Page 1 OmniPage Pro Version 6 for Macintosh Reference Manual...
Page 2 Reference How to Use the Documentation Please read the Release Notes before installing OmniPage Pro. The notes include up-to-date lists of supported scanners, compatible file formats, and any last minute information concerning the current release of OmniPage Pro. Use this Reference manual to find specific information about any OmniPage Pro feature.
Page 3 CAERE CORPORATION 100 Cooper Court Los Gatos, California 95030 European Offices: CAERE GmbH. Ismaninger Strasse 17-19 81675 Munich, Germany OmniPage Pro 6 Macintosh Version Copyright© 1995 Caere Corporation. All rights reserved. CAERE®, OmniPage®, OmniPage Pro, Image Assistant®, AnyPage, True Page, Language Analyst, AnyFax, and 3D OCR are trademarks of Caere Corporation. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks.
Page 4: Table Of Contents
Table of Contents Chapter 1 Installation System Requirements ........................1-2 Installing the Software ........................1-3 Selecting Your Scanner ........................1-6 Starting OmniPage Pro ........................1-8 Registering OmniPage Pro ......................1-9 Chapter 2 Tutorials Before You Start ..........................2-2 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition .................... 2-3 The OCR Process ........................
Page 5 Chapter 3 Commands and Settings The AutoOCR Toolbar ........................3-2 Shortcut Command Buttons ....................3-3 Processing Buttons ........................3-3 AUTO Button ........................... 3-4 Image Button ........................... 3-4 Zone Button ..........................3-7 OCR Button ..........................3-9 Save As Button ..........................3-10 The File Menu ..........................
Page 6 Use Zone Template.......................3-38 Perform OCR .........................3-40 OCR & Check .........................3-40 Defer OCR ..........................3-40 Train OCR ..........................3-41 Process Settings ........................3-43 Finish Current Document....................3-43 Batch Processing........................3-44 Start Image Assistant ......................3-46 The Settings Menu ........................3-47 Settings Panel.........................3-47 Verify Scanner........................3-48 Select Languages...
Page 7 Zones Options ..........................4-10 Automatic ..........................4-10 Single Column or Table ......................4-11 One Zone ..........................4-11 OCR Options ..........................4-12 Input Options ........................4-12 Use Language Analyst ......................4-14 Retain Graphics ........................4-15 Output Options ........................4-16 Direct Options ..........................4-19 Processing Options .......................
Page 8 Useful Editing Commands ....................6-13 Drag and Drop Support .......................6-14 Saving a Recognized Document ....................6-15 Chapter 7 Improving Performance Improving Speed ..........................7-2 Manual Brightness Setting .....................7-2 Language Analyst ........................7-5 Automatically Correcting Page Orientation ............... 7-5 Saving Page Images ........................ 7-6 Drawing Zones Manually ......................
Page 9 viii...
Page 10: Chapter 1 Installation
Chapter 1 Installation Please read this section carefully! It includes: • System Requirements • Installing the Software • Selecting Your Scanner • Starting OmniPage Pro Installation 1-1...
Page 11: System Requirements
System Requirements System Requirements To install and run OmniPage Pro, you need the following setup: • Standard (68020 or greater) or Power Macintosh. • System 7.0 or later. • RAM for 680x0 processors: free memory of at least 5MB RAM. •...
Page 12: Installing The Software
Installing the Software Installing the Software OmniPage Pro is, by default, installed in the OmniPage Pro Folder. One or more OmniPage Pro files are also installed in the System or Extensions Folder. Some “Upgrade” versions of OmniPage Pro are designed only for customers upgrading from previous versions of Caere OCR software.
Page 13 Installing the Software Command-click on the listing for your scanner in the list box. You may have to scroll through the list to find your scanner. If your scanner isn’t listed, try Apple and compatible scanners. The Installer will install a Chooser extension for the chosen scanner.
Page 14 Installing the Software OmniPage Pro notifies you when installation is complete and asks you to reinsert the first disk. Restart your Macintosh before you run OmniPage Pro if you are running System 7.0 or 7.1. A registration dialog box may appear the first time you run OmniPage Pro.
Page 15: Selecting Your Scanner
Selecting Your Scanner Selecting Your Scanner Your scanner and the driver supplied by its manufacturer, if any, must be installed on your system according to the manufacturer's instructions. Test your scanner with the software supplied by the manufacturer, if any, before using the scanner with OmniPage Pro. During OmniPage Pro installation, you selected a Chooser extension to be installed for the scanner you plan to use with OmniPage Pro.
Page 16 Selecting Your Scanner You must reselect your scanner in the Chooser if you install or remove a scanner’s ADF support. To select HP scanner options: To use HP AccuPage (available with HP ScanJet Plus, II, III, and IV series scanners), select the HP AccuPage extension in the Chooser. The Auto Brightness with HP AccuPage and Manual Brightness options will become available in the settings panel Scanner options.
Page 17: Starting Omnipage Pro
Starting OmniPage Pro Starting OmniPage Pro To start OmniPage Pro: Open the OmniPage Pro Folder. Double-click the OmniPage Pro application icon. The first time you launch OmniPage Pro after installation, you are prompted to personalize your copy. Type in the licensee and company name in the dialog box that appears.
Page 18: Registering Omnipage Pro
Starting OmniPage Pro Registering OmniPage Pro Registering your copy of OmniPage Pro entitles you to technical support, notification of special offers and upgrades, and the lowest price offered on the next OmniPage Pro upgrade. You can use OmniPage Pro for 25 sessions without registering it. You can register by choosing Register OmniPage Pro in the Apple menu.
Page 19 Starting OmniPage Pro 1-10 Installation...
Page 20: Chapter 2 Tutorials
Chapter 2 Tutorials This chapter contains three tutorials that contain a number of exercises. The tutorials take you through basic text scanning and into more advanced concepts such as how to create OCR training files, scan a large stack of documents, and use deferred page recognition to maximize your efficiency.
Page 21: Before You Start
Before You Start Before You Start Be sure your scanner is attached, turned on, and working with your system. Make sure you have the following page samples you need to work through the tutorials in this chapter: • Multiple Column Page Sample •...
Page 22: Tutorial 1 - Basic Text Recognition
Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition OmniPage Pro lets you scan documents and recognize text with the click of a single button in the AutoOCR toolbar. The AutoOCR toolbar also puts the most common OCR options at your fingertips. OmniPage Pro gives you efficient, flexible control over your documents: you can stop, backtrack, and restart at any stage without repeating the whole process.
Page 23 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition OmniPage Pro’s AutoOCR toolbar contains an AUTO button, three large process buttons, and three shortcut command buttons as pictured above. The process buttons outline the basic flow of OCR: The Image button The Zone button The OCR button determines where determines whether...
Page 24 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Reset the Defaults (if necessary) The default settings are active the first time you open OmniPage Pro. If you have not changed any settings, proceed to the next section, “Automatic OCR with the Default Settings.” Otherwise, follow these steps to return to the default settings: Open the pop-up menu under each process button and choose these options, if they are not already selected:...
Page 25: Automatic Ocr With The Default Settings
Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Automatic OCR with the Default Settings OCR is easy with OmniPage Pro even when the page itself is complex. Just click the AUTO button and OmniPage Pro goes to work: it determines scan intensity, column structure, and then performs OCR. In this exercise, you will use the Multiple Column Page Sample to practice scanning with the default settings.
Page 26 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition • OmniPage Pro determines column flow for the text and divides it into recognition zones. Each zone is surrounded by a numbered rectangle. This shows how OmniPage Pro will order the text as it recognizes the image.
Page 27 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition is analyzed and corrected; and, black during the final recognition stage. View the recognized page in the Untitled text window. Because the OCR settings panel option Retain Font and Paragraph Formatting is the default, OmniPage Pro matches the font and paragraph formats to the original.
Page 28 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition text window with the image of the word as it was scanned originally. Word as scanned originally Word as it was recognized by OmniPage Pro during Pop-up menu with suggested replacements Correct any errors in the text. If the word is misspelled, you can correct the spelling in the Change to text box and click Change or Change All.
Page 29 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition The Verification window opens to display the corresponding word in the original scanned image. Note that the cursor changes to a magnifying tool over this window. Click to zoom in and Option-click to zoom out. Verify that the recognized word matches the word in the original.
Page 30 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition OmniPage Pro can open only OmniPage Documents, PICT files, and TIFF files. If a scanned page is going to be used more than once, or saved to several different word-processing file formats, save it first as an OmniPage Document.
Page 31: Touring The Autoocr Toolbar
Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Select a word-processing application file type, such as Word 5.0, in the Format pop-up menu and give the file a new name. Click Save. 10 Choose Close in the File menu or use the Command-W keyboard shortcut to close each window.
Page 32 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition This exercise gives you an overview of the most commonly used options. Note the location of the settings panel button in the AutoOCR toolbar. For more information on the settings panel see “Touring the Settings Panel” on page 2-14.
Page 33: Touring The Settings Panel
Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition can draw the zones manually. See Tutorial 2, Document Types and OCR Settings, for more information about when and how to draw your own zones. You can also use the Zone button to open zone templates they have created.
Page 34 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Click the close box in the upper left corner of the window to close the settings panel. Hold down the Option key and click on the Image button in the AutoOCR toolbar. The settings panel opens to the Scanner options. This method of opening the settings panel also works with the Zone and OCR processes when they are available as buttons.
Page 35 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Select the Scanner Options Select the Scanner icon again to view options available when using your scanner. The most important settings for recognition accuracy are the choices under Options. These determine how a page is scanned and will vary according to the type of document you want to recognize.
Page 36 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Select Manual Brightness. Use this for pages with distinct, normal-sized text (8 point or larger) printed on white paper, and for all black-and-white scanners. Any graphics on a page scanned with this setting will appear in black and white.
Page 37 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition OmniPage Pro zones the image (when set for automatic zoning) and how it orders the text during recognition. • Automatic is the default zoning method. It detects column flow in standard and multi-column documents and lets you save any graphic images.
Page 38 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Use Output Options to choose how OmniPage Pro will handle output formatting. • TruePage - Retain All Page Formatting is an option for those who wish to retain not only font and paragraph formatting, but also as much page layout as possible.
Page 39 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Select the Direct Options Click the Direct icon to select options for when you use the OmniPage Direct input feature. This feature lets you scan text while you are working in your word processor or other text-handling application. See Chapter 5, Direct Input, for detailed information.
Page 40: Using The Process Buttons
Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Select the Preferences Options Click the Preferences icon to customize general OmniPage Pro operations. You can close the settings panel or leave it open if you have room on your screen. Using the Process Buttons Instead of using the AUTO button, you can click each process button in the AutoOCR toolbar individually when it is available.
Page 41 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Click the Zones icon in the settings panel. Note that the Automatic zoning method is the default. You are scanning the Single Column Page Sample, which means that the wrong zoning method is selected. Leave this setting as it is for now —...
Page 42 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Note that OmniPage Pro, because of the zoning method set in the settings panel, mistakenly zones the numbers on the right of the table as a separate column of text. Click the OCR button. OmniPage Pro makes three passes over the document and displays the recognized text in the text window.
Page 43 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Change the Zoning Method in the Settings Panel Reopen the settings panel. Click the Zones icon. Select the Single Column or Table option. Close the settings panel. Click the Zone Button to Reset the Zones Click the Zone button to reset the zones.
Page 44 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Verify that the new zones are drawn correctly. The table is now preserved as a unit. Click the OCR Button to Finish the Process Click the OCR button to finish the process. A dialog box asks if you want to replace the current text. Click OK.
Page 45 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Notice that the numbers in the table’s second column now line up with the corresponding lines of text in the first column. The table’s format has been preserved by using the proper zoning method. Check the Text and Save the File Click the Check Recognition button in the AutoOCR toolbar and make any changes necessary.
Page 46: Opening A Graphic In Image Assistant
Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Select a word-processing application file type, such as MacWrite II, in the Format pop-up menu and save the file with a new name. Click Save. Choose Close in the File menu or use the Command-W keyboard shortcut to close each window.
Page 47 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition You may have to check your scanner documentation to verify the scanner’s SCSI ID number. Click OK. Choose Scan Image... in the File menu. The Scan Image dialog box opens. Click the Settings... button in the upper right corner. The Settings dialog box opens.
Page 48 Tutorial 1 — Basic Text Recognition Scan in a Page with a Graphic Place a page with a graphic in your scanner. Click Scan. The page is scanned and appears in an Untitled window. Experiment with the Tool Palette Experiment with the tools in Image Assistant’s tool palette to see what special image editing effects you can achieve.
Page 49: Tutorial 2 - Document Types And Ocr Settings
Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings People encounter a variety of documents in an average workday: office memos; legal documents; standardized forms; newspaper and magazine pages; foreign-language reports; etc. Before you scan and recognize any page, you must determine how you want OmniPage Pro to order the page information and in what format you want the pages’...
Page 50: Setting A Zoning Method
Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Setting a Zoning Method The zoning method selection in the settings panel tells OmniPage Pro how it should evaluate the column structure of text zones. These zones may be drawn either automatically by OmniPage Pro or manually by you. •...
Page 51 Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings • Select Single Column or Table when recognizing a table, chart, spreadsheet or page-wide text with no graphics (memos and reports, for example). • Select One Zone when you want everything in the zone recognized as text.
Page 52: Complex Layouts
Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Complex Layouts After you select options in the settings panel, you have a choice between auto and manual zoning. With complex or unusually formatted documents, manual zoning often returns better results than auto zoning. In the first tutorial you used auto zoning after scanning the page samples.
Page 53 Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings in the Zone button pop-up menu, the process stops so you can draw recognition zones manually. Specify the contents of Use the arrow buttons a zone. to rotate the image. Draw zones around the text you want recognized.
Page 54 Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Click the Order Zones tool. The cursor becomes the # symbol and numbers in the two zones disappear. Click the second zone you drew. Now the zone is labeled 1. This zone will be recognized first and placed at the beginning of the new document in the text window.
Page 55 Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Draw a third zone for the October 1992 award. Perform OCR Click the AUTO button or the Perform OCR button to continue the process. The recognized text appears in the text window. Tutorials 2-36...
Page 56: Standardized Forms
Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Check the Results and Save or Close the File Click the Check Recognition button in the AutoOCR toolbar to check your OCR results. You can save the file in the format of your choice by choosing Save as... in the File menu or by clicking the Save as...
Page 57 Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Set the AutoOCR Toolbar Options Place the Standardized Form Sample in your scanner. Set these options in the AutoOCR toolbar: • Scan Image • Manual Zones • Perform OCR Open the settings panel and click Set Defaults to return OmniPage Pro to its default settings.
Page 58 Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Choose Graphic in the Zone Contents pop-up menu. This tells OmniPage Pro not to perform OCR on that zone because it contains a picture. For the purposes of this exercise, you are recognizing the entire company logo as a graphic even though it consists mainly of letters.
Page 59 Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings mistaken for the letter S and a 0 (zero) for the letter O. Selecting the Numeric option reduces these common OCR errors. The default Numeric zone contents file does not contain any alpha characters, however, so in this case the Numeric designation is not sufficient for optimal recognition.
Page 60 Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Your new file now appears in the zones list in the first dialog box. Click Done. If the third zone you drew around the financial contents in the image window is not selected, click in it now to select it. Choose finance in the Zone Contents pop-up menu.
Page 61 Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Creating a Zone Template If you regularly scan a particular type of document, especially standardized forms that require the same manual zoning on each page, create and save a zone template. Instead of redrawing the zones each time you scan that document type, simply load the zone template before scanning.
Page 62: Legal Documents And Spreadsheets
Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Click OK in the dialog box that asks if you are sure. Choose the file name of your new zone template in the pop-up menu under the Zone button. 10 Click the Zone button. OmniPage Pro draws the template zones on the image.
