Optical Character Recognition Program ® ABBYY FineReader Version 8.0 User’s Guide © 2005 ABBYY Software House. All rights reserved.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not bear any commitment on the part of ABBYY. The software described in this document is supplied under a license agreement. The software may only be used or copied in strict accordance with the terms of the agreement.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Contents Welcome!.......................................................................................................................... 4 What’s New in ABBYY FineReader 8.0 ............................................................................... 5 Chapter 1 Working with ABBYY FineReader ..................................................................... 7 Installing and Starting ABBYY FineReader..................................................................
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Welcome! Thank you for purchasing ABBYY FineReader! Electronic documents are becoming increasingly prevalent. However, business contracts, books and periodicals are still printed and millions of people use ABBYY FineReader to convert hard–copy documents into electronic formats. ABBYY FineReader gives you the edge by providing full control over printed information: you can quickly transform any printed text or PDF file into an editable format and re–use their content.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide What’s New in ABBYY FineReader 8.0 Compared to the previous version, ABBYY FineReader 8.0 introduces a variety of improvements and new features to increase your productivity when working with scanned documents, images, PDF files, and faxes.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Opening multi–page PDF and TIFF files If you do not need the entire document converted, you can open only selected pages of your multi–page PDF or TIFF files in ABBYY FineReader 8.0. ABBYY Screenshot Reader (available in ABBYY FineReader 8.0 Professional Edition after registration, available by default in ABBYY FineReader 8.0 Corporate Edition) This simple and easy–to–use utility allows you to grab a part of the screen and recognize the text in the captured image.
ABBYY FineReader 8.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Installing and Starting ABBYY FineReader This chapter provides detailed instructions on installing ABBYY FineReader, outlines the system requirements of the program and offers instructions for installing the program on workstations and networks. ABBYY FineReader 8.0 includes a specialized installation program that automates the setup process. To ensure proper installation, always use the ABBYY FineReader CD–ROM for installation.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide ● manually in interactive mode To install ABBYY FineReader 8.0 Corporate Edition on the server: 1. Insert the ABBYY FineReader CD–ROM into the CD–ROM drive. 2. Run Adminsetup.exe from the ABBYY FineReader CD–ROM.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Click the arrow at the right of the Scan&Read button and select the Scan&Read item in the local menu. ABBYY FineReader will scan and read the images. The scanned image will appear in the Image window and the recognition results will be displayed in the Text window of the main window. Setting Scanning Parameters Recognition quality depends greatly on the quality of the scanned image.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Scanning Multi–Page Documents ABBYY FineReader offers a specialized scanning mode (Scan Multiple Images) for more convenient scanning of a large amounts of pages. To enable this mode, select the Scan multiple images option on the Scan/Open tab of the Options dialog (menu Tools>Options). However, note the following: ● If you use the ABBYY FineReader TWAIN interface, scanning will be continuous, i.e.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Opening Images and PDF Files You can recognize image files without using a scanner (see the list of supported image formats under "Supported Image Formats"). To open an image: ● Click on the downward–pointing arrow to the right of the 1–Scan button and select the Open Image item in the local menu. An Open caption will replace the Scan caption on the button. ● Select Open Image from the File menu.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Before taking shots... 1. Make sure that the page fits entirely within the frame and no unwanted objects are visible. 2. Make sure that lighting is evenly distributed across the page and there are no dark areas or shadows. 3. Straighten out the page if required and position the camera parallel to the plane of the document so that the lens looks to the center of the text being photographed.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide ISO Speed In poor lighting conditions, be sure to select a higher ISO setting. Focus Autofocus may not work properly in poor lighting conditions. If this is the case, focus the camera manually. White Balance If your camera allows, use a white sheet of paper to set white balance. Otherwise, select the white balance mode which best suits the current lighting conditions.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide ● ● In the dialog that opens, either select the type of the image (scanned image, faxed image, or screenshot) or select Other resolution and type in the exact resolution of the image. Select Selected images to change the resolution of the selected images. Select All images in batch to change the resolution of all the images in the batch. The latter option is recommended for images obtained from one and the same source.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Increase/Decrease image scale ● ● Select / on the Image bar (from the Image window) and click on the image. The image scale will double/halve. Right–click the image and select Scale. Choose the desired scale (by percentage) from the local menu. Get image information You can obtain a number of parameters about your image: image width and height in pixels; vertical and horizontal resolution per inch (dpi); and image type.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide 1. 2. Only a part of a page needs to be recognized; Automatic layout analysis has drawn blocks incorrectly. ● In some cases, the quality of the automatic layout analysis can be improved by changing the page layout analysis options. To view the current layout analysis options, go to the Read tab, Tools>Options menu.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Click this button to start the recognition of an open image. To change the button mode click the arrow at the right of it and select the necessary item in the local menu. Table analysis options Usually, the application divides tables into rows and columns automatically. If additional tuning of table options is needed, open the Legacy Options dialog and in the Read group select the desired item. (To open the Legacy Options dialog, click the Legacy Options...
