The Barcode /OCR Plug-In can read barcodes or read OCR A characters on a document. The zones and fields are set up on the option screen.
It is typically run from the 'After an item has been Saved' Insert Point, or from the main menu.
When you click the 'Configure' button from the Plug-In Manager the Barcode OCR designer will be displayed.
First use File>Open to bring a document into the designer.
If this is a document that has a text line to be read by OCR, like the document in example, you will need to define the 'Zone' for the OCR engine to read. The 'OCR Zone' frame will be disabled if reading barcodes.
Take your cursor and hold the left button while dragging to draw a box around the area to be read.
The coordinates of this box will be displayed in the OCR definition zone.
You must also choose the anchor location for these coordinates. This refers to the corner that will be used as the starting point when defining the coordinates. Choose the corner that is most likely to be consistent. If the coupon has a tear edge on the bottom then use the Top Left or Top Right as your anchor.
The text line can contain multiple fields. The Plug-In can parse these fields and store the parsed data in the proper data field.
Select an available field from the drop down list. Enter the starting position in the line in the 'Start' box. Enter the length of the field in the 'Length' box. Click the 'Add' button to add it to the list.
In the above example '105234SGM' will be saved to the 'Account' field. '1262' will be saved to the 'CheckNo' field.
IMPORTANT: Click File>Save Configuration when you are finished setting up your document.
The option screen is available under Barcode>Settings or OCRA>Settings.
Here are the general options for the Barcode OCR Plug-In.
'Watch only non-checks' will keep the Plug-In from running on checks, to increase speed.
'Retain and save data between recognized documents' will update the check documents that follow a recognized document with the data read from the recognized document. This can be useful for saving a customer account number with the corresponding check.
This Plug-In can be used in conjunction with the PST Document Recognition v1.0 Plug-In which will automatically group checks and coupons for Remittance processing.
Here are the OCR specific options.
Select the appropriate Font size and check the check boxes that apply to the data in your text line. Set the confidence threshold to determine how high the confidence of the OCR needs to be to save the data that was read. If the OCR reader returns with a confidence lower than the setting that you have chosen the data will not be saved.
Here are the Barcode specific options.
Choose the Barcode Font from the drop down list. If you do not know the font check with the manufacturer of your document to determine the font.
The barcode reader can read multiple barcodes on one document. Enter the maximum number of barcodes that will appear on the document.
Enter the minimum number of characters that will be contained in the smallest barcode on the document.
Leave the following settings at the default settings unless you have trouble. These setting are advanced and can be detrimental to your reads if set incorrectly.
Min Thickbar: The minimum size in pixels of the thickest bar in the barcode.
Symbol Size:
Test Range:
IMPORTANT: Click File>Save Configuration when you are finished setting up your document.
To test your settings go to Barcode>Recognize or OCRA>Recognize. This will read your document and put the results in the greyed out text field under the document. You can adjust your settings to increase the accuracy of your reads.