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.
There are several of different Features of SimpleSoftware products making Scanning better.
- Streamlined interface – The Fastest, Most Accurate Scanning Solution
- Support for both TWAIN and ISIS Scanning drivers standards
- Automated Processing & 1-Click Interface to make scanning process even more efficient
- Optical Mark Recognition – lets you define check box regions on scanned images.
- Screenshot OCR – Indexing from Applications with Screen OCR
How to activate any Add-on or Upgrade to SimpleIndex?
SimpleIndex Add-on Option A – New SimpleIndex Installation:
If you are installing SimpleIndex on the Windows computer for the first time first download SimpleIndex from the SimpleIndex Demo Installation Link.
Once the SimpleIndex software has been downloaded install the software from the downloaded installation file.
During the installation process you will be asked to enter your Serial Code or Serial Codes.
Single Serial Code:
Multiple Serial Codes (separate with a comma):
After you have entered your Serial Code(s) click Next to move through the installation process.
Once the installation is complete you will receive the following Window:
When you click Finish you will receive the Global Settings Wizard window to configure the general settings for SimpleIndex on the installed computer.
Move through the prompts to configure the Global Settings Wizard. Once complete you will receive a confirmation that the License was properly activated before the software opens.
SimpleIndex Add-on Option B – SimpleIndex Already Installed:
If you have already installed the SimpleIndex software then all you need to do is Activate the demo.
Click the SimpleIndex icon on your desktop or from your Windows Start menu.
Once SimpleIndex is open go to the Help menu and Select Activate/Transfer License.
Enter your Serial Number into the “Enter Serial Number to Activate” field in the Activation Window.
Click the Activate button to activate the license.
You will receive a confirmation that the license was properly activated and your license type will be displayed next to the “License Type:” section of the Activation Window.
SimpleIndex Add-on Option C – SimpleIndex Installed on Computer Not Connected to the Internet:
If you have installed SimpleIndex on a computer that doesn’t have an internet connection an Offline Activation will need to be done.
First fully install the SimpleIndex software without activation.
Once it has been fully installed click the SimpleIndex icon on your desktop or from your Windows Start menu.
Once SimpleIndex is open go to the Help menu and select Activate/Transfer License.
Enter your Serial Number into the “Enter Serial Number to Activate” field in the Activation Window.
Click the “Offline Activation” button.
Click OK in the “SimpleIndex Offline Activation” window, which asks you to call or email for an Offline Activation.
Select the license version that you ordered in the “SimpleIndex Version” drop down.
Then either call (865) 637-8986 option 2 or email support@simpleindex.com with the Authorization Request Code. We will the provide you with the Activation Key.
Enter the Activation Key and then click the Offline Activation button.
Is SimpleIndex for Windows only? I’m a Mac user.
Unfortunately SimpleIndex is for Windows only. This is true of most high speed document scanning applications, due to the fact that most document scanners only have Windows drivers.
However, SimpleIndex can output to databases and file shares on a Mac server. The fact that it does not have its own proprietary file system and database makes it a very good choice for Mac networks, since only the scanning workstation needs to be a PC.
Likewise, many users have reported great success running Parallels or Bootcamp on their Mac to allow the use of a Windows OS
- Published in Licensing & Installation
What scanners does SimpleIndex work with?
SimpleIndex will work with both TWAIN and ISIS scanner drivers. TWAIN is more common and works with virtually all scanner models. ISIS is designed for high speed document scanners. Most sheetfed scanners support ISIS.
ISIS is much faster and has more features than TWAIN, and is the preferred way to scan documents. ISIS scanning is included with SimpleIndex Full or is available as an add-on for other versions.
- Published in TWAIN & ISIS Scanning
How much do Simple Software products cost?
Click here for the latest pricing and online ordering information. You can also purchase full service solutions from one of our Authorized Dealers.
Click here for a PDF version of the price list and a feature matrix that shows which features are included in each version.
All applications are activated online by entering a serial number in the demo. The serial is emailed to you once your order is processed.
- Published in Licensing & Installation, LoanStacker, SimpleCoversheet, SimpleExport, SimpleQB, SimpleSend, SimpleView
I have a duplex scanner how do I set up SimpleIndex to scan 2 sided documents automatically?
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.
