The SimpleIndex® Design Philosophy
SimpleIndex differs from other high-speed scanning applications in that it is designed around a single batch processing model. More expensive programs are designed to process batches in multiple stages that run on separate computers like an assembly line. These stages are:
- Import (scan or read existing files)
- Process (cleanup, OCR, barcode recognition)
- Index (assign keyword values for filenames or search fields)
- Quality Control (review, revise & rescan)
- Export (create file structure, export index values to log or database)
What if your assembly line only has one worker? Other packages require the user to enter a separate set of commands to launch each stage. SimpleIndex is designed to quickly scan and index a single batch by performing each stage automatically in sequence. This design makes SimpleIndex much faster and easier to use than other scanning software, and lowers the cost as well.
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.
Reduce Click Charges for Data Capture
If you operate a high-volume scanning department or service bureau, chances are you use software like Kofax to scan and index documents for your clients. If you do then you are well aware of the high cost of click charges and the inevitable mad rushes to purchase additional clicks at the end of a peak volume month.
There are some scanning jobs that need the multi-user batching and indexing features of these systems, but many do not. SimpleIndex® can help you save big on click charges by supplementing your primary scanning infrastructure, letting you perform smaller, less complex jobs in a separate workflow.
Many data capture and forms processing applications charge for every page you process, even if all the data being read is only on the first page. Starting SimpleIndex 9, you can automatically send a copy of the first page from each exported file to a separate folder for data processing, helping you avoid unnecessary processing time and license costs.
Jobs like these can be easily processed with SimpleIndex:
- Simple scan-to-file with no indexing
- All indexing is done via bar codes or database lookup
- No custom export or API integration is required
The following scenarios usually require a more robust solution:
- Multi-user workflows
- Complex data extraction and forms processing
- Direct application integration with APIs
Basically, SimpleIndex is great for 1-2 user workflows where a single user performs the whole scanning and indexing process, or where one person scans and another indexes on a separate workstation. When more than 2 users are required to keep up with indexing volume then it makes more sense to use a system designed for multiple users.
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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?
- 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?
Document Classification
An essential first step to processing mixed batches with many types of documents is classification. Document Classification methods quickly sort documents by type using key content and layout attributes to identify them.
The most popular document classification systems are advanced AI-based machine learning algorithms that automatically learn how to classify documents based on samples and user feedback. These systems are very powerful but also very expensive. Only large organizations processing millions of pages can justify the cost of these enterprise solutions.
SimpleIndex naturally has a simpler way to do classification based on keyword patterns in the document text. Simply create a list of document types and assign one or more unique keywords or phrases that will only appear in that document type to each. Logical operators for AND, OR and NOT prevent false matches by requiring multiple keywords for matching or excluding documents that contain certain phrases.
Keyword-based classification works for the vast majority of applications at a fraction of the cost of AI classification.
After classification, SimpleIndex can automatically launch separate document indexing workflows for each document type found in the classified batch. This is especially useful when documents have different metadata requirements or business workflows associated with them.
Document Classification Wiki Guide – how to configure and run classification workflows in SimpleIndex.
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Database Integration
Unprecedented Control of Database Interactions
Open database integration is a powerful feature of SimpleIndex® that furthers interoperability with custom programs. Instead of using a proprietary database, SimpleIndex allows you to map 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.
Automatic Indexing Using Existing Data
SimpleIndex’s Autofill feature 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 key values entered by the user. Then blank index fields are automatically filled with the lookup data. After entering only one field, data autopopulates, resulting in a document database.
The key field may be typed by the user or 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.
Custom Code Extensions for Autofill and Export
Customized Autofill and Export functions extend this functionality to use APIs and web services to populate or export index data when a direct database connection is not possible. This allows you to directly interface with any application to populate and export document data.
An example is our ChatGPT document analysis service, which uses the same extension interface to provide AI document analysis results that can be used for classification and natural language data extraction.
Match and Attach Mode
SimpleIndex features “Match and Attach” mode, which combines the power of the Autofill feature with the ability to update existing records in your database. This lets you “attach” images to existing database records by “matching” them with values from SimpleIndex.
XML and JSON Data Sources
SimpleIndex also has the ability to read data directly from XML and JSON files. Many document management and cloud storage platforms provide document metadata in XML and JSON files whenever you attempt to migrate data, along with corresponding files that may or may not have logical filenames. Use SimpleIndex to extract the data from these files, organize the documents, and migrate the metadata to a database or new document management platform.