Page 63: Documents With Specialized Characters
Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings • If you want a carriage return inserted at the end of each line, select Use Hard Carriage Returns in the Output Options/More.../Text Options group in the OCR settings panel. • You may have to experiment to find the best process for scanning and saving each document.
Page 64 Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Open the settings panel and click Set Defaults to return OmniPage Pro to its default settings. Click OK in the dialog box that asks if you are sure. Scan and recognize a document of your choice that contains symbols or other specialized characters.
Page 65 Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings The dialog box includes a scrolling list of specialized characters. If the symbol you seek is in the list, click it and it will appear in the Character Code text box. If the symbol or character does not appear in the list, you must type it in the Character Code text box instead.
Page 66 Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings The specified character appears under the image in the dialog box. Once you specify a character, its grid box is outlined in gray. Click Save..Type a file name in the Save dialog box. 10 Click Save.
Page 67 Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Editing an OCR Training File You can edit a training file as needed when you scan a document with previously unrecognized characters. Any training file can be opened and appended to another training file. Note: A training file is limited to 256 characters.
Page 68: Foreign-Language And Multilingual Documents
Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Use the buttons to delete or modify character identifications as needed. Click Save when you are finished editing the file. If you have made no changes, click Cancel to close the dialog box. If you had created another training file previously, you could click the Append button to add the characters in this file to it.
Page 69 Tutorial 2 — Document Types and OCR Settings Multilingual Documents If you need to recognize multilingual documents, you must be sure to select both the proper language set and appropriate main dictionary. Suppose you have a document written mostly in French with a few sections in Portuguese.
Page 70: Tutorial 3 - Streamlining The Ocr Workflow
Tutorial 3 — Streamlining the OCR Workflow Tutorial 3 — Streamlining the OCR Workflow OmniPage Provides a number of time-saving features to help you streamline your OCR workflow. This chapter shows you how to use some of them. After completing the exercises in this chapter, you will know how •...
Page 71 Tutorial 3 — Streamlining the OCR Workflow Type a file name in the Save Settings File dialog box. Click Save. Open the settings panel and click Set Defaults to return OmniPage Pro to its default settings. Click OK in the dialog box that asks if you are sure. In the normal course of your work, you would go on to scan documents with your settings and later change the settings as you worked with other documents.
Page 72: Scanning Large Jobs
Tutorial 3 — Streamlining the OCR Workflow Scanning Large Jobs If you have an automatic document feeder (ADF), you can use the OmniPage Pro AUTO button to scan a large stack of documents, recognize them as a group, and save the results later as a single file or as several smaller files.
Page 73 Tutorial 3 — Streamlining the OCR Workflow • Create New File at Each Blank Page You would insert blank pages as separators into a stack of one- sided documents. All pages following a blank page would be saved with a different document name than the previous pages. Automatic file naming is discussed in the section “Saving the File(s)”...
Page 74 Tutorial 3 — Streamlining the OCR Workflow Try the following exercise with the document of your choice: Scan or open a multi-page document. View any page except the last page of that document. Choose Scan Image in the pop-up menu under the Image button. Click the Image or AUTO button.
Page 75 Tutorial 3 — Streamlining the OCR Workflow Click the Image or AUTO button. The Load Image dialog box opens. Double-click the file(s) to load, or select each file and click Add. Click Load. A dialog box gives you page placement options. Choose to replace the current page with the new page(s), or to insert the new page(s) either before the current page or at the end of the document.
Page 76: Opening Multiple Tiff And Pict Files
Tutorial 3 — Streamlining the OCR Workflow Saving the File(s) When recognition and any text editing you want to do are complete, click the Save as... button in the AutoOCR toolbar. Choose either a word- processor or an OmniPage Document file format. If you choose any format besides a graphic or OmniPage Document format, you have three options for saving the scanned pages: •...
Page 77 Tutorial 3 — Streamlining the OCR Workflow Click Load when you have added all the files you want. Files are opened and processed in the order they were listed. The first file in the list will be opened, zoned, and recognized as page 1, the second file as page 2, and so on.
Page 78: Saving Graphics
Tutorial 3 — Streamlining the OCR Workflow Saving Graphics Any scanned pages or OmniPage Documents can be saved as one or more TIFF or PICT files. This saves the image for each page as a graphic file. TIFF and PICT files can be loaded into OmniPage Pro as image files. Both TIFF and PICT files can be opened within or imported into a variety of graphic, word-processing, and page-layout programs.
Page 79: Deferring Recognition
Tutorial 3 — Streamlining the OCR Workflow Deferring Recognition The typical OCR flow is to scan, zone, and OCR a page in the stack and then repeat the process with the next page until every page in the stack is done.
Page 80 Tutorial 3 — Streamlining the OCR Workflow Finish Current Document If you want to finish recognizing the current open document: Choose Finish Current Document... in the Process menu. The Finish Current Document dialog box lets you choose to finish or finish and save the document to a specific file format. Click Finish and Save or Finish.
Page 81 Tutorial 3 — Streamlining the OCR Workflow The Batch Processing dialog box offers options for recognizing and saving the deferred files: • Click Add Files... to add deferred OmniPage Documents to the Input File list. A selection dialog box appears. Select each file to finish and click Add.
Page 82: Chapter 3 Commands And Settings
Chapter 3 Commands and Settings This chapter explains how to use all of OmniPage Pro’s commands and settings which are located within five menus and a convenient AutoOCR toolbar. The OmniPage Pro menus include the: • File Menu • Edit Menu •...
Page 83: The Autoocr Toolbar
The AutoOCR Toolbar The AutoOCR Toolbar The AutoOCR toolbar offers convenient access to the fundamental steps of the OCR process: Getting the page image that you want to recognize. Choosing what will be recognized in the image by creating zones. Recognizing the image or performing other OCR options before recognition.
Page 84: Shortcut Command Buttons
The AutoOCR Toolbar Shortcut Command Buttons The AutoOCR toolbar's shortcut command buttons are for your convenience. These buttons perform the same functions as the corresponding commands in the Edit and Settings menus. For more information about these commands, please see their respective menu entries later in this chapter.
Page 85: Auto Button
The AutoOCR Toolbar AUTO Button The AUTO button, located on the far left side of the AutoOCR toolbar, performs the same operations as the Auto command in the Process menu. Click AUTO to automatically start and finish processing each page of a new document or finish processing the current page of an open document.
Page 86 The AutoOCR Toolbar Select Scan Image or Load Image in the Image button pop-up menu. Click the Image button to initiate the selected operation. The selected Image command is also used when OmniPage Pro performs automatic processing. Scan Image Choose this to scan a page in your scanner. Before scanning, make sure the appropriate Scanner options are selected in the settings panel Option-click the Image button to automatically open the settings panel to Scanner options (if Scan Image is selected) or Images options (if Load...
Page 87 The AutoOCR Toolbar To load an image file: In the Load Image dialog box, open the folder where your image files reside. Click the file you want to load and then click Add. Or, double- click the file. The file appears in the Selected Files list. Click Load.
Page 88: Zone Button
The AutoOCR Toolbar Zone Button Use the Zone button to create zones that determine what will be recognized in the page image. This button performs the same operations as the Auto Zones/Manual Zones/Use Zone Template... commands in the Process menu. Select Auto Zones, Manual Zones, or a zone template file in the pop-up menu.
Page 89 The AutoOCR Toolbar Manual Zones Choose this to draw and order your own zones in the current page image using the tool palette in the image window. For manually created zones, OmniPage Pro uses the selected Zones option in the settings panel (Single Column or Table, or None) to determine the text flow within each zone during recognition.
Page 90: Ocr Button
The AutoOCR Toolbar OCR Button Use the OCR button to perform the selected OCR command on the page image. This button performs the same operations as the Perform OCR/ OCR & Check/Defer OCR/Train OCR commands in the Process menu. Select Perform OCR, OCR & Check, Defer OCR, or Train OCR in the pop- up menu.
Page 91: Save As Button
The AutoOCR Toolbar Defer OCR Choose this to delay text recognition of one or more pages of your document. For example, you can use the AUTO button to scan pages, create zones, and defer OCR of your document. Then, at your convenience, you can have OmniPage Pro recognize your entire document by choosing Finish Current Document...
Page 92: The File Menu
The File Menu The File Menu The File menu lets you manage OmniPage Pro file operations. File menu commands include: • Open... • Close • Save • Save As... • Revert to Saved • Get Accuracy Info • Save Settings... •...
Page 93: Close
The File Menu To open an OmniPage Document or image file: Choose Open... The Open dialog box appears. Open the folder where your OmniPage Documents or image files reside. Double-click a file to open it immediately. Or, click the file and click Open.