- Published in TWAIN & ISIS Scanning
Can I scan with a Kofax Adrenaline based scanner interface?
Yes it is possible to scan with Kofax Adrenaline based scanners using the Adrenaline TWAIN or ISIS data source.
To configure ISIS, you may need to select one of the general Kofax drivers such as “Any Fujitsu Scanner with Adrenaline” or “Kofax Arenaline Scanner”.
To configure the TWAIN data source:
1. Download the Kofax Adrenaline TWAIN Data Source from Kofax Adrenaline Patches
2. Configure a scan source in KSM (in your computer’s Control Panel) called TWAIN SOURCE
3. Select the Kofax Adrenaline TWAIN driver from the Select Scanner dialog in SimpleIndex
There should be little difference in performance due to using the TWAIN interface, and all the Kofax image processing controls will still be available.
- Published in TWAIN & ISIS Scanning
I have a scanner with Virtual ReScan (VRS) that is not scanning properly. How do I solve this issue?
| Any time that you have a scanner with Virtual ReScan (VRS) you must pick Kofax VRS as the scanner instead of the scanner model itself. With VRS you assign the scanner to VRS and then anytime you pick Kofax VRS as the scanner in your scanning software the assigned scanner will be the scanner that is used. |
- Published in TWAIN & ISIS Scanning
How can I change from letter to legal size documents?
This is done through the TWAIN or ISIS settings for your scanner. To access these settings select “Display Scanner Settings” from the “Scan” file menu. Next click the “Run Job” button and before the scanning process starts your scanners TWAIN or ISIS settings dialog box will appear.
Every TWAIN or ISIS dialog is different, but any of them have a clear option for changing page size or auto detecting page size.
- Published in TWAIN & ISIS Scanning
What scanners are compatible with SimpleIndex? How do I find a list?
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.
- Published in TWAIN & ISIS Scanning
How do I automatically delete blank pages from duplex documents?
This is done using the Minimum File Size drop down in the Blank Page Deletion section of the Image Enhancement step of the Job Settings Wizard. This setting uses the image file size in bytes to determine which files are blank pages.
In this box you would put the number of bytes for the threshold for which documents are considered to be blank, which will be deleted and those considered non-blank that should be kept. If the scanned or imported image file is smaller than the number in bytes for the file size then it will be deleted and if it is higher it will be kept.
For 200dpi, compressed, black & white TIFF images (the default format used by SimpleIndex) this is usually around 2500 bytes and 300dpi, compressed, black & white TIFF images (the default for OCR) is usually around 7500.
Depending on your scanner settings and how much black is in your images, blank pages could be significantly larger. If you are scanning small pages the margin for error will be less. You will want to do some trial and error testing to ensure the setting is right for your images.
Related Links
- Published in TWAIN & ISIS Scanning
How do I configure SimpleIndex to scan documents?
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
- Published in
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
Ensures All Required Documents are Scanned
Some applications have a set of standard documents that are required to be present in each batch. SimpleIndex has the ability to specify a list of required values for a field then audit each batch at the end to ensure all are present. Any missing pages may be scanned and indexed automatically from this screen as well. This feature may also be configured to allow exceptions and log a valid justification for the absent document.
This feature makes SimpleIndex the perfect front desk scanning application For example, a health care chain may have a 
list of documents they must collect from each patient in order to bill the insurance company With SimpleIndex they can image these documents at the front desk, and audit the batch automatically to ensure all the required pages are there.
Doing this not only eliminates the need for a dedicated, central scanning department to image these files, it also greatly decreases the error rate and improves collections turnaround for our example company.
KB Articles for Document Management
- Exclude Index Field from Index Log
- Turn Off Prompts and Pop Ups on Job Configurations
- Change the Font Size of Index Fields
- Large documents (>500 pg) Slow to Process - Workaround
- Regular Expression (RegEx) - Syntax or Type
- Index With Non-Latin Character Sets
- Skip to Blank Index on Save Index
- Stop Autorun When Double Clicking Configuration
- Autonumber Increment Value
- Overlap of SimpleView Viewer in SimpleIndex Display
The All-In-One Scanning & Sorting Tool
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
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?
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
- 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?
Automatic Indexing Using Existing Data
Automatic Indexing Using Existing Data
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 database. 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.
