ScanSoft TextBridge Pro 9.0 User manual

User’s Guide

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Copyright © 1999 by ScanSoft, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be transmitted, transcribed, reproduced, stored in any
retrieval system or translated into any language or computer language
in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, magnetic, optical,
chemical, manual, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of
ScanSoft, Inc., 9 Centennial Drive, Peabody, Massachusetts 01960.
This digital version contains the full copyrighted text.
The software described in this book is furnished under license and may
be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license.
IMPORTANT NOTICE ScanSoft, Inc. provides this publication “as is” without warranty of any
kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied
warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Some
states or jurisdictions do not allow disclaimer of express or implied
warranties in certain transactions; therefore, this statement may not
apply to you. ScanSoft reserves the right to revise this publication and to
make changes from time to time in the content hereof without obligation
of ScanSoft to notify any person of such revision or changes.
TRADEMARKS AND CREDITS TextBridge is a registered trademark, and Smart Zones, Instant Access
OCR, and Custom Proof are trademarks, of ScanSoft, Inc.
Excel,Word, and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.
WordPerfect is a registered trademark of WordPerfect Corp.
Other terms used in this manual are the trademarks of their respective
holders.
Animated character designed by Dreamlight Incorporated.
www.dreamlight.com
Portions of this product copyright © 1994–1999, Inso Corporation.
Authors: Lois West and Beth Paddock
© SCANSOFT, INC.
9 Centennial Drive
Peabody, Massachusetts 01960
TextBridge Pro 9.0 User’s Guide
Part Number 00-09510-00
March 1999

TextBridge Pro User’s Guide iii
CONTENTS
PREFACE
About This User’s Guide ............................. vii
Organization of this user’s guide ....................viii
Documentation conventions.........................ix
Related Documentation ............................... x
Technical Support ...................................xi
1 INTRODUCTION TO TEXTBRIDGE
Basic OCR Concepts ............................... 1–1
Features and Benefits .............................. 1–3
New Features ................................. 1–4
Enhanced Features ............................. 1–6
Other Features ................................ 1–8
Documents TextBridge Can Recognize................. 1–10
Input Image File Formats .......................... 1–11
Output Text File Formats .......................... 1–12
Output Image File Formats......................... 1–13
Where to Go From Here............................ 1–14

iv TextBridge Pro User’s Guide
2 INSTALLING AND SETTING UP TEXTBRIDGE
What Comes with TextBridge ........................ 2–2
Supported Scanners................................ 2–2
Installing and Testing Your Scanner ................... 2–4
System Requirements .............................. 2–5
Before Installing TextBridge ......................... 2–6
Using TextBridge with Pagis...................... 2–6
Uninstalling a Previous Version of TextBridge ........ 2–6
Learning about TextBridge ....................... 2–8
Installing TextBridge .............................. 2–9
Scanner Setup................................... 2–12
Setting Up Instant Access to TextBridge ............... 2–13
Uninstalling TextBridge ........................... 2–15
Where to Go From Here............................ 2–16
3 OCR AND BASIC TEXTBRIDGE OPERATIONS
What is TextBridge OCR? ........................... 3–2
Page types.................................... 3–2
Page sources .................................. 3–4
Recomposition ................................. 3–4
Running TextBridge Standalone and Instant Access ....... 3–6
Standalone Program ............................ 3–6
Instant Access ................................. 3–7
Improving Page Recognition with Settings .............. 3–8
Page Type Settings ............................. 3–8
Text Document Settings ........................ 3–13
Recognizing Other Languages ....................... 3–15
Language Installation .......................... 3–16
Language Processing........................... 3–16
Where to Go From Here............................ 3–18

