Scanning and indexing of bar coded documents using separator sheets, patch codes, PDF417, QR Code, Code 39 and other common barcode types.
Turn On Replacement Characters for Barcodes
With OCR processing certain characters will read incorrectly in some cases, such as an I reading as a 1 and an O reading as a 0. If this is expected to happen you can set the OCR to use the character replacement feature to replace all instances of the letter O with the number 0.
Barcodes don’t have this issue nearly as much during the recognition process as OCR does, but sometimes it can be beneficial to have this replacement option available for the barcodes as well. This is turned off by default, but can be turned on in the Job Configuration’s XML text.
Instructions for enabling replacement characters in barcodes:
- 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:
<BARCODE_REPLACE_CHARS> - Set the value between from “False” to “True”. It should look like this:
<BARCODE_REPLACE_CHARS>True</BARCODE_REPLACE_CHARS> - Save and close the file.
Regular Expression (RegEx) – Syntax or Type
The Syntax or Type of Regular Expression/RegEx that SimpleIndex uses is .NET
Autonumber Increment Value
If you want to change the value of how much the Autonumber Increments each time from 1 to any number that you want then do the following:
1. Right click on the configuration file and “Open With” any text editor, such as Notepad.
2. Search for the following:
AUTONUMBER_COUNT
3. Change the number in this entry to the amount that you want the Autonumber to Increment:
<AUTONUMBER_COUNT>1</AUTONUMBER_COUNT>
4. Save the configuration file.
What are some other terms for Bar Code Scanning Software?
People searching for software to read bar codes from scanned documents, or create document separator sheets for batch scanning operations, can use a variety of terms to find what they are looking for. This page helps you find Bar Code Scanning Software on our website.
Related terms include: bar code creator, bar code printer, bar code stickers, barcode 2d generator, barcode generate, barcode printing software, barcode software freeware, free bar code software, free barcode software, generator barcode, label barcode, print bar codes, print barcodes, recognize PDF417 barcodes, bar code documents, bar code reading software, bar code scanner software, Bar Code Scanning Software, bar code scanning technology, bar code software, barcode data capture, barcode documents, barcode image software, barcode imaging software, barcode ocr, barcode ocr software, barcode reading software, barcode recognition software, barcode scan software, barcode scanner software, barcode scanners software, barcode scanning software, barcode software, document scanning bar code, document scanning barcode, PDF barcode recognition.
Can SimpleIndex read bar codes from existing PDF files?
There are 2 types of PDF files. PDFs created by scanning applications use images, while PDF files created by software or printer drivers use text. SimpleIndex can read bar codes from either type of document.
With image PDFs, SimpleIndex will use normal image barcode recognition. With text PDFs, SimpleIndex can read the value of the barcode from text (if it was created with a font) or convert the PDF to an image and read it (if the bar code is an image).
To read the barcode from text is much faster and all versions of SimpleIndex include the ability to parse the text of PDF file.
Find out more about bar code scanning on our Bar Code Scanning Guide.
- Published in Bar Codes, Import, Office PDF Text Processing
I cannot recognize PDF417 or QR Code bar codes. What does “Advanced “Only” mean?
This error applies to versions of SimpleIndex prior to version 7. All current versions of SimpleIndex include 2D barcode recognition. The Barcode and Professional licenses include the faster and more accurate Accusoft bar code recognition engine. In order to enable the Accusoft engine with a Server license you need the Advanced Barcode Server add-on.
For SimpleIndex 6 and below:
2D Barcode Recognition (aka Advanced Barcode) is licensed separately from the standard barcode recognition. You can add 2D Barcode Recognition to SimpleIndex Barcode or Full versions. A second serial number must be activated to enable this feature.
Advanced Barcode also removes the 6 barcodes per second limit on recognition speed. Processing will go 5-20 times faster depending on your processor speed. Advanced Barcode recognition speed and 2D formats are enabled in the demo.
Find out more about barcode scanning on our Barcode Scanning Guide.
The Feature Matrix included with our Pricelist has more detail about the which capability and engines are included with the different editions and add-ons of SimpleIndex.
- Published in Bar Codes, Licensing & Installation
Can I split TIFF or PDF files based on barcodes as a separator and also name the file with the barcode value?
Yes you can split TIFF and PDF files using barcodes as well as name files using the values from barcodes.
To do this simply create a barcode field and check the “Filename” and “Forward” options for that field on the Index tab.
The “Filename” option means the barcode values will be used to name the files. The “Forward” option means the barcode value will be carried forward to pages after it that don’t have barcodes.
- Published in Bar Codes, SimpleCoversheet, SimpleIndex
Will SimpleIndex read multiple barcodes on a page and save the value to the appropriate index field?
Yes, it can. By default barcodes on any page are read left to right and top to bottom. The first barcode read on the page will be filled into the first barcode field set up in SimpleIndex and so on. You can also narrow down results by matching against a template or dictionary as well as excluding barcodes that are not in a defined zone.
- Published in Bar Codes
Is there a way to just use part of a bar code or OCR value? For example, extract “50” from the value “124450”
To do this example, create a barcode field (Field 1 for example) and a 2nd field with type “Fixed”. In the template for the 2nd field, enter %FIELD1[5,2]% to get “50” from “124450”.
%FIELD1% would get the entire value for Field #1, the barcode field. By adding the [5,2] you tell SimpleIndex to start at the 5th character (5) and take 2 characters from the value (50).
