SimpleIndex is easy and affordable making it a great solution for home offices or small businesses that need a basic document management system with automated scanning and indexing to avoid labor-intensive manual filing.
Features
SimpleIndex is the perfect solution for small business and departments looking to manage their files from a single interface, developers who don’t want to reinvent the wheel and large companies with many locations looking to decentralize their scanning.
SimpleIndex organizes scanned images and electronic documents into a single document management database your employees can access on their desktops.
SimpleIndex takes the labor out of document imaging by providing powerful barcode recognition and OCR search algorithms that can find index values no matter where they are on the page. By providing these essential automations for a reasonable price, we make document management affordable for anyone.
The most unique automation is our OCR template and dictionary matching search algorithms. This lets you find information like date, customer name, invoice number and other information on documents with different layouts. These can even be applied to the text in Office documents and PDF files to organize these files automatically and attach them to a database.
The SimpleCoversheet barcode printing application lets anyone in your company print bar-coded coversheets with all the information needed to identify a document. This is perfect for scanning with a centralized scanner or networked digital copier. SimpleIndex can then be configured to process these documents automatically without any user intervention whatsoever!
This level of automation is provided by SimpleIndex‘s command line interface. All the settings related to scanning or searching documents can be saved to “Job Files”, which can be saved to an icon and launched with a click of the mouse or a single line of code. These jobs can be configured to scan documents, read barcodes and OCR, generate folders and filenames and upload the index information to a database in a single step.
It is simply not possible to find an easier, faster way to process your documents!
Key Features and Recent Enhancements
- SimpleIndex Standard has Tesseract OCR and DTK Barcode engines. These provide good recognition on clean originals.
- SimpleIndex Professional adds FineReader OCR and Accusoft Barcode. These are able to recognize hard-to-read text and bar codes, and improve overall speed and accuracy.
- Process existing text in PDF files and MS Office documents in all versions.
- OCR
- Pro version includes ABBYY® FineReader Engine for faster, more accurate OCR
- Searchable PDF output
- Clipboard / Screen Shot OCR
- Point-Click OCR – Click on text to send it to an index field
- Enhanced OCR Options – match against other indexes, skip OCR on files with existing text
- Support for international character sets using Unicode
- Bar Code Recognition
- Multi-engine Barcode voting to boost accuracy (Professional version)
- Support for most 2D barcodes in all versions
- User-defined Barcode delimiter – no longer restricted to “|” for parsing multi-index barcodes
- Pro version includes Accusoft barcode engine for better barcode recognition
- Find/Replace characters in barcodes for matching or autofill
- TWAIN and ISIS Scanning
- TWAIN support in all versions. ISIS support available as an add-on or in Pro version.
- Improved real-time image processing
- Multiple scan windows when using ISIS
- Scan directly to a network folder (processing occurs during scan)
- Desktop Processing
- Selectively reprocess files
- Run multiple copies of SimpleIndex simultaneously
- Save any image region to a separate file for signature capture, etc.
- Server Processing
- Run multiple jobs on different schedules
- Run multiple copies of the same job for parallel processing and increased throughput
- Server licenses can be purchased in 1 Million Page per Year increments as an add-on to any workstation license
- Unlimited page barcode processing license available with Advanced Barcode Server
- Server processing compatible with Windows 7 or above and all Windows Server versions
- PDF Handling
- Support for reading and writing password protected PDF files
- Convert MS Office, HTML, XML and images to PDF before processing
- Searchable PDF output
- Native PDF Viewer – no dependence on 3rd party software
- PDF Auto-repair – attempts correction of bad PDF files
- Indexing
- Return MD5 hash values
- Configure default values for empty fields
- Export to XML
- Edit Fixed Fields – make changes to auto-generated indexes
- SharePoint Integration
- Compatible with all versions of SharePoint and SharePoint Online
- Append to or replace existing files in SharePoint
- Automatically match index fields to SharePoint columns to populate data
Website Resources
SimpleIndex.com is full of information and interactive content to help you learn what you need to know to implement SimpleIndex in your organization.