Table of Contents v
4 LEARNING TO USE TEXTBRIDGE
Before You Begin.................................. 4–2
Ways You Can Use TextBridge ....................... 4–2
Starting TextBridge................................ 4–3
Using Automatic Processing ......................... 4–5
Using Manual Processing ........................... 4–8
Performing Basic Operations......................... 4–9
Selecting the Page Source ....................... 4–10
Selecting the Page Type ........................ 4–11
Previewing the Page ........................... 4–12
Zoning the Page............................... 4–14
Proofreading the Document...................... 4–17
Saving the Document .......................... 4–18
Getting Help While Using TextBridge ................. 4–20
Using the Welcome Window ..................... 4–20
Using the Show Me How Window ................. 4–21
Using Tips................................... 4–22
Getting Information from Help ................... 4–22
Using the TextBridge Web Site ................... 4–24
Where to Go From Here............................ 4–24
5 SAMPLE SESSIONS WITH TEXTBRIDGE
Using the Sample Documents ........................ 5–2
Session 1: Recognizing a Simple Document Using
Auto Processing............................. 5–7
Session 2: Using Instant Access to TextBridge........... 5–14
Session 3: Recognizing a Complex Document Using
Manual Processing ......................... 5–20
Session 4: Processing Text, Pictures, and a Table ........ 5–29
Where to Go From Here............................ 5–38

vi TextBridge Pro User’s Guide
6 ADVANCED SAMPLE SESSIONS
Session 1: Processing a Document to Use in a Database..... 6–1
Session 2: Using Zone Templates and Page Types ......... 6–7
Session 3: Training TextBridge OCR .................. 6–14
Where to Go From Here............................ 6–20
INDEX

TextBridge Pro User’s Guide vii
PREFACE
ScanSoft, Inc. welcomes you to TextBridge Pro 9.0 for
Windows®95, 98, 2000, and Windows NT 4.0. (Subsequently
referred to as “TextBridge.”)
The documentation that comes with TextBridge should provide
all the information you need to operate TextBridge. The
documentation includes this user’s guide, a Help system, and
Release Notes. ScanSoft invites your comments about the
information provided in the documentation.
Before going on to find out more about TextBridge, please read
this preface because it describes these important items:
◆About this user’s guide
◆Related documentation
◆Technical support
ABOUT THIS USER’S GUIDE
This user’s guide is a reference tool that provides information
about TextBridge. It is for users with a wide range of computer
experience. It assumes that you are familiar with the
management and operation of your computer and Windows.
This manual is provided both in print and electronic form. The
entire user’s guide is provided as a digital document in Adobe®
Portable Document Format (PDF).

viii TextBridge Pro User’s Guide
To view the user’s guide you need Adobe Acrobat Reader which is
installed with TextBridge unless you already have it on your PC.
You can access the user’s guide from the installation menu and
the TextBridge Program menu from the Start menu, or you can
open it from Adobe Acrobat Reader. After you open it, you can
view it on your PC and print all or part of it using Adobe Acrobat
Reader.
Organization of this user’s guide
The user’s guide organization is as follows:
This Preface describes the documentation provided with
TextBridge and technical support.
Chapter 1 “Introduction to TextBridge” discusses TextBridge
features. It also describes basic OCR concepts, documents
TextBridge can recognize, supported scanners, and input file
formats TextBridge can read and output file formats to which
TextBridge can save the recognized text.
Chapter 2 “Installing TextBridge” describes what comes with
TextBridge, system requirements, installation, Instant Access set
up, and TextBridge uninstall.
Chapter 3 “OCR and TextBridge” explains document
recognition and OCR concepts and the basic TextBridge functions.
Chapter 4 “Learning to Use TextBridge” describes the basic
processes of using TextBridge.
Chapter 5 “Sample Sessions with TextBridge” walks you
through several practice sessions designed to help you to learn
and use the important features of TextBridge.
Chapter 6 “Advanced Sample Sessions” describes more
complex and less frequent uses of TextBridge.
The Index provides a comprehensive list of topics to assist you in
quickly locating the information you need.

