The template and dictionary matching capabilities of SimpleIndex‘s OCR function can be used to extract index information from the text of existing  and  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  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

MS 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 
  • Populate blank PDF forms with index data

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

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Zone OCR and Dynamic OCR

Many document scanning solutions use Zone OCR to obtain index data from the page.

SimpleIndex improves upon this time-tested but ultimately limited model with its 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.

Amazon AWS Textract Cloud OCR Batch Processing

Amazon AWS Textract Cloud OCR

With Textract you can capture data from almost any type of form, including handwritten ones! Textract identifies labeled text anywhere on the document and returns the label text along with the corresponding value. Map the labels to index fields in SimpleIndex and you are ready to capture that data no matter where it appears on the page.

Textract uses machine learning with a huge model based on the billions of pages processed using Textract to provide the most accurate OCR and form field extraction solution available.

By default, Textract is only available as an API and requires custom coding to integrate it into your document workflows. SimpleIndex turns it into a fully-featured document batch document and data processing app that is ready to use out-of-the-box.

Since there are no templates to configure or train, setup can be done in hours instead of days or weeks months required by other enterprise data capture solutions.

Pay-as-you-go pricing makes SimpleIndex with Textract the most affordable way to batch process forms for projects with less than 50,000 pages per year to process, especially if you need to read handwriting or have forms with many layout variations.

Wiki: How to configure AWS Textract OCR in SimpleIndex

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

Download document scanning and OCR software.

New OCR Features in Version 10

SimpleIndex 10 includes major upgrades to the OCR and Bar Code engines 

  • Amazon Textract Cloud OCR option added, with settings for Text, Forms and Invoice & Receipt extraction.
  • FineReader Engine has been upgraded to version 11. Offers improved accuracy and speed when processing large documents.
  • Full-page OCR to Word (docx), Rich Text (rtf), Open Office (odt), Excel (xlsx), PowerPoint (pptx), ePub Zip (epub), FictionBook (fb2), HTML (htm), XML (xml), Alto XML (alto.xml).
  • MRC Compression for PDF files (Mixed Raster Content).
  • OCR language pack includes all available Tesseract languages including Hindi, Tamil, Arabic, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Hebrew and many more.

How to Configure SimpleIndex OCR

Our Wiki help has extensive information on how to configure OCR for various document and data capture scenarios.

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

Download document scanning and OCR software.

 

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Process Monitor/ProcMon Instructions

In some cases there will be errors with SimpleIndex or issues without errors that are too general to get the information needed to fix the issue easily. When this happens a very detailed log is needed to determine what exact processes are occurring when the issue happens and which processes are failing. This is done by using the Microsoft Process Monitor to log everything while running SimpleIndex.

The instructions for how to install and run the Process Monitor are below.

  1. Download the process monitor from Microsoft by clicking HERE and then clicking Download Process Monitor.
  2. Unzip the “ProcessMonitor.zip” file and save it to any location on the computer running SimpleIndex.
  3. Run the “Procmon.exe”
  4. Once the program opens go to the File Menu and uncheck “Capture Events”
  5. Go to the Edit menu and select “Clear Display”
  6. Go to the File Menu and check “Capture Events”
  7. Immediately run SimpleIndex with the process that is having the issue exactly as you normally would and let it run until the issue occurs.
  8. Once the issue occurs go back to the Process Monitor window and then to the File Menu and uncheck “Capture Events”
  9. Go to the File Menu and select save.
  10. Use all the defaults to save to a folder that you can easily access and name the file with today’s date.
  11. Send us this file for review.
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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 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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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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Organize Office Documents with Text Parsing

This video shows the Sort My Documents sample job included with the SimpleIndex trial download. It shows how you can organize office documents automatically by parsing the file’s text for relevant metadata and keywords. You can then use those keywords to tag documents with metadata and create standardized folders and filenames.

Organize Office Document Automatically with Text Parsing

First we sort Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations automatically using the SimpleIndex template and dictionary matching algorithms that match patterns and keywords in the parsed text.

Then the files are organized into folders and filenames using the Sales Rep, Customer, Document Type and Date values extracted from the text.

