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Version 1.1

Readiris 14
Windows

User Guide
10/29/2012
I.R.I.S. Products & Technologies
dgi

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Table of Contents
Introducing Readiris .......................................................... 9
What's new in Readiris 14 ............................................... 10
Legal Notices................................................................... 15
Section 1: Installation and Activation .................................... 17
System Requirements ...................................................... 17
Installing Readiris............................................................ 17
Activating Readiris .......................................................... 19
Software Registration ...................................................... 20
Check for updates ............................................................ 21
Uninstalling Readiris ....................................................... 22
Technical Support............................................................ 23
Section 2: Getting Started ........................................................ 25
Using Readiris for the first time ...................................... 25
Exploring the interface .................................................... 26
Customizing the interface ................................................ 30
Changing the user interface language .............................. 33
Configuring your scanner ................................................ 34
Section 3: Basic Document Processing.................................... 37
Basic Document Processing ............................................ 37
Processing documents ......................................................................... 38

iii

Table of Contents

Saving the processing settings ............................................................ 41
Loading settings: ................................................................................. 41
Restoring factory settings: .................................................................. 41

Using the Wizard ............................................................. 42
Using the SmartTasks ...................................................... 45
Section 4: Selecting the Configuration Options ..................... 49
Configuration Options ..................................................... 49
Rotation options .................................................................................. 49
Page Deskewing.................................................................................. 50
Page Analysis...................................................................................... 50
Modifying the page configuration options ......................................... 52

Section 5: Selecting the Recognition Options ......................... 53
Recognition Options ........................................................ 53
The Main language ............................................................................. 53
Other Recognition Options (Readiris Pro + Corporate) ................... 54
Other Recognition Options (Readiris Corporate only) ...................... 56

Advanced Recognition Options ....................................... 58
Section 6: Scanning and Opening Documents........................ 61
Scanning Documents ....................................................... 61
Selecting the Scanner Settings ............................................................ 61

Scanning batches of documents....................................... 68
Opening Image Files ....................................................... 72
iv

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Opening options .................................................................................. 74
Other ways of opening image files ..................................................... 76

Processing Batches of Image Files .................................. 76
Section 7: Adjusting the Image Quality .................................. 79
Section 8: Editing the Recognition Zones ............................... 85
Introduction......................................................................................... 85
Modifying the automatic Page Analysis ............................................. 86
The Editing and Layout options ......................................................... 87

Using Zoning templates ................................................... 96
Section 9: Saving Documents ................................................... 99
Saving Documents ........................................................... 99
Adding Properties to Documents................................... 107
Saving Scanned Documents as Image Files .................. 109
Selecting the Formatting Options .................................. 111
Layout Options .............................................................. 113
General Options ............................................................. 116
SpreadsheetML Options ................................................ 118
Paper Size ...................................................................... 120
Pictures .......................................................................... 120
Selecting the PDF Options ............................................ 122
The PDF options ............................................................................... 124

Table of Contents

Compressing PDF documents ....................................... 126
Password-protecting PDF Documents ........................... 128
Digitally Signing PDF Documents ................................ 130
Selecting the XPS Options ............................................ 131
The XPS Options .............................................................................. 133

Compressing XPS Documents ...................................... 134
Section 10: Sending Documents to the Cloud....................... 137
Sending Indexed Documents to the Cloud .................... 141
How to .................................................................................. 143
How to configure your scanner ..................................... 143
How to improve the recognition results ........................ 146
How to scan multiple documents .................................. 146
How to process digital camera images .......................... 148
Tips for taking pictures with your digital camera :........................... 149

How to recognize barcodes ........................................... 150
Recognizing a particular barcode ..................................................... 152

How to separate document batches ............................... 152
How to separate paper documents .................................................... 153
The Recognition options ................................................................... 155
The Indexing options ........................................................................ 156

How to separate batches of image files ......................... 156

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

How to recognize forms ................................................ 158
How to process low-resolution images .......................... 159
Index

.................................................................................. 161

vii

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

RI_14_dgi_29102012-07

Welcome to the Readiris documentation. The aim of this
documentation is to help you get up to speed with using Readiris. It
covers Readiris' installation and setup, the basic processing steps
and the application's commands and working areas. At the end of
the documentation you find an How to section in which particular
questions are addressed.
The procedures described in this documentation are based on the
Windows 7 operating system.
This documentation is written with the assumption that you know
how to work in a Microsoft Windows environment. Consult your
Windows documentation if necessary, in case you are not familiar
with menu commands, dialog boxes, drop-down lists, docking
windows and so on.
The information in this documentation is subject to change without
prior notice.

INTRODUCING READIRIS
Readiris is I.R.I.S.' flagship document recognition software. With
Readiris you can scan paper documents, open image files and
digital camera images and turn them into fully editable text
documents and text-searchable PDF documents you can save, share
and send to the Cloud. Readiris supports a wide range of output
formats, the most important ones being Microsoft Word, Microsoft
Excel and PDF.
The documents Readiris generates can either be saved on your
computer, directly sent via e-mail or exported to Cloud applications
such as Evernote, Dropbox, GoogleDocs and box. With Readiris

Introducing Readiris

Corporate you can also send documents to Microsoft SharePoint,
Therefore, IRISNext and FTP web sites.
Readiris recognizes documents in 137 languages. All American and
European languages, including the Central-European, Baltic and
Cyrillic languages as well as Greek and Turkish are supported.
Readiris also recognizes Arabic, Farsi and Hebrew, as well as four
Asian languages: Japanese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese and
Korean.
Besides text recognition, Readiris offers powerful compression
features for PDF and XPS files, thanks to I.R.I.S.' compression
technology iHQC.

WHAT'S NEW IN READIRIS 14
 Brand-new Interface
 New OCR engine
 New iHQC engine
 Multi-thread Processing
 Output Formats .DOCX and .XLSX
 Export to the Cloud
 Easy Web viewing PDF files
 Multiple Watched Folders

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Brand-new Interface
If you ever used a previous version of Readiris you'll notice
immediately that the interface of Readiris 14 looks completely
different. The menus and toolbars have been replaced by a Ribbon.
The Ribbon contains all the commands you need to process
documents and to complete your OCR tasks. Commands are
classified per group. Groups, in turn, are collected under tabs. Each
tab is dedicated to one type of activity, such as scanning documents
or exporting documents.
Tip: to learn more about the new interface, see the topic Exploring the
interface.

New OCR Engine
In Readiris 14, I.R.I.S.' new OCR engine DRS 15 is used, which
leads to improved accuracy.

Introducing Readiris

New iHQC Engine
The new iHQC engine used in Readiris 14 is now compatible with
the Preview application on Apple iOS and Mac OS 10.7.

Multi-thread Processing
Readiris uses Multi-thread Processing if your computer is equipped
with a multi-core processor.
Thanks to Readiris' multi-threading architecture, the processing
speed has been drastically improved.
How does Multi-thread Processing work in Readiris?
When you open or scan a document, Readiris carries out several
conversion tasks - or threads - in order to recognize the document.
The number of threads Readiris is able to execute at the same time,
depends on the number of cores in your computer. Suppose your
computer is equipped with a quad-core processor. In that case,
Readiris is able to execute 4 threads on 4 different pages. As soon
as one thread is finished on a page, Readiris immediately starts the
next one.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Output Formats .DOCX and .XLSX
The new standard Microsoft Word format .docx and the new
standard Microsoft Excel format .xlsx are now supported as output
format by Readiris.
Export to the Cloud
The documents you process with Readiris can be sent to several
Cloud applications. Readiris Pro sends documents to the Cloud
applications Evernote, Dropbox GoogleDocs and box.
Readiris Corporate also sends documents to Microsoft SharePoint
2011, SharePoint Online, Therefore 2011, Therefore Online,
IRISNext and FTP web sites.

Easy Web viewing PDF files
Readiris now also generates linearized PDF files, which allow faster
web viewing. This feature is especially convenient when you are
accessing documents stored on a web server.
Multiple Watched Folders
Readiris 14 supports the use of up to 32 Watched Folders and is no
longer limited to 1.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

LEGAL NOTICES
Copyrights
Copyrights © 1987-2012 I.R.I.S. All Rights Reserved.
I.R.I.S. owns the copyrights to the Readiris software, to the online
help system and to this publication.
The information contained in this document is the property of
I.R.I.S. Its content is subject to change without notice and does not
represent a commitment on the part of I.R.I.S. The software
described in this document is furnished under a license agreement
which states the terms of use of this product. The software may be
used or copied only in accordance with the terms of that agreement.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, stored
in a retrieval system, or translated into another language without the
prior written consent of I.R.I.S.
This documentation uses fictitious names as examples; references to
actual persons, companies or organizations are strictly coincidental.
Trademarks
The Readiris logo and Readiris are trademarks of Image
Recognition Integrated Systems S.A.
OCR and barcode technology by I.R.I.S.
AutoFormat and Linguistic technology by I.R.I.S.
BCR and field analysis technology by I.R.I.S.
iHQC compression technology by I.R.I.S.
Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States and other countries.

Legal Notices

All other products mentioned in this documentation are trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Patents
iHQC patent-protected. US Patent No. 8,068,684.
TM

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

SECTION 1:
INSTALLATION AND ACTIVATION
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
The minimum system requirements to install and run Readiris are:
 A 1GHz CPU or higher. A Multi-Core processor is
recommended.
Note: when your computer is equipped with a multi-core
processor, Readiris uses the multiple cores to achieve faster
processing.
 1 GB RAM. 2 GB RAM is recommended.
 200 MB free hard disk space. 1 GB free hard disk space is
recommended.
 Microsoft Windows XP (as of Service Pack 2), Windows Vista
(32 and 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit) Operating System.
Microsoft .NET Framework 2 is required.

INSTALLING READIRIS
Before you try and install Readiris, make sure you have the
necessary administrator rights to install applications on your
computer.
17

Section 1: Installation and Activation

To install Readiris:
 Insert the Readiris CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive of your
computer.
 When the AutoRun window appears, click Readiris to start the
Installation Wizard.
In case the AutoRun window does not appear (this depends on
your Windows settings):
o Go to Computer > CD-ROM Drive.
o Double-click the CD-ROM Drive icon, and then doubleclick setup.exe to start the Installation Wizard.
 Select the installation language and click OK.
 Accept the terms of the license agreement.
 A complete installation is offered. If you are an experienced user
you can also select Custom and only install the components you
need.
 Click Next and follow the on-screen instructions.
 Click Finish to complete the installation.
The submenu IRIS > Readiris in the Windows Programs list is
created automatically by the installation program.
The installation program also creates a shortcut to the Readiris
application on the Windows desktop.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

ACTIVATING READIRIS
Once you have installed Readiris you need to activate it.
Unactivated copies of Readiris are only available for use for 10
days.
To activate Readiris:
 Double-click the Readiris shortcut on the Desktop to start.
 You are prompted to activate Readiris. Click Yes to do so.
 Note that an internet connection is required to activate Readiris.
 Enter the activation code you find on the label inside the DVD
box.
Note: if you downloaded an ESD version, your activation code
was sent to you by e-mail.
 Then click OK to finish the activation.
Tip: if an error occurs during the activation process, note that you can also do
a manual activation.

If errors keep occurring, you might need to deactivate your firewall
and try again. Consult the Windows help file if necessary. To do so,
press f1 on your keyboard while you're on the Desktop.