- Design Philosophy & Getting Started Guide
An introduction to the way SimpleIndex approaches document processing - Bringing Document Imaging to Everyone
How Simple Software solutions reduce the cost of entry into the Paperless Office - Sample Applications
Examples of different ways you can put SimpleIndex to use - Compare SimpleIndex to the Competition
Videos showing the same batch of documents being scanned and indexed with SimpleIndex as well as 4 top desktop document capture applications. - Top Features of SimpleIndex
Detailed information on the automated scanning and indexing features of SimpleIndex - Demonstration Videos
See how SimpleIndex automates indexing with OCR and barcode recognition - Simple Software University
Online training videos teaching all aspects of Simple Software configuration - Simple Software FAQ
Answers to common questions about Simple Software products - How Many Clicks does it Take to Scan My Documents?
Printable brochure in PDF format
SimpleIndex Applications in Your Industry
PDF brochures outlining some of the applications for SimpleIndex in various industries.
SimpleIndex Feature Highlights
Links to more information on the major features of SimpleIndex.
- Streamlined Document Capture
Ways that SimpleIndex helps reduce labor by streamlining the workflow and automating common indexing tasks - TWAIN and ISIS Scanner Driver Support
Use any scanner with SimpleIndex - Zone, Full Page and Dynamic OCR
Extract index data no matter where it appears on the page - Barcode Recognition
Read barcodes from scanned images to automate indexing - Optical Mark Recognition (OMR)
Read check boxes to find True/False or Yes/No values - Index Autofill
Populate multiple search fields with existing data from your database - Electronic Imprinting
Apply bates stamps and other image stamps/endorsements electronically - Database Integration
A full range of interactive database features allow for creative integration with custom database applications - Document Presence Auditing
Make sure that all required documents are present in the batch before it is released - Document Retrieval Options
How to find and view files once you have indexed them with SimpleIndex - Command Line Processing and Custom Application Integration
The SimpleIndex command-line interface makes it the easiest document capture application to integrate with your custom business software - Enable Distributed Document Capture
Companies with many remote locations can now afford to implement Distributed Capture with SimpleIndex
The Simple Software Imaging Suite
These applications enhance and expand the functionality of SimpleIndex by providing barcode printing, automatic uploading, quality control and direct integration with popular applications like QuickBooks.
Top Features
The following is a list of the Top 25 major document capture features of SimpleIndex, in no particular order.
- Indexing support for all file types
- Viewing support for any installed, OLE-enabled application
- No monthly page processing limitations
- Text processing support for OCR’d images, PDF files and MS Office documents
- Barcode Recognition
- Dynamic & Zone OCR
- Manual Zone OCR by indexing operator
- Full-Page OCR to text, MS Word or HTML
- Optical Mark Recognition (OMR)
- Unstructured data capture using Template and Dictionary Matching
- ODBC & OLEDB database connectivity
- Use any database to store index data for document management and retrieval
- Automatic population of index fields using database lookup (Autofill)
- Document Presence Auditing – ensures all required pages are present in each batch
- Clipboard / Screen Shot OCR
- Command line execution
- Input from any TWAIN or ISIS scanner or network folder
- Media Wizard to create royalty-free, searchable document CDs or DVDs
- Output images to TIFF, JPEG, PDF or PDF/A
- Page Order Validation: reads the page number from each page with OCR and compare it to the scanned page order.
- Double-Index Validation: compare the value of two fields during unattended processing and automatically route documents to exceptions when the values don’t match.
- Automatic forwarding of a copy of the first page: from each exported file a first page is forwarded to a separate folder for data processing.
- Integrated document separation: combines pages into multi-page documents without the need for a 2-step configuration.
