ABBYY FineReader 6.0 OCR User guide

Award-winning OCR:

over 70 top industry awards worldwide

Recognized Leader

Greater Accuracy

Better performance

Easier to use

Optical Character Recognition Program

ABBYY FineReader

Version 6.0

User’s Guide

Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not bear any commitment

on the part of ABBYY Software House.

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. It is a breach of the "On legal

protection of software and databases" law of the Russian Federation and of international law to copy

the software onto any medium unless specifically allowed in the license agreement or nondisclosure

agreements.

No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any from or by any means, electronic or

other, for any purpose, without the express written permission of ABBYY Software House.

ABBYY, BIT Software, FineReader, «fontain image transformation», Lingvo, Scan&Read, Scan&Translate,

«one-button principle», «Your computer reads by itself» are registered trademarks of ABBYY; Try&Buy,

DOCFLOW are trademarks of ABBYY Software House.

Adobe

®

, Adobe Logo, Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) and Adobe Acrobat

®

are the registered

trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.

All other trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their legal owners. P.O. Box 72,

Moscow, 125015, Russia. ABBYY..

Contents

Chapter 1

Installing and Starting ABBYY FineReader

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Software and Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Installing ABBYY FineReader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Installation on a Network Server and on a Network Workstation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Starting ABBYY FineReader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Chapter 2

Quickstart

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

How to input a Document in less than a Minute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

The ABBYY FineReader Main Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

ABBYY FineReader Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Chapter 3

General Features of ABBYY FineReader

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

What is an OCR System? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

New Features of ABBYY FineReader 6.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Supported Document Saving Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Supported Image Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Chapter 4

Acquiring the Image

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Setting Scanning Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Tips on Brightness Tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Scanning Multi-page Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Opening Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Scanning Dual Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Adding images of business cards to a batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Working with The Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Page Numbering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Batch Image Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Chapter 5

Page Layout Analysis

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

General Information on Page Layout Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Block Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Automatic Page Layout Analysis Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Drawing and Editing Blocks Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Manual Table Layout Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Using Block Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide

Chapter 6

Recognition

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

General Information on Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Recognition Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Source Text Print Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Other Recognition Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Background Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Recognition with Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

How to Train a User Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

How to Edit a User Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

User Languages and Language Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

How to Create a New Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

How to Create a New Language Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Chapter 7

Checking and Editing Text

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Checking Text in ABBYY FineReader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Options for Checking and Editing Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Adding and Deleting Words To/from the User Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Editing Text in ABBYY FineReader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Editing Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Chapter 8

Saving into External Applications and Formats

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

General Information on Saving Recognized Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Text Saving Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Saving the Recognized Text in RTF and DOC Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Saving Recognized Text in PDF Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Saving Recognized Text in HTML Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Saving the Page Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Chapter 9

Working with Batches

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

General Information on Working with Batches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Creating a New Batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Opening a Batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Adding Images to A Batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Batch Page Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Closing a batch page or the whole batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Deleting a Batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Full-text Search in Recognized Batch Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Chapter 10

Network Document Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Work with the Same Batch over A Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Group Work with the Same User Languages and Dictionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Group Work with Customized Dictionaries (Languages with Dictionary Support ONLY) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Hot Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

1

WELCOME!

Thank you for choosing ABBYY FineReader!

We all need to input text into our computers from time to time, whether it be

newspaper/magazine articles, contracts, business letters, faxes, price lists, or questionnaires. For

years there was only one way to input printed documents – you had to type them in from the

keyboard. Remember the long hours you spent typing in text from one document or another?

What a great thing it would have been had the computer been able to read the text by itself,

straight from the sheet of paper.

Sometimes dreams do come true! FineReader Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software

enables your computer and scanner to do just this - to read printed text by themselves.

But can’t the scanner do the job on its own?

No. The scanner only takes a photograph of the text and converts it into a set of black and

white dots (an image file), which cannot be edited using word processing applications such as

MS Word, WordPerfect, Word Pro, etc. What is needed instead is an OCR system that looks for

symbols in each set of black and white dots, “recognizes” the letters in each symbol, and, final-

ly, converts the image into text that text editors and desktop systems are able to deal with.

So now I can input documents into my computer automatically?

Yes, now you can input documents into your computer automatically, without having to retype

them all out on your keyboard.

Enjoy!

2

ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide

User’s Guide

The User’s Guide introduces you to the basics of using ABBYY FineReader. Each chapter starts

with a short summary description and a list of the chapter’s contents.

