OMNIPAGE 14 FEATURES MISSING (Autoscan)

  • Thread starter Thread starter OMNIPAGE 14 USER
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OMNIPAGE 14 USER

Any of you who are using OMNIPAGE 14, I'd greatly appreciate some help
here . . .

I've been trying for hours to figure out why I am not seeing any
box/button/option to utilize the so-called "AUTOSCAN" feature of
OMNIPAGE PRO 14. I've finally given up, and am appealing to anyone who
might know the secret to this.

I have a flatbed scanner -- MICROTEK X6EL -- withOUT an ADF . . . but I
am supposed to be able to "simulate" this in OMNIPAGE 14 for large OCR
jobs (which I now face) by setting up a "seconds count" between each of
the scanner's passes so I don't have to keep hitting the SCAN button.

I can't find this feature for the life of me, and even when I tab to
the SCANNER tab to verify that my scanner is set up appropriately, I
__still__ can see no place where I access the settings for this. It
verifies that my scanner is set up and working perfectly.

Which it is. But I need to scan in a 50-page report and __badly__ need
the scanner to be able to loop (AUTOSCAN). I guess Omnipage, er,
Scansoft, er, Nuance is kaput since they've disabled their forums sigh.

HELP?

Thanks anyone.

OP14 and really don't want to have to buy an ADF.
 
OMNIPAGE 14 USER said:
Any of you who are using OMNIPAGE 14, I'd greatly appreciate some help
here . . .

I've been trying for hours to figure out why I am not seeing any
box/button/option to utilize the so-called "AUTOSCAN" feature of
OMNIPAGE PRO 14. I've finally given up, and am appealing to anyone who
might know the secret to this.

I have a flatbed scanner -- MICROTEK X6EL -- withOUT an ADF . . . but I
am supposed to be able to "simulate" this in OMNIPAGE 14 for large OCR
jobs (which I now face) by setting up a "seconds count" between each of
the scanner's passes so I don't have to keep hitting the SCAN button.

I can't find this feature for the life of me, and even when I tab to
the SCANNER tab to verify that my scanner is set up appropriately, I
__still__ can see no place where I access the settings for this. It
verifies that my scanner is set up and working perfectly.

Which it is. But I need to scan in a 50-page report and __badly__ need
the scanner to be able to loop (AUTOSCAN). I guess Omnipage, er,
Scansoft, er, Nuance is kaput since they've disabled their forums sigh.

HELP?

Thanks anyone.

OP14 and really don't want to have to buy an ADF.
Click to expand...

You should have a program called OmniPage Batch Manager in your startup
menu. Or you can get to the batch manager via Process>Batch Manager.

I have not used the Batch Manager so I can not give you any advice on using
Batch Manager.

At least there is one called that in OmniPage 15.

In the regular OmniPage, the Get Page dialog via the Process>Get Page>Scan
mode will ask for more pages as long as you keep scanning more pages. Not
Automatic in that you do have to put the pages on the scanner and click the
button.

You get that dialog after scanning the first page of the document.

The dialog says Continue Automatic Processing. What would you like to do
now?
Two buttons (Stop Loading Pages) which stops at the page you just scanned.
(Add More Pages) which will scan the next page you put on the platen.

This dialog will appear for each page and will continue as long as you click
Add More Pages.

That process creates a Multi-Page document. You can save the Multi-Page
Document for later OCR if you wish.
 
I don't have any problem with auto scan in my OP14, I set up to scan
and after scanning the first page I get a box that says stop scanning
or add another page or somthing like that. If I select add page it
will scan what ever is on the bed of the scanner, if I select stop it
will go to the OP14 interface for the next step.
 
Terry and CSM1 . . .

Thanks for the replies. The "STOP SCANNING" / "ADD MORE PAGES" window
is precisely what I'm trying to avoid.

CSM1, I'll study the Batch Manager features but what completely baffles
me is that the HELP files on this issue provide step-by-step
instructions (which I have attempted, repeatedly) for setting up
AUTOSCAN -->>withOUT using Batch Manager.

Here is what the HELP file instructs:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
FLATBED SETTINGS
Select Automatically scan pages if you want to scan a multiple page
document into OmniPage Pro from a scanner without an ADF. Select the
NUMBER OF SECONDS you want OmniPage Pro 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.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
*capitalization from me

In short, there is supposed to be a way to set up a Workflow to
understand that you have a long document; you __don't__ have an ADF;
and you nonetheless want your scanner to "loop" and not keep presenting
the "STOP SCANNING" / "ADD MORE PAGES" window for a user response
between each page.

If anyone has been successful at doing this I would greatly appreciate
seeing the steps you take. Thanks.
 
OMNIPAGE 14 USER said:
Terry and CSM1 . . .

