8.0

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4. Setting Up the System for Capturing Fixed
Forms
ABBYY FlexiCapture 8.0 Professional allows you to capture and process fixed forms quickly and
efficiently. The process of working with fixed forms is as follows:
• Designing forms or making existing forms machine-readable;
• Creating a template: describing the geometrical layout of objects, specifying object properties,
creating verification and document assembly rules, setting up data export;
• Setting up the method for adding images and creating image import profiles;
• Document capture, which can start once all the necessary settings are in place.
4.1. Creating a fixed form template
The design of a paper form is very important because its appearance determines whether it is convenient
for a user to fill out this form and if the form is suitable for automated data capture. It must be clear to
the user where he or she is required to enter the necessary data, and such clarity significantly reduces the
risk of errors. When designing a form, you must try to make it as intuitive as possible to fill out. The
data entered should also be clearly discernable and easily recognizable.
If a form meets all data capture requirements it is machine-readable. Such forms have the following
properties:
• They possess anchors (or reference marks). These are special auxiliary elements, which help the
program determine the form orientation, match the template, and deskew the scanned image
where necessary. Anchors can be represented by black squares, crosses, or corners.
• All fields and graphic elements (separators, anchors, etc.) must be located in exactly the same
place on all copies of the form. All the forms of a given print batch must be created using a
single master copy.
• All explanatory information is positioned so as not to hinder the extraction of information from
data fields.
For more information about machine-readable form requirements, please see the ABBYY FlexiCapture
8.0 Professional Help file and the "Guide to Creating Machine-Readable Forms".
ABBYY FormDesigner 8.0 is a special tool for creating machine-readable forms and is supplied with
ABBYY FlexiCapture 8.0 Professional. For information on creating machine-readable forms in ABBYY
FormDesigner, please refer to the ABBYY FormDesigner Help file and User Guide. ABBYY
FormDesigner allows you to create machine-readable forms simply and easily. A form template created
in ABBYY FormDesigner can be imported into ABBYY FlexiCapture 8.0 Professional. You will then
have a complete layout of all data fields and graphical elements and only need specify the properties of
the fields and set up the export.
To make an existing form machine-readable, you need only make some slight design changes and add
certain element (in particular anchors). If you cannot change the blank forms for any reason, you can set
up the program so that it can process forms without anchors. You can use other form elements as
anchors, for example, vertical and horizontal lines, explanatory text, or barcodes. Template matching
will however be most efficient if you use standard anchors.