Online Help

FineReader's online Help contains basic and advanced information on program features, set-

tings and dialogs. Online Help is provided in HTML format and has been designed for quick

and easy information retrieval.

Readme file

The Readme file contains the latest information on the software.

Technical Support

If, after having consulted both your documentation and the ABBYY website, you still require

assistance, e-mail us at support@abbyy.com. Note that our technical support experts will need

the following information from you to be able to deal with your enquiries:

●

The serial number of your copy of FineReader

●

Your scanner make and model

●

A general description of the problem and the full error message text

(if you have encountered an error message)

●

Your Windows operating system version

●

Any other information you consider important.

Note: Some system information can be obtained by clicking on System Info in the About

ABBYY FineReader dialog (menu Help/About).

All licensed users of the current and previous versions of the application are entitled to free

technical support.

3

This chapter deals with ABBYY FineReader installation procedures and related

subjects, such as system requirements and workstation/network installation.

A special installation program carries out the set up of FineReader. Always use the

diskette/CD-ROM supplied as part of your software package. Installation is not

possible using copied files.

Chapter Contents:

● Software and hardware requirements

● Installing ABBYY FineReader

● Network server/workstation installation

● Starting ABBYY FineReader

Chapter 1

Installing and Starting

ABBYY FineReader

4

ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide

Software and Hardware Requirements

For ABBYY FineReader to function correctly your computer must meet the following system

requirements:

1. PC with an Intel

®

Pentium

®

200 MHz processor or higher

2. Microsoft

®

Windows

®

XP, Microsoft

®

Windows

®

2000, Windows

®

NT

®

Workstation

4.0 with Service Pack 6 or greater, Windows

®

95/98/Me

3. 64 Mb (Windows XP/2000), 32 Mb (Windows Me/98/NT 4.0), 16 Mb (Windows 95) of

RAM, plus 16 Mb of RAM of memory for each additional processor (in case of a multi-

processor system)

4. Microsoft

®

Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher (Microsoft

®

Internet Explorer 5.5 included on

the FineReader CD-ROM)

5. 90 Mbytes of free hard-disk space for minimal program installation

6. 70 Mbytes of free hard-disk space for the program operation

7. 100% Twain-compatible scanner, digital camera or fax-modem

8. CD-ROM drive

9. Mouse or other pointing device

10. VGA or other high-resolution monitor

Installing ABBYY FineReader

Installation options

Once the set-up program has run a system check, type in your name and select the folder you wish to

install ABBYY FineReader in. The setup program will then display several installation options. Select the

option of your choice.

● Typical (recommended) - all components are installed including all recognition languages,

a single interface language selected during installation.

● Custom installation - any number of program components may be installed (including all

available recognition languages).

Note: If you wish to use user dictionaries and patterns from a previously installed version of

FineReader, do not uninstall it prior to installing the new version. All existing user patterns and diction-

aries will then be available for use in the latest version.

Installing ABBYY FineReader

If your software package contains both a CD-ROM and a diskette, proceed as follows:

1. Insert the Installation diskette into the floppy disk drive.

2. Insert the CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.

3. Click the

Start button on the Taskbar and select the Settings/Control Panel item.

4. Double-click the

Add/Remove Programs icon.

5. Select the

Install/Uninstall tab and click the Install button.

6. Follow the installation instructions.

If your software package contains only a CD-ROM, proceed as follows:

1. Insert the CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.

2. Click the

Start button on the Taskbar and select the Settings/Control Panel item.

3. Double-click the

Add/Remove Programs icon.

4. Select the

Install/Uninstall tab and click the Install button.

5. Follow the installation instructions.

5

Chapter 1 - Installing and Starting ABBYY FineReader

Note: An Installation Code is required to complete installation if one of following applies to your

computer: there is no 3.5" floppy disk drive present; installation is being carried out using non-original

or corrupted media; applications have been installed that are in conflict with ABBYY FineReader. The

Installation Code can be obtained from ABBYY or one of its resellers, and is created from the Product

ID (issued automatically by the installation program) and the serial number (printed on the registration

card). To obtain your

Installation Code, simply fill out the relevant form at www.abbyy.com. Alterna-

tively you can scan the completed registration card and e-mail it to us, or call the technical support

number.

If you come across an error message, see the Readme.htm file for assistance (located on the ABBYY

FineReader CD-ROM).

Installation on a Network Server

(System Administrators Only)

Installation of the ABBYY FineReader 6.0 Corporate Edition on a network server can only be carried

out by the system administrator. Proceed as follows:

● If your software package contains both a CD-ROM and floppy disk, insert the installation

floppy disk and run setup.exe from the FineReader CD-ROM with the /a command-line

option.