The key field may be typed by the user, or it may be read from the document automatically using barcode recognition or OCR. The lookup is performed either when the user changes this field or when the index values are saved. If the lookup finds multiple matching records, the user will be notified and the first set of values will be used by default.
When used with pre-index batches, key information can be read automatically from barcodes or OCR and matched to database records with a single click. Search on up to 99 index fields without a single keystroke!
KB Articles for Automatic Indexing
- Exclude Index Field from Index Log
- Turn Off Prompts and Pop Ups on Job Configurations
- Change the Font Size of Index Fields
- Large documents (>500 pg) Slow to Process - Workaround
- Regular Expression (RegEx) - Syntax or Type
- Index With Non-Latin Character Sets
- Skip to Blank Index on Save Index
- Stop Autorun When Double Clicking Configuration
- Autonumber Increment Value
- Overlap of SimpleView Viewer in SimpleIndex Display
SimpleIndex Walkthrough
What Is SimpleIndex?
SimpleIndex is a tool to organize your documents automatically, whether they are scanned or digital.
It provides the advanced OCR automation features of enterprise-class software, with an interface and workflow that is optimized for the desktop user.
It can work as a standalone document manager, or a capture front-end to any app, database or cloud storage solution.
What Makes SimpleIndex Different?
Document capture applications fall into 3 main categories — Desktop, Enterprise and SDKs. SimpleIndex is a hybrid of all three.
Desktop scanning and OCR software require you to manually organize your files, which adds many hours of extra work over time, even if you only scan a few documents a week.
Enterprise solutions are designed to distribute documents to multiple servers and operators and keep hundreds of working batches in a queue, with all the extra setup time and license costs associated with them. (If they’ll even sell you a permanent license!)
APIs and SDKs make you re-invent the wheel. While you have direct integration with your app, any capabilities and UIs you want to have need to be coded.
SimpleIndex puts powerful Enterprise automation and integration features into app that is designed and priced for desktop users.
The SimpleIndex command line interface lets IT and information workers who aren’t programmers integrate scanning, OCR and data capture into third party apps and RPA Bots.
How Does SimpleIndex Work
SimpleIndex is designed around a single batch processing model, performing all the stages of the document capture workflow in one sequence of steps.
These steps are:
- Import (scan or read existing files)
- Process (cleanup, OCR, barcode recognition)
- Index (QC review images and OCR, assign index field values)
- Export (save documents and index data to files and/or database)
SimpleIndex is designed to quickly scan and index a single batch by performing each stage automatically in sequence, without the operator having to click extra buttons or launch a different application. This design makes SimpleIndex much faster and easier to use, while lowering setup complexity and cost.
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 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. You can run them interactively while you work in other applications, or run them unattended on a server.
Processing the Sample Jobs
The best way to get started with SimpleIndex is to check out the sample configuration files that come with the trial download. 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 guide you through this process, or you can schedule an online demo and have us show you personally!
- Sample Job Videos – demonstrations and presentations
- Simple Software University – how to configure jobs
- Get an Online Demo – let us show you in a Zoom!
RTFM (Read The Fantastic Manual)
The Simple Software Wiki has extensive documentation and how-to guides for all of the features and usage scenarios, all in a Wiki format that lets you get additional information and context for any topic when you need to know more.
Core concepts and features have their own pages, with links to all of the settings and user interface options that relate to each one. Related training videos are embedded as well.
- Creating Jobs
- Running Jobs
- Scanning
- OCR
- Bar Code Recognition
- Database Integration
- Index Autofill
- Pre-Index Batch Jobs
- PDF Processing
- Imprinting
- Fixed fields and preset values
- Distributed Capture
- Unattended Processing
- Command Line Interface
Streamlined Interface
The Fastest, Most Accurate Scanning Solution
Simple
KB Articles for Streamlined Interface
- Workstation Activation in the Concurrent Serial Number Field
- Command Line Sample
- Process Monitor/ProcMon Instructions
- Command Line Arguments
- Take control of Sales Tax exemption forms
- The All-In-One Scanning & Sorting Tool
- Full-Page OCR Indexing Demo
- Indexing Solutions with Barcode Recognition
- Automated Processing & 1-Click Interface
- Features
TWAIN and ISIS Scanning
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.
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.
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?
- 1
- 2