Section 1: Installation and Activation

SOFTWARE REGISTRATION
Once you've activated your software you can also register it.
Registering is required to get Technical Support. It also offers
other benefits, such as free updates, free trial downloads, video
tutorials, discount on new products, and so on.
To register Readiris:
 Click the Readiris button in the top left corner of the interface,
then click Readiris Registration.

 Fill in the Registration form and click Register now.
Note that an internet connection is required to register.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

CHECK FOR UPDATES
When you register your copy of Readiris you are entitled to free
software updates.
To check if updates are available:
 Click the Readiris button in the top left corner of the interface.
 Then click Check for updates.
Note: Readiris automatically checks for updates every 30 days.

Section 1: Installation and Activation

UNINSTALLING READIRIS
Should you want to remove Readiris from your computer, follow
the procedure below.
To uninstall the application:
 Close Readiris.
 From the Windows Start menu, go to the Control Panel.
 Click Programs and Features.
 Then select Readiris from the list and click Uninstall.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

TECHNICAL SUPPORT
If you register your copy of Readiris you are entitled to free
technical support. In the Technical Support section of our website
www.irislink.com/support. you can find F.A.Q.'s (frequently asked
questions), Video Tutorials, and much more information to solve
common issues.
If you still can't find an answer to your question, click Technical
Support Contact and fill in the Web Contact Form.

Tip: also check the User Guides section on the site to make sure you have
the latest version of this User Guide.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

SECTION 2: GETTING STARTED
USING READIRIS FOR THE FIRST TIME
To run Readiris:
 Double-click the Readiris icon on the Desktop.

Or start Readiris from the Windows Programs list:
 Click Start > All Programs > IRIS > Readiris.

Section 2: Getting Started

EXPLORING THE INTERFACE
The new Readiris interface looks as follows:

The interface consists of the following components and panels:
1. Ribbon
The Ribbon is by far the most important tool in Readiris. It
contains all the commands you need to process your
documents. The commands are classified per group.
Groups, in turn, are collected under tabs.
The numbers on the ribbon indicate the order of the steps
you should take.
1. Scan a document, or open an image From File.
2. Select the Output format and Destination.
Tip: it is recommended to set the Language and Configuration
settings before scanning or opening documents.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Tip: point the cursor to the different commands to display their
tooltip. The tooltips describe what each command does.

2. Pages panel
Each page you scan or open in Readiris has its thumbnail
displayed in the Pages panel. The pages are processed topdown.
To change the order of the pages, you drag a page from
one location to another. You can also move pages up and
down, or delete them by right-clicking them and selecting
the corresponding action.

3. Activity panel
The Activity panel displays the tasks that Readiris is
carrying out. In each field you see a description of the
task, and on which page it is being carried out.

Section 2: Getting Started

Note: the more cores you computer is equipped with, the
greater the processing speed will be.

4. Properties panel
The Properties panel displays the properties information
of each page, such as the scan time, OCR time, the scan
resolution, etc.

5. SmartTasks / Scanned image
When no images have been scanned or opened in Readiris,
the SmartTask dashboard is displayed. The SmartTasks
allow you to do the most common scanning and
conversion tasks in Readiris.
See the topic Using the SmartTasks to learn how to
change their default configuration.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

When a document is scanned or opened into Readiris, its
image is displayed. The different recognition zones are
displayed. To learn how to modify the recognition zones,
see the topic Editing the Recognition Zones.

Section 2: Getting Started

Note that the appearance of the components and panels described
above can be customized to your liking.

CUSTOMIZING THE INTERFACE
The interface can be customized in several ways:
Note that the Pages panel cannot me hidden or moved around.

Autohiding the panels
The panels can be auto-hidden to save space in the Readiris
interface.
 Click the Auto-hide icon on a panel to hide it.
 When a panel is hidden, its name appears vertically in
the left or right sidebar.

 Point the cursor to the name to make the panel appear.
 To disable the Autohide function, click the Autohide
icon again.
Hiding panels
In case you want to hide the panels completely:
30

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

 Click the View menu.
 Clear the check boxes of the panels you want to hide.

Moving the panels around
The panels do not have fixed positions. They can be placed
anywhere inside the Readiris interface.
To move a panel:
 Double-click its title bar.

 The panel appears in a reduced version in the middle of
the interface.
 Now you can drag it to a different position, and expand
it.

Section 2: Getting Started

 To restore a panel to its initial position, double-click its
title bar again.
Minimizing the Ribbon
The ribbon can be minimized to save space in the Readiris
interface.
 To minimize the ribbon, right-click inside the ribbon,
then click Minimize.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

 The ribbon will then look as follows:

 Click a tab to display its options.

CHANGING THE USER INTERFACE LANGUAGE
Readiris opens in English by default. If you want to change the
interface language:
 Click the Readiris button in the top left corner, then click
Interface Language.

 In the Language window that opens, select the language of your
choice, then click OK.

Section 2: Getting Started

Note: If you selected an incorrect language by mistake, click
Ctrl+U inside Readiris. The Language dialog box opens and you
can select another language from the list.

CONFIGURING YOUR SCANNER
In order to scan documents in Readiris, your scanner must be
configured correctly.
Before you configure the scanner in Readiris:
1. Make sure your scanner is connected to your computer, and
switched on.
Note: the scanner should be physically connected to your
computer with a USB cable. An ethernet or wireless connection
may also be used if the Twain driver supplied by the
manufacturer has been engineered with that capability.
2. Make sure you have the latest available Twain driver installed for
your scanner.
In general, drivers can be found on the website of your scanner
manufacturer. They are not provided by I.R.I.S. Note that some
scanner drivers may not work under the latest versions of
Windows. See the documentation supplied with your scanner to
34

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

find out which platforms are supported. If necessary, contact your
scanner manufacturer.
Configuration
 Click the down arrow beneath Scan in the ribbon.
 Then click Settings.

 When you do this for the first time, the Scanner Model list
appears automatically.
In this list you select your scanner profile. The scanner profiles
allow you to access features specific to your scanner. For
example, duplex scanning.
Do not worry if you don't see your scanner in the list; not all
scanners have specific scanner profiles.
Important note: in case you don't find the exact same profile, do
not select a profile that resembles it. Instead, select a universal
Twain profile. Different Twain profiles are available:
Select when you are using
a regular, flatbed scanner.
Select (User interface) if
you want to use your scanner user interface to scan
documents instead of Readiris.

Section 2: Getting Started

Select when you are using a duplex scanner, which scans
both the front and backside of a page.

Once you've selected a scanner model, you must configure you
scanner driver.
 Click Configure to select your scanner driver.
If you do not see your scanner listed in the Select Source
window, then your scanner driver has not been installed
properly. Re-install your scanner driver before trying to
configure it in Readiris. The scanner driver can usually be found
on the website of your scanner manufacturer.

Once the scanner has been configured you can start scanning, using
the default scanner settings.
For more information about the different scanner settings and how
to change them, see the topic Selecting the Scanner Settings.
36

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

SECTION 3: BASIC DOCUMENT
PROCESSING
BASIC DOCUMENT PROCESSING
Processing documents with Readiris is fairly straightforward when
using a basic configuration. In this topic we discuss which steps to
take when doing such a basic configuration. For detailed
information about the all the configuration steps, see sections 4 to
10.
Before you begin:
1. Select the Main document language on the Languages tab.
Selecting the right document language is essential to obtain good
recognition results with Readiris. The default language is set to
the language you selected during installation.
Note: you can always change the document language after
opening a document, but know that Readiris then has to redo the
recognition on the entire document. This of course slows down
your process.

2. Select the Page Configuration options of your choice on the
Configuration tab:
37

Section 3: Basic Document Processing

Page Analysis is selected by default. This option divides your
documents into recognition zones. Without recognition zones,
Readiris cannot process your documents. If you choose to disable
this function, you will need to draw recognition zones manually
on your documents.
Readiris can deskew (straighten) and rotate the documents you
open.

Processing documents
Step 1: Scan or Open your documents
 Click Scan to scan paper documents with your scanner.
In order to scan documents your scanner must be correctly
configured. See the section Configuring your scanner if
necessary.
or
 Click From File to open existing image files.

The images are displayed in the interface. If necessary you can
modify the recognition zones. See the section Editing the
Recognition Zones for detailed information.
38

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Step 2: Select the Output Format and Destination
 Click the Output Format list.

 Then select the required Output Format from the list.
You can, for instance, save your documents as Word documents
to do text editing, or save them as PDF documents for storage
purposes. For detailed information about the different output
formats and the different formatting options, see the sections
Saving Documents and Selecting the Formatting Options.

Section 3: Basic Document Processing

 In the second list, you select the Destination of your documents:
o Select Save as File to save the documents locally to your
computer or portable storage device.
o Select E-mail to send the documents by e-mail.
o Or select a Cloud application to send your documents to
the Cloud.
Note that the connection to the Cloud applications must be
configured correctly to be able to export. See the section
Sending Documents to the Cloud to learn how to do so.

When you've gone through these steps, click Send to start
processing documents.

Tips:
In case you want more guidance while configuring Readiris, use the Wizard.
The Wizard guides you through each step of the configuration. See the
section Using the Wizard for more information about each step.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Another way to get quick results with Readiris, is using the SmartTasks.
They contain pre-configured commands and allow you to process documents
in just a few clicks. See the section Using the SmartTasks for more
information.

Saving the processing settings
Note that Readiris saves the processing settings automatically when
closing the application. Next time you start Readiris it applies the
same settings.
In case you want to save a specific settings profile:
 Click the Readiris button.
 Then click Save Settings and name the settings file.

Loading settings:
 Click the Readiris button.
 Then click Load Settings and select the settings file you saved.

Restoring factory settings:
 Click the Readiris button.
 Then click Restore Settings.

Section 3: Basic Document Processing

USING THE WIZARD
The Wizard guides you step by step through the configuration
process. Once you've gone through the steps, click Go to start the
automatic Readiris process.
To start the Wizard:
 Click the Readiris button, then click Wizard.

Steps of the Wizard
Step 1: Select the image source
You can use your scanner to scan documents, or open image files
you already have on your computer.
During this first step you can also apply rotation options.
Select Page Deskewing if your documents are scanned crooked and
you want to straighten them.
Figure Step 1

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Step 2: Select your scanner (Note: if you selected image files in
the previous step, proceed to Step 3)
If you already configured your scanner, your scanner model is
displayed here. If it is not, the Scanner Model list is displayed.
Select your exact same Scanner Model, then click Configure to
configure the driver.
For more information on how to configure the scanner, see
Configuring your scanner. For more information about the
scanner settings, see the topic Selecting the Scanner Settings.
Figure Step 2

Section 3: Basic Document Processing

Step 3: Select the Document Language of your documents.
The default document language is set to the language you selected
during installation. Click Change to select a different language.
Note: selecting the correct language is extremely important in order
to obtain good recognition results.
Figure Step 3

Step 4: Select the Output Format and (Cloud) Destination.
Your documents are saved as Microsoft Word files by default.
Click Change to select a different output format or destination
application.
For more information about the different output formats and their
options, see the section Saving Documents and Selecting the
Formatting Options.
Figure Step 4

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

When you are done selecting the settings, click Next and then click
Go to start processing documents.

USING THE SMARTTASKS
The SmartTask dashboard is one of the fastest ways to use Readiris.
It contains pre-configured commands that allow you to scan,
process and send your documents in just a few mouse clicks.
If your scanner is configured correctly in Readiris, you can just
click one of the SmartTasks to start processing documents, using
the default settings. In case you still need to configure the scanner,
see the topic Configuring your scanner first.