Preface ix
Documentation conventions
TextBridge documentation uses certain graphical elements and
formatting to emphasize information and give more meaning to
text.
Table 1: Documentation Conventions
bold Introduces a new term or the first use of an
important term in a chapter. Sometimes used
to denote strong emphasis.
italic Denotes titles of other user’s guides or books
and generic representations of file name entries
in examples; for example, filename
monospace Denotes text that appears on the computer
screen such as examples, menu text, and
messages plus actual file names.
“ ” (quotes) Denotes titles of chapters and sections in this
user’s guide.
☞Introduces tips that provide useful information
about a procedural step or system function.
Note Introduces information of note about the
current subject.

xTextBridge Pro User’s Guide
RELATED DOCUMENTATION
TextBridge provides a comprehensive set of printed and digital
documentation designed to assist you in learning and operating
the product. The documentation provided with TextBridge covers
all aspects of installation and operation.
Note Information provided in these documents is not duplicated in
other documents except for basic information about TextBridge. If
you do not find the information you want in a particular
document, please check another.
Refer to the documentation in the following list for information:
◆ Online Release Notes. Before or after you install TextBridge,
read the Release Notes. These provide the most up-to-date
information about TextBridge. During installation you can access
the Release Notes from the installation menu. After installation
you can access the Release Notes from the TextBridge Program
menu in the Start menu.
◆ Help. The Help system provides you with detailed information
about using TextBridge. It includes instructions on how to get
started in TextBridge, step-by-step procedures for most
operations and user tips. Context-sensitive Help is always
available by pressing F1 from any menu command or dialog box.
◆ Online User’s Guide. An online version of the complete user’s
guide is provided in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf).
◆ Printed User’s Guide. A printed version of the user’s guide is
provided.
Note You may also need to refer to additional publications, such as the
manufacturer’s documentation for your scanner.

Preface xi
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
If you should experience problems with TextBridge that you
cannot resolve on your own using the documentation and
software, contact TextBridge Technical Support at the following
Web site:
www.scansoft.com.
The ScanSoft Web site provides a link to TextBridge pages,
including Technical Support with Frequently Asked Questions,
technical information bulletins, and a problem report form.
Additional information about contacting TextBridge Technical
Support is provided in the TextBridge Help menu.
The following information will assist Technical Support in solving
the problem:
◆ Your software version number
(This is on the back of the CD envelope and in the Help menu
under About TextBridge.)
◆ Your software serial number
(This is the serial number on the back of the TextBridge CD-ROM
envelope and in the Help menu under About TextBridge.)
◆ Your scanner make and model
◆ A description of the steps that led up to the problem
◆ If TextBridge generated an error message, a verbatim description
of the error message or its number and when it appeared.

TextBridge Pro User’s Guide 1–1
1INTRODUCTION TO TEXTBRIDGE
Welcome to ScanSoft’s TextBridge™Pro 9.0, optical character
recognition (OCR) software for Microsoft Windows™95, 98, 2000
and Windows NT 4.0.
This chapter provides an introduction to TextBridge including:
◆ Basic OCR concepts
◆ Features and benefits
◆ Characteristics of documents TextBridge can recognize
◆ Input image file formats
◆ Output text file formats
◆ Output image file formats
BASIC OCR CONCEPTS
OCR technology enables you to convert paper documents into
fully editable text on your computer. Originally, OCR technology
performed simple character recognition of text characters,
numbers, and symbols. Today, TextBridge OCR includes full
document recognition including recognizing text plus
formatting such as headlines, multiple columns, tables, and
running headers and footers and capturing photographs and line
drawings. TextBridge even retains the layout of the original
document when possible.

1–2 TextBridge Pro User’s Guide
You can use TextBridge to scan and convert printed pages to
text documents for your word processor, spreadsheet program,
web browser, database program, or other text application. Pages
may be from most sources, including computer printers, fax
machines, photocopiers, magazines, and newspapers. Pages can
be black and white or color. TextBridge can also recognize
standard page image files from fax modems, image applications,
and other sources.
Using the latest document recognition technology from ScanSoft,
TextBridge OCR uses its recomposition capability to produce a
fully-editable electronic document with the original pictures and
document layout (Figure 1–1,).
Original document
Recomposed document
in word processor
Figure 1–1. TextBridge document recomposition