Find out more about barcode scanning on our Barcode Scanning Guide and read up on Optical Character Recognition on the SimpleOCR scanning solutions guide.
- Published in Bar Codes, OCR, Office PDF Text Processing
How can I delete the barcode or blank page cover/separator sheet that I don’t need to save?
To delete any barcode page go into ‘Options’, to the ‘Barcode’ Tab and click the ‘Delete barcode page’ check box.
Blank page deletion is done through the minimum file size threshold located in ‘Options’ in the ‘Batch’ Tab. The option is called ‘Min. File Size (blank pages)’ and it has a field which you can enter numeric values on the left. The number corresponds to the number of pixels or bytes on the page.
To pick a number that will delete the blank pages and keep the pages with information you want, look at your largest blank page and your smallest page with information that you want saved and make the ‘Min. File Size (blank pages)’ number in between that.
For example, one of your largest blank pages is 4KB and one of your smallest pages with information is 8KB. You want to make the number in the ‘Min. File Size (blank pages)’ field in between 4000 and 8000. 6000 would be a good number to start with in this situation. At first, you will want to make sure this number is keeping all the pages you need and deleting those you do not want. Increase this number if blank pages are being saved; decrease it if pages with information are being deleted.
- Published in Bar Codes, SimpleCoversheet
Some pages in my documents have unwanted barcodes that are being read. How can I exclude these from recognition?
There are several methods for doing this. The fastest, most effective method is to enter a Template for your barcodes to ensure only barcodes that match a specific pattern will be used for that field.
Unfortunately it is not always possible to define a template to describe your barcode. In this case you can employ these methods:
-Specify the “Barcode Type” for the barcodes you want.
-If the wanted barcodes appear on a cover sheet with other barcodes on it, select “Pages with > 1 Barcode” from the “Pages to Process” option.
-If the documents use cover sheets and are quite large, it can be more efficient to scan them one at a time. In this case you can select “First Page Only” from the “Pages to Process” option. This will dramatically improve performance as well, since recognition can be skipped for all but the first page.
-You can set the zone coordinates for a Barcode field using the same method as OCR. Barcodes outside this zone will be ignored.
If multiple barcode zones are drawn, all zones will be searched for all barcodes. This means if a barcode matching the template for Field 1 is found in the zone for Field 2 it will still be read. Only barcodes outside of all zones will be ignored.
Find out more about barcode scanning on our Barcode Scanning Guide.
- Published in Bar Codes
How can I use barcodes or blank pages as separator pages to indicate document breaks?
This answer applies only to generic barcode separator sheets that only indicate breaks between multi-page files and do not contain index data. The best way to do this with SimpleIndex is using a 2-step configuration. Using the command line interface, this can be automated to 1 step for the user.
The first configuration creates filenames using an Autonumber field that is incremented each time a barcode is detected. Create a Barcode field to recognize the separator sheet, and enter a template to ensure no stray barcodes are recognized as separators. Check the “Delete barcode page” option to remove the separator sheet during this process.
To use blank pages, set the “Min File Size” option on the Batch tab to 2000-5000 (for 200dpi, B&W) to detect blank pages. The setting is based on the file size in bytes–you may need to adjust for your scanner and documents. Set the “Autonumber Increment” to “Blank Pages” and don’t create a barcode field. This method does not work with duplex documents!
The second field is an Autonumber field. Enter a seed number in the Template, check Filename and select “Barcodes” under the “Autonumber Increment” setting. This creates numbered, mult-page files from the originals. Check the “Resave config after batch” option on the Batch tab to keep the number from resetting after each batch.
You can check the “Pre-Index Batch” option and the job will run without user intervention.
The second job will let you index and rename the multi-page files without having to flip through every page. Uncheck the “Split multi-page input files” option on the Batch tab to do this. Set the “Input” folder to the “Output” folder from the first job, set “Input Files From” to “Folder” and configure your index fields to generate the desired output.
To automate the 2 steps, enter the appropriate SimpleIndex command line to execute the first job in the “PreProc” setting for the second job. When the second job is run, the first job will be launched to perform the scanning and barcode recognition, then the files will be displayed for indexing by job 2 when it finishes. The command line syntax is simply:
simpleindex.exe /c:”c:\pathto\job1.sic”
Find out more about barcode scanning on our Barcode Scanning Guide.
- Published in Bar Codes, SimpleCoversheet
Why are my barcodes not being recognized properly?
Several factors can affect barcode recognition.
-Scan in Black & White instead of color. Barcode recognition must convert color to B&W which can decrease quality.
-Print barcodes with a laser printer. Dot-matrix barcodes are very difficult to read accurately.
-Check your Zone settings. If there are zone coordinates defined for any barcode fields, only barcodes in those regions will be recognized.
-Check the barcode format. Code 39 (the most common font-based barcode) requires a * at the start and end of each barcode for it to be readable. Many document barcodes are missing this character.
-Check the barcode type. Select “Unknown or All” if you don’t know the type. If you do know the type, select it from the list to prevent false positives.
-Check the Template setting. If the template does not match the barcode exactly it will appear as though no barcode is read. Remove the template to see what is being recognized.
-Check the “Minimum Confidence” value. A higher value will prevent false positives (incorrect values) but may cause fewer barcodes to be read. If a barcode is detected on a page it will be enhanced and re-read until all barcodes are read above the minimum confidence level. 0 will disable re-reading.
Find out more about barcode scanning on our Barcode Scanning Guide.
- Published in Bar Codes