied to documents
- Affordably enable every employee to print barcodes
- Create coversheets that allow SimpleIndex to automatically index and file documents
- Enable scanning and indexing from MFPs, network scanners and digital copiers
- Perform “mail merge” with barcodes to print many coversheets at once
- Supports many 1D and 2D barcode formats
KB Articles for Barcode Recognition
- Turn On Replacement Characters for Barcodes
- Regular Expression (RegEx) - Syntax or Type
- Autonumber Increment Value
- What are some other terms for Bar Code Scanning Software?
- Can SimpleIndex read bar codes from existing PDF files?
- I cannot recognize PDF417 or QR Code bar codes. What does "Advanced "Only" mean?
- Can I split TIFF or PDF files based on barcodes as a separator and also name the file with the barcode value?
- Will SimpleIndex read multiple barcodes on a page and save the value to the appropriate index field?
- Is there a way to just use part of a bar code or OCR value? For example, extract "50" from the value "124450"
- How can I delete the barcode or blank page cover/separator sheet that I don't need to save?
FAQ Related to Barcode Recognition
Coming SoonPDF Invoice OCR Demo
This demonstrates the PDF OCR text processing capabilities of SimpleIndex by extracting the Document Number, Date, Document Type, Customer and Total from a number of Estimates and Invoices.
All of this information is read automatically using the existing text layer of a computer generated PDF, such as those created using PDF printer drivers. Template and dictionary matching algorithms are used to locate and extract the correct data values from the text.
Since the existing text is being used, OCR is not performed. This makes processing much faster and 100% accurate. OCR can be used to get text from scanned PDF files with no existing text.
FAQ Related to PDF Invoice
Coming SoonCompare Leading Solutions
SimpleIndex™
Kodak Capture Pro™
Kofax Express™
PaperVision™ Capture Desktop
Note: This video depicts PaperVision Capture Desktop, a now discontinued software that has since been replaced by the similarly functioning updated version of PaperFlow.
Office Gemini DiamondVision™
Testing Methods
The benchmark times were recorded using all available software shortcuts, and by performing data entry and user interactions as fast as possible. The same scanner and computer hardware was used for each test. Much care was taken to ensure that each application yielded the most accurate OCR results possible given the sample documents. Unfortunately none our competitors could accurately capture the account number on all 10 pages. The extra time to correct these errors accounts for 15-30% of the difference in processing times. The difference in accuracy is due in large part to SimpleIndex‘s pattern matching OCR feature, which the other programs lack.
MS Office & PDF Text Parsing
Office Videos | PDF Video
The template and dictionary matching capabilities of SimpleIndex‘s OCR function can be used to extract index information from the text of existing MS Office and PDF files, or any file with an accompanying TXT file. SimpleIndex® will search the document for matches on unique patterns and value lists, then index the document with the matching data. Zone coordinates can be set to limit the search area to pre-defined regions on standard forms. The result is a fully automated indexing and renaming process for all your electronic documents!
Using existing text, SimpleIndex can index and rename hundreds of files each minute and achieve perfect accuracy. These files can then be quickly searched with SimpleIndex Retrieval, SharePoint and Google search engines, or uploaded into your company’s document/content management system or custom business applications.
Enhanced Text Parsing & PDF Support
MS Office and PDF text parsing features are now included in the Basic version of SimpleIndex, making it much more affordable to enable automatic document sorting on the desktop. Additional Office and PDF features include:
- Convert any MS Office, HTML, XML and image files to PDF before processing
- Read and write password protected PDF file
- Searchable PDF output (Image + Hidden Text)
- Interactive template builder and tester
- Easily select PDF or PDF/A output format
- Native PDF viewer and auto-repair of problematic PDFs
- Read data from PDF forms
- Populate blank PDF forms with index data
Batch Convert Office Documents to PDF
If you have Microsoft Office or OpenOffice installed, you can use SimpleIndex to automatically convert MS Office documents to PDF files for archival. PDF files are better for archival than editable formats like Word and Excel. They can be annotated, encrypted, searched and viewed with free PDF readers.
There are many free applications that let you convert documents to PDF one at a time. SimpleIndex lets you convert thousands of files at once while it also extracts data from the text for indexing or data entry automation. This feature is ideal for migrating or archiving Office documents to SharePoint, document management systems and custom web applications.
Quickly Organize Any File on Your Computer
SimpleIndex lets you process any type of file on your computer. If an OLE-enabled viewer is installed, SimpleIndex will display the document on the screen. Other documents can be opened automatically in their default application when they are indexed. Quickly type index field data that can be used to reorganize the files into subfolders and structured filenames for browsing and searching on your network, or uploaded to your document/content management system or custom business application.
If the file has an accompanying text file (*.TXT) with the same name, the text in that file can be used for index field extraction, fully automating the process.
Viewing & Indexing MS Office Documents
SimpleIndex features full support for viewing and editing MS Office documents (Word, PowerPoint and Excel) on computers with or without MS Office installed. The full application interface is displayed within the SimpleIndex viewer, letting users view the full content of the documents, edit them with all the features of MS Office and save the changes. Modify privileges can be denied using Windows file security or by the SimpleIndex administration wizard to keep out unauthorized changes.
If MS Office is not installed, SimpleIndex can open and display them in the built-in viewer in read-only mode.
KB Articles for MS Office & PDF Text Parsing
- Change the Dictionary Separator Value
- Regular Expression (RegEx) - Syntax or Type
- Check and Repair All PDF Files
- Keep Pages in Original Order when Bookmarking
- Do Not Combine Pages to 1 Bookmark
- Can I split a PDF based on bookmark values?
- Is it possible to search for and retrieve documents with Windows desktop search?
- Can SimpleIndex read bar codes from existing PDF files?
- Is there a way to just use part of a bar code or OCR value? For example, extract "50" from the value "124450"
- How do you configure OCR to read index information from MS Office or PDF documents?