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SimpleIndex

  • LEARN MORE
    • GENERAL INFO
      • Getting Started
      • How To Scan Documents
      • Barcode Scanning Guide
      • Searching & Viewing
      • News & Updates
      • Schedule a Web Demo
    • FEATURES
      • Streamlined Interface
      • TWAIN and ISIS Scanning
      • Zone OCR and Dynamic OCR
      • Database Integration
      • Required Documents Check
      • Automated Processing & 1-Click Interface
      • SharePoint Document Scanning
    • –
      • Document Classification
      • PDF & MS Office Text Parsing
      • Barcode Recognition
      • Optical Mark Recognition
      • Match Documents to Existing Data
      • Imprinting & Watermarking
      • Screenshot OCR
  • SOLUTIONS
    • General
      • All-In-One Scanning & Sorting Tool
      • Affordable Document Management
      • Instant Integration
      • Network Scanners & Copiers
      • Remote Document Capture
      • Reduce Click Charges for Data Capture
    • Specific
      • Sales Tax Exemption Forms
      • Federal Tax Returns
      • Invoice Processing
      • Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
      • Patent ID and Title Extraction
      • Mortgage & Loan Documents
    • Feature Demos
      • Zone OCR with Template Matching
      • Full-Page OCR & Multi-User Workflow
      • PDF Text Processing
      • Organize Office Documents
      • Integration with RPA Bots
      • Compare with Other Solutions
  • SUITE
    • SimpleCoversheet – Print Bar Codes
    • SimpleExport – Data File Converter
    • SimpleView – Search, View & Edit
    • SimpleQB – QuickBooks Integrator
    • SimpleOCR – Freeware OCR
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Data is essential in every sector of business. Not matter the field, companies rely on data accumulation and management day in and day out. When compiled, each piece of input provides companies with comprehensive databases of fundamental information that can be processed, stored, manipulated, and analyzed. Databases act as crucial repositories of information that often encompass vast sets of data. Given the mere amount of input involved, data accumulation and management can be a tedious and overwhelming task, especially when involving manual data entry, intricate spreadsheets, copious archives of documents, and clunky software.

While there are plenty of database solutions for processing and storing sets of data, such as SQL (MySQL, Access, Postgres, etc.) and NoSQL (Mongo, AWS, etc.), issues commonly arise during the processes of identifying and transferring data from raw unprocessed texts and images. Overall, data recognition and collation can be an incredibly tedious task in which small errors resulting from misreading and mismatching of input can disrupt entire database processes and outputs. Thus, the key to successful data management lies in the precision of character recognition and classification. With this in mind, we’ve tailored our solution to rigorously identify and meticulously catalog great amounts of data with accuracy in order to save you time, money, and headaches!

SimpleIndex provides an Unprecedented Control of Database Interactions

Open database integration is a powerful feature of SimpleIndex® and one that furthers its interoperability with custom programs. Instead of using a proprietary database, SimpleIndex allows you to map its index fields to cells in any database table. It can be configured to create new records, update existing ones or retrieve them for viewing. Using these three basic database functions, SimpleIndex is able to interface with and operate on any database.

Features

Monday, 14 November 2022 by Simple Software

SimpleIndex All-In-One Scanning ToolSimpleIndex 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.

SimpleCoversheet Barcode Indexing CoversheetsThe 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

  • All Editions offer OCR and Barcode
    • 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.
  • OCRConvert Images to Text with 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 RecognitionDocument 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 ScanningTWAIN and ISIS document 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 HandlingMS Office and PDF text parsing software
    • 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 IntegrationDocument scanning and indexing for SharePoint
    • 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.

  • Health Care
  • Legal
  • Financial
  • Education

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.

Software Catalog

  • SimpleView
  • SimpleCoversheet
  • SimpleSend
  • SimpleQB
  • SimpleExport
  • SimpleOCR
  • SimpleTunes

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?
1-Click Processing, Batch Scanning, Document Capture Solution, Document Numbering System, Document Scanning, Full Text Indexing, OCR, Office PDF Document Indexing, Paperless Office, Personal Document Management, Scanned Document Indexing, SharePoint Migration, TWAIN & ISIS Scanning, XSLT Data Conversion Software
1-Click ProcessingBatch ScanningDocument Capture SolutionDocument Numbering SystemDocument ScanningFull Text IndexingOCROffice PDF Document IndexingPaperless OfficePersonal Document ManagementScanned Document IndexingSharePoint MigrationTWAIN & ISIS ScanningXSLT Data Conversion Software
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How do I export index data to a database?