To change the default settings of the SmartTasks:
 Right-click, or double-click on the SmartTask icon of your
choice.
 Select Scanner if you want to scan paper documents, or select
Image files to load existing images files on your computer.
 Then click Configure to determine the Output Format, its
Formatting Options and any Cloud destinations.
The formats and options that are available here depend on the
SmartTask you are using.
Detailed information about the different output formats and their
formatting options can be found in the sections Saving
Documents, Selecting the Formatting Options and Sending
Documents to the Cloud.

Section 3: Basic Document Processing

 Once you are done configuring your SmartTask, click it to start
processing your documents.
If you selected Scanner, Readiris starts scanning your
documents.
If you selected Image files, a window opens in which you can
select your images files.
 When Readiris has finished processing your documents, the
Output File window opens. Name your output file and select
where you want to store it.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

When you are using the Send to e-mail SmartTask, your default email software will open.
When you are using the Send to Cloud SmartTask, your documents
are sent to the configured Cloud application.
For information on how to use the SmartTask Document
separation, see the section How to Separate Document Batches.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

SECTION 4: SELECTING THE
CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
Before you scan or open any documents in Readiris you can set a
number of Configuration options. These options help to improve
the recognition results and are carried out during the
scanning/opening of documents.
The Configuration options are located in the Configuration
group.

Rotation options
Readiris can rotate your documents 90° to the right, 180° and 90° to
the left.
When you are processing a bunch of documents that do not have the
same orientation, select Automatic. In that case Readiris rotates the
documents automatically in the right direction.

Section 4: Selecting the Configuration Options

Note: make sure your documents are facing the right direction meaning the text is facing the scanning surface. Otherwise Readiris
will not be able to rotate them.

Page Deskewing
Select this option when you need to straighten documents that were
scanned crookedly.

Page Analysis
This option is activated by default. It splits up each page in
recognition zones. Readiris analyzes the entire page and indicates
which zones contain text, images and tables.
These recognition zones are required in order to process your
documents. If your documents do not contain any recognition
zones, Readiris will not be able to process them.
See the section Editing the Recognition Zones for detailed
information on the recognition zones, and on how to change them if
necessary.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Next steps
When you are done selecting the options, click Scan to scan your
documents, or click From File to open existing files.

Click the thumbnails in the Pages panel and check if the options
have been correctly applied. Should not be the case, know that you
can modify them manually via the Page tab on the ribbon.

Section 4: Selecting the Configuration Options

Modifying the page configuration options
If the page configuration options you selected do not generate the
results you were hoping for, you can change them manually after
scanning/opening your documents.
To modify the options:
 In the Pages panel, select the page that needs to be changed.
 Then click the Page tab. Here you can re-apply the deskewing
and rotation options.

 Use the arrows in the Organize group to switch to other pages.

Tip:
If you want to modify the recognition zones, click the Zones tab. See the
topic Editing the Recognition Zones for more information.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

SECTION 5: SELECTING THE
RECOGNITION OPTIONS
RECOGNITION OPTIONS
Readiris converts scanned images, image files and PDF files into
editable text documents and text-searchable PDF documents. In
order for Readiris to recognize the text in your images, you need to
activate the correct recognition options.
Tip: it is recommended to set the document recognition options before you
scan or open any documents in Readiris. The reason for this is that Readiris
carries out the document recognition simultaneously while opening or
scanning multiple pages.

The recognition options are located in the Languages group.
Advanced recognition options are available via the expansion arrow
in the Configuration group.

Below you find an overview of the different options.

The Main language
The Main language is by far the most important recognition option.
The quality of the document recognition depends a great deal on
53

Section 5: Selecting the Recognition Options

selecting the correct recognition language. The recognition
language is set to the language you selected during installation.
To select a different language:
 Click the down arrow right of the Main list and select the
language of your choice.

Other Recognition Options (Readiris Pro + Corporate)
Recognizing numeric documents
When you are processing documents that only contain numbers and
almost or no text, then it is recommended to select the Numeric
option.
When this option is selected Readiris only recognizes the numerals
0-9 and the following series of symbols:
+

Plus sign

Asterisk

Slash

Percentage

Comma

(

)

Period

Opening
parenthesis

Closing
parenthisis

Hyphen

Equation sign

€

Dollar sign

Pound sign

Euro sign

Yen sign

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Recognizing Western words in Cyrillic and Slavic languages
and in Greek
When you are processing Cyrillic, Slavic or Greek documents that
also contain "Western" words written in the Latin alphabet - such as
proper nouns, then it is recommended to select one of the available
Language pairs.
Language pairs are always combined with the English language and
are available for Russian, Byelorussian, Ukrainian, Serbian,
Macedonian, Bulgarian and Greek.
To select a Language pair:
 Click the down arrow right of the Main list.
 Then select the required language pair.
Example

Speed vs. Accuracy
In Readiris Corporate you can choose whether to favor recognition
speed over accuracy and the other way around.
Tip: when you are processing low-quality images, it is
recommended to set this feature to accuracy. This yields markedly
better results.

Section 5: Selecting the Recognition Options

To access the Speed vs. Accuracy option:
 Click the expansion arrow in the Languages group.

 Move the slider to Speed for faster processing.
 Or move the slider to Accuracy for better recognition
results.

Other Recognition Options (Readiris Corporate only)
Recognizing Secondary Languages inside a single document
When your documents contain text in multiple languages, it is
recommended to select a main recognition language, combined with
several Secondary languages. You may select up to 4 secondary
languages:



Click the down arrow right of the Secondary list and check
the boxes of the required languages.



Secondary languages that are unavailable for the selected
main language are greyed out.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Recognizing Arabic Documents
When recognizing Arabic documents in Readiris Corporate, you
can choose which recognition engine to use: omnifont or multifont.
By default, Readiris uses the omnifont engine, which recognizes all
fonts. To obtain the best recognition results it is recommended to
use the multifont engine. This way, you can select the fonts used in
your documents.


Click the expansion arrow on the Languages group.



Then select Arabic from the Main language list. The Fonts
button now becomes available.



Click the Fonts button, then select Use multifont engine.



Select the fonts you want to recognize in the left column, and
move them to the right column by clicking the right arrow.
57

Section 5: Selecting the Recognition Options

Tip: should the recognition results be unsatisfactory, even though you
selected the correct recognition options, then the image quality of your
documents is probably insufficient. See the section Adjusting the Image
Quality to solve this problem.

ADVANCED RECOGNITION OPTIONS
Next to the document language, other document characteristics such
as the Font type and Character pitch play an important role in the
processing of documents.
You can access them by clicking the expansion arrow in the
Configuration group, or via the Readiris button > Advanced
Settings.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Font type
Readiris distinguishes between "regular" and dot matrix printed
documents. Dot matrix printers are printers that create documents
with text made up of isolated, separate dots.
Special segmentation and recognition techniques are required to
recognize dot matrix documents and need to be activated.

To select the font type:
 Click the Readiris button, and then click Advanced Settings.
 Click the tab Font type.
 The font type is set to Automatic by default.
That way, Readiris recognizes "24 pin" or "NLQ" (Near Letter
Quality) dot matrix, or other "normal" printing.

 To recognize only dot matrix printed documents, click Dot
matrix.
Readiris will recognize so-called "draft" or "9 pin" dot matrix printed
documents.

Character pitch
The character pitch is the number of characters per inch in a
particular font. The character pitch can either be fixed, in which
case all characters have the same width, or proportional, in which
case the characters have a different width.
To select the character pitch:
 Click the Readiris button, and then click Advanced Settings.

Section 5: Selecting the Recognition Options

 Click the tab Font type.
 The character pitch is set to Automatic by default.
 Click Fixed if all characters of the font have the same width.
This is often the case in old typewriter documents.
 Click Proportional if the characters of the font have a different
width. Virtually all fonts in newspapers, magazines and books
are proportional.

Important: these document characteristics do not apply to Asian,
Hebrew or Arabic documents.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

SECTION 6: SCANNING AND
OPENING DOCUMENTS
SCANNING DOCUMENTS
Before you begin: make sure your scanner is connected to your computer
and configured correctly. If necessary, see the topic Configuring your scanner.

Readiris is Twain compliant. It supports almost any flatbed and
sheet-fed scanner, all-in-one device, digital camera and scanner
currently available.
See the topic Selecting the Scanner Settings for detailed
information on the available scanner settings in Readiris.
Important note: Readiris Pro can scan 50 pages at a time. It is not
possible to scan or open more than 50 pages inside a single Readiris
project. Readiris Corporate can open an unlimited number of pages
inside a single project.

Selecting the Scanner Settings
This section gives an overview of all the available scanner settings
in Readiris.
To access the scanner settings:
 Click the down arrow beneath the Scan button, then click
Settings.

Section 6: Scanning and Opening Documents

 The Scanner window is displayed.

Below you find an overview of all available scanner settings.
Scanner model
Click Scanner Model to select your scanner profile from the list.
The scanner profile allows you to access features specific to your
scanner. For example, duplex scanning (ADF). Settings that are
unavailable for your scanner are not displayed or greyed out.
Do not worry if you don't see your scanner in the list; not all
scanners have specific scanner profiles.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

If you do not find your exact scanner in the list, do not select a
similar profile. Instead, select a universal Twain profile. Different
Twain profiles are available:
Select when you are using a
regular, flatbed scanner.
Select (User interface) if you
want to use your scanner user interface to scan documents
instead of Readiris.
Select
when you are using a duplex scanner, which scans both the
front and backside of a page.

Configure
Click Configure to select your scanner driver. Selecting the
correct scanner driver is required for Readiris to be able to
communicate with the scanner.
If you do not see your scanner listed in the Select Source window,
then your scanner driver has not been installed properly. Re-install
your scanner driver before trying to configure it in Readiris. The
scanner driver can usually be found on the website of your scanner
manufacturer.

Section 6: Scanning and Opening Documents

Contrast
When scanning low-quality documents, adjusting the Contrast
level is sometimes required to obtain an optimal scan result.
Move the Contrast slider to the right to increase the contrast
between the background and the text. Move it to the left to reduce
the contrast.
Note: when the option Auto-exposure is selected, the Contrast
slider is unavailable. The contrast settings are then adjusted
automatically.
Brightness
When you are scanning dark, blurry images, or extremely light
images, it may be necessary to adjust the Brightness settings.
Move the Brightness slider to the right to increase the brightness of
your scans. Move the slider to the left to reduce the brightness.
Note: when the option Auto-exposure is selected, the Brightness
slider is unavailable. The brightness settings are then adjusted
automatically.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Optimize resolution for OCR
This option adjusts the resolution of images that were scanned with
too much detail (over 600 dpi). When this option is activated
Readiris reduces the resolution to a suitable level.
Note that this option doesn't increase the resolution of images
scanned with too little detail.
Scan another page after
This option is useful when you are scanning multiple pages on a
flatbed scanner. It allows you to determine after how many seconds
Readiris scans another page. This way, you have the time to change
the pages on the scanner while Readiris scans them automatically.
You no longer need to go back to your Readiris application and
click the Scan button every time you want to scan a new page.
Use the up and down arrows to determine after how many seconds
you want Readiris to scan a new page.
Format
Click the Format list to define the size of the documents you are
scanning.
Tip: in the US Letter and Legal are the two most common
formats. Internationally, A4 is the standard.