Page 94: Save
The File Menu Save Choose Save to write the contents of your current working document to disk. When you are saving the file for the first time, the Save As dialog box appears. After saving, you can continue working on your document. Save As...
Page 95 The File Menu Save Options for File Formats other than OmniPage Documents or Image Files Select one of the following save options when you save your document to a file format other than an OmniPage Document or image file: • Create One File for All Pages Select this if you want OmniPage Pro to save all the pages in your document as one file.
Page 96: Revert To Saved
The File Menu Graphic Zone Contents. See “Specifying Zone Contents” on page 2-37. OmniPage Pro will automatically append file names with a period and numbers. The file names and appended numbers can be up to 31 characters. To save a file: In the Save As dialog box, open the folder where you want your file saved.
Page 97 The File Menu The Accuracy Info dialog box provides a statistical report for the current page. Number of Characters This is the number of characters and spaces on the page. Number of Words This is the number of words on the page. Recognition Time (mm:ss) This is the time it took (in minutes and seconds) to break the page down into text and graphics and perform recognition.
Page 98: Save Settings
The File Menu Suspects This is the number of questionable characters which OmniPage Pro made an attempt to recognize. Rate This rate, expressed in characters per second (cps), is the total number of characters (minus the number of characters OmniPage Pro isn’t sure of) divided by the recognition time.
Page 99: Load Settings
The File Menu Load Settings... Choose Load Settings... to load a previously saved settings file. A loaded settings file automatically sets settings panel options and language selection(s) to preselected values. This is useful for quickly restoring OmniPage Pro to settings required by certain documents. To load a settings file: Choose Load Settings...
Page 100 The File Menu To save a zone template: After manually creating the zones you want to save, choose Save Zone Template... The Save Zone Template dialog box appears. Type a name for your zone template file in the File Name edit box.
Page 101: Page Setup
The File Menu Page Setup... Choose Page Setup... to select page orientation and other options for printing. The options available in the Page Setup dialog box depend on your printer. Select the desired options and then click OK. Click Cancel to exit the operation without saving the selected options.
Page 102: Send Mail
The File Menu Send Mail... The Send Mail... command is only enabled if you have an open document and you have PowerTalk™ installed and enabled on your Macintosh. The dialog box that appears contains the same choices as the Save as... command.
Page 103: The Edit Menu
The Edit Menu The Edit Menu The Edit menu lets you revise recognized text in the text window and work with images in the image window. Edit menu commands include: • Undo • • Copy • Paste • Clear • Select All/Clear All Zones •...
Page 104: Copy
The Edit Menu The Verify Image feature cannot track text that is cut and pasted from one page to another. Copy Choose Copy to duplicate selected material in the text or image window. Copied material is stored on the Clipboard. Copied text may be pasted in the text window or in another application.
Page 105: Clear
The Edit Menu Clear Choose Clear to permanently delete selected text or graphics in the text window or a selected zone in the image window. To clear a zone from the image window: Click in the zone to select it; handles will appear. You can only select a manually drawn zone.
Page 106: Check Recognition
The Edit Menu Check Recognition... Choose Check Recognition... to check for errors in a recognized document. This command is also available as a button in the AutoOCR toolbar. The Check Recognition operation stops at: • Blue words: words replaced or flagged by the Language Analyst. •...
Page 107: Verify Image
The Edit Menu To place a word in the Change to edit box, you can either type in a word or select a word from the Suggestions pop-up menu. • Click Add to add the word to the current user dictionary. You can only add the originally flagged word, not a word that you type in the Change to edit box.
Page 108: Delete Current Page
The Edit Menu To verify an image: Click on the word that you want to verify. Choose Verify Image. Or, Option-double-click the mouse button. The Verification Window appears showing the original image of the word. You cannot verify the image of text that is cut and pasted from one page to another or the image of text that has been substantially edited.
Page 109 The Edit Menu In the Go to Page dialog box, you can select First Page, Last Page, or type in a specific number in the Page edit box. Click Go to switch to the selected page. Click Cancel to return to the current page.
Page 110: The Process Menu
The Process Menu The Process Menu The Process menu lets you perform fundamental OmniPage Pro operations, including each step of the OCR process. Process menu commands include: • Auto • Scan Image/Load Image... • Auto Zones/Manual Zones • Perform OCR/OCR & Check/Defer OCR/Train OCR •...
Page 111: Scan Image
The Process Menu Scanning, zoning, and OCR operations occur according to the currently selected settings panel options. When a document is already open to an unfinished page image, you can choose Auto to finish processing that page according to the selected processing commands.
Page 112: Load Image
The Process Menu Automatic Processing You can scan and process multiple pages automatically. For example, you can place a multi-page document in your scanner’s ADF and select Scan until empty in the settings panel Scanner options. Select Scan Image and the desired zone and OCR processing commands in the Process Settings submenu and then choose Auto to begin automatic processing.
Page 113 The Process Menu To load an image file: In the Load Image dialog box, open the folder where your image files reside. Click the file you want to load and then click Add. Or, double- click the file. The file appears in the Selected Files list. Click Load.
Page 114: Auto Zones
The Process Menu Auto Zones Choose Auto Zones to have OmniPage Pro automatically draw and order zones that determine what will be recognized in the page image. This command performs the same function as the Zone button when Auto Zones is selected in the pop-up menu. To automatically create zones and determine the text flow for recognition, OmniPage Pro uses the selected Zones option in the settings panel: Automatic, Single Column or Table, or None.
Page 115 The Process Menu To erase zones that you do not want to recognize: Click the Erase Zones tool. Click within each zone you want to delete. A zone’s borders disappear when it is deleted but the contents of the page image remain. To retrieve an erased zone, immediately choose Undo in the Edit menu.
Page 116: Manual Zones
The Process Menu Manual Zones Choose Manual Zones to draw, order, and specify your own zones that determine what will be recognized in the page image. For manually created zones, OmniPage Pro uses the selected Zones option in the settings panel (Automatic, Single Column or Table, or One Zone) to determine the text flow within each zone during recognition.
Page 117 The Process Menu To resize zones: Click the Draw Zones tool. Click a zone to select it. Handles appear on the zone border. Select a handle, hold the mouse button down, and drag the mouse in the direction that you want to enlarge or reduce the zone.
Page 118 The Process Menu To erase zones: Click the Erase Zones tool. Click within each zone you want to delete. Only the zone borders go away; the contents of the page image remain. To erase all zones at once, double-click the Erase Zones tool. Zone Drag and Drop OmniPage Pr supports Apple’s Drag and Drop functionality on systems that have it installed (as a separate extension or as part of System 7.5).
Page 119: Use Zone Template
The Process Menu To zoom in or out on a page image: Click the Zoom tool. Click an area of the page image to zoom in (enlarge the image). Option-click the area to zoom out (reduce the image). To rotate a page image: Click the Arrow buttons to rotate the entire page image 90 degrees counter-clockwise, 180 degrees, or 90 degrees clockwise.
Page 120 The Process Menu To select a zone template: Select a zone template directly in the Zone button pop-up menu. Or: Choose Use Zone Template... A dialog box appears listing all zone template files in the Zone Templates folder. Click the zone template that you want to use for the current page image.
Page 121: Perform Ocr
The Process Menu Perform OCR Choose Perform OCR to recognize text on the current page. This command performs the same function as the OCR button when Perform OCR is selected in the pop-up menu. Before performing OCR, make sure the appropriate OCR options are selected in the settings panel.
Page 122: Train Ocr
The Process Menu You can change the Defer OCR command to Perform OCR, OCR and Check, or Train OCR in the Process Settings submenu or OCR button pop-up menu. Train OCR Choose Train OCR to create a character training file that assists OmniPage Pro during text recognition of special characters.
Page 123 The Process Menu The Specify Character dialog box displays the selected character as it appears in the original page image. Specify the character by typing the desired character(s) in the Character Code edit box or selecting a character in the scrolling list.
Page 124: Process Settings
The Process Menu You can change the Train OCR command to Perform OCR, OCR and Check, or Defer OCR in the Process Settings submenu or OCR button pop- up menu. Process Settings Choose Process Settings to access and set the image, zone, and OCR processing commands.
Page 125: Batch Processing
The Process Menu Batch Processing... Choose Batch Processing... to automatically process up to 256 OmniPage Documents or image files at a specified time. OmniPage Pro will open the files in the Input File List, draw zones or apply a template, and recognize any unfinished pages in your documents using the currently selected settings panel options.
Page 126 The Process Menu Settings Options Select Automatically OCR Files in the Folder “Input Files” to select a folder to ‘watch’ for incoming image files. Click Set Input... to choose a folder. Select Delete Input File After OCR is Finished to automatically delete the documents in the Input File List after recognition.