Wednesday, 28 February 2018 by dwilder

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.

CSVDatabaseDocument Capture SolutionDocument RetrievalMS AccessMySQLODBCOracleServer OCRSharePoint ScanningSQL ServerWorkflowWorkflow SoftwareXMLXSLT
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  • Published in Database & Retrieval, Export
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I have a duplex scanner how do I set up SimpleIndex to scan 2 sided documents automatically?

Wednesday, 28 February 2018 by dwilder

Simplex versus Duplex scanning is a function of your scanner driver. SimpleIndex uses both TWAIN and ISIS drivers. ISIS drivers are faster for high-speed scanners and are preferred.

To configure duplex on an ISIS scanner:

1 Select “Use ISIS Driver” from the Scan menu if it is not selected

2 If this is your first time using ISIS, click “Select a Scanner” to select the driver for your scanner

3 Click Display Scanner Settings to display the ISIS driver settings

4 Find the setting for Simplex/Duplex and set appropriately. Each scanner model has a different driver interface. Refer to your scanner’s documentation if you cannot find the duplex setting.

To set the scanner settings using TWAIN:

1 Select “Use TWAIN Driver” from the Scan menu

2 If this is your first time scanning with TWAIN, click “Select a Scanner” and select your scanner

3 If “Display Scanner Settings” is not checked in the Scan menu, click it to select it

4 When you run the job, the scanner settings will be displayed prior to scanning. Find and select the duplex setting there. If you cannot find it, refer to your scanner’s documentation.

When scanning in duplex, you will want to enable automatic blank page deletion. Many scanners have this feature built-in, so check your driver settings to see if there is a blank page deletion option.

If your scanner doesn’t have blank page deletion, use the “Min File Size” setting on the Batch tab of the Options screen to enable it in SimpleIndex. This setting refers to the minimum file size (in bytes) for a page to be considered non-blank. Any file under that size will be deleted. This value varies depending on scan resolution, and does not work with uncompressed files.

Batch ScanningDistributed ScanningDocument Capture SolutionDocument ScanningFast ScanningFront End ScanningImage ScanningISIS DriverPDF Archive Scanning SoftwareRemote CaptureScanning SoftwareSharePoint ScanningTWAINTWAIN & ISIS Scanning
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  • Published in TWAIN & ISIS Scanning
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What scanners are compatible with SimpleIndex? How do I find a list?

Wednesday, 28 February 2018 by dwilder

SimpleIndex is compatible with any device that has a TWAIN or ISIS driver. This includes virtually all makes and models of scanner, as well as many specialty scanners, digital cameras and other devices.

In the few instances when a scanner has a proprietary driver, it can still be used with SimpleIndex by first scanning to a folder and setting SimpleIndex‘s input to “From Folder” on the Input tab.

For many high-speed scanners (over 50 pages/minute), ISIS drivers provide improved throughput versus TWAIN. It is recommended you purchase the ISIS driver option with these scanners.

ISIS drivers also let you save your scanner settings to a file that can be distributed with your SimpleIndex configuration.

You can find more information on selecting the best scanner for your specific requirements on the ScanStore Scanners Guide, as well as a wide assortment of scanners available for purchase.

Batch ScanningDistributed ScanningDocument Capture SolutionDocument ScanningFast ScanningFront End ScanningImage ScanningISIS DriverPDF Archive Scanning SoftwareRemote CaptureScanning SoftwareSharePoint ScanningTWAINTWAIN & ISIS Scanning
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  • Published in TWAIN & ISIS Scanning
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How do I configure SimpleIndex to scan documents?

Wednesday, 28 February 2018 by dwilder

First make sure that you scanner’s TWAIN and/or ISIS driver (found on the included CD or manufacturer website) is installed and that the scanner shows up in the ‘Printers and Scanners’ section of the ‘Control Panel’ in Windows.

On the SimpleIndex Settings Wizard step of the Job Settings Wizard set the Input Type to Scanner or Both.  Scanner will just use the scanner and both will scan first and then pull image from the Input folder.

Settings for the scanner can be found in the Scanner Settings step of the Job Settings Wizard.  These allow you to select TWAIN or ISIS scanning, whether images are displayed during scanning and more.

From the Scan menu you have the option to select your scanner, display or hide the scanner’s TWAIN/ISIS settings interface or have SimpleIndex prompt the user when the feeder is empty.

The Scan to File option in the Scan menu lets you separate the scanning from processing. Use this to scan a sample image and save directly to a file folder.