Resolution
Select in which resolution you want to scan images. A resolution of
300 dpi (dots per inch) is recommended. When you are scanning
very small print or Asian languages, 400 dpi is recommended.

Section 6: Scanning and Opening Documents

Color mode
Readiris can scan documents in color, black-and-white and
grayscale.
Note that grayscale and color images return the best OCR results.
Landscape
Select the Landscape option when scanning landscape-oriented
documents instead of portrait-oriented documents.
When this option is selected, Readiris displays your documents as
landscape-oriented documents in the interface.

Auto-exposure
With some scanners the Auto-exposure option is selected by
default. This option adjusts the contrast and brightness settings
automatically. A good contrast is required to obtain optimal
recognition results.
Note: when this option is selected, the Contrast and Brightness
sliders are unavailable.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

ADF
ADF stands for Automatic Document Feeder. This option is
available when your scanner is equipped with an automatic
document feeder. Select this option when you want to scan stacks of
documents all at once.
Invert
Sometimes Twain scanners display white text on a black
background when scanning documents in black-and-white. To
reverse the color of text/background on your documents, select the
Invert option.
Digital camera
When you are using a Twain compatible digital camera, you can
use your camera directly as scan source. To do so, select the Digital
camera option. Readiris will then use special recognition routines
to process the digital camera images.
See the section How to process digital camera images for tips on
using a camera as scan source.
Process as 300 dpi
Select the option Process as 300 dpi when you are processing
images of an incorrect or unknown resolution. The images will be
processed as if they had a 300 dpi resolution.
Smoothen color images
This option is selected by default. It improves the appearance of
color and grayscale images in your documents.
Note: with some scanners, image smoothening is required to
recognize color and grayscale images successfully.
67

Section 6: Scanning and Opening Documents

Duplex
When using a duplex scanner - a scanner that can scan both the
front and the back side of documents - the Duplex scanning option
is available. Select this option to have Readiris scan the front and
back side of documents.
Fast Binarization (Readiris Corporate only)
When you are using a high-speed scanner it is recommended to
activate Fast Binarization. This option increases the processing
speed considerably.
Tip: avoid selecting this option when scanning very low-quality
documents.

SCANNING BATCHES OF DOCUMENTS
(This section applies to Readiris Corporate only)
If you need to scan entire batches of documents you can use
Readiris' Watched Folder feature.
This way, you can scan all your documents to specific folders that
are being monitored by Readiris. Whenever Readiris spots a new
document inside one of the Watched Folders, it processes it and
exports it to a destination of your choice: in an output folder, in the
Cloud or on an FTP web site.
Readiris supports up to 32 Watched Folders. Each watched folder
can have a specific configuration. One watched folder configuration
can for instance generate Compressed PDF documents and export
them to Therefore. Another can generate RTF documents and
export them to Google Docs, where they can be edited. While yet
another one can also send documents to a different instance of
68

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Google Docs, using different credentials (user name and password)
and settings (output folder, etc.).
Important notes:
 When using a Readiris Watched Folder, it is not possible to use
Readiris as scanning application at the same time.
 Watched Folders can either use the Default settings - being the
settings you configured in Readiris - or Specific settings. In the
latter case, the settings you configure for a watched folder have
nothing to do with the settings you configured inside Readiris
itself.

To set up a Watched Folder configuration:
 Click the down arrow beneath the From File button.

 Then click Watched Folder.
Note that the Watched Folder option is only available
when no documents are opened in Readiris.
 Click New watched configuration.
 Browse for the input folder to which you will scan the
documents. Click OK to confirm.
69

Section 6: Scanning and Opening Documents

 In case you want to apply the current Readiris configuration to
the Watched Folder, keep the option Default settings selected.
Note that the option Select Output text folder is only
available when the output is set to Save as File in the
current Readiris configuration.

The option Select output format is only available when
using Specific settings.

 In case you want to apply specific settings to a Watched Folder
configuration, select the option Specific settings.
 Now the Output settings screen appears.
Select the output format, destination and lay-outing
options. For more information see Section 9: Saving
Documents and Section 10: Sending Documents to the
Cloud.
 Click OK to confirm.
Tips:
o If you want Readiris to process the subfolders of a
Watched Folder, then select Process subfolders.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Note: when the Process subfolders feature is
activated, it is not possible to use a subfolder of an
existing watched folder as watched folder in a new
watched folder configuration.
Example: in Configuration 1 you select Process
subfolders and you use C:\Input as Watched Folder.
C:\Input has a subfolder called Batch1. In that case
C:\Input\Batch1 cannot be used as Watched Folder in
Configuration 2.
o When using multiple Watched Folders, it is very useful to
use the feature Add time stamp to filename.
This way, you avoid generating output files that have
the same file name, which would be overwritten
when using the same output destination. A time
stamp looks as follows
_YYYYMMDDHHMMSS and contains
the year, month, date, hour, minutes and seconds of
the creation time.
 When you are done, click OK to start monitoring the Watched
Folder. Or click New watched configuration to configure
another Watched Folder.
During monitoring, Readiris processes any images it spots
inside the folder.
Tip: click Minimize to have Readiris run in the
background.

Section 6: Scanning and Opening Documents

To add documents to the Watched Folder while it is being
monitored by Readiris:
 Scan documents using your scanner's interface, or
 Move existing image files to the Watched Folder.

OPENING IMAGE FILES
Besides scanning documents, you can also open image files and
PDF files with Readiris.
Important note: Readiris Pro can open multipage image files of up
to 50 pages. It is not possible to open more than 50 pages inside a
single Readiris project. If you need to process more pages inside a
single project, switch to Readiris Corporate.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Readiris supports the following image file formats.
Image File Format

File Extension

Adobe PDF

*.pdf

DCX fax

*.dcx

DjVu images

*.djv, *.djvu

JPEG images

*.jpg, *.jpeg

JPEG 2000 images

*.j2c, *.j2k, *.jp2

Portable Network Graphics

*.png

(Compressed and multipage)
TIFF images uncompressed
and LZW, PackBits, Group
3, Group 4 and JPEG
compressed

*.tif, *.tiff

Windows bitmap

*.bmp

ZSoft Paintbrush images

*.pcx

To open existing image files:
 Click the From File button.

 Then select the images files you want to process, and click
Open.

Section 6: Scanning and Opening Documents

Note:
If your image file has been scanned in a low or unknown resolution,
Readiris displays the following warning:

Click Open anyway to continue with your image. Tip: click the
Help button for pointers on how to obtain the best possible results
with low-resolution images.

Opening options
When opening image files, several options are available:

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Load PDF documents in color
This option does exactly what it says: it opens PDF documents in
color.
Deactivate his option if you want to open PDF documents in blackand-white, to speed up the opening process.
Smoothen color images
This option is selected by default. It improves the appearance of
color and grayscale images in your documents.
Note: with some scanners, image smoothening is required to
recognize color and grayscale images successfully.
Process as 300 dpi
Select Process as 300 dpi when you are processing images of an
incorrect or unknown resolution. The images will be processed as if
they had a 300 dpi resolution.
Fast Binarization (Readiris Corporate)
When you are opening many image files at the same time, it is
recommended to activate Fast Binarization. This option increases
the processing speed considerably.
Tip: avoid selecting this option when scanning very low-quality
documents.

Page range
Use this option when you only want to open a certain section of
multipage TIFF or PDF files.

Section 6: Scanning and Opening Documents

Select All pages to open the entire document (up to 50 pages in
Readiris Pro).
Or select Pages and indicate the page range.

Other ways of opening image files
Besides the From File button you can also open image files by
dragging them to the Readiris interface.

PROCESSING BATCHES OF IMAGE FILES
(This section applies to Readiris Corporate only)
When you are processing entire batches of image files, you can use
Readiris' Batch OCR folder.
 Click the down arrow beneath the From File button.

 Then click Batch OCR.
Note that the Batch OCR option is only available when no
documents are opened in Readiris.
 Browse for the input folder, where your image files are located.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

 Then browse for the output folder, where your processed
documents will be stored.

 Then select the processing options:
o Process subfolders processes any underlying folders of
the input folder.
o Overwrite output files overwrites any existing output
files with the same name in the output folder.
o Delete scans after recognition deletes your original input
images once they have been processed.
 Click the Select Output Format button to select the required
output format and the formatting options.
Tip: see the topics Saving Documents and Selecting the Formatting
Options for more information.

 When you are done selecting the options, click OK to start
processing documents.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

SECTION 7: ADJUSTING THE
IMAGE QUALITY
The recognition results depend a great deal on the image quality of
your documents. If you're scanning very low-quality documents,
Readiris will not be able to recognize them properly.
The reason for this is that Readiris works by converting pictures of
text characters into actual text characters. If your documents are
too dark, the characters fade into one another and create black spots.
If your documents are too light, the text characters might be broken.
Consequently, Readiris will not be able to recognize them.
Example 1: text is too dark
Here, the letter shapes begin to fill in and become fuzzy. Letters like
a, e, and o are almost completely blurred.

Example 2: text is too bright
Here, the text characters start to show gaps and incomplete shapes.

Section 7: Adjusting the Image Quality

To improve the recognition results:
 Check the Scanner Settings and make sure your documents
have been scanned in a resolution of 300 dpi and in grayscale.
See the section Selecting the Scanner Settings if necessary.
 If that's not the case, re-scan your documents using these
settings.
Then access the Image Adjustment options:
 Click the View tab.

 Clear the option Display Document in Color.
 Then click Size > 100 %.
This enlarges the image, allowing you to inspect the text
characters. The characters should not be touching each other,
filled in, faded, or broken.
 Now click the Page tab, and click Adjust to start adjusting the
image.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Smoothen color image
This option is selected by default. It smoothens out differences in
intensity, creating a greater contrast between the text and the
background. Sometimes smoothening is the only way to separate
text from a colored background.

Section 7: Adjusting the Image Quality

Brightness
Move the slider to increase or decrease the brightness of your
documents.
Example 1: image is too dark
The image below is too dark and results in a plain black
image. There is no text to be recognized.

In this case you need to brighten the image in order for the
text to be displayed.

Example 2: image is too bright
The image below is too light and results in broken text
characters. The text is hardy legible.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

In this case you need to darken the image to obtain
satisfactory results.

Contrast
Move the slider to increase or decrease the contrast between the text
and the background.
Example
The image below results in broken text characters.

In this case you need to increase the contrast to obtain
satisfactory results.

Despeckle
Sometimes documents contain a lot of "noise" - little black spots
that occur when scanning low-quality documents or using bad
scanner settings.

Section 7: Adjusting the Image Quality

To remove these little black spots, use the Despeckle slider. The
more you move it to the right, the larger the spots that will be
removed.

When you are done adjusting the image quality:
 Click Apply to preview the results.
 If the results are satisfactory, click OK. If not, change the
settings again.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

SECTION 8: EDITING THE
RECOGNITION ZONES
Introduction
When you scan a document or open an image file in Readiris, each
page is divided automatically into recognition zones. Readiris uses
these zones to determine how each part of your documents must be
converted. If your document does not contain any zones, it cannot
be recognized.
In Readiris Pro there are 3 kinds of recognition zones. You have
text zones, image zones and table zones. In Readiris Corporate
you can also have a fourth zone type, being barcode zones.
Notice that each zone type has its own color.
Text zones

Orange

Image zones

Purple

Table zones

Pink

*Barcode zones

Green

*Readiris Corporate only.

The zones are also numbered; notice the number in the top left
corner of each zone. The numbers run top-down and from left to
right*. They indicate the order in which the zones are recognized.