Page 127: Start Image Assistant
The Process Menu Click OK to recognize the selected files as specified. Each document is opened, processed, saved as specified, and then closed. If you did not specify any automatic save options, documents will be saved to their original file names. Click Cancel to exit the operation without recognizing any deferred documents.
Page 128: The Settings Menu
The Settings Menu The Settings Menu The Settings menu lets you modify and set application-wide settings. Settings menu commands include: • Settings Panel... • Verify Scanner... • Select Languages... • Edit Training File... • Edit Zone Contents File... • Edit User Dictionary... OmniPage Pro retains the most recently selected application settings.
Page 129: Verify Scanner
The Settings Menu Click the Scanner icon to select options that control how your scanner scans a page. Click the Images icon to select options when loading images by opening TIFF and PICT files, rather than scanning. Click the Zones icon to select the zoning option that determines the flow of text during recognition.
Page 130: Select Languages
The Settings Menu If a dialog box indicates that OmniPage Pro cannot communicate with your scanner, make sure you have a scanner selected in the Chooser. Follow the instructions in the dialog box (check connections, etc.) if a scanner is selected already. Select Languages...
Page 131: Edit Training File
The Settings Menu Edit Training File... Choose Edit Training File... to edit an existing character training file. A character training file is a set of up to 256 pre-recognized text characters that OmniPage Pro compares with the characters in the page image during recognition.
Page 132: Edit Zone Contents File
The Settings Menu The Specify Character dialog box appears. You can select Original a character image of from the list to associate with specified the specified character. character. You can type in a character to associate with the specified character. Change the character(s) associated with the selected character by typing in the desired character(s) in the Character Code edit box or selecting a character from the scrolling list.
Page 133 The Settings Menu have a paragraph of alphanumeric text followed by a numeric table, you can draw separate zones and assign an Alphanumerics zone contents file to the paragraph and a Numerics zone contents file to the table. To create or edit a zone contents file: Choose Edit Zone Contents File..
Page 134: Edit User Dictionary
The Settings Menu Edit User Dictionary... Choose Edit User Dictionary... to create a new user dictionary or edit an existing one. To create or edit a user dictionary: Choose Edit User Dictionary..A dialog box appears listing all the user dictionary files in the Dictionaries folder..
Page 135 The Settings Menu • Click Import... to add words to your user dictionary from another application. For example, you may want to add technical terms from another document. A dialog box appears; select the file you want to import and click Open.
Page 136: The Window Menu
The Window Menu The Window Menu The Window menu provides options for looking at the OmniPage Pro windows and your document. Window menu commands include: • Hide/Show Toolbar • Hide/Show Status • Zoom In • Zoom Out • Zoom to Width •...
Page 137: Zoom To Width
The Window Menu You can also use Zoom Out to decrease an enlarged view of the image in the Check Recognition and Verify Image dialog boxes. Zoom to Width Choose Zoom to Width to scale the image so the entire image fits in a window horizontally.
Page 138: The Help Menu
The Help Menu The Help Menu The Help Menu provides standard help items. Help menu commands include: • About Help... • Show/Hide Balloons • OmniPage Pro Guide • OmniPage Pro Reference About Help... Choose About Help to see information about using the OmniPage Pro Guide to get answers to commonly asked questions.
Page 139: Omnipage Pro Reference
The Help Menu OmniPage Pro Guide gives you directions for common tasks, and takes you through the tasks step-by-step. OmniPage Pro Guide draws red circles or lines (“coach marks”) around the next step to be performed to help clarify each step. The Guide will inform you if you do not perform the task correctly.
Page 140: Chapter 4 The Settings Panel
Chapter 4 The Settings Panel This chapter explains how to use the settings panel: the central location for settings OmniPage Pro uses to process your documents. The settings panel includes: • Scanner Options • Images Options • Zones Options • OCR Options •...
Page 141: Settings Panel Overview
Settings Panel Overview Settings Panel Overview To open the settings panel, choose Settings Panel... in the Settings menu or click the settings panel button in the AutoOCR toolbar. Click each icon to view and select different settings panel options. Click the icons in the scroll box on the left side of the settings panel to access seven different sets of options.
Page 142 Settings Panel Overview Click the Spelling icon to select dictionaries and spell checking options. Click the Preferences icon to select options that customize general OmniPage Pro operations. Selecting Settings Panel Options You can change the selected settings panel options at any time. After selecting options, you can close the settings panel or leave it open.
Page 143: Scanner Options
Scanner Options Scanner Options Click the Scanner icon in the settings panel to select options that control the way your scanner scans a page. Option-click the Image button in the AutoOCR toolbar (if it’s set to Scan Image) to automatically open the settings panel to Scanner options. Page Options Select Page options to describe your page's size and orientation.
Page 144: Adf Options
Scanner Options Orientation The Orientation pop-up menu lets you select the orientation of the pages you are scanning. Be sure to load them correctly in the scanner. Select Portrait for a vertically-oriented page. Select Landscape for a horizontally-oriented page. Select Flipped to automatically rotate a portrait page image 180 degrees. Select Flipscape to automatically rotate a landscape page image 180 degrees.
Page 145: Options
Scanner Options If you do not select Scan Until Empty, OmniPage Pro will only scan the first page in the ADF and you will need to click the AUTO button to process each subsequent page. Double-sided Pages Select this to scan pages that are printed on both sides when OmniPage Pro performs automatic processing.
Page 146 Scanner Options 3D OCR with AnyPage Select this to combine 3D OCR and AnyPage technologies to get the best scanned image and OmniPage Pro’s highest recognition accuracy. This option is only available with supported grayscale scanners. AnyPage technology automatically determines the optimum brightness level for each area of text and graphics on a page.
Page 147 Scanner Options AnyPage and HP AccuPage technologies automatically adjust an image to get the optimum brightness level for each area of text and graphics on a page. Auto Brightness with AnyPage/HP AccuPage works well for most pages and is especially useful when you scan text on colored or shaded backgrounds.
Page 148: Images Options
Images Options Images Options Click the Images icon in the settings panel to select the input options for loading an image file. You can also Option-click on the Image button in the AutoOCR toolbar (if Load Image is selected) to open the Images settings panel. Orientation Select an orientation for the image in the Orientation pop-up menu.
Page 149: Zones Options
Zones Options Zones Options Click the Zones icon in the settings panel to select the zoning method that determines the flow of text during recognition. Option-click the Zone button in the AutoOCR toolbar (a document must be open for the button to be active) to automatically open the settings panel to Zones options.
Page 150: Single Column Or Table
Zones Options If True Page - Retain All Page Formatting is selected the graphics will appear in their original location. To retain graphics on the page when you select Automatic, you must select Retain Graphics in the settings panel OCR options. Otherwise, graphics will be discarded.
Page 151: Ocr Options
OCR Options OCR Options Click the OCR icon in the settings panel to select input and output options that assist OmniPage Pro during recognition and determine the format of the recognized document. Option-click the OCR button in the AutoOCR toolbar (a document must be open for the button to be active) to automatically open the settings panel to OCR options.
Page 152 OCR Options Training File The Training File pop-up menu lets you select a character training file that assists OmniPage Pro with text recognition of special characters. Any training files that you create appear in this list; the default setting is None.
Page 153: Use Language Analyst
OCR Options Use Language Analyst Select Use Language Analyst so that OmniPage Pro automatically performs word and character analysis during the recognition process to check spelling and replace unknown words with words that are most likely to be correct. The Language Analyst uses the main dictionary and information about language context and usage rules to evaluate words, compute likely errors, and determine replacement words.
Page 154: Retain Graphics
OCR Options Retain Graphics Select Retain Graphics if you want OmniPage Pro to retain original graphics such as photographs or diagrams in the recognized document. Retained graphics are placed at the bottom of a recognized document. If True Page - Retain All Page Formatting is selected the graphics will appear in their original location.
Page 155: Output Options
OCR Options Output Options Output options determine the way text and paragraph formatting will appear in the recognized document. You can select True Page - Retain All Page Formatting, Retain Font and Paragraph Formatting, or Ignore Fonts and All Formatting. The Retain Font and Paragraph Formatting and Ignore Fonts and All Formatting output options format recognized text in a single column.
Page 156 OCR Options This feature works best when the document is saved in particular file formats. These formats, listed in the Save As dialog box, are marked with a TP before the format name. You can manually set OmniPage Pro to reproduce different typefaces. See the More...