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Drawing and Editing Blocks Manually To create a new block: 1. Select one of the following tools: – to draw a recognition area; – to draw a text block; – to draw a picture block; – to draw a table block. 2. Position the mouse at the point where you want a corner of your block to be. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse pointer to the point where you want the opposite block corner to be. 3. Release the mouse button.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide 3. If necessary, move the block border. Note: 1. You can alter block borders by adding new nodes (splitting points). Use the mouse to move split border segments in any direction. To add a new node, press SHIFT, place the mouse pointer to where you want a new node (the pointer will become a cross) and click on the border. A new node will be created. 2. ABBYY FineReader imposes certain limitations on block form.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide – Remove a separator If the table cell only contains a picture, select the Treat cell as picture item in the Block Properties dialog (menu View>Properties). If the table cell contains both text and pictures, draw a separate picture block (or blocks) inside the cell. To merge table cells or rows: ● Select the Merge Cells or Merge Rows item in the Image>Table Cells menu. Note: You can split previously merged cells using the Split Cells command (Image>Table Cells menu).
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Note: When you perform OCR on a page that has already been recognized, recognition will only be carried out on new or modified blocks. Recognition Languages ABBYY FineReader recognizes both mono– and multilingual (e.g. English and French) documents. To set the text recognition language, select it in the drop–down list on the Standard toolbar. To recognize a multi–lingual document: 1. Select the Select multiple languages item in the language list on the Standard toolbar.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Note: Once you have completed recognition of typewritten texts or dot matrix printouts, remember to re–enable the Autodetect item to recognize normal texts once again. Other Recognition Options Recognition mode ABBYY FineReader 8.0 allows you to choose speed or quality during the recognition process.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Note: Background recognition mode uses recognition options active at the moment it was started. Recognition with Training As previously mentioned, ABBYY FineReader can read texts set in practically any font regardless of print quality. Consequently, no prior training is normally required before recognition can take place. ABBYY FineReader, nevertheless, features a number of user pattern training tools. Train User Pattern mode may come in useful when: 1.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Training to recognize a character: The frame in the top dialog window should enclose a single character, and this character must be fully enclosed by the frame. If the frame encloses only part of a character or more than one character, click the frame borders and move them so that the above– and buttons move the frame border as well (and are useful for training italic symbols stated requirements are met. The – see below).