Introduction to TextBridge 1–3
In most cases, TextBridge understands your original document’s
format and maintains the layout, including columns, headers,
footers, pictures, and picture captions. Pictures can be black and
white, grayscale, or color.
Recomposition is possible only if your text program supports
pictures and layout. For example, recomposition is supported in
Microsoft Word and Corel WordPerfect but not in Notepad. Forms
and documents created in desktop publishing programs are
usually too complex for recomposition by TextBridge as well as
your word processor. As a result, the text and pictures are
retained but the full layout is not.
FEATURES AND BENEFITS
TextBridge offers many features designed to increase your
productivity. Whether you need to capture a simple one-page
letter, a magazine article, a spreadsheet, or a long transcript,
TextBridge can save you valuable time and effort. In addition,
TextBridge provides all the capabilities that experienced OCR
users expect.
With TextBridge, you can import most paper documents or
document image files to your computer. TextBridge attains the
highest degree of OCR accuracy and provides the output in fully
editable form in your favorite text program.

1–4 TextBridge Pro User’s Guide
New Features
TextBridge offers these major new features to increase your
productivity:
◆ Improved OCR accuracy. Dramatically save time and
eliminate retyping.
◆ Color and grayscale pictures and text. Recognition and
output of color and grayscale pictures. Recognition of color text
and text on a color or shaded background and output of black on
white or white on black.
◆ Improved table recomposition. Advanced analytical capability
results in improved table reformatting. Ability to edit the entire
table as well as individual cells for improved recognition. Cell
table recomposition is supported even if you do not choose to
retain layout.
◆ Flexible multi-page document handling. Ability to view and
manipulate the pages of a document using the page thumbnails.
Zone multiple pages before recognition. Process the pages of a
document in any order. Delete, rearrange, and re-recognize
individual pages. You can also control the output.
◆ Additional language recognition. Ability to recognize many
Eastern, Central, and Western European languages.
◆ Multiple language recognition. Ability to recognize multiple
languages on the same page if all languages belong to the same
language group.
◆ Improved usability and user assistance. Enhanced ease of
use including a redesigned user interface and extensive user
assistance. User assistance includes a multimedia assistant,
information screens, context-sensitive tips, status area messages,
Help system, and printed and online documentation.

Introduction to TextBridge 1–5
◆ TextBridge Assistant. An easy-to-use assistant, guides you
through each step of the most common TextBridge activities, such
as how to scan a page and send it to Word, recognize an image
file, and recognize just part of a page.
◆ Improved batch processing. The ability to select multiple files
and process each file separately plus the ability to schedule
processing for a specific time in the future.
◆ Integration with e-mail programs. Input to popular programs
such as Lotus cc:Mail, Microsoft Outlook, and America Online
(AOL).
◆ Integration with the latest scanners. TextBridge works with
the most recent scanners. The ScanSoft Web site at
www.scansoft.com provides the latest information about
supported scanners and getting your scanner to work with
TextBridge.
◆ HTML 4.0 output and WYSIWYG capability. Output files in
the latest version of HTML and preserve the original look using
cascading style sheets.
◆ Dual page scanning. Scan both pages of an open book at the
same time but handle them as two separate pages.
◆ Easy database importing. Use of standard delimited text file
output that allows you to import data into many databases.

1–6 TextBridge Pro User’s Guide
Enhanced Features
In addition to the new features, TextBridge offers enhanced
features that were available in previous versions. These features
are described in the following list:
◆ Instant Access™.Start TextBridge within most Windows text
programs such as Word or Excel. After recognizing and
converting the page, TextBridge then automatically pastes
recognition data (text and pictures) directly into the program’s
open document.
◆ ToolTips. Instant context-sensitive information about
commands, dialog boxes, and buttons on the interface.
◆ Document recomposition. TextBridge offers true document
recomposition to retain your original page layout. It reproduces
multiple columns, tables, and pictures and keeps them in the
same location as they are in your original document.
For example, when you specify output to the Microsoft Word™or
Corel WordPerfect®format, TextBridge can retain the original
document layout in fully-editable form, even for pages containing
tables, line art, reverse video, drop caps, insets, and pictures.
When you edit the document, the original text flow is maintained.
When you specify output to the Microsoft Excel™or Lotus 1-2-3
format, spreadsheets and cell tables retain their original layout
as cell tables, not tabbed columns. When you edit the table
information, the lines move to fit.
TextBridge supports formats for the programs that retain page
layout in the following list:
Internet Explorer Word 6.0, 7.0, 97, and 2000
Netscape Word Perfect 6.0, 6.1, 7.0, 8.0, and 9.0
Any word processor that supports RTF