Thanks for the replies. The "STOP SCANNING" / "ADD MORE PAGES" window
is precisely what I'm trying to avoid.

CSM1, I'll study the Batch Manager features but what completely baffles
me is that the HELP files on this issue provide step-by-step
instructions (which I have attempted, repeatedly) for setting up
AUTOSCAN -->>withOUT using Batch Manager.

Here is what the HELP file instructs:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
FLATBED SETTINGS
Select Automatically scan pages if you want to scan a multiple page
document into OmniPage Pro from a scanner without an ADF. Select the
NUMBER OF SECONDS you want OmniPage Pro 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.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
*capitalization from me

In short, there is supposed to be a way to set up a Workflow to
understand that you have a long document; you __don't__ have an ADF;
and you nonetheless want your scanner to "loop" and not keep presenting
the "STOP SCANNING" / "ADD MORE PAGES" window for a user response
between each page.

If anyone has been successful at doing this I would greatly appreciate
seeing the steps you take. Thanks.
Click to expand...

It is a matter of setting up the scanner in Omnipage. It is in Options.

The Scanner must be on (ready).

Start Omnipage. Tools>Options. Scanner Tab. Under "Flatbed" there are two
check boxes. Check Automatically scan pages. Set the time between scans.
After you have set that click OK.

You want to set the scanning mode and resolution on this dialog also, if you
do Grayscale use 300 DPI. And so on.

When you start the scanning, after the first page scan you get a dialog with
three buttons. Pause, Scan Now, and Stop Scanning. If you do nothing, you
have the time you set in automatic scan to change pages.

You can Pause forever, until you click Scan Now. Stop Scanning does stop the
whole process. After a Pause, you click Scan Now, the automatic process will
continue.

In Omnipage there are four buttons near the top of the window, the first
button is for doing all three steps (1 2 3) without prompting. To scan in
all of your pages without doing the OCR on each page, Start at Step 1 (the
second button). Continue the pages until done. Save the scanned pages to do
OCR later.
 
CSM1 said:
Start Omnipage. Tools>Options. Scanner Tab. Under "Flatbed" there are two
check boxes. Check Automatically scan pages. Set the time between scans.
After you have set that click OK.
Click to expand...

Well at last we are getting somewhere. I have __no__ such options
under my scanner tab Carl, but I appreciate your confirming what I have
suspected all along: This feature (for some inexplicable reason) is
MISSING from my OP14.

I have exactly two user-interactive items under this tab: One, a SETUP
button for my scanner (TWAIN: Microtek ScanWizard (32bit) . . . and the
other a checkbox for "Prompt for more pages."

When I click the SETUP button I am (as I mentioned before) told that
there is nothing for me to setup with my scanner -- it is running and
working correctly.

And I have tried both iterations of the "Prompt for more pages"
checkbox, neither one of which delivers (at any point, pre-scan or
during-scan) a selection for "indicate number of seconds between
scans".

I have even tried clicking "Use defaults" to no avail.

:(

OP14
 
OMNIPAGE 14 USER said:
Well at last we are getting somewhere. I have __no__ such options
under my scanner tab Carl, but I appreciate your confirming what I have
suspected all along: This feature (for some inexplicable reason) is
MISSING from my OP14.

I have exactly two user-interactive items under this tab: One, a SETUP
button for my scanner (TWAIN: Microtek ScanWizard (32bit) . . . and the
other a checkbox for "Prompt for more pages."

When I click the SETUP button I am (as I mentioned before) told that
there is nothing for me to setup with my scanner -- it is running and
working correctly.

And I have tried both iterations of the "Prompt for more pages"
checkbox, neither one of which delivers (at any point, pre-scan or
during-scan) a selection for "indicate number of seconds between
scans".

I have even tried clicking "Use defaults" to no avail.

:(

OP14
Click to expand...

There are some improvements in OP 15 over previous versions of Omnipage. It
is the main reason I upgraded when I got the offer from Nuance. Their
current promotion is for PaperPort 11.

The last time I got an offer of Omnipage 15 ($79.99) from Nuance was April
19, 2006.
They gave this shortcut to the sale of OP 15, I do not know if it will still
be honored.
Since you own OP 14 there should be no problem upgrading at the regular
upgrade price.

For Download.
http://www.digitalriver.com/promo=126373

For Physical shipment:
http://www.digitalriver.com/promo=126374

Or call 888-781-1189 and reference promotional code 244912.

By The Way, OP15 is now in Service Pack 1.
 
CSM1" ([email protected]) said:
There are some improvements in OP 15 over previous versions of Omnipage. It
is the main reason I upgraded when I got the offer from Nuance. Their
current promotion is for PaperPort 11.