Page 157 OCR Options More... Click More... to bring up font and formatting options. • Select Use Hard Carriage Returns to insert a hard carriage return at the end of each line of text. This is useful with programming code and legal pages. •...
Page 158: Direct Options
OCR Options Direct Options Click the Direct icon in the settings panel to select processing and formatting options used when in Direct Input mode See Chapter 5, Direct Input, for a full explanation of Direct input mode.. Processing Options Begin Processing Automatically on Launch If you choose Begin Processing Automatically on Launch, the AUTO button is triggered automatically when you launch OmniPage Pro in Direct Mode.
Page 159 OCR Options These options only work if your word processor supports rich-text format (RTF) in the Clipboard. Otherwise only spaces and carriage returns are retained. More... Click More... to bring up other font and formatting options. • Select Use Hard Carriage Returns to insert a hard carriage return at the end of each line of text.
Page 160: Spelling Options
Spelling Options Spelling Options Click the Spelling icon in the settings panel to select dictionaries and spell checking options. Dictionaries OmniPage Pro uses the selected dictionaries for checking recognition and the Language Analyst. You can select one main dictionary and one user (personal) dictionary.
Page 161: Spell Checking Options
Spelling Options Spell Checking Options You can select the following spell checking options to be used by the Language Analyst and the check recognition process: • Ignore Acronyms • Ignore Proper Nouns • Ignore Abbreviations Ignore Acronyms OmniPage Pro will ignore a word with a capitalized letter followed by three or fewer letters of which at least one is capitalized (for example, HUD, USDA, BofA, etc.).
Page 162: Preferences Options
Preferences Options Preferences Options Click the Preferences icon in the settings panel to customize general OmniPage Pro operations. Save Page Image in OmniPage Document Select this to save original page images in OmniPage Documents. An image is the “picture” of text and/or graphics that appears in the image window when you scan a page or open an image file.
Page 163: Prompt Before Deleting Pages
Preferences Options Prompt Before Deleting Pages Select this if you want OmniPage Pro to prompt you before carrying out the Delete Current Page command. This gives you the option to cancel the operation before deleting a page. Save Settings on Quit Select this if you want to automatically save the current OmniPage Pro settings when you quit the program.
Page 164: Chapter 5 Direct Input
Chapter 5 Direct Input This chapter explains how to initiate OCR processing from an open application and paste recognized text directly from OmniPage Pro into that application. OmniPage Pro has a special Direct Input mode that can be initiated from any compatible application. Most commands and settings in Direct Input mode are the same as those found in the regular OmniPage Pro mode.
Page 165: Using Direct Input From Another Application
Using Direct Input from Another Application Using Direct Input from Another Application OmniPage Pro Direct is designed to make acquiring text very fast and simple by placing text directly into the application in which you are currently working. OmniPage Pro places an OmniPage Direct Input... command in the Apple menu.
Page 166 Using Direct Input from Another Application The Direct Input AutoOCR toolbar appears. AUTO button Paste button Zone button Image button OCR button Automatic processing begins immediately if you had selected Begin Processing Automatically on Launch in the Direct settings panel before initiating Direct Input. Select the appropriate process button settings and settings panel options for your document if you had not selected Begin Processing Automatically on Launch.
Page 167: Direct Input Mode Processing
Using Direct Input from Another Application Direct Input Mode Processing What OmniPage Pro does after the Direct Input AutoOCR toolbar appears depends on the settings you selected. See Chapter 3, Commands and Settings, and Chapter 4, The Settings Panel, for detailed information on how your settings affect OCR output . Acquiring an Image When No Image is Open Automatic processing begins immediately if you selected Begin Processing Automatically on Launch in the Direct settings panel.
Page 168 Using Direct Input from Another Application Zoning There are at least two options under the Zone process button, Auto Zones and Manual Zones. There may also be zone templates if you have created and saved any. See “Save Zone Template...” on page 3-18. The Zone button is active when either Auto Zones or a specific zone template is selected.
Page 169: Selecting Settings For Direct Input
Selecting Settings for Direct Input Selecting Settings for Direct Input It is always important to select the right settings before processing. Use the settings panel, the AutoOCR toolbar, and the menu items to set your processing options before scanning a page or loading an image. The Direct Settings Panel Choose Settings Panel...
Page 170 Selecting Settings for Direct Input OCR Options • Retain Graphics Direct Input mode ignores graphics. Use the regular OmniPage Pro mode if you want to save graphics on a page. • Output Options Use the Direct settings panel to set output formatting options such as whether to retain font and paragraph styles.
Page 171: The Direct Input Autoocr Toolbar
Selecting Settings for Direct Input The Direct Input AutoOCR Toolbar The Direct Input AutoOCR toolbar has an extra process button and no shortcut command buttons. AUTO button Zone button Paste button Image button OCR button Most of its functions are the same as those in the regular OmniPage Pro mode.
Page 172 Selecting Settings for Direct Input Process your document or image file in the regular OmniPage Pro mode if you need to use either the OCR and Check, Train OCR, or Defer OCR command. Paste Button Use this button to choose a destination for your recognized text. •...
Page 173: The Direct Input Menus
Selecting Settings for Direct Input The Direct Input Menus Direct Input mode includes many of the same menus and commands as the regular OmniPage Pro mode: • File menu • Edit menu • Process menu • Settings menu • Window menu This section describes commands found only in Direct Input mode.
Page 174: Chapter 6 Editing Recognized Documents
Chapter 6 Editing Recognized Documents The OmniPage Pro editor is designed for quick and efficient editing of any errors in your recognized document. You can also use the Image Assistant 24-bit color and image-editing program to edit graphics. Remember that OmniPage Pro is designed to be used in conjunction with word-processing and desktop publishing applications, not to replace them.
Page 175: Choices Before Ocr
Choices Before OCR Choices Before OCR The choices you make before OmniPage Pro performs OCR have a significant impact on the format and accuracy of your recognized document. In particular, the following factors are important: • OCR Output Options • Font Options •...
Page 176 Choices Before OCR True Page - Retain All Page Formatting Select True Page - Retain All Page Formatting as the OCR output option if you want your recognized document to match the original page layout as closely as possible. True Page attempts to reproduce the following during page recognition: •...
Page 177 Choices Before OCR Retain Fonts and Paragraph Formatting Select Retain Fonts and Paragraph Formatting as the OCR output option if you want your recognized document to retain the font characteristics and paragraph formatting of the original document. With this option, OmniPage Pro retains the following formatting attributes: •...
Page 178: Retaining Graphics
Choices Before OCR Retaining Graphics You can retain graphics, such as photos or diagrams, in your original document. To do so, select Retain Graphics in the settings panel OCR options before recognition. Select this to retain graphics. Retained graphics are placed at the bottom of a recognized page unless True Page - Retain All Page Formatting is selected.
Page 179: Language Analyst
Choices Before OCR You must have at least 9MB free RAM to run OmniPage Pro and Image Assistant simultaneously. A Power Mac with virtual memory turned off requires at least 11MB free RAM. Language Analyst The Language Analyst uses information about language context and usage rules to evaluate characters and words during the recognition process.
Page 180: Language Selections
Choices Before OCR Language Selections For the best recognition results, be sure to select the appropriate language(s) for your document. OmniPage Pro supplies the appropriate characters (such as circumflexes, umlauts, etc.) for recognizing the following languages: • Danish • Dutch •...
Page 181: Dictionary Selections
Choices Before OCR To select languages, follow these steps: Choose Select Languages... in the Settings menu. The Select Languages dialog box appears. Click the preferred language to select it. The selected language is highlighted. • Command-click each additionally desired language. •...
Page 182 Choices Before OCR Select main and user dictionaries in the settings panel Spelling options. OmniPage Pro is delivered with the US English main dictionary. To order dictionaries for additional languages, call your local Caere distributor or call Caere at (800) 654-1187. You can create your own user dictionaries.
Page 183 Choices Before OCR Enter a name for your dictionary and click New. The Edit User Dictionary dialog box appears. Add words to the dictionary directly or import words from a text file. • Type a word in the New Word edit box and click Add to add the word to your dictionary.
Page 184: Editing Options After Ocr
Editing Options After OCR Editing Options After OCR Your recognized document appears in the text window after OmniPage Pro performs OCR. At this point, you can: • Check recognition. • Verify recognized text with the original image. Overview of the Text Window You can use various editing tools in the text window to edit your recognized document.
Page 185 Editing Options After OCR To see the original image, be sure Save Page Images in OmniPage Document is selected in the settings panel Preferences options before you recognize an image. You can do one of the following for a flagged word: •...
Page 186: Verifying The Image
Editing Options After OCR Verifying the Image You can compare text in your recognized document with the original page image. To verify images, be sure Save Page Images in OmniPage Document is selected in the settings panel Preferences options before you recognize an image.