● If your software package contains only a CD-ROM, run setup.exe from the FineReader

CD-ROM with the /a command-line option.

Additional licenses

Following installation on a network server, you will need to add serial numbers if FineReader is to be

used by more than one user:

1. Run LicSetup.exe from the folder\program files\ABBYY FineReader 6.0 where ABBYY

FineReader 6.0 Corporate Edition was installed. The

Add License dialog will be displayed.

2. Enter a new serial number and click the

Add button.

Note:

1. You cannot use logical drives created by the SUBST command.

2. If you choose "installation to a network", SP 6 and IE 5.5 will NOT be automatically installed

on the server. If you choose any other installation method, SP 6 and IE 5.5 will be auto-

matically installed on your system. To avoid any difficulties related to the absence of these

components, the system administrator should check if both of these components are

installed on the network station prior to installation. If they are not installed, the system

should be updated before installing ABBYY FineReader.

3. Check before installation that all users have read-write access to the network folder named

Users (this folder is automatically created during application installation and stores

temporary files).

Installation on a Network Server and on a

Network Workstation

6

ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide

Installation on a Network Workstation

If ABBYY FineReader 6.0 Corporate Edition has been installed on a network server, the setup program

can be run directly from the server.

To install ABBYY FineReader 6.0 Corporate Edition on a workstation:

● Run Setup.exe from the network folder containing ABBYY FineReader Corporate Edition 6.0.

Follow the installation instructions.

Note:

1. You should have administrative rights to the workstation on which ABBYY FineReader is

being installed.

2. If the message "Can't load FineReader. There is no free license." is displayed, check the

number of additional licenses added in the Add License dialog, as well as the number of

users currently working with FineReader.

3. For ABBYY FineReader 6.0 to function correctly, the user must have read-write access to

the folder in which the batch is stored.

To start ABBYY FineReader:

● Select the ABBYY FineReader Professional 6.0 (Corporate Edition 6.0) item in the

Start/Programs menu.

Note: Make sure your scanner is connected to your computer, plugged-in, and turned on before you

start FineReader. If your scanner has yet to be installed, please consult the user guide supplied with the

scanner for instructions on how to install it.

If you do not have a scanner, you can still recognize image files using FineReader (see the sample files

located in the ABBYY FineReader/Demo folder).

Starting ABBYY FineReader

7

In this chapter you will learn how to input a document without having to know

anything about the way in which ABBYY FineReader works! You will also learn

which windows and toolbars are contained within FineReader.

If you already have experience of working with FineReader, you may wish to skip

this chapter altogether and go directly to New features of ABBYY FineReader 6.0

in chapter 3.

Chapter Contents:

● How to input a document in less than a minute

● The ABBYY FineReader main window

● ABBYY FineReader toolbars

Chapter 2

Quick Start

8

ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide

How to Input a Document in Less than a Minute

1. Turn on the scanner if it has a separate power source to your PC.

Note: Many scanner models have to be turned on before you turn on the computer.

2. Turn on the computer and start FineReader (

Start/Programs/ABBYY FineReader

Professional 6.0 or Corporate Edition 6.0). The FineReader main window will appear on

your screen.

3. Place the page you want read onto the scanner.

4. Click the arrow to the right of the Scan&Read button. Select the

Scan&Read Wizard item

in the local menu.

The

Scan&Read Wizard is a special scan&read/open&read mode

during which you are guided through each step of the scanning

process. A sample image file is contained in the

Demo folder, which,

in turn, is located in the folder containing FineReader.

5. Follow the

Scan&Read Wizard instructions.

The document input process is made up of four steps: scanning, reading, spellcheck and saving the rec-

ognized text.

Once scanning is complete, a "photograph" of the source page will appear in the

Image window. The

application then asks you to set the recognition parameters. Once this has been done, it starts recogniz-

ing the image, analyzing its layout at the same time. Image areas already recognized are highlighted in

blue.

Recognized text is displayed in the

Text window, where it can be checked and edited. Once you have

checked the document, the

Scan&Read Wizard will prompt you to either send the recognized text to

the application of your choice, save it to file, or go on processing more images.

The ABBYY FineReader Main Window

FineReader performs all document processing in batch mode. A batch is a folder containing images,

recognized text files and other FineReader information files. Each scanned image is converted into a

separate batch page. If there are several images in a single image file (for example, if you are dealing

with a multipage TIFF), each file image will be converted into a separate batch page.

