ScanSoft TEXTBRIDGE PRO-MILLENIUM User manual

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Copyright © 1995–2000 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.
Printed in the United States of America.
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 and Word are trademarks; Windows and FrontPage are registered
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 © 1994–2000, Inso Corporation.
Authors: Lois West and Beth Paddock
© SCANSOFT, INC.
9 Centennial Drive
Peabody, Massachusetts 01960
TextBridge Pro Millenium User’s Guide
Part Number 00-09682-00
February 2000

TextBridge Pro Millennium 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 ............................. 1–4
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 Millennium 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
Uninstalling a Previous Version of TextBridge ........ 2–6
Using TextBridge with Pagis...................... 2–8
Learning about TextBridge before you install it........ 2–8
Installing TextBridge .............................. 2–9
Scanner Setup................................... 2–10
Setting Up Instant Access to TextBridge ............... 2–11
Updating your TextBridge Software .................. 2–12
Uninstalling TextBridge Pro Millennium............... 2–13
Where to Go From Here............................ 2–14
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 Beginning to Process a Document................ 4–2
Using TextBridge to Process a Document ............... 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......................... 4–10
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 ................... 4–23
Using the TextBridge Web Site ................... 4–25
5 SAMPLE SESSIONS WITH TEXTBRIDGE
Using the Sample Documents ........................ 5–2
Session 1: Recognizing a Simple Document Using Auto . . . . . . 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 Millennium 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 Millennium User’s Guide vii
PREFACE
ScanSoft, Inc. welcomes you to TextBridge Pro Millennium for
Windows®95, 98, 2000, and Windows NT®4.0.
The documentation that comes with TextBridge provides you with
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.
The documentation is part of an extensive user assistance
program designed to provide you with information you may need
to understand and use TextBridge. The section “Getting Help
while using TextBridge” provides further information about user
assistance.
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.

viii TextBridge Pro Millennium User’s Guide
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).
To view the user’s guide in PDF format 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 Help 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:
The Table of Contents at the beginning of the user’s guide
describes the basic information in this book and helps you to find
general information quickly.
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 the basic
TextBridge functions that enable it to recognize and OCR your
documents.
Chapter 4 “Learning to Use TextBridge” describes the basic
processes of using TextBridge.

Preface ix
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 specific information you need.
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. It is 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 Millennium 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 individual 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. For example, if you do
not find information you want in this user’s guide, look for it in
the Help system
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. They describe technical
information, including specifics about using a particular scanner.
Release Notes also include information unavailable at the time
the user’s guide and Help were finalized. 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.