Page 187: Drag And Drop Support
Editing Options After OCR the Clipboard as ASCII text and graphics are copied as PICTs. If you select both text and graphics, only the text is copied. The current document remains unchanged (the text is not written out to disk), and the Text Window is not opened.
Page 188: Saving A Recognized Document
Saving a Recognized Document Saving a Recognized Document Use the Save As... command in the File menu or click the Save As process button to save your recognized document to the desired file format. To save your recognized document in more than one file format, you can: •...
Page 189 Saving a Recognized Document 6-16 Editing Recognized Documents...
Page 190: Chapter 7 Improving Performance
Chapter 7 Improving Performance You can make OmniPage Pro run faster and recognize text more accurately by learning how to use a few different settings. Improve OmniPage Pro’s speed by: • Selecting Manual Brightness. • Turning off the Language Analyst feature. •...
Page 191: Improving Speed
Improving Speed Improving Speed Computing power is what affects speed the most. A 68040 computer is dramatically faster than a 68030. Also, as with most CPU-intensive programs, more memory is better and real memory is faster than virtual memory. OmniPage Pro is designed to run automatically, making text recognition easy and effortless.
Page 192 Improving Speed Click the Scanner icon in the left side of the Setting Panel. Select the Manual Brightness option and adjust the control to lighten or darken the setting. If text characters on your document tend to be thick and overlapping, adjust the brightness control towards Lighten.
Page 193 Improving Speed The following figure shows how well-formed characters appear in the Character Window. No special brightness adjustment is needed. The following figure shows how thin, broken characters appear in the Character Window. Try adjusting the brightness control toward Darken and rescan.
Page 194: Language Analyst
Improving Speed Language Analyst The Language Analyst feature uses information about language context and usage rules to evaluate characters, compute likely errors, and determine replacement words. It improves text recognition on difficult documents considerably. However, if you scan high-quality documents with crisp, black letters printed on white paper, recognition is faster with the Language Analyst deselected.
Page 195: Saving Page Images
Improving Speed Saving Page Images You must select Save Page Image in OmniPage Document in the settings panel Preferences options in order to: • Retain graphics. • Verify recognized text with the image. • Re-recognize pages. • Defer recognition. However, writing page images to disk takes extra processing time. To speed up processing and save disk space, deselect Save Page Image in OmniPage Document if you don’t need to do the above operations.
Page 196: Improving Accuracy
Improving Accuracy Improving Accuracy If you scan typeset, high-quality printed pages, you will probably find that OmniPage Pro recognizes text perfectly: the text that appears in your word processor matches the text in the scanned page letter for letter. With lesser-quality pages, text-recognition accuracy will be poorer. These factors most affect text-recognition accuracy: •...
Page 197: Scanner And Ocr Options
Improving Accuracy Scanner and OCR Options The settings panel Scanner and OCR Options are your most powerful means to improving text-recognition accuracy. Scanner Options Scanner Options The 3D OCR with AnyPage feature recognizes text most accurately on the widest range of documents: faxes, copies of copies, etc. This setting, when used with the Language Analyst, provides OmniPage Pro’s best recognition accuracy.
Page 198: Scanning Angle
Improving Accuracy OCR Options Language Analyst The Language Analyst feature uses information about language context and usage rules to evaluate characters, compute likely errors, and determine replacement words. It improves text recognition on difficult documents considerably. Scanning Angle Make sure that the document is positioned correctly in your scanner and is not slanted.
Page 199: Scanner Glass Clarity
Improving Accuracy Scanner Glass Clarity The sheet of glass on the flatbed of the scanner must be clear. If it gets dirty, wipe it gently with a soft, damp, lint-free cloth or tissue. Be sure it is completely dry before you put pages on it. Make sure to remove a page from the flatbed before you use a scanner’s automatic document feeder (ADF).
Page 200: Chapter 8 Technical Information
Chapter 8 Technical Information Although OmniPage Pro is designed to be easy to use, problems sometimes occur. Many of the alert dialog boxes contain self- explanatory error messages that tell you what to do — check connections, quit other applications to free up memory, and so on. Sometimes that will be all the troubleshooting help you need.
Page 201: Before You Begin
Before You Begin Before You Begin Before you begin troubleshooting, make sure that all your equipment is connected and functioning properly. Refer to your scanner manual and to the OmniPage Pro Installation and Release Notes to verify all scanner connections. Run through the following checklist and eliminate these potential problems.
Page 202 Before You Begin Sample used in the Tutorials, for example, uses approximately 160K of disk space after being recognized and saved as an OmniPage Document. Longer or more complex documents will require more. An alert box informs you if you try to perform a function for which there is not enough disk space.
Page 203: Installation
Installation Installation Problems rarely occur during installation if you make sure your system is set up properly and that you have enough hard disk space. Installation problems you may encounter that are not addressed in this section may be caused by a bad OmniPage Pro disk. Contact Caere Product Support if this is the case.
Page 204 Installation Virus Protection Some virus-protection software can interfere with the installation of your OmniPage Pro software. Disable your virus-protection software before installing OmniPage Pro. Often this is a Control Panel device. Or, start your Macintosh with extensions off by holding down the Shift key while your Macintosh starts up.
Page 205: Ocr Problems
OCR Problems OCR Problems This section covers the following topics: • Slow OCR • Text-Recognition Accuracy Factors • Train OCR • Saving Multi-Page Text Files Slow OCR A number of factors can slow the OCR process: Low memory See “Not Enough Memory” on page 8-13. Virtual Memory turned on See “Not Enough Memory”...
Page 206 OCR Problems If the sample page also scans in poorly, you may have a problem with your scanner. Make sure the page was properly aligned in the scanner. Check the scanner glass for dust, smudges, or scratches. Contact your scanner manufacturer if the glass is clean and the scanner otherwise seems to be in working order.
Page 207 OCR Problems Train OCR OmniPage Pro can create a training file only for languages that use the Roman alphabet (used by English, Spanish, and most other Western languages). Cyrillic, for example, cannot be used to create training files. Even if you were to translate each non-Roman alphabet character into its corresponding Roman alphabet character, OmniPage Pro could not use those specified characters to “translate”...
Page 208 OCR Problems If the page has continuous text wider than eight inches across the page (such as a wide paragraph), recognize it as a single zone and adjust the right margin in your word processor. Or, choose Page Setup in your word processor and set the page orientation to Landscape.
Page 209 OCR Problems Combine the resulting spreadsheet files in Excel using cut and paste commands. Start with a file that has the cell format that you want; cut and pasted material should conform to this format. 8-10 Technical Information...
Page 210: Scanner Problems
Scanner Problems Scanner Problems One of several common problems could be the cause if you receive an error message while scanning or if your Macintosh cannot find the scanner. Check for the following: • Your scanner should be plugged in, turned on, and have all cables properly attached.
Page 211 Scanner Problems Cable Terminator — Question Mark on Startup If a question mark icon appears when you start up your computer, determine first whether the problem is caused by your scanner or by your Macintosh. Turn off your Macintosh, disconnect the scanner and any other SCSI devices (CD ROM, external hard drives) from your Macintosh, and restart the computer.
Page 212 Scanner Problems Unsuccessful Startup An unsuccessful start-up means that the most recently connected device is causing a problem. Make sure that: • Each SCSI device has a unique SCSI number setting. See “SCSI ID Setting” on page 8-15. • The last SCSI device on the chain is properly terminated as described above.
Page 213 Scanner Problems Restart both your computer and your scanner to clear up memory. Sometimes restarting your computer is the only way to clear fragmented memory. Restart your scanner as well so that it resets itself to the proper default state. (Do this also if your computer has hung or crashed.) Increase OmniPage Pro’s Memory Partition See “Scanning failed...”...
Page 214 Scanner Problems Scanner Driver A scanner driver is a small Extension file used by the Macintosh to communicate with your scanner. Scanner drivers should be placed or installed in the Extensions folder in the System Folder on your hard drive. If for some reason the driver is not in your Extensions folder, you must install it.
Page 215 Scanner Problems Some programs, such as the control panel SCSIProbe™, check the SCSI port and verify that your Macintosh recognizes each device attached to the SCSI chain and that each device has a unique SCSI ID setting. If your scanner is the last item on an SCSI chain with several devices, the other devices must be turned on.
Page 216: Scanning - Document Color And Quality
Scanning — Document Color and Quality Scanning — Document Color and Quality High-quality documents return better recognition results than low- quality documents. You must take the color and quality of your document into account when scanning. Shaded, colored, or low-quality documents (faint, broken, or smudged text) can provide poor recognition accuracy unless adjustments are made before scanning.
Page 217: Supported Export File Formats
