Integrated document separation: combines pages into multi-page documents without the need for a 2-step configuration.

Separation of pages into multi-page documents.

OMR Optical Mark Recognition

Simple Checkbox Recognition

Some forms require scanning software to recognize the presence or absence of a mark in a particular location, such as a checkbox, without worrying about the specific shape or symbol drawn therein. The ability to do this is called Optical Mark Recognition, or OMR. Let’s take a look at how this feature can help you index your documents and how SimpleIndex improves upon the standard OMR process:

Optical Mark Recognition

Optical Mark Recognition lets you define check box regions on scanned images. OMR is very fast and can be used for a variety of applications:

  • Business reply mail
  • Simple surveys
  • Separate multi-page documents
  • Document routing control
  • Verify presence of signatures

To configure OMR, use an unfilled form to obtain baseline counts of how many black “pixels” are in the box. When processing, SimpleIndex compares the amount of black in each image to the baseline value to determine if the box is checked or not.

With OMR, it is very important that the check boxes appear in the same place on every scan, and that other text on the document does not move into your check box zone. For best results, use large boxes with plenty of white space around them.

We wouldn’t recommend using the SimpleIndex OMR feature to grade the SATs, but if your documents include a few check box values that you want to capture the SimpleIndex OMR feature is what you need. For more advanced OMR and forms processing solutions, please visit ScanStore.com.

OMR Document Separation

SimpleIndex includes a unique use for mark recognition that can save you thousands on document separator pages. One of the most labor-intensive parts of scanning multi-page files is detecting where one document ends and the next one starts. Traditionally this has been done with blank pages (which doesn’t work with 2-sided documents) or barcodes and patch codes (which must be printed). All of these solutions require someone to insert a piece of paper between each document before scanning, wasting time, money, and paper.

  • Using the OMR feature in SimpleIndex, create a checkmark field in the upper-left corner of the page.
  • Create an Autonumber field that increments a document number each time the checkmark is found.
  • Use this job file to scan and separate documents into multi-page files.
  • Create a 2nd job file to index the multi-page files.
  • Use the Post-Process feature to run the two jobs consecutively.

When prepping files, simply take a felt tip pen and put a small mark the upper-left corner on the first page of each new document. This can be done very quickly, creates no additional paper and has a negligible effect on scan quality.

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Indexing Solutions with Barcode Recognition

Barcode recognition is the most efficient way to capture index data printed on documents. If you are unfamiliar with the use of barcodes in document scanning, you can learn more about barcodes in our Barcode Scanning Guide, but if you want to know more about barcode use with SimpleSoftware products, read on.

Some documents already have key information in barcode format on them. In many cases adding a barcode to a document is as simple as changing or adding a font. Adding barcodes to new documents is preferable as all the index data is on the document at the time it is created and in a format that can be read with near 100% accuracy.

As an alternative to placing barcodes on the individual documents, it is possible to print out a barcode cover page and place it on the file before it is scanned. The SimpleCoversheet application was designed to make this easy by providing a simple interface for selecting index values and printing a standard coversheet that contains these values in barcode format.

Barcode recognition can also be useful when you have documents with a variable number of pages that will all receive the same index values. If it is not possible to generate an indexed coversheet for these at the time they are created, a generic barcode coversheet can be used to separate the scanned images into multi-page files, one for each document. A second process can then be used to index these images one file at a time instead of one page at a time, greatly increasing throughput.

Barcode Recognition Features

With SimpleIndex Barcode you can:

  • Read barcodes printed on scanned paper documents
  • Read barcodes embedded in PDF files
  • Automatically rename files based on barcodes
  • Export barcode data to CSV file or any database
  • Separate multi-page documents with cover pages
  • Recognize 2D formats like PDF417, DataMatrix, Aztec and QR Code
  • Recognize 30 different 1D barcode formatsCode 39, Codabar, UPC, Code 128, EAN 13, 2 of 5, etc.
  • Recognize postal barcodes like Planet, PostNet, Royal Post and Australian Post
  • Lookup barcode values in a database for additional data
  • Complete list of document scanning & indexing features

With SimpleCoversheet you can:

  • Create barcode coversheets for use with SimpleIndex and other scanning applications
  • Print barcodes on Avery label templates that can be applied to documents
  • Affordably enable every employee to print barcodes
  • Create coversheets that allow SimpleIndex to automatically index and file documents
  • Enable scanning and indexing from MFPs, network scanners and digital copiers
  • Perform “mail merge” with barcodes to print many coversheets at once
  • Supports many 1D and 2D barcode formats

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FAQ Related to Barcode Recognition

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Zone OCR and Dynamic OCR

Many document scanning solutions use Zone OCR to obtain index data from the page, while SimpleIndex improves upon this time-tested but ultimately limited model with its unique Dynamic OCR feature. Let’s look at the difference between the two methods:

Zone OCR

Zone OCR is used to read document indexes or tags from text on the page. It is a great way to automate the data entry associated with scanning documents.

However, there are several limitations to zone OCR that must be overcome:

  • Index information must be in the exact same place on every page
  • Documents shift and skew during scanning, causing the zones to not line up
  • If surrounding lines or text on the document are too close, they can encroach on the zone

Dynamic OCR

SimpleIndex overcomes these limitations by using Dynamic OCR technology to locate the desired text even when it moves around on the page. Our simplified version of Dynamic OCR works great for many types of documents at a fraction of the cost of other solutions.

  • Index information can appear anywhere on any page
  • Unwanted characters are automatically ignored
  • Find unique patterns of letters and numbers using Template Matching
    (Social Security #, Date, etc.)
  • Use Dictionary Matching to find a value from a list of possible values
    (Vendor Name, Document Type, etc.)

Download document scanning and OCR software.

Dynamic OCR Examples

In the video we see how SimpleIndex approaches a typical Zone OCR example. With SimpleIndex you can use large zones that give a wide margin for error. Template and Dictionary matching are then used to extract the 7-digit Account Number, 6-digit Order Number and Company Name. SimpleIndex discards the surrounding text and keeps the correct value.

Another common example is finding a unique identifier, for example a social security number, that could appear anywhere on the page. Simply enter the template ###-##-#### and SimpleIndex will search the full OCR text until it finds a match. Since only one social security number is likely to appear on the page, a match on this pattern is almost certainly the required value.

With dictionary matching, you can give SimpleIndex a list of possible values and it will automatically search the zone or page for each possible value until it finds a match.

Many dynamic forms processing applications can be implemented using these simple algorithms. This makes SimpleIndex far more versatile than other zone OCR solutions that require the index value to be in the exact same location on every page. Yet SimpleIndex costs only a fraction of the price!

SimpleIndex‘s dynamic forms processing can greatly speed up data entry by eliminating a good percentage of indexing work. For many this can put the labor cost of scanning within their reach.

MS Office Document OCR Text Parsing Video

Dynamic OCR can also be applied to MS Office and PDF files, creating a fully automated process for intelligently indexing and reorganizing electronic documents.

Support for Regular Expressions

Use Regular Expressions to extract index data from OCR text, PDF and Office documents.

SimpleIndex OCR has a simple built-in template format, as well as support for Regular Expressions. Regular Expressions (RegEx for short) let you define complex search patterns to extract matching values from the text.  This greatly enhances the functionality of the dynamic OCR in SimpleIndex, making it capable of finding variable-length fields with no distinct pattern.

Regular Expressions are a commonly used in text parsing applications. The Perl programming language makes extensive use of RegEx, as do UNIX utilities like “grep”. Many programmers and IT personnel are already familiar with RegEx and can create complex expressions without specific training.

Click here for a reference guide to Regular Expressions

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New OCR Features in Version 9

  • OCR language pack now includes all available Tesseract languages including Hindi, Tamil, Arabic, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Hebrew and many more.

New OCR Features in Version 8

Versions 7 and above include the industry leading ABBYY FineReader® OCR engine for dramatically improved OCR accuracy and speed. Other OCR enhancements in version 8+ include:

  • Point & Click OCR
  • Tesseract OCR Engine now included with all license versions
  • Match OCR index fields against other index fields
  • Skip OCR processing on imported files that already include text, such as PDF + Text files for faster batch times

How to Configure SimpleIndex OCR

Watch this Simple Software University training video to see how to configure and run an OCR job with SimpleIndex.

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