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide 1. 2. 3. Select the Pattern Editor item in the Tools menu. The Pattern Editor dialog will open. Select the necessary pattern and click the Edit button in the dialog. The User Pattern dialog will open. Select a character and click the Properties button to edit the character caption and set the correct typeface: italic, bold, subscript or superscript. You may also click the Delete button to remove incorrectly trained characters from the batch.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Note: The spelling checker will consider user dictionary words to be correct if they are found in the text in one of the following capitalizations: dictionary set capitalization; lowercase only; uppercase only; first letter – capital, remaining letters small.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide 2. By default, the newly created user language group will be saved in the batch folder. In the case of ABBYY FineReader Corporate Edition, you can specify the destination folder. For more information on group work with user languages and dictionaries, see "Group work with the same user languages and user dictionaries". Checking and Editing Text Once recognition is over, you will see the recognized text displayed in the Text window.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide ● ● Click the Ignore button to leave the word unchanged. Click the Ignore All button to leave all such words in the text unchanged. Note. When you click the Ignore or Ignore All button, the "uncertain" flag is removed from the word, i.e. the system assumes that the word no longer contains any unrecognized or uncertain characters and no longer needs to be highlighted.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Set the following parameters in the Primary Form dialog: 1. Part of speech (Noun, Adjective, Verb, Uninflected). 2. If the word is to always begin with a capital letter, select the Proper name item. If you add an abbreviation, select the Abbreviation item. 3. The primary form of the word. Click OK. The Create Paradigm dialog will open. ABBYY FineReader will ask you questions about the word forms in order to be able to construct the paradigm of the word you wish to add.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide To change font size in draft mode: 1. Select the Options item in the Tools menu. 2. Set your preferred font size by selecting in the Draft editor font size item on the View tab. The ABBYY FineReader built–in editor is supplied with the following text editing features: Copy, cut, paste 1. Before you use the copy, cut, and paste commands, highlight the relevant text. 2.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide To redo an undone action: ● ● Redo button ● Either click the Redo button on the Standard toolbar, or Select the Redo item in the Edit menu, or Press CTRL+Y.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide ● ● ● Select Web page to link to an Internet page. In the Address field, specify the protocol and the URL of the page (e.g. http://www.abbyy.com); Select File to link to a file. Selecting this option opens the Open dialog where you need to provide the name of the file to which the hyperlink will lead; Select E–mail so that the user can send an e–mail message to the address in the hyperlink. In the Address field, specify the protocol and the e–mail address (e.g.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide ● ● Create a new file at each blank page – This option treats the entire batch as a set of page groups that contain a blank page at the end of each group. Pages from different groups are saved into different files with file names consisting of the user–specified name and index number: –1, –2, –3, etc. Create a single file for all pages – All (or all selected) batch pages are saved as a single file.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide ● ● Enable compatibility with Microsoft Word 95 This option allows the recognition results to be saved in Microsoft Word 95. Note: When saving in Microsoft Word 95, only the BMP image format is available for saving pictures. Enable ABBYY FineReader's Zoom window in Microsoft Word 2003 This option enables displaying ABBYY FineReader's Zoom window in Microsoft Word 2003.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide 1. 2. If you do not find a suitable paper size in the list, you can add your own – custom – paper size. In order to do this, select the Add custom paper size item from the list and in the dialog that appears specify the name, height and width for the custom paper size. If you want to retain the size of the original page, select the Keep original image size option.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide ● Use system fonts If this option is selected the PDF file refers to the standard fonts installed on the user's computer. By default ABBYY FineReader embeds the fonts into the resulting PDF document. Embedded fonts ensure that the PDF document looks exactly like the original regardless of where it is viewed or printed. However, embedded fonts increase file size. If you do not need to embed fonts to your PDF documents, clear the Embed fonts option. Tips. 1.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Retaining page layout Layout retention modes are set in the Retain layout group. The following choices are available: ● Original layout Select this option if you wish the recognition results to look exactly like the original document. Note: This option will not allow a lot of editing in the recognized text. It is most suitable for short artistic or brochure–like documents. ● Remove all formatting Only structure of tables and arrangement into paragraphs are retained.