Supported Export File Formats Supported Export File Formats OmniPage Pro can save files in the following file formats: ASCII Text ASCII Text with Line Breaks Excel 3.0, 4.0 FrameMaker (MIF) 4.0, 5.0 HTML MacWrite II MacWrite Pro MET (Save a file in OmniPage Document format to reopen and continue working with it in OmniPage Pro.) Microsoft RTF 1.0, 2.0 Microsoft Word 5.0, 6.0...
Page 218: Error Messages
Error Messages Error Messages Many of OmniPage Pro’s alert dialog boxes contain self-explanatory error messages and offer a solution to the problem — check connections, quit other applications to free up memory, and so on. The following error messages have been explained in more detail for you. They are listed alphabetically.
Page 219 Error Messages can create an alias for OmniPage Pro by choosing Make Alias in the File menu in the Finder. Place the alias wherever you like and use it to launch the OmniPage program. If the OCR Data file is missing from the OmniPage Pro folder, perform a search for it (choose Find...
Page 220 Error Messages You decrease the amount of free RAM available when you increase any application’s partition size. Unable to display the Verification Window for this text — the image isn’t available. Please check your selection in the Preferences options in the Settings Panel. You must select the Save Page Images in OmniPage Document option in the Preferences section of the settings panel before scanning and recognizing the page.
Page 221: Caere Product Support
Caere Product Support Caere Product Support Product support is available if you need help. This chapter describes common problems you may encounter. Check the index or table of contents to find the information you need — you may be able to save yourself a phone call.
Page 222: International Support
Caere Product Support International Support These numbers are for registered international users. Users in the United Kingdom Only (44) (01) 44 222 7411 — Phone (44) (01) 44 222 7412 — Fax (44) (01) 44 222 7413 — BBS Users in Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg (49) (0) 2208-71737 —...
Page 223 Caere Product Support 8-24 Technical Information...
Page 224: Glossary
Glossary 3D OCR™ A technology developed by Caere that uses grayscale information to correctly recognized scanned characters. Active window The foremost window on the desktop; the window where the next action will take place. An active window's title bar is highlighted.
Page 225 Glossary Cancel button A button that appears in a dialog box. Clicking it cancels the command. Character style A set of stylistic variations, such as bold, italic, and underline. Configuration The total combination of hardware components: central processing unit, video display device, keyboard, and peripheral devices that make up a computer system.
Page 226 Glossary Expansion slot A narrow socket into which you can install a peripheral or coprocessor board. Sometimes called a peripheral slot. Fax Short for facsimile machine. Faxes scan a page, convert the image into digital data, and send the data over a phone line to another fax or computer.
Page 227 Glossary a system communicates with another. Also, the point of communication between a person and a computer, the human interface. Interface card A peripheral card that implements a particular connection (such as a parallel or serial connection) by which the computer can communicate with a peripheral device such as a printer or modem.
Page 228 Glossary Optical character recognition The technology used to automatically transfer printed text into a computer so that the text can be edited and used without retyping. During OCR, OmniPage looks for and defines characters on an image to produce editable text. You can export the recognized text from OmniPage for use in a wide variety of word- processor, page layout, and spreadsheet programs.
Page 229 Glossary Resolution The fineness with which a scanner, printer or other device stores or prints information. It is expressed in dots per inch (dpi) - a 300 dpi printer can place up to 300 dots in a one-inch line. Save To store information by transferring it from main memory (RAM) to a storage device.
Page 230 Appendix A Apple Event Support OmniPage Pro is an Apple Event-aware application, which means it understands the four required Apple Events and a custom ‘suite’ of Apple Events that allows other applications to control it. The driving application can ask OmniPage Pro to recognize a scanned image or image file and return the recognized text in several different word processor formats.
Page 231 Apple Event Support Required Apple Events OmniPage Pro supports the four required Apple Events: • Open (launch) application Event Class ‘aevt’ Event ID ‘oapp’ • Quit application Event Class ‘aevt’ Event ID ‘quit’ • Open Document Event Class ‘aevt’ Event ID ‘odoc’ •...
Page 232 Apple Event Support Custom Apple Events OmniPage Pro’s Apple Event suite works in conjunction with the Batch Processing dialog in OmniPage Pro. The Batch Processing dialog contains a list of OCR ‘jobs’ you create. A job consists of an image file to recognize, its output format type (e.g.
Page 233 Apple Event Support set output file to “file name” Event Class ‘ocr3’ Event ID ‘oufl’ Parameter: keyword: ‘data’ descriptor type: TEXT data: full path name of the output file Returns: descriptor type: long data: kAESuccess if the path is valid kAEInvalidFileName if the path is not valid Set output file takes as a parameter a string which specifies either a name...
Page 234 Apple Event Support been completed. Once recognition is complete, the text is saved with the file name and format specified using the set output file and set output format calls. You can scan and recognize multiple pages with this function if your scanner has an ADF, by making sure ADF-Scan Until Empty setting is on, and the scanned and recognized pages are saved as one document.
Page 235 Apple Event Support get status Event Class ‘ocr3’ Event ID ‘gets’ Returns: descriptor type: long data: kAEJobInProgress if OmniPage Pro is currently working on a job or document (loading, zoning, or recognizing) kAEJobIsOpen if a document or job is open, and OmniPage Pro is waiting for input from the user kAESuccess if there is no job or...
Page 236 Apple Event Support Return Values There are six possible return values from the Apple Event calls: • #define kAESuccess • #define kAEJobInProgress • #define kAEJobIsOpen • #define kAEInvalidFileName • #define kAEInvalidOutputType • #define kAEJobAddedToQueue • #define kAEJobQueueIsFull Appendix A-7...
Page 237 Apple Event Support A Sample Script If you want to use Apple’s Script Editor to control OmniPage Pro via Apple Events, the following is an example script to get you started. This script assumes you have a TIFF file to recognize called “Test Tiff” on your hard disk called “HD.”...
Page 238 Index Symbols Arrow buttons 2-35, 3-35, 3-38 Automatic zoning method 2-31 ~ character 3-25, 6-11 Assigning a zone contents file 3-35, 3-37 Numerics Back-up file Auto Brightness with AnyPage/HP 3D OCR for multi-page file 8-8 AccuPage 8-17 scanner setting 4-7 Batch Processing dialog box 2-62, relationship to performance using with HP scanners 1-7...
Page 239 AUTO button 5-8 Characters, compensating for poor quality 7-3 Defer OCR command 3-10, 3-40 Click the AUTO button on Defer recognition launch option 5-3, 5-6 Charts 2-32, 2-44 Batch Processing dialog box Image button 5-4, 5-8 Check markers only (no 2-62 initiating from another spell-checking) 3-26...
Page 240 File names, appending numbers to Help Menu 3-57 Easy Installation 1-3 3-14, 3-15 Hide Markers 3-24 Files, saving 3-13, 3-14, 3-15 Hide/Show Status command 3-55 Edit menu 3-22 Financial forms 4-11 Hide/Show Toolbar command 3-55 Edit Training File... command 3-50 Finish 3-43 Highlighted words 3-25, 6-11 Edit User Dictionary dialog box...
Page 241 Manual Zoning Page Sample Image files 3-31 saving 4-24 description of 3-11 selecting 3-49, 6-8 recognize part of a document 2-35–2-37 loading 3-5 Large files zone tools 2-34–2-35 opening 3-12 saving 8-8 Manually drawn zones saving 3-14 Launching OmniPage Pro 1-8 Images Options 2-17 Legal documents and automatic orientation 4-13...
Page 242 Opening OmniPage Document file defer recognition 2-60–2-62 Newspaper articles, scanning 4-10 open OmniPage Pro 2-3 3-11, 3-12 Opening image file 3-11, 3-31 Newspapers 2-31 overview 2-3–2-5 Optimizing performance 7-1 No configuration found Settings Panel 2-5 Options, brightness 4-6 message 1-6 text window 2-8 None zoning method 2-32 toolbar 2-4...
Page 243 Previous OmniPage Pro versions Reducing a zone 3-36 document containing deferred saving user dictionaries from Reference 3-58 page(s) 3-10 Register edited user dictionary 3-54, 6-10 using files from 8-5 OmniPage Pro 1-8 files 3-13, 3-14, 4-3 Print... command 3-20 Registration image files 3-13 Printer setup and related options benefits of 1-9...
Page 244 Special characters, training to save options 2-53–2-54 Ignore Fonts and all Formatting speed 4-7 option 2-19, 2-51 recognize 3-10, 3-41, 3-50 Specialized characters use AUTO button 2-53 in Direct Input 5-6–5-7 see OCR training file use automatic document feeder load settings 2-52 Specify Character dialog box 3-42, 2-53–2-54 OCR options 2-18–2-19, 4-12...
Page 245 Switching pages 3-27 in Direct Input 5-8–5-9 create OmniPage Pro alias 8-20 Symbols OCR button 2-14 error messages 8-19–8-21 see OCR training file processing buttons 3-2 handwritten documents 8-7, 8-8 System Save As... button 2-11, 2-26 hard disk space 8-2–8-3, 8-4, version 8-2 shortcut command buttons 2-4, 8-23...
Page 246 Upgrade versions 1-3 template files 3-18, 3-38 drawing manually 3-35 Use Language Analyst option 4-14 templates 3-8, 3-34, 3-38, 3-39 enlarging 3-36 Use Zone Template... command window 3-30 erasing 3-34, 3-37 3-38–3-39 Zone borders, moving 3-36 maximum possible 3-35 User Dictionary 2-9, 2-20 Zone button 3-3 moving 3-36 User dictionary...

NUANCE OMNIPAGE PRO 6 - REFERENCE MANUAL FOR MACINTOSH Reference Manual

Chapter 1 Installation

Chapter 2 Tutorials

Chapter 3 Commands and Settings

Chapter 4 The Settings Panel

Chapter 5 Direct Input

Chapter 6 Editing Recognized Documents

Chapter 7 Improving Performance

Chapter 8 Technical Information

Glossary

Quick Links

Need help?

Questions and answers

Related Manuals for NUANCE OMNIPAGE PRO 6 - REFERENCE MANUAL FOR MACINTOSH

Summary of Contents for NUANCE OMNIPAGE PRO 6 - REFERENCE MANUAL FOR MACINTOSH

Table of Contents