General configuration and how-to articles for SimpleIndex.
How do I download and utilize TaxStacker after purchasing?
The TaxStacker system is based on a custom set-up in the SimpleIndex software and consists of the “Tax Stacker.sic” Job Configuration file and the “TaxStacker.mdb” database.
To use the TaxStacker system after purchasing follow the instructions below.
- Follow the SimpleIndex download, installation and activation instructions.
- Download the “TaxStacker.zip” file from the link provided with your confirmation email, which includes the Job Configuration File and Database.
- Create a Windows folder in the location of your choosing called “TaxStacker”
- Copy the “TaxStacker.zip” file to to the “TaxStacker” folder that was just created and unzip the contents directly to this folder.
- Create a folder called “Input” within the “TaxStacker” folder.
- Put any tax documents and image files that you would like to process with the TaxStacker system in the “Input” folder.
- Run the “Tax Stacker.sic” Job Configuration file within SimpleIndex to process any files contained within the “Input” folder.
Error in Scanning Batch 743
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete Batch Processing Stages reference.
If you get an error that says “Error in Scanning Batch. 743 – Unable to create or activate a new instance of ‘Simple.FileEditor.Client.ImageViewer’.” after running previous batches successfully then the SimpleIndex Windows Layout is corrupt.
To resolve locate this folder in Windows Exporer/My Computer:
C:\Users\<Windows User Name>\AppData\Local\Simple_Folder
(<Windows User Name> = Windows user currently logged into the computer that is receiving this error)
Then delete this folder and reopen SimpleIndex.
Stop/Turn Off Image Deletion when Blank is Recognized
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete Autonumber reference.
In certain cases you will need to be able to read that a page is blank, but not actually want to delete this page. This is especially useful if you want to use a page that isn’t completely blank as a document separator, where the page is always smaller than the rest of the pages in the batch. You can set-up an Autonumber increment to only go up a number when a blank page is read, but not delete that page for later processing.
To set the option to keep a page that is read blank follow the instructions below (SimpleIndex v9.0.30 and higher).
- Right click on the SimpleIndex Job Configuration file (.sic format) that you would like to set this option for and Edit in Notepad or another text editor of your choice. Select “Open With…” then select Notepad.
- Do a search for “KEEP_DELETED” until you find this:
<KEEP_DELETED>false</KEEP_DELETED> - Change the word “false” to “true”
- Save the Job Configuration then close the text editor.
Start up issues with SimpleIndex
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete Licensing & Activation reference.
If you have any sort of errors or issues or software crashes or glitches when opening SimpleIndex during the Windows splash screen it is due to a permissions issue with connecting to our licensing files.
You can resolve this issue in most cases by one of the following methods.
- Disable all antivirus. In a corporate environment the antivirus settings my not be available to the user so contact IT to verify it has been disabled.
- Run the program as Administrator
- Verify that the user that is logged into Windows to operate SimpleIndex has full permissions permissions for the “C:\ProgramData\Simple Software” folder and the “Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\SimpleIndex” registry folder.
- Reinstall the software.
- If after confirming all of the steps above and the issue still persists a log from the Process Monitor needs to be sent to SimpleIndex Support with it enabled while opening SimpleIndex.
InstaDocs for SAGE Integration
If you have the InstaDocs add-on for SAGE that allows you to search for and retrieve documents in the SAGE system, then it is possible to have SimpleIndex directly output to the InstaDocs folder system. If this is done when SimpleIndex outputs the images they will show up as searchable files immediately from InstaDocs.
To do this you first set-up the Output folder in SimpleIndex to save to the same folder that InstaDocs is set to for image storage. Then for each sub-folder in the main InstaDocs image storage folder make and index field in SimpleIndex and make sure that the SimpleIndex fields are in the same order as the folder levels. Then check the Folder check box for each of those index fields in SimpleIndex.
How to activate SimpleQB?
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete SimpleQB Installation reference.
Activation Instructions
SimpleQB Option A – New SimpleQB Installation:
If you are installing SimpleQB on the Windows computer for the first time first download SimpleIndex from one of the following SimpleIndex Download Installation links below.
SimpleQB Download Link for use with SimpleIndex v9
SimpleQB Download Link for use with SimpleIndex v8
Once the SimpleQB software has been downloaded install the software from the downloaded installation file.
Open SimpleQB from your Windows Start menu.
Enter your Serial Number into the “Enter Serial Number to Activate” field in the Activation Window.