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Character encoding options ABBYY FineReader detects the code page automatically. To change the code page, select the code page of your choice or the code page type in the Character encoding group. Saving Recognized Text in PPT Format When saving the recognition results to PPT format, ABBYY FineReader automatically retains full page layout. All saving options for PPT format are set on the PPT tab in the Formats Settings dialog.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Text settings ● ● ● ● Keep line breaks This option saves the original arrangement into lines in the TXT format. Append to end of existing file This option appends the text to the end of an already existing TXT file. Imsert page break character (#12) as page separator This option saves the original document page arrangement in TXT format. Use blank line as paragraph separator If this option is selected the paragraphs will be separated by blank lines in the TXT file.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide ● ● Write tables as text This option converts table into text. Retain text and background color This option allows you to retain the original color of the text and background. Picture Settings If you wish to keep pictures in the recognized text, make sure that the Keep pictures option is set in the Picture settings group.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide ● ● Packbits is a lossless compression method suitable for scanned black–and–white images. LZW is a lossless compression method suitable for graphics and gray images. Note: In ABBYY FineReader 8.0, this compression method is only available for saving pictures together with recognized text. Adding Document Properties Document properties contain the title of the document, the name of its author, its subject and keywords.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Note: To tell ABBYY FineReader to open the last open batch at startup, check Open last batch at startup on the General tab of the Options dialog (Tools>Options). To open another batch: ). The Open Batch dialog will open. Select the Open Batch in the File menu or click the Open Batch button ( Select the appropriate folder in the Open Batch dialog. When you open a batch, ABBYY FineReader automatically closes and saves the previous batch.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide To delete a batch: ● Select Delete Batch in the Batch menu. To delete a batch page: 1. Select the page(s) you wish to delete in the Batch window. 2. Select Delete Page from Batch in the Batch menu or press DEL. Batch Settings To save batch settings in a file: ● Click on Save Options... on the General tab (Tools>Options). The Save Options As dialog will open. ● Enter the file name.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Note: If you want an automated task to use options which you do not normally use when recognizing documents, you can create a set of custom batch settings and load these settings before running the automated task. To create a set of custom batch settings, make the necessary settings in the Options dialog and on the General tab of this dialog, click Save Options... Next time before you run an automated task you can load the saved option set by click the Load Options...
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Button name New Export... Import... Modify Copy Delete Run Button description Creates a new automated task. The Automation Wizard will help you select the required steps and make the settings. Exports an automated task to a file which can be used on other computers. In the Export Automated Task dialog that opens, specify an *.fta file to which the automated task will be saved. Note: By default, ABBYY FineReader saves automated tasks in %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Appl
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Main steps The main steps are: acquiring images, recognition, and saving. One automated task may include only one step of acquiring images, one recognition step, and several saving steps. ● Acquiring images This is always the first step in an automated task. At this step, ABBYY FineReader gets images to be processed. Step Property Scan Images ABBYY FineReader uses the current Scans paper documents. batch settings to scan the images.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Save with specified names and to specified location If you select this property, you need to specify the following: 1. Output folder Specify the folder where the file(s) containing the recognized text will be saved. Check the Create time–stamped subfolder box if you wish ABBYY FineReader to create a new subfolder each time you run this task. This option is useful if you do not wish to specify the folder manually each time you run the task. 2.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide E–mail Images Attach as type Send as one multi–page image file Name ● Select the desired file format from the drop–down list. The selected images will be attached to an e–mail message. See the full list of the image file formats supported by ABBYY FineReader in “Supported Image Formats”. Select this option if you wish to save all the images into one multi–page file. Note: This option is available only for TIFF and PDF file formats. Specify the file name. Note.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide 5. 6. Select a step in the left–hand pane. The selected step will be displayed in the right–hand panel. The property of a step is displayed in a yellow field below. If you wish to change the default property, click the Change... link to the left and select a new property. 