The last time I got an offer of Omnipage 15 ($79.99) from Nuance was April
19, 2006.
They gave this shortcut to the sale of OP 15, I do not know if it will still
be honored.
Since you own OP 14 there should be no problem upgrading at the regular
upgrade price.

For Download.
http://www.digitalriver.com/promo=126373

For Physical shipment:
http://www.digitalriver.com/promo=126374

Or call 888-781-1189 and reference promotional code 244912.

By The Way, OP15 is now in Service Pack 1.
Click to expand...


FWIW, PC Magaxine is reviewing automatic-feed page scanners and one of
them is bundled with OmniPage 14. With a normal company you'd expect to
call tech support and get an answer, but Nuance gives you (me, since I own
OmniPage15) ONE "free" support call, after which they charge you for a toll
call (that is $20 plus the phone charges). Not my idea of "customer
service" but they do sell a very good product.

You might try this
http://support.nuance.com/communities/
although their server must be down tonight since the Omnipage link won't
connect, or dig around this
http://knowledgebase.nuance.com/
which didn't help me with my problem (with PDF Create, part of the
OmniPage 15 suite, which would not install properly), on which I expended
my "free" call. Took a while but they solved it.

OP 14 has two service packs, BTW. Have you applied them?

Brendan
 
Brendan said:
OP 14 has two service packs, BTW. Have you applied them?

Brendan
Click to expand...

Hey Brendan, I can't get (either) of the two Service Packs I am
supposed to download to install. What's really strange is, I had no
problem with Service Pack 1 (this, once again for OP14). Downloaded
it; shut off my other programs; badaboom. Installed.

But I have to be perfectly honest, this is the first heavy-duty job
we're ocr'ing in a long time and represents the first time we've really
put 14 through its paces. I AM JUST TOTALLY UNIMPRESSED.

To give you an example, OP14 can't even recognize a TAB for crying out
loud! :( And let me be clear: We're talking about a basic
laser-printed sheet of white paper with (in this case) test questions.
The questions read (use _____ for simulated tab spaces):

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
_____1._____HERE IS QUESTION NO. 1
_____ _____ A._____CHOICE A
_____ _____ B._____CHOICE B
_____ _____ C._____CHOICE C
_____ _____ D._____CHOICE D
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
So you basically have (at a minimum) two tab indent positions
(presuming you were to left-justify "1.")

What does OP14 do? This:

1.(SPACE)HERE IS QUESTION NO. 1
A._____CHOICE A
B._____CHOICE B
C._____CHOICE C
D._____CHOICE D

Now anyone who has done OCR'ing for as long as I have knows that you
need to fiddle with your settings to get it just right, eh? So that's
what I've basically wasted four hours thus far today doing. I have
tried virtually every iteration/combination possible to get this
__USELESS__ program to recognize the basic concept of an indent. I've
tried it with spaces. Converting tabs. Single column no tables.
Automatic. Mutliple column no tables. (Everything) tables.

I've tried sending it to ~.rtf. I've tried format. No format.

I even went to the draconian extreme of setting up a TRAINING file for
this useless software. Nothing.

The company (Nuance) has not once had open communities that I have ever
been able to access. Your comment on their tech support just had me
nodding, Yup. Figures. So let's see:

Their product is too dumb to recognize tabbed text.
Their patches download but do not install.
And their automatic upgrade service won't install.

We don't need PDF generation because we have Acrobat Professional 7.2.
I only mention it because the suggestion was made that version 15
improves the program.

If, by version 14, your program can't distinguish when text is being
tabbed -- in a pattern that repeats -- then version 15 isn't worthy of
one more dime of investment imho. This is a classic case of a company
trying to be too many things to too many people . . . and completely
****ing up the CORE MISSION of the product in the process.

This is a company that wants to be Adobe . . . but can't first just
simply RECOGNIZE WHEN TEXT HAS BEEN TABBED?

Pathetic.

I've recommended to my superiors that we explore other products rather
than waste another hour on OMNIPAGE 14 and that is what I'm going to do
right now.
 
OMNIPAGE 14 USER said:
Hey Brendan, I can't get (either) of the two Service Packs I am
supposed to download to install. What's really strange is, I had no
problem with Service Pack 1 (this, once again for OP14). Downloaded
it; shut off my other programs; badaboom. Installed.

But I have to be perfectly honest, this is the first heavy-duty job
we're ocr'ing in a long time and represents the first time we've really
put 14 through its paces. I AM JUST TOTALLY UNIMPRESSED.

To give you an example, OP14 can't even recognize a TAB for crying out
loud! :( And let me be clear: We're talking about a basic
laser-printed sheet of white paper with (in this case) test questions.
The questions read (use _____ for simulated tab spaces):

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
_____1._____HERE IS QUESTION NO. 1
_____ _____ A._____CHOICE A
_____ _____ B._____CHOICE B
_____ _____ C._____CHOICE C
_____ _____ D._____CHOICE D
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
So you basically have (at a minimum) two tab indent positions
(presuming you were to left-justify "1.")