Click the Activate button to activate the license.
You will receive a confirmation that the license was properly activated and your license type will be displayed next to the “License Type:” section of the Activation Window.
SimpleQB Option B – SimpleQB Installed on Computer Not Connected to the Internet:
If you would like to install SimpleQB on a computer that doesn’t have an internet connection an Offline Activation will need to be done.
First fully install the SimpleQB software without activation.
Open SimpleQB from your Windows Start menu.
Enter your Serial Number into the “Enter Serial Number to Activate” field in the Activation Window.
Click the “Offline Activation” button.
Click OK in the “SimpleQB Offline Activation” window, which asks you to call or email for an Offline Activation.
Select the license version that you ordered in the “SimpleQB Version” drop down.
Then either call (865) 637-8986 option 2 or email support@simpleindex.com with the Authorization Request Code. We will the provide you with the Activation Key.
Enter the Activation Key and then click the Offline Activation button.
Maintenance is optional, but covers tech support and upgrades for the software. Please consider purchasing maintenance if you haven’t already. Please refer to Simple Software Maintenance Agreement for more information.
How to activate SimpleExport?
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete SimpleExport reference.
Activation Instructions
SimpleExport Option A – New SimpleIndex Installation:
If you are installing SimpleExport on the Windows computer for the first time first download SimpleIndex from the SimpleIndex Demo Installation Link.
Once the SimpleIndex software has been downloaded install the software from the downloaded installation file.
During the installation process you will be asked to enter your Serial Code or Serial Codes.
Single Serial Code:
Multiple Serial Codes (separate with a comma):
After you have entered your Serial Code(s) click Next to move through the installation process.
Once the installation is complete you will receive the following Window:
SimpleExport Option B – SimpleExport Already Installed:
If you have already installed the SimpleExport software then all you need to do is Activate the demo.
Open SimpleExport from your Windows Start menu.
Enter your Serial Number into the “Enter Serial Number to Activate” field in the Activation Window.
Click the Activate button to activate the license.
You will receive a confirmation that the license was properly activated and your license type will be displayed next to the “License Type:” section of the Activation Window.
SimpleExport Option C – SimpleExport Installed on Computer Not Connected to the Internet:
If you would like to install SimpleExport on a computer that doesn’t have an internet connection an Offline Activation will need to be done.
First fully install the SimpleExport software without activation.
Open SimpleExport from your Windows Start menu.
Enter your Serial Number into the “Enter Serial Number to Activate” field in the Activation Window.
Click the “Offline Activation” button.
Click OK in the “SimpleExport Offline Activation” window, which asks you to call or email for an Offline Activation.
Select the license version that you ordered in the “SimpleExport Version” drop down.
Then either call (865) 637-8986 option 2 or email support@simpleindex.com with the Authorization Request Code. We will the provide you with the Activation Key.
Enter the Activation Key and then click the Offline Activation button.
Maintenance is optional, but covers tech support and upgrades for the software. Please consider purchasing maintenance if you haven’t already. Please refer to Simple Software Maintenance Agreement for more information.
How to activate SimpleView?
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete SimpleView Application reference.
Activation Instructions
SimpleView Option A – New SimpleIndex Installation:
If you are installing SimpleView on the Windows computer for the first time first download SimpleIndex from the SimpleIndex Demo Installation Link.Once the SimpleIndex software has been downloaded install the software from the downloaded installation file.
During the installation process you will be asked to enter your Serial Code or Serial Codes.
Single Serial Code:
Multiple Serial Codes (separate with a comma):
After you have entered your Serial Code(s) click Next to move through the installation process.
Once the installation is complete you will receive the following Window:
SimpleView Option B – SimpleView Already Installed:
If you have already installed the SimpleView software then all you need to do is Activate the demo.
Click the SimpleView icon from the SimpleIndex software or from your Windows Start menu.
Enter your Serial Number into the “Enter Serial Number to Activate” field in the Activation Window.
Click the Activate button to activate the license.
You will receive a confirmation that the license was properly activated and your license type will be displayed next to the “License Type:” section of the Activation Window.
SimpleView Option C – SimpleView Installed on Computer Not Connected to the Internet:
If you would like to install SimpleView on a computer that doesn’t have an internet connection an Offline Activation will need to be done.
First fully install the SimpleView software without activation.
Click the SimpleView icon from the SimpleIndex software or from your Windows Start menu.
Enter your Serial Number into the “Enter Serial Number to Activate” field in the Activation Window.