Related Pages

  • SimpleIndex.com – TWAIN and ISIS Scanning
  • SimpleIndex Wiki – Scanner Settings
  • SimpleIndex Wiki – Scan Menu
  • SimpleIndex Wiki – ISIS
Batch ScanningDistributed ScanningDocument Capture SolutionDocument ScanningFast ScanningFront End ScanningImage ScanningISIS DriverPDF Archive Scanning SoftwareRemote CaptureScanning SoftwareSharePoint ScanningTWAINTWAIN & ISIS Scanning
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The All-In-One Scanning & Sorting Tool

Tuesday, 30 January 2018 by Simple Software

SimpleIndex® has the ability to perform a wide variety of scanning and document organization tasks quickly and easily.

This makes it a must-have tool for IT departments and consultants who often need to:

  • Scan and store various documents on network shares or cloud storage
  • Organize existing MS Office, PDF and other files on your network
  • Attach files to records in a custom database
  • Integrate scanning into custom business applications
  • Add document capture to Robotic Process Automation bots
  • Automate data entry from paper or electronic documents
  • Reduce click charges for centralized scanning departments

The missing piece of the IT document management puzzle

With a cost and setup time that is negligible compared to other enterprise capture platforms, SimpleIndex makes sense even when your company already has one. For example:

  • When SimpleIndex has unique features your other software doesn’t, like Office and PDF text parsing, PDF Bookmarking or Electronic Imprinting.
  • When setting up a new workflow requires extensive setup time and management approvals to use the central system.
  • When click charges make a project prohibitively expensive.

The wide variety of scanning and indexing tasks you can do with SimpleIndex make it an incredibly useful tool to have in your arsenal.

Find Out More

  • Download or get an Online Demo
  • SimpleIndex Feature Guide
  • Wiki Manual Pages
  • Compare Versions & Licensing

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?
1-Click Processing, Bar Code Scanning, Command-Line, Database, Document Automation, Document Capture Solution, Document Imaging, Document Management Software, Imprinting, Imprinting & Watermarking, MS Office, OCR, Office PDF Text Processing, PDF Bookmarking, RPA, Scanning Software, TWAIN, TWAIN & ISIS Scanning
1-Click ProcessingBar Code ScanningCommand-LineDatabaseDocument AutomationDocument Capture SolutionDocument ImagingDocument Management SoftwareImprintingImprinting & WatermarkingMS OfficeOCROffice PDF Text ProcessingPDF BookmarkingRPAScanning SoftwareTWAINTWAIN & ISIS Scanning
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TWAIN and ISIS Scanning

Tuesday, 23 January 2018 by Simple Software
TWAIN and ISIS document scanners

SimpleIndex works with all TWAIN and ISIS document scanners.

Virtually all document scanners support both the TWAIN and ISIS driver standards. TWAIN is more common and is usually the only driver provided with consumer scanner models.

ISIS is the unfortunately named driver standard developed by Pixel Translations years before the acronym (which stands for “Image and Scanner Interface Specification”) had any jihadist connotations. ISIS provides a more standardized interface for high-speed scanners, and is often required to scan at the scanners rated speed.

TWAIN scanning is supported in all versions of SimpleIndex.

Support for ISIS is included with SimpleIndex Professional and available as an Add-on for other versions. ISIS is recommended for high-speed document scanners, or applications that require central management of scanner settings. ISIS driver settings are saved in your SimpleIndex job file so every user gets the exact scanner settings they need for each type of document.

Download document scanning and OCR software.

What is a WIA Driver?

WIA stands for Windows Image Acquisition and is the driver standard promoted by Microsoft for basic scanning functions that don’t require additional software other than the Windows OS.

WIA is much better suited for flatbed scanners than for document scanning applications. While you can use the WIA driver in SimpleIndex, you will get much better results with the full TWAIN or ISIS drivers, which may require a separate download from your scanner manufacturer.

What Happens After You Scan?

The difference between SimpleIndex and other desktop scanning applications is that it fully automates the process of indexing and filing your documents once they are scanned. Use bar codes, OCR, database lookups and other features to identify keywords and metadata, organize files into folders, or populate your database and document management system.

Indexing is the key to making your scanned files organized and searchable so you can find them when you need them. Without automation, the indexing process can be very labor intensive, taking many times longer than it takes just to scan documents.

TWAIN & ISIS Scanning Video

Since scanning happens in the meatspace there’s really not a lot to show in a screen recording. But Google really likes videos so here’s a quick preview what it looks like when you’re scanning with SimpleIndex.