Organize Office Documents for Cloud Storage

You can also upload organized files to SharePoint or Cloud Storage platforms without the chaos and disorganization you inevitably get when users create their own folders and filenames.

Organize Office Documents for Document Management

In the video, we use SimpleSearch to search and view the sorted files. But you can just as easily use any third party document management system or custom database to perform keyword or full-text searching.

You can use the SimpleView embedded viewer to view Office documents, PDF files and images in a common interface. In the video we use the full version of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to edit Office documents right from the search screen.

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MSDS Material Safety Data Sheets Indexing

The MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) configuration for SimpleIndex is a preconfigured solution that uses the OCR and database matching functionality of the SimpleIndex scanning and indexing software to automatically scan, name, and organize MSDS pages into your chosen database and folder structure of searchable PDF files.

The MSDS configuration is an out-of-the-box solution that requires minimal configuration to get started. It comes with everything you need to index most common MSDS styles. The Vendor, Product Name, and CAS Number fields are identified with OCR and verified to a comprehensive database, while Description, EC Number, and Registration Date fields are autofilled based on the identified CAS Numbers.

Please Contact Us to find out more about the MSDS configuration for SimpleIndex!

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SimpleInvoice Invoice Processing Solution

SimpleInvoice is a preconfigured solution that uses the OCR and dictionary matching functionality of the SimpleIndex scanning and indexing software to automatically capture key information from invoices needed for Accounts Payable processing.

SimpleInvoice requires minimal configuration to get started, and comes with everything you need to capture most common invoice styles.

Use SimpleInvoice to:

  • Capture data from paper and electronic invoices in a single workflow
  • Automatically receive and enter Accounts Payable data in your accounting software
  • Create full-text searchable invoice files
  • Create an organized filing system for archiving invoices
  • Quickly find and view invoices based on vendor, date, invoice number, or full-text search
  • Direct integration with QuickBooks on-premise using SimpleQB
  • Works with RPA bots to integrate with QuickBooks Online and other accounting systems

Uses Templates, Not Training

Most data on an invoice matches common patterns like dates and total amounts. The one exception is the invoice number, which has a different format for every vendor.

Using the Template Autofill feature in SimpleIndex, you to spell out the specific OCR pattern of a vendor’s invoice number as a column in your Vendor database. When processing invoices, it first identifies the vendor, then searches for the matching pattern in the text to find the invoice number.

This solution is far simpler than the machine learning algorithms employed by enterprise invoice OCR systems, which is why SimpleIndex is a fraction of the cost. It’s also simpler than other template-based systems that require you to locate every field for every vendor.

Enterprise Accounts Payable Automation

If your AP workflow requires advanced features like line item capture, GL coding, PO matching, VAT calculation, complex approval workflows, or if you have thousands of vendors to process, then an enterprise invoice processing solution is more appropriate.

Don’t worry, we can help you out with that too!

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SimpleInvoice is included for free with any SimpleIndex license. Download SimpleIndex Now!

Some initial setup is required, and we can help you out with that too. Our Professional Services department can have you up and running in just a couple of hours.

Check out SimpleQB or our AP Automation RPA Bot to see how we integrate with your accounting software to automate the entry of transaction data.

Please Contact Us to find out more about SimpleInvoice!

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PDF Text Processing Demo

This sample job demonstrates the PDF text processing capabilities of SimpleIndex by extracting the Document Number, Date, Document Type, Customer and Total from a number of documents without OCR, by processing the text layer of PDF files.

Adobe Acrobat PDF Text ProcessingComputer-generated PDF files, such as those created using PDF printer drivers, already contain digitized text. SimpleIndex reads the text and performs Template and Dictionary Matching to locate and extract the correct data values from the text.

Since the existing text is being used, OCR is not performed. This makes processing much faster and 100% accurate, especially compared to solutions using zone OCR.

While this demo runs interactively, text processing jobs can run in unattended mode since the data does not need to be verified.

Full-Page OCR can also be used to get text from scanned PDF files with no existing text. SimpleIndex will also detect when a PDF file has existing text and only perform OCR on the documents that need it to improve performance.

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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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