Click the “Offline Activation” button.
Click OK in the “SimpleView Offline Activation” window, which asks you to call or email for an Offline Activation.
Select the license version that you ordered in the “SimpleView Version” drop down.
Then either call (865) 637-8986 option 2 or email support@simpleindex.com with the Authorization Request Code. We will the provide you with the Activation Key.
Enter the Activation Key and then click the Offline Activation button.
Maintenance is optional, but covers tech support and upgrades for the software. Please consider purchasing maintenance if you haven’t already. Please refer to Simple Software Maintenance Agreement for more information.
How to activate any Add-on or Upgrade to SimpleIndex?
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete Licensing & Activation reference.
SimpleIndex Add-on Option A – New SimpleIndex Installation:
If you are installing SimpleIndex on the Windows computer for the first time first download SimpleIndex from the SimpleIndex Download Page.
Once the SimpleIndex software has been downloaded install the software from the downloaded installation file.
During the installation process you will be asked to enter your Serial Code or Serial Codes.
Single Serial Code:
Multiple Serial Codes (separate with a comma):
After you have entered your Serial Code(s) click Next to move through the installation process.
Once the installation is complete you will receive the following Window:
When you click Finish you will receive the Global Settings Wizard window to configure the general settings for SimpleIndex on the installed computer.
Move through the prompts to configure the Global Settings Wizard. Once complete you will receive a confirmation that the License was properly activated before the software opens.
SimpleIndex Add-on Option B – SimpleIndex Already Installed:
If you have already installed the SimpleIndex software then all you need to do is Activate the demo.
Click the SimpleIndex icon on your desktop or from your Windows Start menu.
Once SimpleIndex is open go to the Help menu and Select Activate/Transfer License.
Enter your Serial Number into the “Enter Serial Number to Activate” field in the Activation Window.
Click the Activate button to activate the license.
You will receive a confirmation that the license was properly activated and your license type will be displayed next to the “License Type:” section of the Activation Window.
SimpleIndex Add-on Option C – SimpleIndex Installed on Computer Not Connected to the Internet:
If you have installed SimpleIndex on a computer that doesn’t have an internet connection an Offline Activation will need to be done.
First fully install the SimpleIndex software without activation.
Once it has been fully installed click the SimpleIndex icon on your desktop or from your Windows Start menu.
Once SimpleIndex is open go to the Help menu and select Activate/Transfer License.
Enter your Serial Number into the “Enter Serial Number to Activate” field in the Activation Window.
Click the “Offline Activation” button.
Click OK in the “SimpleIndex Offline Activation” window, which asks you to call or email for an Offline Activation.
Select the license version that you ordered in the “SimpleIndex Version” drop down.
Then either call (865) 637-8986 option 2 or email support@simpleindex.com with the Authorization Request Code. We will the provide you with the Activation Key.
Enter the Activation Key and then click the Offline Activation button.
Maintenance is optional, but covers tech support and upgrades for the software. Please consider purchasing maintenance if you haven’t already. Please refer to Simple Software Maintenance Agreement for more information.
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.
TIF File Not Opening After Save with SimpleIndex
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete TIFF reference.
If when scanning with SimpleIndex and outputting TIF files you are producing files that are not viewable and produce this error in Windows Photo Viewer then the “Color & Grayscale Pages” setting in the Compression Settings needs to be changed. You can find the instructions for changing this option below.
1. Go to the Scan menu
2. Select Set Compression Options
3. Change the Color & Grayscale pages drop down from JPEG to either JPEG7 or JPEG 2000
4. Click OK
5. Save the Job Configuration
Command Line Sample
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete Command Line Interface reference.
When using the Simple Software products it can be beneficial to run the software from a command line script. With this you can run other Simple Software Job configurations or Windows Batch Files (.bat) or Task Manager or other command line methods automatically.
You can find sample formats of the command lines for Simple Software products below.
SimpleIndex:
“C:\Program Files (x86)\SimpleIndex\SimpleIndex.exe” /c:”Path to job file”
SimpleSend:
“C:\Program Files (x86)\SimpleIndex\SimpleSend.exe” “Path to job file” /hide /run
SimpleQB:
“C:\Program Files (x86)\SimpleIndex\qb\SimpleQB.exe” “Path to job file” /hide /run
/hide and /run in the SimpleSend and SimpleQB examples above hide any windows from being displayed and automatically runs the process respectively.
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.