Unique Book & Magazine Scanning Features

SimpleIndex streamlines the process of scanning books and magazines. Anyone who commonly scans bound material needs SimpleIndex just for this feature!

Book scanning lets you scan bound books quickly on a flatbed scanner. The user is prompted after each scan so they only need to turn the page and press “enter” to perform the next scan. 2-page scans can be automatically split vertically or horizontally to create single page images.

When scanning a typical tabloid-sized magazine that is folded down the middle, SimpleIndex’s magazine scanning function will automatically split the images in half, reorder and rotate the pages so they appear in proper reading order when finished. This can save hundreds of hours of manual image QC, or provide your clients with a level of image quality they can’t get from anyone else.

Using Scanning in SimpleIndex

Wiki manual pages detailing the scanning functions of SimpleIndex.

  • Scanner Settings
  • TWAIN
  • ISIS
  • WIA
  • Scan Menu

KB Articles for TWAIN and ISIS Scanning

  • What is Document Imaging?
  • What scanners does SimpleIndex work with?
  • I have a duplex scanner how do I set up SimpleIndex to scan 2 sided documents automatically?
  • Can I scan with a Kofax Adrenaline based scanner interface?
  • I have a scanner with Virtual ReScan (VRS) that is not scanning properly. How do I solve this issue?
  • How can I change from letter to legal size documents?
  • What scanners are compatible with SimpleIndex? How do I find a list?
  • I finished scanning and found a page that did not get scanned or was scanned incorrectly. How can I correct this?
  • How do I automatically delete blank pages from duplex documents?
Batch Scanning, Distributed Scanning, Document Capture Solution, Document Scanning, Fast Scanning, Front End Scanning, Image Scanning, ISIS Driver, PDF Archive Scanning Software, Remote Capture, Scanning Software, SharePoint Scanning, TWAIN, TWAIN & ISIS Scanning
Batch ScanningDistributed ScanningDocument Capture SolutionDocument ScanningFast ScanningFront End ScanningImage ScanningISIS DriverPDF Archive Scanning SoftwareRemote CaptureScanning SoftwareSharePoint ScanningTWAINTWAIN & ISIS Scanning
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Barcode Scanning Guide

Saturday, 13 January 2018 by Simple Software

So you want to organize your documents using barcodes? That is an excellent idea! Not only will it improve the speed and accuracy of your document management workflow, but it is easier to set up than it sounds.

The guide is written to give you real information instead of marketing, but you can follow the links links to read about the relevant features of SimpleIndex and other document management solutions on ScanStore.

Other Useful Guides

  • How to Scan Documents
  • Scanners Guide
  • OCR Guide
  • ICR Guide
  • Data Capture Guide
  • Software Review

Scanning Guides? Ain’t nobody got time for that!

Read no further! Contact our experts and we’ll configure the whole scanning process for you remotely using the demo version of SimpleIndex!

Why use barcodes in document scanning?

There are many benefits to using barcodes while scanning your documents.

Traditional scanning methods require you to scan your documents in pre-separated batches and then manually name and organize the resulting files. Barcode scanning, on the other hand, allows you to scan multiple batches in a single stack and let the software automatically name and organize the files based on the embedded barcode information. This allows you to take full advantage of your automatic document feeding scanner. After all, what’s the point of paying for a high-speed scanner if your scanning speed bottlenecks at the processing stage?

As in OCR based document scanning software, barcode scanning software uses information on the scanned images themselves to name files and place them in the appropriate folders. However, OCR can sometimes incorrectly recognize certain words and phrases, especially when you are trying to scan at lower resolutions to reduce file size and scanning time. This results in having to perform validation and correction, which slows down the process. Barcodes condense all the necessary information in a format that is much easier for computers to decipher, even at lower resolutions, with almost 100% accuracy. This allows you to reduce file size and scanning time without the cost of additional validation and correction.

What is the difference between the various types of barcodes?

Barcodes come in many standards, but they can all be grouped into two general flavors:

1D (linear) barcodes and 2D (matrix) barcodes.

Linear barcodes are composed of parallel lines of varying widths and distances from each other, such as the UPC’s that are scanned from your purchases with a laser barcode reader at most stores.

Matrix barcodes are usually square (though sometimes circular) arrangements of smaller squares, circles, or triangles, such as the QR codes that you can scan with your phone from many modern advertisements. Matrix barcodes can pack more information per unit of area than their linear counterparts, but not all software is designed to read them.