- Output index information to database or comma-delimited text file
- Blank page detection and deletion
- SharePoint 2010 Integration
- Auto-Rotate
- Easy-to-use cropping and redaction tools to remove confidential parts of images
- Electronic imprinting and bates stamping
New versions History
Simple Software is always working on updating and upgrading. Here you can find change log for SimpleIndex.
KB Articles for OCR Features
- Language Pack for Standard/Tesseract OCR
- 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?
What is Document Imaging?
Document Imaging was the more commonly used term in the early days of document scanning and OCR and refers to any system used to replicate documents used in business. It evolved from the microfilm days where it was referred to as Document Image Management.
Document Imaging allows for the scanning of paper documents, as well as the processing of files saved electronically. These files are then named and saved for later searching.
Other document imaging terms include automatic imaging software, best digital imaging software, best imaging software, desktop imaging software, digital document imaging, digital imaging software, document imaging download, document imaging PDF, document imaging processing, document imaging products, document imaging software, document imaging solution, document imaging solutions, document imaging systems, document imaging technologies, document imaging technology, document imaging tools, image to database, imaging resource, imaging scanning software, imaging software companies, imaging software download, imaging software for windows, imaging solution, scanner imaging software, scanning and imaging, scanning imaging, and software for imaging.
Searching and Viewing Documents
If you have not yet decided on a plan for how to organize your electronic documents for later retrieval, you should take some time to consider the possible options.
There are several ways to search and view documents processed with SimpleIndex®
- Use SimpleSearch to use keyword searches to find and view indexed documents
- Use SimpleView to browse folders, search files, view, edit and annotate scanned documents without a database
- Use a Document Management System for integrated searching, viewing, workflow, security, compliance auditing and other records management functions
- Use Cloud Storage platforms like Google Drive, Box and OneDrive
- Use SharePoint to share documents online with custom metadata, create custom document workflows and employ records management standards
- Link files to a custom application using the Command Line Interface or RPA bot
- Integrate with your Database to associate documents with records via link or binary field
- Work with our Professional Services Team or an Authorized Dealer to create a customized solution or direct integration with virtually any application
Choosing a Document Management Solution
Given the variety of free or very low cost file storage solutions available, why would you invest thousands of dollars in a document management system?
- When high security or access tracking logs are required
- Compliance with regulations like HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, FINRA, FOIA, SEC, etc.
- There are document-based workflows that can benefit from automation
- Users need to view files without installing software licenses (like DWG, VSD or PSD)
If you already have a database or business app that you use to search for records, and that application has the ability to store or link external documents to those records, this is usually the best choice.
If your business application doesn’t have document management capabilities, there are integrations that can overlay a button or hotkey that lets users open associated files from any screen.
If your business has many different types of documents spread across multiple departments that use different applications, and they sometimes need to be able to access each others’ documents, then a central repository is the better solution.
Cloud Storage platforms like Google Drive, Box and OneDrive provide low-cost, secure online storage that makes it very easy to share documents worldwide on any device. However they don’t have the ability to do field-level indexing to allow for more granular searches, lack the compliance tracking features of a more robust DMS, and don’t have integrated viewers that can display some of the less common file formats without having the application installed.
Find Out More
Read more about Affordable Document Management solutions with SimpleIndex.
Check out our How to Scan Documents for a detailed guide to creating scanning and retrieval systems.
Our Professional Services department can help you with every step of our project, and often have you up and running in just a couple of hours.
Please Contact Us to schedule a demo or ask us any questions you have!
KB Articles for Document Management
- Oracle database is slow to respond
- What is Document Imaging?
- Using alternate database schemas
- Multiple Sort Fields on Search
- Access Database Connection String
- How do I delete an image and it's database entry?
- Is it possible to search for and retrieve documents with Windows desktop search?
- Will your SimpleQB allow me to scan in old invoices or bank statements directly into QuickBooks?
- How do I use the Media Wizard to create searchable DVDs or thumb drives?
- How do I export index data to a database?