Configuring Abbyy Finereader 8 - mits07

Configuring Abbyy Finereader 8 

First-time use 

Select tools menu and 

choose Options. 

From the options menu 

skip over general and 

view tabs. 

Select the Select 

Source button and 

identifie your scanner 

Select the radio button 

Use Twain-Source 

interface 

Select Scan multiple 

images 

Select Detect image 

orientation during 

recognition 

Select Straighten text 

lines (This option 

improves text 

recognition in the 

gutter area of a page 

when using a flat bed 

scanner.)

Read Tab 

Select English as your 

recognition language 

Recognition mode Select 

thorough . 

Select Highlight hyperlinks 

and 

Do not use user patterns 

Save Tab 

Leave the Fonts as they 

are 

Select the Format 

Settings button

PDF tab 

Select keep original image size 

Text over the page image 

Enable tagged PDF 

(Tagging is important for text 

and screen readers to function 

properly for users with Visual 

Impairments. It is also required 

if Commenting will be used) 

Picture and Fonts settings 

medium quality 

standard fonts 

automatic format 

Rich Text/Doc/Word XML 

Retain original Layout 

Default paper size –Letter 

Check the following 

Increase paper size 

Keep line breaks 

Retain text color 

Enable compatibility with 

MS Word 95 

Keep Pictures. 

choose OK 

Close the options window

The First Scan with Abbyy FineReader 8.0 

After configuring the software for your scanner, load the 

document feeder with 50 pages. Select Scan and Read from the 

Wizard Tool bar. If Scan and Read does not appear select it 

from the drop down menu. 

All window properties can be adjusted from the View Menu. Reducing some toolbars shown will 

provide a larger work area. Adjusting the scale of view in each window can make work easier. You 

may prefer to change position of the Batch (View) the following illustrates the Zoom being hidden to 

allow for more space to view the image and text windows.

Abbyy FineReader Window 

Image tools 

Wizard Tool Bar 

Wizard tool bar 

Batch Window 

Text Window 

Thumbnail 

view 

Fixing recognition errors for text, pictures or tables are done in the Batch Window 

Editing text is done in the Text Window. 

The Thumbnail View allows access to the scanned pages

Saving the results of your Editing 

Saving Your Work 

From the File Menu Choose 

Save Results 

Select Save Pages 

From the Save Pages 

Window 

Name the File and Specify 

the Type of File. 

(Textbooks with Pictures, 

Save As a Portable 

Document Format or PDF. 

Trade Books or Paperback 

Books without Images 

Save As Rich Text.) 

Be Sure You Save All 

Selected Pages 

Create a single file for 

All Pages and if you wish 

you can select the Open 

Document after Saving 

Option.

The Red (Picture), Blue (Table), and Green (Text) blocks. Notice their effect on the Text Window. As the 

software encounters a greater mix of text and graphics, automatic recognition becomes less accurate. Select the 

offending block in the Image window, dragging the handles or sides of the block, will allow the reshaping of the 

block. Recognition mistakes may cause some blocks to appear in the wrong place, select them and Delete them, 

by using the Tool bar, right clicking, or the Delete key.

The Scanner Interface 

All scanner interfaces are different, refer to your scanner documentation, however you must 

follow some common rules 

Scan in gray scale or color, a minimum of 300 dpi. 300 dpi works well for text sizes on 10 and 

up. If you have documents with text sized under 10, a suggested size would be 600 dpi. Most scanning 

interfaces have a preview option, Use this to define the area of the document. This will speed the actual 

scan as the scanner will only cover the defined area, the finished document will be properly sized with 

no extra space around the text and pictures. 

Most scanner interfaces will allow the user to create custom settings that may be saved and used 

repeatedly. This makes it easier and saves time as the use can select a pre defined scan setting (ie. 300 

dpi, color auto contrast and intensity) and scan away. Below is the interface for a Visioneer Scanner 

Resolution (dpi) 

Option to save 

a custom 

setting 

Image window 

It has a Preview option 

Allow the scanner to process all of the documents in the Automatic Document Feeder, when finished 

select Done and you will return to Abbyy Finereader to begin the editing process. The group of pages 

scanned are called Batches. To start with keep your batch files equal to the capacity of your ADF. 

When in Abbyy Finereader, save your results as soon as you are finished scanning and prior to editing. 

Abbyy will autosave all editing changes from that point on.

FineReader Toolbars 

mk:@MSITStore:C:\Program%20Files\ABBYY%20FineReader%208.0%20Professional... 

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ABBYY FineReader Toolbars 

There are four toolbars in ABBYY FineReader: Standard, Image Tools, 

Formatting and WizardBar. These toolbars provide quick and convenient access 

to the functions of the application. However, you can also access the same 

functions using the menus or hot keys. Allowing the mouse pointer to hover over a 

toolbar button displays the function of that button. The button's tooltip will be 

displayed, and the status bar will display additional button details. 