When you start FineReader for the first time, the default batch is opened. You can choose to work with

the default batch or create a new batch of your own. See General Information on Working with Batches

for more information.

9

Chapter 2 - Quickstart

You will see the FineReader main menu at the top of the FineReader Main window. The following four

toolbars are displayed under the main menu: the

Standard, Formatting, Image Tools, and WizardBar

toolbars. You may show/hide any toolbar.

To show/hide a toolbar, click the

Toolbar item in the View menu or the local menu. Right-click any

toolbar to open the local menu. You will see the toolbar list, with the currently selected toolbars high-

lighted. Click the name of the toolbar you want shown/hidden.

At the bottom of the FineReader Main window you will find the status bar, which displays information

on application status and the operations currently being performed, as well as brief information on

menu items and buttons selected.

The Batch window is always displayed in the

Main window. Three more windows may also be dis-

played: the

Image, Zoom and Text windows.

The

Image, Zoom and Text windows are interconnected: when you double-click a certain image area

in the

Image window, the respective area is displayed in the Zoom window, and the pointer in the Text

window moved to the position clicked on (if text has already been recognized on the page).

To alter the on-screen windows arrangement:

● Select one of the following items: Batch Window >...; Image and Text Windows >...;

Zoom Window >.... in the View menu.

Main window

Standard toolbar

Formatting toolbar

Wizard Bar

provides tools for full text

processing: Scanning,

Recognition, Spellcheck

and Saving

Text window

displays the recognized text for

checking and editing

Image window

displays the scanned

image for viewing

and drawing blocks

Zoom window

displays the zoomed-in image of

the text line you edit or part of

an image you are working on

Image Tools toolbar Batch window

provides tools for drawing and displays the pages of the open

editing blocks, zoom tools batch in one of two modes:

and tool for editing images thumbnail (as now) or details

10

ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide

To switch between windows:

● Press CTRL+TAB.

● Press ALT+1 to activate the Batch window.

● Press ALT+2 to activate the Image window.

● Press ALT+3 to activate the Text window.

Some recommended windows arrangements: Useful if/when:

Batch window on the left; Batch View: Thumbnails; …a batch contains only a small number of

Image, Text and Zoom windows pages

Batch window at the top: Batch View: Details; …a batch contains a large number of pages

Image, Text and Zoom windows

Batch window at the top; Batch View: Details; …you perform layout analysis

Image and Zoom windows and recognition

Batch window at the top; Batch View: Details;…you edit the recognized text

Text and Zoom windows

There are four toolbars in FineReader: the Standard, Image Tools, Formatting and WizardBar tool-

bars. Using the toolbars is without doubt the most convenient way of accessing the application’s func-

tions. However, the same functions can also be accessed via menus or hot keys. To find out what func-

tion a particular toolbar button has, just move the mouse pointer to it. The button's tooltip will then be

displayed, and the status bar will also display additional button details.

The WizardBar toolbar

ABBYY FineReader Toolbars

The WizardBar toolbar buttons launch the main FineReader functions: Scanning, Reading, Checking

and Saving the recognition results. The numbers on the buttons indicate the order in which the respec-

tive document input actions should be performed. You may perform each action separately or combine

them into one by clicking the

Scan&Read Wizard button. In the latter case, the Scan&Read Wizard

will then perform the full document processing cycle automatically.

Each button features several function modes. Click the arrow to the right of the button and select the

mode of your choice in the local menu. The button icon always displays the mode that was last select-

ed. Click the button itself to run this mode again.

11

Chapter 2 - Quickstart

Scan&Read

Scan&Read Wizard - launchesScan&Read mode. FineReader guides you

through the document processing process and advises you on how best to

obtain the desired result.

Scan&Read - starts scanning and reading a document using the current

options.

Scan&Read Multiple Images - scans and reads several consecutive images.

Open&Read - opens and reads the images selected in the Open dialog.

1-Scan

Open Image - adds image(s) to the batch. Each added image is copied to

the batch folder.

Scan Image - scans an image.

Scan Multiple Images - scans images continuously. Select the Stop Scan-

ning item in the File menu to bring scanning to a stop.

Options - opens the Scan/Open Image tab (Options dialog), to allow

scanning options to be set etc.

2-Read

Read - reads the open batch page.

Read All - reads all unrecognized batch pages.

Options - opens the Recognition tab (Options dialog) to allow document

recognition options to be set.