Section 8: Editing the Recognition Zones

*Note: when processing Arabic documents, the numbers run from
right to left, if you select Arabic as main language.
Example of recognition zones

Modifying the automatic Page Analysis
The zones we discussed above are created automatically by an
option called Page Analysis. This automatic page analysis is far
from fixed. It can be modified in several ways. For instance, you
can manually create new zones, change the zone of existing zones,
expand and reduce zones in size, change the sort order, and so on.
Note, however, that is not possible to do any text editing inside
Readiris. That sort of editing is to be done in your target
application, e.g. Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.
To access the Editing and Layout options:
 Scan or open a document in Readiris.
 Click the Zones tab.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

The Editing and Layout options
Below you find an overview of the editing and layout options in
Readiris.
Note: when you make any modifications to the layout, Readiris
redoes the recognition on the entire page.
Manually drawing zones
In case Readiris missed any recognition zones you can draw them
manually.
Note that barcode zones must always be drawn manually. They are
not created automatically by the Page Analysis feature.
To draw zones:


In the Editing group, click the zone type you want to create.



Then click and hold the left mouse button and draw a frame
around the section to want to recognize.
In the image below, we manually drew a new table zone
(the pink frame).

Section 8: Editing the Recognition Zones

Changing the zone type
When scanning bad quality documents, it may occur that Readiris
does not determine the zone types correctly. If that happens, know
that you can change the zone types manually:


Right-click the zone you want to change.



Point to Zone > Type, and then click the zone type of your
choice.

Important note: if you are processing bad quality images,
Readiris will likely have problems recognizing them
correctly. Refer to the section Adjusting the Image
Quality to learn how you can avoid such issues.
Changing the zone type of multiple zones simultaneously
When scanning bad quality documents, it may occur that Readiris
does not determine the zone types correctly. If that happens, know
that you can change the zone types manually:

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide



Click Select zone on the Editing group.



Press and hold the Shift key while clicking the zones you
want to modify.



Then, while still pressing the Shift key, right-click inside a
selected zone, point to Zone > Type and click the zone type
of your choice.

Click Select zone in the Editing group.



Then click inside the zone you want to reduce or expand.

Section 8: Editing the Recognition Zones



Click and hold one of the bullets on the frame, then drag the
frame in the desired direction to expand or reduce the zone.

Changing the sort order of zones
The order in which the zones are numbered determines in which
order they will be included in the output documents. To change the
order:


Click Select zone in the Editing group.



Then click the Sort button.
The numbers now disappear from the zones.



Now click the recognition zones one by one, in the order you
want to sort them in.

Moving zones


Click Select zone in the Editing group.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide



Then click inside the zone you want to move, hold the left
mouse button, and drag the frame to the position of your
choice.

Connecting zones
Suppose you have two text zones that belong together, and you
want to turn them into one single text zone. In that case:


Select Text in the Editing group.



Then draw a text zone between the two zones to connect
them.

Section 8: Editing the Recognition Zones



The two zones are merged into one.
Note that only zones of the same zone type can be
connected.

Deleting zones
In case you want to exclude zones from the recognition:



Click Select zone in the Editing group.



Then press and hold the shift key and select the zones you
want to delete.



Right-click one of the selected zones, point to Zone and click
Delete.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Deleting small zones
Sometimes documents contain a lot of "noise" - little black spots
that occur when scanning low-quality documents or using bad
scanner settings. When that is the case, Readiris tends to mark them
as recognition zones, even though they do not contain any useful
content.
To exclude these zones from recognition:


Click the option Delete small zones.



This option erases all windows smaller than 0.5" and re-sorts
the remaining zones.

Ignoring zones on borders
When your scanner generates black borders around your
documents, Readiris tends to mark them as recognition zones, even
though they do not contain any useful content.
In such cases it is recommended to use the option Ignore zones on
borders. That way, the border zones will be excluded from the
recognition.

Section 8: Editing the Recognition Zones

Ignoring a certain zone
In case your document only contains content in a certain area of the
page, you can use the Ignore option to exclude the remainder of the
page from the recognition.


Click Ignore in the Layout group.



Then draw a frame around the section that contains the
information. Everything outside the frame will be ignored.

Note: you can also use this option to create Zoning
templates, in case all your documents have a similar
layout. See the section Using Zoning Templates.
Recognizing the content of a particular zone
In case you only want to recognize the content of a particular text
zone, and you don't need a fully converted output document, then
you can use the Copy as Text option.



Right-click the text zone you want to recognize.



Then click Copy as Text.

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The results are copied to the clipboard as body text. You
can now paste them into other applications.
Re-doing the Page Analysis
If you are not satisfied with the changes you made, note that you
can always redo the automatic page analysis.


Click the Analyze command to do so.

If you want to disable the automatic page analysis all together:
 Click the Home tab.
 Clear the option Page Analysis.

Section 8: Editing the Recognition Zones

In this case you need to manually define the recognition zones. If
your document does not contain recognition zones, Readiris cannot
process it.

USING ZONING TEMPLATES
When you want to scan many similar looking documents, it might
be useful to apply zoning templates, instead of editing the
recognition zones each time. In a zoning template you indicate what
your documents look like and where the text, picture or tables zones
are located. This way, Readiris only looks in the indicated areas,
saving you a considerable amount of time.
To create a zoning template:
 Scan the first document.
 Click the Zones tab to edit the zones to your liking.
See Editing the Recognition Zones for more information.
 Then click Save to save the zoning template.

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To use a zoning template:
 First, deactivate Page Analysis on the Configuration tab.

 Then, scan or open your documents in Readiris.
 On the Zones tab, click Open.
You are asked to load the zoning template for the current page,
or for all the already opened pages.

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SECTION 9: SAVING DOCUMENTS
SAVING DOCUMENTS
The documents you process with Readiris can be saved in a large
number of output formats, ranging from plain text files to fully
formatted Word and Excel files, and also PDF and XPS files.
With Readiris you can also turn Image PDFs - in which you cannot
select or copy any text - into fully text-searchable PDF documents.
The same goes for Image XPS documents.
Below you find an overview of the supported output formats.
 PDF
PDF stands for "Portable Document Format". It is a format
developed by Adobe System Inc. to facilitate document exchange.
PDF files are device-independent and resolution-independent, and
can be opened on any Operating System (Windows, Mac OS,
Linux, iOS, Android, etc.) PDF files are mostly used for storage
purposes. Note that the content of PDF files cannot be edited
(easily).
With Readiris you can generate 4 types of PDF files:
 PDF Image-Text (= PDF Searchable Image) This file
type is most commonly used. It contains two layers: the
recognized text, and the original image on top of the
text. This way, you have both access to the recognized
text and you still see the original image.

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Note: since the image covers the text, any recognition
mistakes will not be visible.

 PDF Text-Image. This file type is the opposite of PDF
Image-Text. It contains the original image in the
background, and the recognized text on top of the
image.
Note: any recognition mistakes will be visible in this
format.

 PDF Text. This file type contains the recognized text,
but does not contain the original image of your
document. Any images in the original document are
included as graphics in the PDF file.
 PDF Image. When you select this file type, Readiris
doesn't execute the text recognition on your document.
Your PDF file will not be text-searchable, it only
contains the image of your original document.
Note: many options are available for PDF files. Readiris
can generate hyper-compressed PDF files, passwordprotected PDF files, digitally signed PDF files, PDF/Acompliant PDF files. See the section Selecting the PDF
Options for more information.
Tip: with Readiris you can also turn Image PDFs into textsearchable PDFs.

 XPS
XPS stands for XML Paper Specification. It is a fixed-layout
document format designed by Microsoft Inc. to preserve document
fidelity. XPS files - just like PDF files - are mostly used for storage
purposes. Note that the content of XPS files cannot be edited
(easily).
With Readiris you can generate 4 types of XPS files:

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 XPS Image-Text. This file type is most commonly
used. It contains two layers: the recognized text, and
the original image on top of the text. This way, you
have both access to the recognized text and you still see
the original image.
Note: since the image covers the text, any recognition
mistakes will not be visible.

 XPS Text-Image. This file type is the opposite of XPS
Image-Text. It contains the original image in the
background, and the recognized text on top of the
image.
Note: any recognition mistakes will be visible in this
format.

 XPS Text. This file type contains the recognized text,
but does not contain the original image of your
document. Any images in the original document are
included as graphics in the XPS file.
 XPS Image. When you select this file type, Readiris
doesn't execute the text recognition on your document.
Your XPS file will not be text-searchable, it only
contains the image of your original document.
Note: Readiris can also generate hyper-compressed XPS
documents. See the section Selecting the XPS Options for
more information.

 RTF
RTF stands for "Rich Text Formatting". It is a free document file
format developed by Microsoft Inc. to facilitate document
exchange. Most text processors are able to read and write RTF
documents. Examples are Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, 2003.

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Again many levels of lay-outing are available. See the section
Selecting the Formatting Options for more information.
 DOCX
DOCX is the new standard text processor format used in Microsoft
Word 2007 and 2010. This file format is based on the XML
(extensible markup language) format.
The same layouting options are available as for DOC and RTF
documents. See the section Selecting the Formatting Options for
more information.
 DOC
Doc is the standard format used in Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002
and 2003. It is one of the standard text processor formats.
Note that many levels of layouting are available for .doc documents.
See the section Selecting the Formatting Options for more
information.
Note that Microsoft Word must be installed on your computer in
order to generate DOC files.
 ODT
ODT stands for "Open DocumentText". It is an open-source file
format.
ODT files can be opened with any OpenOffice-compatible text
processor.
See the section Selecting the Formatting Options for more
information about the available layout options.
 Spreadsheet ML (xml)

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SpreadsheetML is an XML dialect developed by Microsoft Inc. It is
the standard spreadsheet format in Microsoft Excel 2003. This
format is useful when processing documents with lots of tables and
figures.
Specific layouting options are available for SpreadsheetML. See the
section SpreadsheetML Options for more information.
 XLSX
XLSX is the new standard spreadsheet file format in Microsoft
Excel 2007 and 2010. XLSX files are created using the Open XML
standard. Each cell in an XLSX file can have a different formatting.
See the section Selecting the Formatting Options for more
information about the available layout options.
 CSV
CSV stands for "Comma Separated Value". It is a text format for
storing tabular data. In a CSV file comma's are used to separate
values. This format is usually associated with Microsoft Excel on
Windows computers.
 TXT
A TXT file is a standard text document that contains unformatted
text. TXT files can be opened in any text editing or word processing
application.
No Layout options are available for TXT files.
 HTML
HTML stands for "Hypertext Markup Language". It is the
predominant markup language for web pages. It provides a means
to describe the structure and formatting of text-based information in
a document. This file format can be opened in Microsoft Excel, in

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Web browsers such as Internet Explorer, and in Web page editors
such as Adobe Dreamweaver.
See the section Selecting the Formatting Options for more
information about the layout options.
 TIF
Tif stands for "Tagged Image File". It is a high-quality graphics
format that is often used for storing images with many colors.
Select this format if you want Readiris to convert your documents
into image files. No text recognition will be done on your
documents.
Note: a number of older file formats are supported as well.
Note: RTF files created by Readiris can also be opened in the webbased office applications AjaxWrite, ThinkFree, Zoho Writer and
Google Writely. When using one of these applications make sure to
select the layout option Retain Word and Paragraph Formatting.

To save your documents:
 Click the expansion arrow on the Output group.
The Output window opens.

