Custom Layout settings

Click the Custom Layout... button in the OCR panel of the Options dialog box to select settings for describing the layout of the pages in the document.

The Custom Layout dialog box allows you to describe the layout of your input pages very precisely, to give you maximum control over the auto-zoning process and through that, over the layout of the recognition results.

Auto-zoning always runs on pages sent to recognition without containing any zones. For more information, see When does auto-zoning run?

The program provides you with preset original layout settings. These appear at the top of the drop-down list under the Perform OCR button. You can choose from the following:

• Automatic (default)

• Single column, no table

• Multiple columns, no table

• Single column with table

• Spreadsheet

• Form

• Legal Pleading

• Custom (user-defined)

• Zone templates (all saved templates are offered)

For information on the preset values, see Describing original layout. For information on using zone templates, see Zone templates.

If none of the preset values adequately describe your document, you can choose Custom. Then you should click the Custom Layout... button in the OCR panel of the Options dialog box. It lets you specify the number of columns and the presence or absence of tables and graphics in the input pages. The values given take effect only when you set the original layout description to Custom.

Specifying a custom layout is most useful when larger recognition tasks are to be performed with a minimum of user intervention, for example with automatic processing or with the Batch Manager. In these cases, it is not possible to examine the zone types being created for each page. Therefore it is important that the automatic zoning complies with your wishes.

Choose from the following settings:

Flowing text

No Column

Choose this if your input pages contain no flowing text. The recognized pages will contain only graphics or tables. Setting this forces the program to treat all text found on the page as part of a table.

One Column

Choose this if your input pages contain flowing text in a single column, such as in a business letter or a report.

Auto

Choose this if your input pages contain flowing text, arranged at least partly in columns. The program will try harder to detect these columns. Use the Text Editor views to decide whether the text should be decolumnized or appear in columns.

Tables

No Tables

Choose this to have all text areas treated as flowing text. Use it even if there is a table in the original and you want to keep its text, but you do not want it treated as a table. That means it will not be placed in a grid; the text may be kept in columns, or it may just flow, allowing you to reformat it as you wish.

One Table

The program will try to detect a table on each page. If it finds tabular data, it will be placed in a grid in the Text Editor. You can later choose whether it should be exported in the grid or transformed to columns separated by tabs.

Auto

Choose this to let the program auto-detect tables. Use it for pages with more than one table and for documents containing some tables, but not on all pages.

Graphics

No Graphics

Choose this to prevent graphics zones being searched or detected. The page will have no graphics zones. All auto-detected zones will be classed as text and the program will try to read their contents. Evident pictures, such as photographs, will be dropped. Selecting this for pages with line-art or diagrams may slow recognition down. Select this if you want to have text in diagrams recognized. Select it if something you want recognized could be misinterpreted as a graphic.

One Graphic

Choose this when each page contains one graphic.

Auto

Choose this to let the program decide what is a graphic and what should be recognized as text. Choose this if you have more than one graphic on a page, or if only some pages in the document have graphics.

The layout descriptions offered are pre-set combinations of the custom settings, as follows:

The custom values are not changed when you choose any of the other input descriptions. That means you can define a single custom choice that is always available or create new custom choices as required.