Output to XML or Any Text Format
SimpleIndex offers direct export to pre-formatted XML files, as well as the SimpleExport module that can output any XML schema or text file format.
SimpleExport makes it possible to integrate with any third party database, application, or document management systems (DMS) that accept an XML or text file import.
SimpleExport converts the index values from a SimpleIndex job to any output format through XSL Transformations (xslt). You may use one of the built-in scripts to export to a pre-defined system or design your own. SimpleExport runs automatically after each batch is exported, or it can run as an unattended Windows service.
SimpleExport can also be used as a standalone application for automating XSLT transformations, converting CSV or TSV (delimited text files) to XML, converting images to base64, or integrating other scanning applications with third party software.
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What is Document Imaging?
Document Imaging was the more commonly used term in the early days of document scanning and OCR and refers to any system used to replicate documents used in business. It evolved from the microfilm days where it was referred to as Document Image Management.
Document Imaging allows for the scanning of paper documents, as well as the processing of files saved electronically. These files are then named and saved for later searching.
Other document imaging terms include automatic imaging software, best digital imaging software, best imaging software, desktop imaging software, digital document imaging, digital imaging software, document imaging download, document imaging PDF, document imaging processing, document imaging products, document imaging software, document imaging solution, document imaging solutions, document imaging systems, document imaging technologies, document imaging technology, document imaging tools, image to database, imaging resource, imaging scanning software, imaging software companies, imaging software download, imaging software for windows, imaging solution, scanner imaging software, scanning and imaging, scanning imaging, and software for imaging.
Enable Post-Process when Input Folder is Empty
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete Advanced Settings reference.
When you have multiple Job Configurations running in tandem with the Post-Process command line running one after there other there can be occasions where a Job Configuration earlier in the chain doesn’t have any images in the Input folder. When this happens a prompt occurs that must be clicked to proceed to the the next Job Configuration. When running unattended this can cause issues when the process stops for this prompt. This can be turned off in the Job Configuration’s XML settings.
Instructions for suppressing prompt to continue when Input folder is empty:
- Right click on the Job Configuration file that you would like to suppress the prompt on and select Open With>Notepad
- Search the XML settings text open in Notepad for this term:
<POSTPROCEMPTY> - Set the value between from “True” to “False”. It should look like this:
<POSTPROCEMPTY>False</POSTPROCEMPTY> - Save and close the file.
Continue with Post Process Command Line if Input Folder is Empty
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete command line interface reference.
When running multiple jobs in a row or chain with the Post Process Command Line it is possible that an earlier Job in the process won’t have any files. This will stop the Job before reaching the Post Process step and cause later jobs not to run.
This can be corrected by adding an option directly to the XML text of the Job Configuration. This will tell it to keep going to the Post Process step even if there are no files to process in the Job.
Instructions:
- Right click on the Job Configuration file (.sic file format) and select Open With..
- Select Notepad or some other text file opening software.
- Search for this in the text of the file: <POSTPROCEMPTY>false</POSTPROCEMPTY>
- Change the word “false” to the word “true” in that section.
- false = Stop immediately if there are no files to process.
- true = Run the Post Process Command Line even if there are no files to process
- Save the file and close it.
How do I export index data to a database?
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete Export reference.
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.
- Published in Database & Retrieval, Export
How do you configure a field to select from a list of possible values?
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete Index & Batch Logging reference.
List fields are populated using a text file or database field containing the values for that list. The text file scenario will be described first.
To configure a list field, go to the Index tab in the Job Options. Create a list field by selecting “List” for the field type and give it a name. In the “List File/Field” setting for this field, put the full path or UNC to the text file containing the list or click “Set” to browse to the file. If you have not created a file, you can put the path where you want the file stored here and click the “Edit” button. This will open the file in Notepad; new files will prompt you to create them.
On each line of the text file you will put one of the possible values that you want to be able to select from while you are indexing with SimpleIndex. You can copy this information from another source and paste it into the text file.
Save the file in Notepad and close it. The List field is now configured!
To use a database field, your configuration must be connected to a database using the settings on the Database tab. Any fields defined as “List” on the Index tab that have a corresponding field mapped on the Database tab will use the unique values from that field to populate the list.