Disable StopFile
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete File Input Settings reference.
If you have many different users running SimpleIndex on different computers saving to the same Output folder, the STOPFILE from one can cause another user to not be able to export to the folder while the original user is outputting to the folder. In this case the STOPFILE can be disabled, so this no longer happens.
This will not work if you have anyone that needs to add files to an existing file in the output folder, so make sure that won’t happen.
Instructions:
- Close SimpleIndex entirely
- Open the Windows Registry by going to the Windows Search and searching for “RegEdit”
- Go to this location in the Registry Folder Tree: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\SimpleIndex\Misc
- In the right section of the Registry window Right Click in the white space and select New>String Value
- Name the new key “StopFile”
Create Unique Batch Name
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete Batch Processing Stages reference.
SimpleIndex creates a Batch ID each time you run a SimpleIndex Job Configuration, which creates a new batch.
The Batch ID is the Date and Time that the batch was started.
EX. 2020-01-23@145419
In this example 2020 is the Year, 01 is the Month, 23 is the Day, 14 is the Hour, 54 is the Second and 19 is the Millisecond that the batch was started.
When running SimpleIndex as a Windows Service using the Server Add-on or using the Windows Task Scheduler you can set-up multiple Job Configurations to run on different time frames and have them all running at once. This can lead to a very small possibility that two different Job Configurations will start at the same Millisecond, especially when the Job Configurations are set to run on the same time frames. This can lead to errors or missing files during the process.
With the following option you can make every batch name unique in case there are multiple batches that are created at the exact same Millisecond, which can occur with multi-thread processing on the same Input folder.
Instructions for Unique Batch Name:
- Open the Windows Registry Editor by searching for “regedit”
- Find this location in the Registry Editor:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SimpleIndex\Misc - Right click in the right and select New>String Value
- Name the key the following: GUIDBatchNames
- Open the key and set the value to the following: 1
Command Line to Auto-close SimpleIndex
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete command line interface reference.
This is used to closed SimpleIndex after the job has been completed automatically. This can be useful if you only run one batch in SimpleIndex at a time and don’t need it after that batch is complete.
Instructions to Auto-close SimpleIndex when Batch is complete:
- Open the SimpleIndex Job Configuration that you would like to set to auto close when the batch is is complete.
- Open the Job Settings Wizard from the File menu.
- Go to the Advanced Settings step and expand Pre-Process & Post-Process options.
- In the Post-Process field put the following:
taskkill -f -im simpleindex.exe - Save the Job Configuration.
Alternate Intructions:
- Open the Job Options from the File menu
- In the Batch tab put the following in the “Post-Proc” field:
taskkill -f -im simpleindex.exe - Click OK and then Save from the File menu
Change the OCR Font or Type
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete OCR Options reference.
This is used to changed the default OCR recognition font or type from the default, which is “To Be Detected”. This can be used to look for a specific type of OCR font and is especially useful for recognizing things like Dotmatrix, OCR A and OCR B.
Instructions for setting OCR Font:
1. Right click on the .sic file and select Open With a text editor (Notepad, Wordpad, etc.)
2. Find <OCR_TEXT_TYPE>. If you can’t find <OCR_TEXT_TYPE> then add the following as the last row in the text file:
<OCR_TEXT_TYPE>#</OCR_TEXT_TYPE>
3. Change the number in between: <OCR_TEXT_TYPE>#</OCR_TEXT_TYPE>
4. Number of desired font:
- 0 Normal
- 1 Typewriter
- 2 Dotmatrix
- 3 Index
- 5 OCR A
- 6 OCR B
- 7 MICR E13B
- 8 MICR CMC7
- 9 Gothic
- 10 To Be Detected
5. Close and save file
Advanced Custom Settings
Please refer to the Wiki Documentation for the complete Advanced Settings reference.
The following options have been provided to address specific processing scenarios. Since these are infrequently used, they are set via the registry instead of adding them to the configuration settings.
These settings are global and will affect all users and jobs on your workstation. Please contact support if you require the ability to configure any of these settings in the job settings.
To modify any of these settings, first open the registry editor. If you do not know what this means, please contact support and do not continue further. Improperly editing the registry can corrupt your operating system.
These settings are located under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\SimpleIndex\Misc (for 32-systems) and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\SimpleIndex\Misc (for 64-systems).
Create a String key using the name given on the first line and the desired value. All settings use String keys. SimpleIndex must be restarted for these changes to take effect.
