SimpleIndex Walkthrough

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.

SimpleIndex Jobs

Each type of scanned 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. The user just loads the feeder, double-clicks an icon on the desktop, and all processing is done in the background.

The ability to execute scanning and indexing configurations from a saved file is a unique feature of SimpleIndex that opens many new possibilities for automating user tasks.

Processing the Sample Jobs

The best way to get started with SimpleIndex is to check out the sample configuration files that come with it. 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 walk you through this process:

• Sample Job Videos – demonstrations and presentations
• Simple Software University – how to configure jobs

The Getting Started Guide that appears when you first run SimpleIndex will give you step-by-step instructions for running the sample jobs as well. This can also be accessed from the Help menu.

The sample jobs use images that are bundled with SimpleIndex, so don’t worry if you don’t have a scanner!