Introduction to TextBridge 1–7
Retaining pictures is independent of retaining layout. Some text
programs retain pictures even though they do not retain layout.
◆ Page Types. TextBridge provides many predesigned Page Types
to make processing more efficient. You do not have to go through
a complicated process of determining and specifying settings for
common types of pages. These Page Types automatically provide
appropriate settings for the type of page you want to process. For
example, there is a Letter page type and a Magazine page type
that automatically activate settings for improved results for
letters and pages from magazines.
◆ Automatic zoning. TextBridge automatically zones your page
into text, picture, and table zones.
◆ Zone editing. You can edit the automatically recognized zones to
further refine the zoning. Use zone editing to increase the
accuracy and efficiency of page processing by reshaping zones,
specifying the language, and renumbering them.
◆ Built-in Proofreader™.After document recognition, you can use
the built-in proofreader to view and accept or correct any words
that TextBridge suspects may not be recognized accurately. The
proofreader provides suggestions from which you may choose.
◆ Dynamic OCR training. You can train OCR to improve
recognition accuracy as the job progresses. Use dynamic training
with difficult documents, such as faxes or multi-generation
photocopies. TextBridge enables you to interact with the OCR
process by viewing then accepting or correcting its automatic
recognition decisions. The software actually learns special
symbols and words.
◆ Output files to the latest version of programs. These include
Microsoft Word 2000 and Excel 97, WordPerfect 9.0, and Adobe
FrameMaker 5.0.

1–8 TextBridge Pro User’s Guide
Other Features
In addition to the features listed in the previous sections
TextBridge provides these other features.
◆ Windows 98 and 2000 compatibility.
◆ Broad scanner support. TextBridge supports most popular
desktop scanners with TWAIN device interface standard.
◆ Image processing. TextBridge accepts a wide range of images
from a variety of sources for processing. Specifically, the program
imports and recognizes online document images in BMP, PCX,
DCX, TIFF, and XIF formats that originate from fax modems and
other sources. For more information, see the “Input Image File
Formats” section in this chapter.
◆ Deferred processing. TextBridge enables you to scan all the
pages of a document to a TIFF or XIF file, then later open the
image file for document recognition. You can also save all the
pages to a multi-page image file or save each page as a separate
file.
◆ Output text file formats including HTML. TextBridge
supports a number of output text file formats, including word
processor, desktop publishing, spreadsheet, HTML, and database
formats. Now you can process your text for publication on the
Web.

Introduction to TextBridge 1–9
◆ Preview of page images. TextBridge provides a set of tools for
previewing page images before processing them. You can
manually define areas of page images as zones to be processed
and capture only the text, tables, or pictures you want. You can
also edit the automatic zoning by adjusting the text, table, and
picture zones.
◆ Zone templates. After you create a set of zones, TextBridge lets
you save and reload zone templates for new jobs. In this way you
can consistently process or ignore specific areas on the same type
of pages and save time without rezoning each page.
◆ Re-usable training data. After you interactively train OCR, you
can save the training data in a file. You can reload this training
file for similar documents of the same page type. Using this
training file assures the highest recognition accuracy without
your having to repeat the training.
◆ Custom dictionaries. To improve recognition accuracy further,
you can create specialized word lists (scientific terminology,
proper names, acronyms, and so on) within TextBridge or in
ASCII text files and load them into TextBridge.
◆ Two-sided document processing. If your scanner has a sheet
feeder, you can scan the fronts (odd sides) of the pages first, then
flip the stack and scan the reverse (even) sides. When scanning
and recognition are complete, TextBridge automatically collates
the text and keeps it in the original order.