What does OP14 do? This:

1.(SPACE)HERE IS QUESTION NO. 1
A._____CHOICE A
B._____CHOICE B
C._____CHOICE C
D._____CHOICE D
Click to expand...

Does OP14 have "True Page View" in the editor?
Formatted Text View does run the paragraphs and Tabs together.

You may be using the wrong program for the conversion that you want to do.

Check out Omniform. It may be better suited for your project.
http://www.nuance.com/omniform/
I've recommended to my superiors that we explore other products rather
than waste another hour on OMNIPAGE 14 and that is what I'm going to do
right now.
Click to expand...
It is a good recommendation to upgrade to a new version.

Omnipage 14 is an older version. Omnipage PRO 15 has many improvements over
OP 14.

Until you have tried the latest version of Omnipage, don't claim that Nuance
is making inferior software.

My first version was Omnipage Pro 11. Omnipage Pro 15 is a world of
improvement over that early version.
 
OMNIPAGE 14 USER" ([email protected]) said:
Hey Brendan, I can't get (either) of the two Service Packs I am
supposed to download to install. What's really strange is, I had no
problem with Service Pack 1 (this, once again for OP14). Downloaded
it; shut off my other programs; badaboom. Installed.

But I have to be perfectly honest, this is the first heavy-duty job
we're ocr'ing in a long time and represents the first time we've really
put 14 through its paces. I AM JUST TOTALLY UNIMPRESSED.

To give you an example, OP14 can't even recognize a TAB for crying out
loud! :( And let me be clear: We're talking about a basic
laser-printed sheet of white paper with (in this case) test questions.
The questions read (use _____ for simulated tab spaces):

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
_____1._____HERE IS QUESTION NO. 1
_____ _____ A._____CHOICE A
_____ _____ B._____CHOICE B
_____ _____ C._____CHOICE C
_____ _____ D._____CHOICE D
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
So you basically have (at a minimum) two tab indent positions
(presuming you were to left-justify "1.")

What does OP14 do? This:

1.(SPACE)HERE IS QUESTION NO. 1
A._____CHOICE A
B._____CHOICE B
C._____CHOICE C
D._____CHOICE D

Now anyone who has done OCR'ing for as long as I have knows that you
need to fiddle with your settings to get it just right, eh? So that's
what I've basically wasted four hours thus far today doing. I have
tried virtually every iteration/combination possible to get this
__USELESS__ program to recognize the basic concept of an indent. I've
tried it with spaces. Converting tabs. Single column no tables.
Automatic. Mutliple column no tables. (Everything) tables.

I've tried sending it to ~.rtf. I've tried format. No format.

I even went to the draconian extreme of setting up a TRAINING file for
this useless software. Nothing.

The company (Nuance) has not once had open communities that I have ever
been able to access. Your comment on their tech support just had me
nodding, Yup. Figures. So let's see:

Their product is too dumb to recognize tabbed text.
Their patches download but do not install.
And their automatic upgrade service won't install.

We don't need PDF generation because we have Acrobat Professional 7.2.
I only mention it because the suggestion was made that version 15
improves the program.

If, by version 14, your program can't distinguish when text is being
tabbed -- in a pattern that repeats -- then version 15 isn't worthy of
one more dime of investment imho. This is a classic case of a company
trying to be too many things to too many people . . . and completely
****ing up the CORE MISSION of the product in the process.

This is a company that wants to be Adobe . . . but can't first just
simply RECOGNIZE WHEN TEXT HAS BEEN TABBED?

Pathetic.

I've recommended to my superiors that we explore other products rather
than waste another hour on OMNIPAGE 14 and that is what I'm going to do
right now.
Click to expand...


15 is supposed to be much better than 14. One thing I found is that part
of the problem seems to lie in the transfer to the word processor. I
sometimes have better luck copying to Works or even wordpad. All the
formatting commands drive Word Perfect nuts.

But yes, even 15 has problems with this sort of problem, becuase a line
isn't a recognizable character. The latest Readiris just got a clowing
review in PC Magazine or PC World, but the sample that came with my latest
HP scanner was much inferior to OP 15 (probably 2 versions back) when it
came to character recognition.

Nuance probably will disavow 14 anyway, since ScanSoft (which they
purchased) designed it. I think they call that "plausible deniability."

But at least type a few of the words in the manual into their Knowledge
(!) Base and see if they fish anything up.

Brendan
 
Ps Did you try to isntall the patches in safe mode? I don't know it that
will work, but at least you'd be sure your antivirus was shut off.

Brendan
 
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