 Select the format of your choice from the first drop-down list.

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 Select Open after saving if you want the corresponding
application to open when Readiris is done processing the
documents.
Note that the required application must be installed on your
computer for this option to work.
 Keep Save as file selected in the second drop-down list.

 Select any formatting options if necessary.
See the section Selecting the Formatting Options for more
information.
 Click OK to close the Output window.
 Then click Send to convert and save your documents.

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 When Readiris is done processing, the Output File window
opens. Now name your output file.
Note: Readiris, by default, saves all pages to a single output file.
In case you want to generate one file per page, select Create one
file per page.

Note: once you've saved your documents, they are not
automatically removed from the Readiris interface. This way you
have the opportunity to change the settings, if necessary, and to
save your documents in other formats as well.
To start a new project in Readiris:
 Click the Trash can icon at the bottom of the Pages panel.
This command erases your document from Readiris so you can
start a new one.

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ADDING PROPERTIES TO DOCUMENTS
The documents you process can be complemented by properties.
This means you can apply key "tags" to your documents, such as the
author, the document type, the scanning date, etc. This way, you can
retrieve them more easily once they have been stored.
To add properties to documents:
 Scan or open your documents into Readiris.
 Select the desired output format, and make sure the option Save
as file is activated.

 Click Send to save your documents.
 In the Save As window that opens, click Properties to add
properties to your documents.

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 Fill in the properties, then click OK to save them.

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SAVING SCANNED DOCUMENTS AS IMAGE FILES
The documents you scan do not necessarily need to be converted
into text output files. You can also choose to save them as
optimized image files.
To do so:
 Scan or open your documents in Readiris.

 Apply the necessary Page Configuration options, such as
Deskew and Rotate.

 Then click the Page tab:
o Click Save Pictures to save only the picture zones to an
image file.
o Click Save Full Page as Image to save the current page as
an image file, or;
o Click Save All Pages as Image to save all the pages in
Readiris as image file(s).

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Note: with this third option, you can choose to save all
pages to a multipage image files, or save each page
separately in separate image files.

 Name your document and select as which type of image you
want to save it.

 Depending on the image format you select, a JPEG quality
slider may be available. With this slider you can determine the
quality of your image files.

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SELECTING THE FORMATTING OPTIONS
Depending on the output format you select in the Output window,
different formatting options are available.

Below you'll find a short description of each Options group. See the
corresponding sections below for more detailed information.

Layout Options
The Layout Options play an important role when generating Word
processor documents, Spreadsheet documents and Web page
documents. They determine for a large part what your final
documents will look like.
General Options
The General Options are available for each output format on which
Readiris does text recognition. When you select an image output
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format, such as PDF Image, or TIF, for instance, the General
Options are not available.
The General Options complement the Layout Options and
determine, amongst others, if the colors and graphics are maintained
in the output documents.
SpreadsheetML Options
When generating SpreadsheetML documents for Microsoft Excel
(2002, 2003, 2007 and 2010), dedicated SpreadsheetML Options
are available, besides the Layout and General Options.
The SpreadsheetML Options determine how the worksheets will
be formatted in your Excel document.
PDF Options
When generating PDF documents, only the specific PDF Options
are available. These include bookmarking, iHQC-compression,
password protection and digital signing.
XPS Options
When generating XPS documents, only the specific XPS Options
are available. These include bookmarking and iHQC compression.
Paper Size
The Paper Size options allow you to define in which paper size
(e.g. A4, Letter, Legal) your output documents will be generated.
These options are available for most RTF output formats.
Pictures
The Pictures Options determine how the pictures will be presented
in the output documents, e.g. in black-and-white or in color. They
also define their resolution.
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Note: when you select an output format or application that does not
support images, then the Pictures Options will be unavailable in
Readiris.

LAYOUT OPTIONS
The Layout Options play an important role when generating Word
processor documents (.doc, .docx, .rtf, .odt), Spreadsheet documents
(.xml, .xlsx) and Web page documents (.htm). They determine for a
large part what your final documents will look like.
Below you find a description of what each Layout option does and
examples of real documents. Also notice the thumbnail on the right
side of the window. It gives you a general idea of the document
layout based on the Layout option you select.
Note: the Layout Options tab is of course unavailable when you
select PDF, XPS or TIF as output format. PDF and XPS are fixedlayout formats and by default re-create the original layout of the
document. And TIF is an image format, on which no recognition is
done.
Note: if any Layout option is unavailable for the output format you
selected, this means the option in question is not supported.

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 The option Create body text generates a continuous, running
line of text. The result is a document without any formatting. The
formatting is to be done manually, by the user.
Example of body text

 The option Retain word and paragraph formatting keeps the
general format structure of your scanned document.
The font type, size and type style are maintained across the
recognition process.
The tabs and the alignment of each block are recreated.
The text blocks and columns aren't recreated; the paragraphs just
follow each other.
Tables are recaptured correctly.
Pictures are not captured.

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Example of word and paragraph formatting

 The option Recreate source document tries to stay as close to
the original layout as possible.
The text blocks, tables and pictures are re-created in the same place as
the original.
The word and paragraph formatting are maintained.
Hyperlinks are re-created too.

Example of a re-created source document

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The option Use columns instead of frames creates columns
instead of text frames to position the information on the page.
Columnized texts are easier to edit than documents containing multiple
frames: the text flows naturally from one column to the next.
Note: should Readiris be unable to detect columns in the source document,
then frames are still used as substitute solution.
Tip: use this option when generating Word documents.

The option Insert column breaks inserts a hard column break at
the end of each column, which maintains the format of the text.
Any text you edit, add or remove, remains inside its column; no
text flows automatically across a column break.
Tip: disable this option (Insert column breaks) when you have body text
that contains columns. You'll ensure the natural flow of the text from one
column to the next.

The option Add image as page background places the scanned
image as page background beneath the recognized text.
Note: this option increases the file size of the output files substantially.
The format PDF Text-Image modifies PDF files in the same manner.
To avoid the file increase discussed above, select the option Retain colors
of background on the Options tab. This provides a similar but less drastic,
more compact alternative.

GENERAL OPTIONS
The General Options are available for each output format on which
Readiris does text recognition. When you select an image output
format, such as PDF Image, or TIF, for instance, the General
Options are not available. The General Options complement other
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options such as the Layout and SpreadsheetML Options. Note,
however, that some general options are unavailable depending on
the other Formatting options you select.
Below you find a description of what each option does and
examples of real documents.

 The option Merge lines into paragraphs enables automatic
paragraph detection.
Readiris wordwraps the recognized text until a new paragraph starts,
and reglues hyphenated words at the end of a line.

 The option Include pictures does exactly what it says; it
includes images in your output documents.
Clear this option in case you only need lay-outed text.

 The option Maintain colors of text keeps the original color of
the text in your source documents.
 The option Maintain colors of background recreates the
background color of each document.
Note: in a spreadsheet application, this option recreates the
background color of each cell.

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SPREADSHEETML OPTIONS
When you select Microsoft Excel 2002, 2003, 2007, 2010
(SpreadsheetML) as output format, specific SpreadsheetML
options are available.
Below you find a description of what each option does and
examples of real documents.

 The option Ignore all text outside the tables saves the tables
and ignores all other recognition results.

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All data inside the tables is recaptured; any data outside the tables is
not.

Example image

 The option Convert figures into numbers encodes recognized
figures as numbers.
As a result, you can execute arithmetical operations on those cells.
The text cells (in any table) remain text.
Note that only figures inside tables are encoded as numbers.

 The option Create one worksheet per page sees to it that one
worksheet is created per scanned page.
If a page contains tables and text, all is placed inside the same
worksheet.

 The option Create one worksheet per table places each table in
a separate worksheet and includes the recognized text (outside
the tables) in another worksheet.
If the document being processed contains more than one page, each
page will be processed in the same manner.
This option is useful when processing tables of different sizes and
different headings.

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PAPER SIZE
The Paper Size options allow you to define in which paper size
(e.g. A4, Letter, Legal) your output documents will be generated.
These options are available for most RTF output formats.

 Click the Paper size tab and use the arrow buttons to apply and
exclude paper sizes.
 Readiris will go through the active paper sizes in the user-set
order and will use the first paper size that is sufficiently large to
hold the scanned document.
Note: the default paper sizes vary depending on your operating
system.

PICTURES
The Pictures Options determine how the images will be presented
in the output documents, e.g. in black-and-white or in color. They
also define their resolution.
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Note: when you select an output format or application that does not
support images, then the Graphics Options will be unavailable in
Readiris.
Below you find a description of what each option does.

 Black-and-white images
Readiris by default saves images in color. Select this option to
generate black-and-white images. The colors of the text inside
your documents can still be maintained.
 Maintain scan resolution
This option is activated by default. Readiris generates the output
documents in the same resolution as your scanned documents.
To verify in which resolution your documents have been
scanned, check the Scanner Settings. Or check the image
properties in the interface.
 Reduce resolution to:
If you don't want to maintain the original scan resolution, then
select the option Reduce resolution to, and indicate to which
resolution you want to reduce the images;
Note: it is recommended to use a resolution of at least 72dpi.
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 JPEG quality
Images stored inside PDF, XPS, Word and RTF documents are
saved in the JPEG format.
Use the slider to adjust the JPEG quality.
 JPEG 2000 compression
When saving files in the PDF or XPS format, Readiris can apply
JPEG 2000 compression to the color-grayscale images stored
inside those files.

SELECTING THE PDF OPTIONS
The documents you process with Readiris can be saved as PDF
documents.
About PDF documents
PDF stands for "Portable Document Format". It is a format
developed by Adobe System Inc. to facilitate document exchange.
PDF files are device-independent and resolution-independent, and
can be opened on any Operating System (Windows, Mac OS,
Linux, iOS, Android, etc.) PDF files are mostly used for storage
purposes. Note that the content of PDF files cannot be edited
(easily).
To save documents as PDF documents:
 Click the Format button in the Output group.

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 Select the desired PDF type from the drop-down list:

 PDF Image-Text (= PDF Searchable Image). This file type is
most commonly used. It contains two layers: the recognized text,
and the original image on top of the text. This way, you have
both access to the recognized text and you still see the original
image.
Note: since the image covers the text, any recognition mistakes will
not be visible.

 PDF Text-Image. This file type is the opposite of PDF ImageText. It contains the original image in the background, and the
recognized text on top of the image.
Note: any recognition mistakes will be visible in this format.

 PDF Text. This file type contains the recognized text, but does
not contain the original image of your document. Any images in
the original document are included as graphics in the PDF file.

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 PDF Image. When you select this file type, Readiris doesn't
execute the text recognition on your document. Your PDF file
will not be text-searchable, it only contains the image of your
original document.

The PDF options

Create bookmarks
Bookmarks are types of links inside a PDF document, which
contain representative information about the section they are linked
to. Bookmarks give structure to your PDF documents. They are
grouped in the Bookmarks panel in the Navigation pane.
In Readiris, the option Create bookmarks creates a bookmark for
each text zone, image zone and table zone inside a PDF file.

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Example of bookmarks

Embed fonts
The option Embed fonts, embeds - or includes - the original fonts
of your documents in the PDF file. This way, other users will
always see the documents in their original fonts on their computer,
even if they don't have the particular font you used installed on their
computer.
Note that embedding fonts increases the file size of your output
documents.
Create PDF/A fully compliant files (Readiris Corporate)
This option generates PDF files that are suited for long-term
archiving. PDF/A stands for "Portable Document Format
Archivable". PDF/A files contain only what is strictly needed for
opening and viewing them.
Fast WEB View
The option Fast WEB View restructures a PDF document for pageper-page downloading from web servers. This option is useful when
accessing the documents you sent to the Cloud.