3-Check Spelling

Check Spelling - searches the text for misspelt and uncertain words (i.e.

ones containing uncertainly recognized characters).

Options - opens the Check Spelling tab (Options dialog) to allow

spellcheck options to be set.

4-Save

Save Wizard - opens the Save Wizard to allow saving options and the des-

tination application to be selected.

Save Text to File - saves the recognized text to a disk file.

Send Selected Pages To – should you only want to export only selected

batch pages, select the pages concerned and specify the application to

which they should be exported. FineReader will export the pages to the

application of your choice without saving the text beforehand.

Send All Pages To - exports all recognized pages to the application of your

choice without saving the text beforehand.

Options - opens the Formatting tab (Options dialogue) to allow saving

options to be set.

12

ABBYY FineReader 6.0 User’s Guide

The Standard toolbar

The Standard toolbar features file and image tools (undo/redo an action, scroll the batch pages, clean

and rotate the image) and the list of

Recognition languages.

The Formatting toolbar

The Formatting toolbar features various text formatting tools. You can edit the text and text format-

ting in the

Text window.

The Image Toolbar

The Image Toolbar features page layout analysis (e.g. block creation and editing) tools, as well as tools

for increasing/decreasing the image scale and image editing (e.g. image despeckle etc.)

Font

New

batch

Open

batch

Copy

Scale

Show Image

and text windows

Show Text

window only

Undo

Rotate

clockwise

Zoom out

Cut

Redo

Rotate

counter-

clockwise

Recognition

language

Paste

Zoom In

Show Image

window only

Font size

Bold

Analyze layout

Draw recognition area

Draw text block

Draw table block

Draw picture block

Select objects

Add block part

Cut block part

Renumber blocks

Delete blocks

Add vertical separator

Add horizontal separator

Delete separator

Zoom Out

Zoom In

Eraser

Block

drawing tools

Block frame

and positin tools

Table block

tools

Image tools

Italic

Subscript

Center

Justify

Underlined

Superscript

Align left

Next error

Align right

Display nonprinted

characters

13

Chapter 2 - Quickstart

Note: Block creation and editing buttons can also be used in the Zoom and Image windows.

Setting up the toolbar

Note: The appearance of the FineReader main window, or more precisely, the number of buttons

displayed on FineReader’s toolbars, depends on your monitor’s resolution. To display all available but-

tons you need to increase your monitor’s resolution. However, note that FineReader’s functionality is

not reduced if some buttons remain invisible - the buttons represent only one way of accessing

FineReader’s functions, all of which are also accessible via menus. FineReader allows you to cus-

tomize the

Standard, Image and Formatting toolbars: application command buttons can be added

and removed at will.

Each menu item has its own icon. See the full list of commands and their respective buttons in the

Customize (Tools>Customize menu) dialog in the Commands list.

To add a button to a toolbar:

1. Select the category of your choice in the Categories field.

Note: The list of commands is grouped according to menu item, and the choice of category

will affect the list of commands displayed in the Commands list.

2. Select the toolbar to which you wish to add a button in the

Toolbars field.

3. Select a command in the

Commands list and click the (>>) button.

The selected command will be added to the list of toolbar commands and displayed on the chosen

toolbar in the main window.

To remove a button from a toolbar:

● Select the button you wish removed in the Toolbar buttons list and click the (<<) button.

Note:

1. The order in which buttons are listed also determines their order on the toolbar. To change

button order, select the command in the list of current toolbar commands and click the

Up

(Down) button to move the command up (down) the list.

2. Commands may be distributed between a set of groups: select the

Separator item in the

Commands list and click the Add button. A separator will be added to the list of toolbar

buttons. The separator may be moved at will.

3. To restore the default set of buttons on a given toolbar, select the toolbar concerned in the

Toolbars list and click the Reset button. To restore the default set of buttons on all

toolbars, click the Reset All button.

15

FineReader provides you with all the tools you need for inputting documents

into your computer. Just click on the Scan&Read button once and all the rest is

done for you - so you don't have to spend hours studying the user’s guide before-

hand. You can either send the recognized text to the word processor or a spread-

sheet application of your choice; save it in RTF/DOC, PDF or HTML format (and

retain the full document layout); or export the recognized text to a database

application.

Chapter Contents:

● What is an OCR-system?

● New features of ABBYY FineReader 6.0

● Supported document saving formats

● Supported image formats

Chapter 3

General Features of

ABBYY FineReader

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ABBYY FineReader 6.0 OCR User guide

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