The WizardBar 

The buttons on the WizardBar launch the main ABBYY FineReader functions: 

Scanning, Reading, Checking and Saving recognition results. The numbers on 

the buttons indicate the order in which the document input actions should be 

performed. You may perform each action separately or combine them into a single 

action by clicking the Scan&Read Wizard button to perform the full document 

processing cycle automatically. 

Each button offers several function modes. Click the small downward-pointing 

arrow located at the right side of each button and select the mode of your choice 

in that local menu. The button icon automatically displays the previously selected 

mode. Click the button itself to run this mode again. 

Button name 

Scan&Read 

1-Scan 

Button description 

Scan&Read Wizard - launches Scan&Read mode. 

ABBYY FineReader guides you through the document 

processing steps and helps you to obtain the desired 

result. 

Scan&Read - scans and reads a document using the 

current options. 

Open&Read - opens and reads the images selected in 

the Open dialog. 

The list of the available ABBYY FineReader automated 

tasks : 

PDF/Images To Word 

Scan To Word 

Scan To PDF 

Automation Manager - opens the runs automated 

tasks, to create and modify automated tasks, and delete 

custom automated tasks which you no longer use. 

Open Image - adds images to the batch. Each added 

image is copied to the batch folder.



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Scan Image - scans an image. 

Options - opens the Scan/Open tab (Options dialog) 

to allow you to set scanning options. 

2-Read 

Read - reads the open batch page. 

Read All - reads all unrecognized batch pages. 

Options - opens the Read tab (Options dialog) to allow 

you to set document recognition options. 

3-Check Spelling 

Check Spelling - searches the text for misspelt and 

uncertain words (i.e. those words where character 

recognition was uncertain). 

Options - opens the Check Spelling tab (Options 

dialog) to allow you to set spelling checker options. 

4-Save 

The Standard toolbar 

Save Wizard - opens the Save Wizard to allow you to 

select saving options and the destination application. 

Save Pages - saves the recognized text to a file. 

Send Selected Pages To - allows you to export only 

selected batch pages when you select the desired pages 

and export destination application. ABBYY FineReader will 

export the pages to the application of your choice 

without saving the text first. Click the button itself to run 

this mode again. 

Send All Pages To - exports all recognized pages to the 

application of your choice without saving the text first. 

Options - opens the Save tab (Options dialogue) to 

allow you to set saving options. 

The Standard toolbar features file and image tools (e.g. undo/redo an action, 

scroll the batch pages, clean and rotate the image) and the list of Recognition 

Languages.



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The Formatting toolbar 

The Formatting toolbar features various text-formatting tools. You can edit and 

format text in the Text window. 

The Image toolbar 

The Image toolbar features page layout 

analysis (e.g. block creation and editing) 

tools, as well as tools for scaling 

(increasing/decreasing the size) and 

editing (e.g. erasing portion of an image, 

for example) images.



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Note: Block creation and editing buttons can be used both in the Zoom and in the 

Image windows. 

Setting up the toolbar 

Note: Low monitor resolution may limit the number of buttons displayed on 

ABBYY FineReader’s toolbars. Although all of ABBYY FineReader’s functionality is 

available through the program menus, you must increase the monitor’s resolution 

to display all available buttons. 

ABBYY FineReader allows you to customize the Standard, Image and 

Formatting toolbars by removing or adding application command buttons. 

Each menu item has its own icon. You can access the full list of commands and 

their respective buttons in the Customize (Tools>Customize menu) dialog in 

the Commands list. 

To add a button to a toolbar: 

1. Select a category in the Categories field. 

Note: The commands are grouped according to menu item, and the choice of 

category will affect the list of commands displayed in the Commands list. 

2. Select the toolbar in the Toolbars field where you want to add a button. 

3. Select a command in the Commands list and click the (>>) button. 

The selected command will be added to the list of toolbar commands and 

displayed on the chosen toolbar in the main window. 

To remove a button from a toolbar: 

• Select the button you wish removed in the Toolbar buttons list and click the 

(

Drawing and Editing Blocks Manually 


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How to: 

• Create a new block 

• Modify blocks 

• Edit a table 

To create a new block: 

1. Select one of the following tools: 

- to draw a recognition area; 

- to draw a text block; 

- to draw a picture block; 

- to draw a table block. 

2. Position the mouse at the point where you want a corner of your block to be. 

Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse pointer to the point 

where you want the opposite block corner to be. 

3. Release the mouse button. 

A frame will enclose the selected image area. 

You may change the drawn block type to any of the following: Recognition Area, 

Text, Table, Picture, or Barcode. To change a block type: 

• Right-click the block and select the Change Block Type item followed by the 

corresponding block type in the local menu.



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Modifying blocks 

To move block borders: 

1. Click the block border and hold down the left mouse button. The 

mouse pointer will become a two-headed arrow. 

2. Drag the pointer in the desired direction. 

3. Release the mouse button. 

Note: If you click a block corner, you can move both horizontal and 

vertical borders of the block simultaneously. 