7. The saving steps have the Detele link that allows you to remove an unwanted step from your automated task.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Chapter 2 ABBYY Screenshot Reader ABBYY Screenshot Reader is an easy–to–use application which allows you to create screenshots and recognize texts. ABBYY Screenshot Reader features: ● OCR of text in any section of the computer screen. ● OCR of tables in any section of the screen. ● Creating screenshots of any section of the screen. ● Saving OCR results to a file, copying them to the Clipboard or sending them to another application.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Installing and Starting ABBYY Screenshot Reader Installing ABBYY Screenshot Reader By default, ABBYY Screenshot Reader is installed on your computer together with ABBYY FineReader 8.0. If during custom installation you chose not to install ABBYY Screenshot Reader, you can install the application by following the instructions below: 1. On the Windows taskbar, click Start and then select Settings>Control Panel. 2. In the list of installed programs, select ABBYY FineReader 8.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Table to Microsoft Excel Text to File Table to File . The mouse cursor will change to . Click Place the mouse cursor in a corner of the area you wish to select. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor diagonally to the opposite corner of the area you wish to select. The selected area will be enclosed in a frame and the program will automatically start the OCR procedure. 4.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Additional Options You can select additional options in the Options – ABBYY Screenshot Reader dialog. To open the Options – ABBYY Screenshot Reader dialog, click on the ABBYY Screenshot Reader toolbar. In this dialog you can: ● Select the recognition language to match the language of the text in the selected screen area. ● Select the Always on top box, to make the ABBYY Screenshot Reader toolbar appear always above the windows of other running applications.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Chapter 3 ABBYY Hot Folder & Scheduling ABBYY FineReader 8.0 now includes ABBYY Hot Folder & Scheduling, a scheduling agent. ABBYY Hot Folder & Scheduling allows you to select a folder with images and set the time for processing images in this folder. For example, you can schedule your computer to recognize images overnight.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Installing and Running ABBYY Hot Folder & Scheduling By default, ABBYY Hot Folder & Scheduling is installed on your computer together with ABBYY FineReader 8.0. If during custom installation you chose not to install Hot Folder & Scheduling, you can install the application by following the instructions below: 1. On the Windows taskbar, click Start and then select Settings>Control Panel. 2. Double–click the Add or Remove Programs icon in the Control Panel window. 3.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Delete Deletes a task. Run Starts processing the documents. Stop Stops a task. View Log Opens a log file for the selected folder which contains information about all the processing events. Options Additional ABBYY Hot Folder & Scheduling options. The ABBYY Hot Folder & Scheduling window displays a list of tasks. For each task, the full path to the hot folder is displayed, its current status and the scheduled processing time.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Step 2. Read All Images Here you need to select recognition options. Options available at step 2 1. In the Recognition language drop–down list, select the language of the texts on the images. Note: You can select more than one recognition language. 2. Under Recognition mode, select: ● Thorough (in this mode, ABBYY FineReader will read even poor quality images), or ● Fast (this mode is only recommended for images with good quality and simple layouts). 3.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Viewing Log Files To view a log file: 1. In the ABBYY Hot Folder & Scheduling main window, select a task for which you wish to see the log. 2. Click the View Log button on the toolbar. Additional Options for ABBYY Hot Folder & Scheduling Click the Options button on the toolbar to select additional ABBYY Hot Folder & Scheduling options.
ABBYY FineReader 8.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Supported Document Saving Formats ABBYY FineReader saves recognition results in the following formats: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Microsoft Word Document (*.DOC) Rich Text Format (*.RTF) Microsoft Word XML Document (*.XML) (Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 only) Adobe Acrobat Format (*.PDF) Hypertext Markup Language (*.HTML) Microsoft PowerPoint Format (*. PPT) Comma Separated Values (*.CSV) Plain Text (*.TXT).
ABBYY FineReader 8.
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ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Activation – The process of obtaining a special code from ABBYY which allows the user to use his copy of the software in full– function mode on a given computer. Activation Code – A code that is issued by ABBYY to each user of ABBYY FineReader Professional Edition during the activation procedure. The Activation Code is required to activate ABBYY FineReader on the computer that generated the Installation ID.
ABBYY FineReader 8.0 User’s Guide Optional hyphen – A hyphen (¬) that indicates exactly where a word or word combination should be split if it occurs at the end of a line (e.g. "autoformat" should be split to "auto–format"). ABBYY FineReader replaces all hyphens found in dictionary words with optional hyphens.