You can check “Only allow values in list” to disallow users from entering a value not in the list.
Once the List index field is configured properly you can select the values from a drop down after scanning that appear in the main SimpleIndex window while indexing. It also makes the field autofill the closest match from the list based on the characters that you type in that field.
- Published in Indexing & UI
What is “Match & Attach” mode?
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete Database Mode reference.
Match & Attach mode lets you batch update multiple records in a database using the index data from your SimpleIndex job. For example, if you have a large backfile of documents that you want to scan and link to records in an existing database, you can use Match & Attach to find the corresponding record and set the Image Path field to the newly scanned file.
This allows documents to be indexed with a variety of information and then have it find a particular record based on up to three different key indexes in a data source. It can then fill in additional data columns with indexed information along with the full text information, page count, batch ID and image path.
The Match & Attach uses the key field in the “Autofill Settings…” in the Indexing & File Naming step of the Job Settings Wizard in the File menu. Then fills the data into any blank columns for the record in the database and also changes any fields that are different.
Related Links
- Published in Database & Retrieval, Export
How do you configure the Autofill feature?
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 application.
Autofill uses a database lookup to retrieve records that match a key value or values entered by the user or extracted with SimpleIndex. 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.
You can use one, two or three index fields as the key values to extract data from your data source. These index fields can be any of the various types of manual and automatic fields. Once the fields are matched the lookup information will get filled in to the Autofill Index fields.
Instructions
- Navigate to the Indexing & File Naming step in the Job Options Wizard under the File menu.
- Create an Index field(s) in SimpleIndex that will be used for the key matching value(s), which will pull the information from the database. This Index field can be any Type other than Autofill.
- Click the “Autofill Settings…” button on the top right.
- Select the “Datasource:” configured in the Database step in the drop down or click the “New Data Source…” button to create a new connection.
- Click the Load button, which loads the data from the database.
- Select the Table or View that the data is in in the “Table or View:” drop down.
- Select the key field from the database that will be used to match against to pull the other data from the other columns in the selected Table or View from the “Database Key Field 1:” drop down. If other index fields are required for matching the correct records select these in “Database Key Field 2:” and “Database Key Field 3:”
- Select the key index field from SimpleIndex that will be entered or extracted and used to match against the database in the “Index Key Field 1:” drop down. If other index fields are required for matching the correct records select these in the “Index Key Field 2:” and “Index Key Field 2:”, making sure that the correct SimpleIndex fields are linked to the correct database columns.
- Click Finish
- Create new Autofill index fields for each piece of additional data needed to be filled in based on the key field(s). The Template for each of the Autofill index fields should be the exact name of the column from the data source that should be filled.
By checking the “Allow manual input in Autofill fields” the users can edit the filled data manually. By checking “Automatically select first matching record” it will select the first record in the table that matches instead of asking which record should be used, when multiple records in the data source have the same data. By checking “Match on single Key Field” it will match on just one of the key fields, instead of requiring all key fields be match, when multiple key matching fields are used. By checking “Cascading List Mode” each autofill field is displayed as a drop down list populated by the records that match the key field(s) and each selection filters the next list for matching values.
Related Links
- Published in Database & Retrieval, Indexing & UI
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
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Streamlined Interface
Maximum Data, Minimum Clicks
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- Automatic Indexing Using Existing Data
- Indexing Solutions with Barcode Recognition
- Automated Processing & 1-Click Interface
- Stop Autorun When Double Clicking Configuration
Compare Leading Solutions
SimpleIndex™
Kodak Capture Pro™
Kofax Express™
PaperVision™ Capture Desktop
Note: This video depicts PaperVision Capture Desktop, a now discontinued software that has since been replaced by the similarly functioning updated version of PaperFlow.
Office Gemini DiamondVision™
Testing Methods
The benchmark times were recorded using all available software shortcuts, and by performing data entry and user interactions as fast as possible. The same scanner and computer hardware was used for each test. Much care was taken to ensure that each application yielded the most accurate OCR results possible given the sample documents.
Unfortunately none our competitors could accurately capture the account number on all 10 pages. The extra time to correct these errors accounts for 15-30% of the difference in processing times. The difference in accuracy is due in large part to SimpleIndex‘s pattern matching OCR feature, which the other programs lack.
Keep in mind these videos were recording using the latest version available at the time this test was taken. Results may vary with with later versions.
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