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PDF Version
In this drop-down list you can select which PDF version you want
to generate. Behind each version, the Acrobat version required to
open the PDF's is mentioned.

PDF - intelligent High-Quality Compression
In Readiris you also have the possibility to compress your PDF
documents. Refer to the separate section Compressing PDF
documents for more information.
Tip: also see the section Password-protecting PDF documents and
Digitally signing PDF documents.

COMPRESSING PDF DOCUMENTS
The PDF documents you generate with Readiris can be hypercompressed by means of iHQC. iHQC stands for intelligent HighQuality Compression, I.R.I.S.' proprietary, efficient compression
technology. iHQC is to images what MP3 is to music and what
DivX is to movies.
To generate compressed PDF documents:
 Click the Format button in the Output group.

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 Select the required PDF type from the drop-down list.
Note that iHQC compression is unavailable for PDF Text and
PDF Text-Image files.

 Select the required compression level:
There are three levels of compression.
For each level there are two types of compression: Good Size
and Good Quality. Good Size offers the best compression, with
a minimal loss of image quality. Good Quality offers slightly
larger output files with better image quality.

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Notes:
In Readiris Pro you can select Level I - Good Size, and Level I Good Quality.
In Readiris Corporate you have access to all levels of iHQC.
Customized Compression (Readiris Corporate)
In Readiris Corporate you can also select Custom compression.
When you select this option, you can determine the Size/Quality
ratio yourself by means of a slider.

The option Compress symbols is selected by default. This option
compresses text inside your documents.
The option Wavelet compression is also selected by default. This
option compresses images inside your documents.

PASSWORD-PROTECTING PDF DOCUMENTS
(This section applies to Readiris Corporate only)
The PDF documents you generate with Readiris can be passwordprotected. You can set a password to open the documents, and a
password that restricts modifications to the documents.
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To password-protect PDF documents:
 Click the Format button in the Output group.

 Select the required PDF type from the drop-down list.
 Then click the Password tab.

 When you set an open document password, you will be
prompted to enter that password when opening the PDF output.
 When you set a permissions password, you will only be able to
perform the actions specified in the security settings. If you do
want to change these settings, you must enter the permissions
password.
The Readiris security settings are similar to the standard protection
features offered by Adobe Acrobat.

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Note that in Readiris the open document password and permissions
password must be different.

DIGITALLY SIGNING PDF DOCUMENTS
(This section applies to Readiris Corporate only)
The PDF documents you generate with Readiris can be digitally
signed. Digital signatures identify the person who created the PDF
documents; they authenticate the identity of the author, certify a
document and help prevent unwanted changes to PDF documents.
Note, however, that Readiris does not generate digital signatures.
You need to have a digital signature at your disposal to generate
signed documents with Readiris. You can create digital signatures
with Adobe Acrobat or obtain them from companies like VeriSign.
To generate digitally signed documents:
 Click the Format button on the main toolbar.
 Select the required PDF type from the drop-down list.
 Click the Signature tab to access the signing options.
 Select Use this signature then browse for the signature of your
choice.

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Tips:
If you don't see any signatures in this list, click the Manage button. Then
click Import and follow the instructions in the Certificate Import Wizard.
You can also use the options behind the Manage button to edit, remove or
export any digital signatures on your PC.
Click the Details button to display all available information on your current
signature.
See the Adobe documentation for more information about certificates.

When you use a digital signature, it appears in the Signatures tab of
Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader.

SELECTING THE XPS OPTIONS
The documents you process with Readiris can be saved as XPS
documents.
About XPS documents
XPS stands for XML Paper Specification. It is a fixed-layout
document format designed by Microsoft Inc. to preserve document
fidelity. XPS files - just like PDF files - are mostly used for storage
purposes. Note that the content of XPS files cannot be edited
(easily).
To save documents as XPS documents:
 Click the Format button in the Output group.

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 Select the desired XPS type from the drop-down list:

 XPS Image-Text. This file type is most commonly used. It
contains two layers: the recognized text, and the original image
on top of the text. This way, you have both access to the
recognized text and you still see the original image.
Note: since the image covers the text, any recognition mistakes will
not be visible.

 XPS Text-Image. This file type is the opposite of XPS ImageText. It contains the original image in the background, and the
recognized text on top of the image.
Note: any recognition mistakes will be visible in this format.

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 XPS Text. This file type contains the recognized text, but does
not contain the original image of your document. Any images in
the original document are included as graphics in the XPS file.
 XPS Image. When you select this file type, Readiris doesn't
execute the text recognition on your document. Your XPS file
will not be text-searchable, it only contains the image of your
original document.

The XPS Options

Create bookmarks
Bookmarks are types of links inside an XPS document, which
contain representative information about the section they are linked
to. Bookmarks give structure to your XPS documents.
In Readiris, the option Create bookmarks creates a bookmark for
each text zone, image zone and table zone inside a XPS file.

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XPS - intelligent High-Quality Compression
In Readiris you also have the possibility to compress your XPS
documents. Refer to the separate section Compressing XPS
documents for more information.

COMPRESSING XPS DOCUMENTS
The XPS documents you generate with Readiris can be hypercompressed by means of iHQC. iHQC stands for intelligent HighQuality Compression, I.R.I.S.' proprietary, efficient compression
technology. iHQC is to images what MP3 is to music and what
DivX is to movies.
To generate compressed XPS documents:
 Click the Format button in the Output group.

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 Select the required XPS type from the drop-down list.
Note that iHQC compression is unavailable for XPS Text and
XPS Text-Image files.

 Select the required compression level:
For Level I there are two types of compression: Good Size and
Good Quality. Good Size offers the best compression, with a
minimal loss of image quality. Good Quality offers slightly
larger output files with better image quality.

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Section 9: Saving Documents

In Readiris Corporate you can also select Custom compression.
When you select this option, you can determine the Size/Quality
ratio yourself by means of a slider.

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SECTION 10: SENDING
DOCUMENTS TO THE CLOUD
The documents you process with Readiris can be sent to various
Cloud applications. With Readiris Pro you can send document to
Evernote, Dropbox, GoogleDocs and box. With Readiris Corporate
you can also send document to Microsoft SharePoint, Therefore,
IRISNext and FTP web sites.
Before you can export to the Cloud, the connections must be
configured.
Important note: before you can configure a connection, you need
to have a valid Dropbox, GoogleDocs, Evernote, Box, SharePoint,
Therefore, IRISNext or FTP account.
Important note (Readiris Corporate): when using Therefore, an
up-to-date Therefore Client must be installed and configured
correctly on your computer.
To configure a connection:
 Click the Cloud Setup tab, then click the Cloud application of
your choice.

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Section 10: Sending Documents to the Cloud

 Enter your Username and Password.

 Enter the Server address.
 If necessary, click Browse to select a specific location on your
Cloud system.
 Then click OK to complete your configuration.

To send documents to the Cloud application:
 Scan or open your documents, and select the required processing
settings.

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Important note: regular users of GoogleDocs cannot export
image files to their account. So, make sure you do no select an
image file as output format in Readiris. Google Apps Premier
customers can upload any document types to their account.
 In the Output group, select the Cloud application you
configured.

 Then click Send to send your documents to the Cloud.
 You are prompted to indicate where exactly on your Cloud
system the documents must be exported. Indicate the location,
and then click on OK.
Tip: clear the option Ask for confirmation before exporting if you do not
want to indicate the location again in the future.

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Section 10: Sending Documents to the Cloud

 You are then prompted to name your document. Name the
document and click OK to complete the export.

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SENDING INDEXED DOCUMENTS TO THE CLOUD
(This section applies to Readiris Corporate only)
When sending documents to Microsoft SharePoint or Therefore,
Readiris automatically detects if your SharePoint or Therefore
system has any mandatory index fields that need to be filled in.
Examples of mandatory SharePoint fields

To send indexed documents:
 Configure the SharePoint or Therefore Connector.
 Then process your documents using the configuration of your
choice.
 In the Output group, select User index if you want Readiris to
display all available index fields on your SharePoint or Therefore
system when sending your documents.
 If you leave the User index unselected, Readiris only displays
any mandatory index fields when sending your documents.
 Click Send to send your documents.
The (mandatory) index fields are displayed on the Index tab.

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Section 10: Sending Documents to the Cloud

 Now you can either fill in the index fields manually, OR
 Use Readiris' Drag-and-Drop recognition technology to fill them
in:
o Click inside a field you want to fill in.
o Then click the Text icon to recognize text zones, or click
the Barcode icon to recognize barcode zones.
o Draw a frame around the zone you want to use as index.
When you release the mouse button, the text is filled in in
the field.
 Click Send to send the indexed documents, or click Discard to
start over.

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HOW TO
HOW TO CONFIGURE YOUR SCANNER
In order to scan documents in Readiris, your scanner must be
configured correctly.
Before you configure the scanner in Readiris:
1. Make sure your scanner is connected to your computer, and
switched on.
Note: the scanner should be physically connected to your computer
with a USB cable. An ethernet or wireless connection may also be
used if the Twain driver supplied by the manufacturer has been
engineered with that capability.
2. Make sure you have the latest available Twain driver installed for
your scanner.
In general, drivers can be found on the website of your scanner
manufacturer. They are not provided by I.R.I.S. Note that some
scanner drivers may not work under the latest versions of Windows.
See the documentation supplied with your scanner to find out which
platforms are supported. If necessary, contact your scanner
manufacturer.

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How to

Configuration
 Click the down arrow beneath Scan in the ribbon.
 Then click Settings.

ReadirisTM 14 – User Guide

Once you've selected a scanner model, you must configure you
scanner driver.
 Click Configure to select your scanner driver.
If you do no see your scanner listed in the Select Source
window, then your scanner driver has not been installed
properly. Re-install your scanner driver before trying to
configure it in Readiris. The scanner driver can usually be found
on the website of your scanner manufacturer.

Once the scanner has been configured you can start scanning,
using the default scanner settings.
For more information about the different scanner settings and
how to change them, see the topic Selecting the Scanner
Settings.

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How to

HOW TO IMPROVE THE RECOGNITION RESULTS
The quality of the recognition results depends on a number of
factors:
 the document language
Make sure you select the right language in the Language list. See
the section Document Recognition Options for more
information.
 the quality of the scanned documents
If the scanned documents are too bright, or too dark, Readiris
will have trouble recognizing them. Luckily there is a feature
that allows you to adjust the quality of scanned documents. See
the section Adjusting the Image Quality to learn how to do so.
 the scanner settings
If you are using a scanner to scan documents, the image quality
is also linked to the scanner settings. See the section Selecting
the Scanner Settings to make sure the right settings have been
selected for your scanner.
Make the scan resolution is set to 300 dpi for regular documents
and to 400 dpi for small print and Asian languages.

HOW TO SCAN MULTIPLE DOCUMENTS
In Readiris there are a number of features that allow you to scan and
process multiple documents easily in Readiris.

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Note: in Readiris Pro the number of pages you can process inside a
single project is limited to 50.
Scanning multiple documents on a flatbed scanner
 Click the down arrow beneath the Scan button to access the
Scanner Settings.