There are both advantages and disadvantages to using one standard over
another. In addition to the amount of information that can be stored and the
capability of your particular scanning software in deciphering it, some
standards have additional functions such as checksums, which automatically
validate whether or not the barcode was read correctly. A few common standards
used in the document scanning business are listed below:

  • 1D Barcode standards include:Codabar
    • 2 of 5
    • Code 39
    • Code 128
    • EAN 13
    • UPC
  • 2D Barcode standards include:
    • Aztec
    • DataMatrix
    • PDF417
    • QR Code

Where do you get barcodes for document scanning?

Now that you know a little bit about barcodes and why you should use them, you might be wondering how to apply them to your documents. There are a few different methods, depending on your situation.

If you can still edit the document, your best bet would be to use a special barcode font, which will allow you to type a string of characters or digits directly into a barcode format on your document using a regular keyboard. You can find many barcode fonts online for both download and purchase, with some that are purely decorative and others that match to a particular industry standard. We particularly recommend BarcodesInc.com as a source of a good free barcode font.

Often, files cannot be edited due to access, permission, or simply because they are already printed out. For instance, if you are scanning a backlog of files, it becomes difficult to add barcodes to the existing pages. Have no fear! You can still use barcode scanning by either applying barcode marked stickers, such as Avery lables, onto a blank area on the first page of each document or by printing out and inserting coversheets to separate the files.

With applications such as SimpleCoversheet, you can create one-off coversheets or link it up to a data source and automate creating a separator for every customer folder in your filing cabinet.

What scanner settings are best for barcode recognition?

While barcodes are naturally more accurate than text-based document management, there are still ways to ensure a higher degree of recognition. Resolution plays a part, and although barcodes are more forgiving than OCR, 300dpi is still the recommended resolution for the highest degree of accuracy. Likewise, since most barcodes encode information in the contrast between black and white areas of the page, bitonal (black-and-white) scanning is preferred over the anti-aliasing effects of greyscale and color scanning. You can also adjust the brightness and contrast options in your scanner settings to improve recognition on documents where the barcode is not being read.

What are the guidelines to ensure barcodes will be read?

The way barcodes are printed also has an effect on how easily they will be recognized. Coversheet software usually
has formatting standards built in to ensure that barcodes are printed in a way that can be recognized by scanning software.

There are both minimum and maximum sizes that barcodes can be scaled to while remaining useful – usually ranging between 80% – 200% of the suggested size. The suggested size varies by standard, but the most common width is around 1.5″. Keep in mind that there should also be at least a 0.3″ clean margin between the barcode edge and any other markings to avoid confusing the software.

The different barcode standards have varying amount of error correction built in, allowing for more and less compact barcodes with the same level of accuracy at equivalent scan settings. There are also error detection methods, such as check-sum, which act as redundancy checks by running the data through an algorithm and confirming that the result is equal to a small, easily recognized part of the barcode.

What are the limitations of reading barcodes?

As with any automated process, barcode recognition has some limitations. Different scanning applications use different barcode recognition engines, which are the prebuilt blocks of code that perform the actual recognition. As with any software, some of these engines are better and/or faster than others at the same job, and they vary in the types of barcodes that they can recognize. You must make sure that your scanning software has the capability of accurately recognizing the barcode standards you use.

Regardless of the software that you use, image quality will play a factor. While barcodes simplify the format that data is encoded in, reducing the margin for error, degraded barcode images can still cause the engine to incorrectly read the data encoded therein. Degradation can happen digitally or physically. Digital degradation can occur when an image is shrunk to a smaller resolution and then sized back up or when an image is copied too many times and thus accrues artifacts and other transcription errors. Physical degradation can occur when a printed barcode is smeared, worn, torn, or marked upon prior to scanning. Both of these alter the contrast and precise distances between parts of the barcode that determine the data that is encoded.

Bar Code Scanning, Barcode OCR, Barcode Printing, Barcode Reading Software, Barcode Recognition Software, Batch Scanning, Document Capture Solution, Document Scanning, Fast Scanning, Front End Scanning, Image Scanning, PDF Archive Scanning Software, PDF Barcode Recognition, Scanned Document Indexing, Scanning Software, TWAIN & ISIS Scanning
Bar Code ScanningBarcode OCRBarcode PrintingBarcode Reading SoftwareBarcode Recognition SoftwareBatch ScanningDocument Capture SolutionDocument ScanningFast ScanningFront End ScanningImage ScanningPDF Archive Scanning SoftwarePDF Barcode RecognitionScanned Document IndexingScanning SoftwareTWAIN & ISIS Scanning
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