Searchable PDF OCR with SimpleIndexSimpleIndex lets you create searchable PDF documents from scanned images using OCR to convert the pages to text and overlay it on the original scan. This creates a unique scanned document that’s fully searchable and lets you highlight and copy text, while preserving the original page formatting for readability.

Unlike other basic OCR applications, SimpleIndex also lets you automatically tag and organize documents using keywords identified with pattern matching, database lookups or bar codes. Structured data can be used to populate a database, document management system, SharePoint and other repositories.

Download document scanning and OCR software.

Regular Expression (RegEx) – Syntax or Type

SimpleIndex uses the .NET regular expressions library.

.NET uses the JavaScript/ECMAScript regular expression syntax format.

For more information see the Regular Expressions Wiki Page.

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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

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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.

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Is it possible to search for and retrieve documents with Windows desktop search?

Windows Search works great with SimpleIndex because all index data can be saved to the folder and file names as well as the file properties, and OCR text can be saved to hidden layers in PDF files. Windows Search will read all of these elements when building its index and will return any matching files when you search.

Using Windows Search on a file server allows for instantaneous searching across terabytes of documents and text for all of the users on your network.

IFilters allow Windows Search to search within file contents.

Here are three popular PDF IFilters that will enable text searching for PDF files:

If you have issues with PDF text searching in Windows 10, this article has detailed instructions for resolving PDF IFilter issues:

https://fixedit.itxpress.biz/2018/07/05/searching-pdfs-in-windows-10/

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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?

SimpleIndex version 7 solves this problem with the incorporation of the FineReader OCR engine. Full text in PDFs will now flow with the formatting of the PDF.

Legacy Versions: SimpleIndex can also be used with other OCR applications and servers to improve accuracy, formatting and performance. Use the OCR applications to convert the scanned images to text or searchable PDF, and SimpleIndex can extract index values from the text and automatically sort and organize the files.

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How do you train the OCR engine for better accuracy?

Training has been removed with version 7 due to the addition of the ABBYY FineReader OCR engine.

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How do you configure full text searching in Retrieval mode?

On the Database tab there dropdown in the lower portion of the panel for Full Text OCR Field. Put the name of the field that will store the full-text data there. This must be configured both for Insert and Retrieval mode configurations. The database field needs to be sufficient length to store the entire text of your document.

Of course, the Insert Mode configuration must have “Enable Full Page OCR” checked to generate full text data from images. Text from MS Office documents, PDF files and existing OCR text files can be used without setting this option.

When designing your Retrieval Mode configuration, create a Text field to use for full text search queries. On the Database tab, set the corresponding “Database Field Name” to the full text database field.

When searching on your full text field, SimpleIndex finds the text you enter no matter where it appears in the document. It is able to match partial words. It does not perform boolean or natural language searches. The text entered must match the document text exactly.

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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.

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How can I improve recognition rates for my OCR fields?

There are several things you can do to improve accuracy for OCR.

  • Scan at 300dpi, black & white for best results.
  • Adjust the scan settings to remove background noise and improve the definition of characters.
  • For Zone OCR, field recognition can often vary based on the surrounding white space and text in the zone. Try varying the size of the zone to achieve optimal results.
  • For template matching, make sure all variations of the field format are included in the template list.
  • For dictionary matching, add common variations and OCR mistakes to the “thesaurus” list.
  • On the Zones & OCR tab (accessed from the Job Options) you can adjust the Max Errors setting to allow for more mistakes in the dictionary matching process.
  • Use the Strip Spaces, Strip Characters, Replace Characters and Case Fixing options to standardize the field format prior to matching.

Please refer to the SimpleIndex Wiki for details on how to configure these options.

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Can OCR text be saved to Office, Text, HTML or other formats?

Yes.  On the OCR step of the Job Settings Wizard you can select the text output format need in the “Full-page OCR file type” drop down. By default it is set to PDF, but can be changed to Text (txt), Word (docx), Rich Text (rtf), Open Office (odt), Excel (xlsx), PowerPoint (pptx), ePub Zip (epub), FictionBook (fb2), HTML (htm), XML (xml) or Alto XML (alto.xml).

If the output file type is set to PDF, OCR text will be embedded as hidden text in the PDF file.

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Can SimpleIndex create searchable PDF Image+Text files with hidden text?

Yes, it can.  You can configure this setting in the Job Settings Wizard by going to the OCR step and checking “Enable full-page OCR”.  There are many settings in the OCR step that you can used to customize the output and recognition of images.


SimpleIndex has two different OCR engines (Standard and Professional) that can be used to produced PDF Image + Text files or Searchable PDFs.

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Document Management

Designing Your Document Management Solution

If you have not yet decided on a plan for how to organize your scanned images for later retrieval, you should take some time to consider the possible options. There are several ways to search and view documents scanned 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 third-party document management system for integrated searching, viewing, workflow, HIPAA compliance and other document-centric functions
  • Use SharePoint to share documents online, create custom document workflows and employ records management standards
  • Use the Windows Search Bar to search the names AND contents of files stored on Windows Server 2008 or later.
  • Integrate SimpleIndex directly with your custom application using the Command Line Interface
  • Work with our professional services team or an Authorized Dealer to create a customized solution or direct integration with virtually any application
  • Use a custom database or spreadsheet such as MS Access, SQL Server or Excel to store the index data and provide links to the stored document images

 

Use SimpleSearch

SimpleSearch is included with all versions of SimpleIndex and can also be licensed by itself. SimpleSearch implements the same SimpleIndex interface in “Retrieval” mode, hiding all the menus and toolbars used for scanning. Index fields normally used to assign values are used for searching instead.

SimpleSearch can use SimpleIndex‘s built-in database to perform searches, or connect to any other database, even those for existing business applications. Users simply type index values they want to find and SimpleIndex displays the matches. Partial matching and full text searches are also supported. Displayed documents can be printed, e-mailed or opened in their associated application (Word, Adobe Reader, Excel, etc.). SimpleSearch can view several common image formats, PDF files and can preview files for any OLE-enabled application installed on your computer (MS Office, Adobe applications, AutoCad, etc.)

Using a Document Management System

There are a wide variety of small business and enterprise document management systems available on the market today. They manage stored images and index data, and provide users an interface to search for and view these images. Many perform advanced functions like workflow management, revision tracking and access auditing for HIPAA compliance. SimpleIndex has the ability to interface with these systems, making it an ideal scanning front-end for use with most document management systems on the market.

Integration with document management software is done via the Index Log Files that SimpleIndex creates. Documents are scanned and indexed with SimpleIndex, and a log file is created that lists each image scanned and the index information associated with it. Virtually all document management systems come with standard or optional components that allow you to automatically import images and index information in the format SimpleIndex provides.

Many document management systems have a scanning module that is sold separately, at significantly greater cost than SimpleIndex. With a single scanner, SimpleIndex can provide an easier and more cost-effective scanning interface than the default module. With multiple scanners, the low cost of SimpleIndex makes it possible to implement Distributed Document Capture for a fraction of what it would cost otherwise.

Use the Windows Search Bar

On Windows Server 2008 or later you can enable Windows Search Service and the indexing options that come with it to quickly find your files using the search in the top corner of your Explorer window. Once Windows Search is setup on the server, on your local PC simply pick any shared drive or folder that you would like to rapidly search and add it to a library. When you type a word or phrase in the search bar Windows will search not only all the file names but the content of the files as well. More information on setting up the search capability on Windows Server can be found here.

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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

PDF Form Read Write DataMS 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

SimpleCoversheet Barcode Indexing CoversheetsSimpleIndex 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.

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