 In the Scanner Settings windows, select Scan another page
after and then indicate after how many seconds the next page
must be scanned.
This way, you avoid having to go back to your computer and
click the Scan button inside Readiris. You can simply replace the
pages at your own pace and Readiris starts scanning the next
page automatically.

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How to

Scanning multiple documents on a scanner with a document
feeder
 Click the down arrow beneath the Scan button to access the
Scanner Settings.

 In the Scanner Settings windows, select ADF (automatic
document feeder).
This way you can scan one page after the other on your scanner
and Readiris will keep up.

HOW TO PROCESS DIGITAL CAMERA IMAGES
Readiris uses special recognition routines to process digital camera
images. Make sure the Digital Camera option is activated when
processing such images.
To activate the Digital Camera option:
 First of all, turn on your digital camera and connect it to your
computer with a usb cable.
 Click the down arrow beneath the Scan button, then click
Settings.

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 Click Scanner Model and select
from the list.
Note: if you don't see your driver in the Select Source list, this
means the driver has not been installed correctly or your camera
does not have a Twain driver. Consult your camera's
documentation if necessary.
 Then click Configure and select your camera's Twain driver.
 Return to the Scanner Settings window select the Digital
Camera option.
 When you click Scan in Readiris your camera will now make a
scan.

Tips for taking pictures with your digital camera :
 Calibrate the camera by photographing a white document (before
using it with Readiris)
 Always select the highest image resolution.
 Enable the macro mode of the camera to take close-ups.
 Enable the document mode of the camera (if any)
 Only use optical zoom, not digital zoom.
 Hold the camera directly above the document. Avoid
photographing documents at an angle.
 Produce stable images. Use a tripod if necessary.
 Disable the flash when photographing glossy paper.
 Avoid opening compressed camera images.

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How to

 Adapt the Readiris brightness and contrast settings to the
environment (daylight, lamp light, neon light). See Selecting the
Scanner Settings.
 Select color or grayscale as color mode in Readiris. Also see
Selecting the Scanner Settings.

HOW TO RECOGNIZE BARCODES
(This section applies to Readiris Corporate only)
In Readiris Corporate you can recognize barcodes. Barcodes can be
used to separate documents in a batch.

Note: Readiris supports most widespread 2D barcodes. Readiris
supports laser printed and inkjet printed barcodes.
To define which barcodes Readiris should recognize:
 Click the Readiris button, and then click Advanced Settings.
 Select the barcode types you want Readiris to recognize.

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Important note: Readiris automatically recognizes barcodes to
separate documents, but the barcodes zones themselves are not
recognized as barcodes. In most case, they are recognized as
images.
Recognizing barcodes manually:

 Scan or Open your document.
 Click the Zones tab.
 Click the Barcode icon and draw a frame around the barcode.

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How to

 OR right-click the barcode zones that are incorrectly recognized
as image, then point to Zone > Type and select Barcode.

 Then click Send to save or send your document.

Recognizing a particular barcode
In case you need to use the content of a particular barcode:
 Draw a barcode zone around the barcode.
 Then right-click inside the zone and click Copy as Data.
The content of the zone is copied to the Clipboard. You can now
paste it in other applications.

HOW TO SEPARATE DOCUMENT BATCHES
(This section applies to Readiris Corporate only)
When you are scanning entire stacks of paper - on a scanner
equipped with a document feeder for instance - it can be useful to
indicate where one document ends and another begins. That way,

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Readiris can generate a separate output file for each document. This
avoids your having to scan only one document at a time.
Example
Let's say you're scanning a stack of 30 pages. The first 10 pages
belong to Document 1, pages 11 to 20 belong to Document 2 and
pages 21 to 30 belong to Document 3. If you indicate that your
stack of paper in fact contains 3 documents, Readiris will generate 3
separate output files.

How to separate paper documents
With Readiris, there are 2 ways in to separate paper documents.
You can do this by means of:
 blank pages
In this case you simply put a blank page between two sheets of
paper to indicate where the new document begins.
 cover pages containing a barcode
In this case you can, for instance, put a barcode sticker on each
first page of a document.
To access the document separation options:
 Click the Readiris button, and then click Advanced Settings.
 Click the Document Processing tab.

153

How to

 Indicate which separation method you are going to use: Detect
blank pages or Detect cover pages with a barcode.

When you are using cover pages with barcodes, you can indicate
where exactly on the page the barcodes are located, by means of a
read zone. Once you have defined the read zone, Readiris will only
search for barcodes in that specific area.
Tip: in order to know the dimensions of the read zone, use the Coordinates
function in Readiris:

 Click the Zones tab, and select Coordinates.

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 Now move the cursor over the image to see the coordinates.
You can also indicate specific content your barcodes contain. When
you select this option, Readiris will only look for the content you
specified. Other barcodes will be ignored as cover page. This
feature is recommended if your documents contain barcodes on
other pages as well, and not only on the cover pages.

The Recognition options
If your barcode cover pages also contain other content - besides the
barcodes - which you want to include in your output documents,
then select the option Include cover pages in output documents.

The option Apply page analysis to cover pages splits the cover
pages up into recognition zones, just like regular pages.
By means of the option Apply layout to cover pages you can use
one of your zoning templates to split up the cover pages into
recognition zones. For more information on how to use zoning
templates, see the section Using Zoning Templates.

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How to

The Indexing options
In case you want Readiris to generate an XML index file containing
detailed information on the processed documents, select the option
Generate an XML index.

HOW TO SEPARATE BATCHES OF IMAGE FILES
(This section applies to Readiris Corporate only)
When you are processing batches of image files and don't want
Readiris to convert them into a single output file, you can use cover
pages to separate them.
To do so:
 Import all the images you want to process.
 In the Pages panel, indicate at which page you want Readiris to
start a new document:
o Select the page.
o Then right-click it and click Cover page.

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o The page icon turns into a Cover page icon.

Note: if you want the cover pages to be included in the output
documents, select the corresponding Document Separation
options:
 Click the Readiris button.
 Then click Advanced Settings and click the Document
Processing tab.

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How to

HOW TO RECOGNIZE FORMS
Note that Readiris is not designed to recognize complex forms.
Readiris recognizes documents by converting pictures of text
characters and numbers into actual text and numbers. Forms, on the
other hand, contain many graphic elements such lines, boxes, check
boxes and the like, which complicate Readiris tasks.
Use the following rule of thumb if you try to recognize forms: if
you would be able to re-create the form fairly easily from scratch
inside Microsoft Word, Readiris has a good chance of processing it.
If it would take an extraordinary effort to re-create it in Word, then
Readiris will have the same difficulty.
Example
Form Readiris would not be able to process correctly

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HOW TO PROCESS LOW-RESOLUTION IMAGES
A resolution of 300 to 400 dpi is required to obtain optimal results
in Readiris. When you are faced with low-resolution images, the
best thing you can do is re-can the images in an appropriate
resolution. If that's not possible, there are few tips and tricks that
help you obtain better results:
Tip 1
When scanning images of an unknown resolution (which is the
case with digital cameras) or images of which the file header
displays an incorrect resolution, make sure to select the option
Process as 300 dpi:
 Click the down arrow beneath the Scan button.
 Then click Settings.
 Select the option Process as 300 dpi.
When this option is selected, Readiris treats the images as if they
had a 300 dpi resolution.

Tip 2
When scanning images with a digital camera, make sure to select
the Digital camera option:
 Click the down arrow beneath the Scan button.
 Then click Settings.
 Select the option Digital Camera.

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How to

Tip 3 (Readiris Corporate only)
Make sure that favor Accuracy over Speed when processing lowquality documents:
 Click the expansion arrow on the Language group.
 Move the slider to Accuracy.
Note:
When you are processing low-resolution faxes, there is no need to
take special measures. Readiris detects the typical fax resolutions
100 x 200 dpi (normal quality), 200 x 200 dpi (fine quality) and 200
x 400 dpi (superfine quality) and preprocesses these images
automatically to ensure optimal results.

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INDEX
3
300 dpi.................................. 75
A
accuracy vs. speed ................ 55
activation .............................. 19

batch OCR ............................76
black-and-white image .66, 121
box ......................................137
brightness........................64, 82
C

activity .................................. 27

changing interface language .33

ADF ...................................... 67

character pitch ......................59

adjusting scanned documents
.............................................. 79

Cloud ....................13, 137, 141
color image .............66, 75, 120

administrator ........................ 25
compression ................126, 134
Arabic ................................... 57
contrast ...........................64, 83
auto-exposure ....................... 66
cover pages .........................152
automatic document feeder .. 67
Cyrillic ..................................54
B
D
background color................ 116
deskewing .............................50
background color of table cells
............................................ 116

despeckling ...........................83

barcodes.............................. 150

digital camera ...............67, 148

basic processing ................... 37

digital signatures.................130

161

Index

document properties ..... 28, 107
dot matrix ............................. 58
driver .................................... 34
Dropbox.............................. 137

H
HTML output .....................103
I
improving recognition results
............................................146

duplex scanning.................... 66
indexing ..............................141
E
installation ............................17
edtiting zones ....................... 85
interval scanning...................65
Evernote ............................. 137
inverted images.....................67
Excel output ....................... 103
J
F
JPEG 2000 compression.....122
factory settings ..................... 41
L
fast binarization .............. 68, 75
landscape ..............................66
fast Web view..................... 125
language................................53
flatbed ................................. 146
layout options .............111, 113
font type ............................... 59
loading settings .....................41
forms .................................. 158
low-resolution images ........159
G
M
GoogleDocs ........................ 137
manual zoning ......................85
graphics ...................... 112, 120
multipage documents..........146
graphics options ................. 120
multi-thread ....................12, 27
grayscale image ............ 66, 120
N
Greek .................................... 54
numeric .................................54

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resolution ..............................65

OpenDocument .................. 102

restoring factory settings ......37

output formats ...................... 99

ribbon....................................26

P
page analysis .................. 37, 50
page deskewing .................... 50

rotation..................................49
RTF output .........................101
S

page range ............................ 75

save as image ......................109

pages..................................... 27

saving settings ......................41

paper sizes .................. 112, 120

scan resolution ......................65

password-protected PDF
output.................................... 76

scanner configuration ...........34
scanner model .......................62

PDF iHQC output............... 126
scanner settings.....................61
PDF options........................ 122
secondary languages .............56
PDF output ................... 99, 122
send by e-mail ................45, 99
PDF/A output ..................... 125
separating documents .152, 156
product support .................... 23
settings file ...........................41
properties ............................ 107
SharePoint ..................137, 141
R
signing PDF documents .....130
recognition............................ 53
Slavic ....................................54
recreating source documents
............................................ 113
registration............................ 20

SmartTasks ...........................45
smoothening color images ...67,
75, 81

requirements ......................... 17
speed vs. accuracy ................55

163

Index

spreadsheet documents ...... 102,
118

user interface language .........33
W

SpreadsheetML output ....... 118
watched folders.....................68
supported image formats ...... 72
Wizard ..................................42
system requirements ............. 17
Word output ........................102
T
worksheets ..................102, 103
tables .................................. 118
X
technical support .................. 23
XML output ........................102
text documents ................... 103
XPS iHQC output ...............134
Therefore .................... 137, 141
XPS options ........................131
Twain.................................... 35
XPS output .................100, 131
U
Z
uninstalling Readiris ............ 22
zones .....................................85
updates.................................. 21
zoning template ....................96
user interface .................. 26, 30

164

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Title                           : Readiris 14
Description                     : User Guide
Subject                         : October 2012
Create Date                     : 2012:10:29 08:43:28+01:00
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