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.