12.0

ABBYY FineReader 12 User’s Guide

Document Features to Consider Prior to OCR

The quality of images has a significant impact on recognition quality. This section explai ns what

factors you should take into account before recognizing images.

 Document languages

 Print type

 Print quality

 Color mode

Document languages

ABBYY FineReader recognizes both single– and multi–language documents (e.g. written in two or

more languages). For multi–language documents, you need to select several recognition languages.

To specify an OCR language for your document, in the Document Language drop–down list on

the main toolbar or in the Task window, select one of the following:

 Autoselect

ABBYY FineReader will automatically select the appropriate languages from the user–

defined list of languages. To modify this list:

1. Select More languages…

2. In the Language Editor dialog box, select the Automatically select document

languages from the following list option.

3. Click the Specify… button.

4. In the Languages dialog box, select the desired languages.

 A language or a combination of languages

Select a language or a language combination. The list of languages includes recently used

recognition languages, as well as English, German, and French.

 More languages…

Select this option if the language you need is not visible in the list.

In the Language Editor dialog box, select the Specify languages manually option and then

select the desired language or languages by checking the appropriate boxes. If you often use a

particular language combination, you can create a new group for these languages.

If a language is not in the list, it is either:

1. not supported by ABBYY FineReader, or

2. not supported by your copy of the software.

The complete list of languages available in your copy can be found in the Licenses

dialog box (Help > About… > License Info).

In addition to using built–in languages and language groups, you can create your own. For details,

see "If the Program Fails to Recognize Some of the Characters."

Print type

Documents may be printed on various devices such as typewriters and fax machines. OCR quality

can be improved by selecting the correct Document type in the Options dialog box.

For most documents, the program will detect the print type automatically. For automatic print type

detection, the Auto option must be selected under Document type in the Options dialog box

(Tools > Options…). You can process the document in full–color or black–and–white mode.

You may also choose to manually select the print type as needed.