ScanAdmin
0 (default) – Administrator password is not required to access scanner settings
1 – User must enter Administrator password (if set) to access scanner settings
UpperCaseFileExtensions
0 (default) – File extensions are saved in lower case (*.tif, *.pdf, etc.)
1 – File extensions are saved in upper case (*.TIF, *.PDF, etc.)
DisableMaxRecs
Some databases (such as FileMaker) do not support the MaxRecs property which limits the number of rows returned in a query.
0 (default) – Queries are limited by the value specified in Max Files/Batch
1 – All matching records will be returned by the query
StopFile
Filename for the “stop file” created during import and export process to prevent other Simple Software or custom processes from attempting to read or write to these folders at the same time. Can be modified to meet the requirements of other applications or to allow for processing a file that happens to be called “STOPFILE.TXT”.
STOPFILE.TXT (default)
StopFileAge
If a process terminates abnormally during the import or export steps, the stop file may remain in the input or output folder, preventing future batches from being processed. Value may need to be increased if processing very large batches, or it can be decreased to restart terminated jobs more quickly.
120 (default) – Stop file will be removed automatically if it is more than 120 minutes old
PDFWaitTime
Number of CPU cycles to wait before returning the cursor to the default field after loading a PDF file. Acrobat and other PDF readers automatically place the cursor in the PDF document after opening. In order to place the cursor in the default index field, the application must wait until the PDF file finishes rendering and then place the cursor back in the field. Since the load time varies based on the size of the file, network speed, etc., this value can be increased to ensure the default field is always selected after navigating PDF files.
10000 (default)
UseDBQuotes
Substitutes quotes for brackets to indicate field or table names that contain spaces when formatting queries. For compatibility with some database systems.
0 (default) – place brackets [] around field or table names with spaces
1 – place “quotes” around field or table names with spaces ResampleTIFF
0 (default) – Imported TIFFs keep their original resolution
1 – Imported TIFFs are resampled using the PDF X and Y resolution setting
DBTimeout
Allows you to modify the amount of time to wait for a database transaction before timing out. Useful when dealing with large data sets or slow network connections where the timeout occurs before the transaction is complete.
30 (default) – timeout after 30 seconds
ConvertWithXFI
Some format conversions may fail during the import step. Use this option to switch to the alternate import SDK (slightly slower) that is used when running as a server to resolve these issues.
0 (default) – Use default method for importing files
1 – Use the XFI imaging engine when importing files
UseMSWMVParser
Use this to fix issues with WMV video playback on some systems.
0 (default) – Use the default WMV playback method
1 – Use the Microsoft WMV playback method
AnnotationFont
Change the default font used for imprinting and other annotations. Indicate the font name as it appears in font selectors like the one in MS Word.
Arial (default) – Use the Arial font when imprinting or annotating
BarcodeHeight
Mimimum distance relative to height between 1D barcodes (1-10). Lower the value to find barcodes that are very narrow relative to their height.
4 (default)
DilateBarcodes
Performs a dilate on the images before attempting to read barcodes with the DTK engine. This can help with detection of barcodes when scans are very light.
0 (default) – Read original image
1 – Read original image; if no barcodes are found, dilate the imate and read again
DeleteBlankPDF
Blank page deletion does not work with PDF files that have been converted from electronic documents instead of scans. Black & White scans saved as PDF files have roughly the same file size as comparable TIFF images and the same blank page thresholds will work. If all PDFs being imported are from B&W scans, you can set this value to 1 to enable blank page deletion for these.
0 (default) – Blank page deletion will be ignored for PDF files
1 – Use the Min File Size threshold for PDF files as well as TIFF images
AutoSaveFiles
Automatically save annotations, cropping and other changes to image files when you click “Save Index”, avoiding the extra prompt.
0 (default) – Changes to files will prompt the user asking whether to save changes or not
1 – Changes to files will be saved automatically when the user clicks “Save Index”
GUIDBatchNames
When running several jobs on the same computer with a short timer interval, the date/time format of the batch names is not always unique. Use this setting to generate a GUID for the batch names that will always be unique.
0 (default) – Batch names will be formatted YYYY-MM-DD@HHMMSS
1 – Batch names will be generated with a GUID
UnsavedIndexColor
Allows you to change the default color for unsaved field values from Blue to any color you like. To set this you must get the Hexadecimal RGB value for the color you want and convert it to an Integer.
16711680 (default) – Unsaved index values will appear in Blue