Options: Scanner

This dialog box serves for selecting settings for scanning paper documents into OmniPage. It can be displayed in OmniPage and for Direct OCR.

To display this dialog box in OmniPage

• Open the Options dialog box with the Options button in the Standard toolbar or from the Tools menu, then click the Scanner tab.

To display this dialog box for Direct OCR (in Microsoft Office applications and Word Perfect)

• Click the   Acquire Text Settings button from the Nuance OCR tab in a Microsoft Office 2007 application, or from the OmniPage 17 toolbar (or use the File menu) in WordPerfect or in earlier Microsoft Office versions. Then click the Scanner tab.

The Scanner panel offers the following settings:

Setup

Click the Setup button to open the Scanner Setup Wizard. See Setting up your scanner for more information.

General Settings

Select Color, Grayscale or B&W. Select Color if you want color in your output document. This requires most time and memory. Select Grayscale to have so-called 'black-and-white' photographs in the output document. Use this for pages with low or varying contrast and with text on colored or shaded backgrounds. Select B&W for black-and-white scanning. This is not suitable if you want photographs in the output document. Use this for crisp black texts on a white or light background.

Select the desired scanning resolution. The values offered are scanner dependent. In general, 300 dpi is the best for OCR accuracy. 400 dpi may be better for very small print.

Select the size of the pages you are about to scan in the Size drop-down list.

Select the orientation of the pages you are about to scan in the Orientation drop-down list. This relates to the way you intend to place pages in the scanner. Portrait means the shorter paper edge will be parallel to the scanning head. Landscape means the longer paper edge will be parallel to the scanning head. It does not relate to the text direction on the page.

Select the scanner source (sheetfed or flatbed).

ADF Settings

Select ADF settings if you are going to use an automatic document feeder to scan pages.

Select Scan double-sided pages if you are scanning pages with print on both sides. OmniPage processes one side of all pages in the ADF and then prompts you to turn the entire stack over to process the reverse sides. Do not select this setting if you have a duplex scanner, because it will interleaf the page images itself. See Scanning with an ADF.

Flatbed Settings

Select Prompt for more pages to specify whether you want to be prompted to add more pages for automatic processing. It is useful for scanning single pages for automatic processing without the AutoScan facility. It is also useful for scanners whose ADF has a limited capacity.

Select Automatically scan pages if you want to scan a multiple page document into OmniPage from a scanner without an ADF. Select the number of seconds you want OmniPage to wait before scanning the next page in the Time between scans box. Be sure to give yourself enough time to add the next page to your scanner. See Scanning without an ADF.

Brightness

Select Automatic if you want to let OmniPage optimize the brightness setting. Deselect this to adjust the brightness manually.

Use the slider to manually adjust the brightness setting. Lighten the Brightness setting for thick, run-together text characters and/or dark backgrounds. Darken the setting for thin, broken text characters. For a practical example, click here.

Contrast

Use the slider to manually adjust the contrast between light and dark on scanned pages. Move the slider to high for light text on dark backgrounds.
 

• To scan a book two pages at a time, select Look for facing pages in the Process panel of the Options dialog box.

Scanner button

Default action: Select an action to be performed whenever you push the Start button on your scanner. The choices are: Scanning, Prompt for workflow, Barcode cover page workflow (OmniPage Professional only) and any workflows with a scanner input (referred to as scanning workflows).

Run workflow in background: Select this to run the selected scanning workflow in the background without displaying the OmniPage user interface. A progress bar will appear on the screen. If a user interactive step is included in the workflow, the relevant OmniPage panel appears. For instance if the workflow contains a proofreading step, the Text Editor will display showing the OCR Proofreader dialog box. If this is deselected, the workflow will run with the full OmniPage user interface.

• The Run workflow in background option can only be selected if a scanning workflow appears as Default action for your scanner button and the workflow has a saving step.

Control panel: Scanners...: Click this to display Scanners and Cameras of the Control panel. Select a scanner and click the Properties button. In the Properties dialog box, click the Events tab. Select a scanner event (i..e. a scanner button being pushed) and associate it with OmniPage.