To add a rectangular block part: 

1. Select the tool. 

2. Click the block you wish to add to. Press and hold down the left 

mouse button and drag the mouse pointer diagonally. Select the 

desired image area and release the button. The resulting rectangle 

will be added to the block. 

3. If necessary, move the block border. 

To cut out a portion of a rectangular block: 


2. Click on the portion of the block you wish to cut. Press and hold 

down the left mouse button then drag the mouse pointer 

diagonally. Select the desired area and release the button. The 

selected rectangle will be cut from the block. 

3. If necessary, move the block border. 

Note: 

1. You can alter block borders by adding new nodes (splitting points). 

Use the mouse to move split border segments in any direction. 

To add a new node, press SHIFT, place the mouse pointer to where 

you want a new node (the pointer will become a cross) and click on 

the border. A new node will be created. 

2. ABBYY FineReader imposes certain limitations on block form. To be 

successfully recognized, text lines within blocks must be unbroken. 

To enforce these requirements, ABBYY FineReader automatically 

corrects block borders as parts are added or deleted. For example,



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if you delete a portion from the top or bottom of a block, a whole 

block corner will automatically be cut. Similarly, if you try to cut off 

a part from between the two upper or lower corners, the application 

will cut the right block corner (upper or lower) as well. The program 

will also forbid operations that involve moving the segments that 

form the block borders. 

To select a block or a group of blocks: 

• Select the tool and click on the desired block or press the left 

mouse button and draw a rectangle around all the blocks you want 

to select. 

Note: You can select one or more blocks using the block drawing tools. 

To select several blocks at once hold down SHIFT or CTRL with one of 

the following tools activated: , , or . Drag the arrow over the 

blocks you want to select. To invert the selection (i.e. to select an 

unselected block or vice versa), hold down the CTRL key while one of 

the following tools is activated: , , or and drag the arrow 

over the desired blocks. 

To move blocks: 

• Hold down ALT with one of the following tools activated: , , 

, or and move the blocks. 

To renumber blocks: 


2. Click the blocks in the desired order. The contents of blocks will be 

displayed in the output text in the same order. 

Note: If you renumber blocks on a previously recognized image, the 

recognized text in the draft mode of Text window will be re-arranged to 

reflect the new numbering. 

To delete a block: 

• Select the 

tool and click the block you wish to delete, or 

• Select the blocks you wish to delete and press DEL on the 

keyboard. 

Note: If you delete a previously recognized block, its associated text in



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the Text window will be deleted as well. 

To delete all image blocks: 

• Select the Delete ALL Blocks and Text item in the Image menu. 

Note: If you delete blocks on an image that has already been 

recognized, the recognized text in the Text window will also be deleted. 

Editing a table 

To edit a table, select one of the following tools on the Image toolbar: 

- to add a vertical separator; 

- to add a horizontal separator; 

- to remove a separator. 

To merge several cells: 

• Select the Merge Cells item in the Image>Table Cells menu. 

To split previously merged cells: 

• Select the Split Cells item in the Image>Table Cells menu. 

To merge table rows (the division into columns is retained) 

• Select the Merge Rows item in the Image>Table Cells menu. 

Manual table layout analysis 

Block types 

Using block templates

ABBYY FineReader Tutorial 


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It provides a step-by-step tutorial on how to convert a 

paper document into editable formats and how to use 

the program 

Quick Start Samples Tips 

Contents 

Quick Start 

Samples 

Tips 

Tips 

• Scanning settings 

Use 300 dpi resolution for regular texts (font size 10pts. or 

greater) and 400-600 dpi resolution for texts set in smaller 

font sizes (9pts. or less). Scanning in grayscale mode is best 

for recognition purposes. If you scan your images in 

grayscale, brightness is adjusted automatically. If you wish 

to see the Scanner Settings dialog in Use FineReader 

interface mode, select the Display options dialog before 

scanning item on the Scan/Open tab (Tools>Options). 

• Open Image Files or ABBYY FineReader Batches 

Directly from Windows Explorer 

Right-click the image file or the FineReader batch you wish 

to open and select Open with FineReader in the local 

menu. 

• Page Layout Analysis 

Page layout analysis can be carried out both automatically 

and manually. In most cases, FineReader manages the 

complex task of page layout analysis by itself. Start 

automatic analysis by clicking on the 2-Read button. 

Recognition and layout analysis are performed 

simultaneously. 

If the application has drawn some blocks incorrectly, it is 

often faster to edit the incorrect blocks using the block 

editing tools than to delete the blocks and draw them 

manually again. 

In some cases automatic layout analysis quality may be 

improved by altering the page layout analysis options. To 

view the current layout analysis options: Read tab, 

Tools>Options menu. 

• Using Blocks Templates 

If you are processing a large number of documents with an 

identical layout, you can create a block template (lmage> 

Save Blocks Template menu) (i.e. a standard "set" of 

blocks that conforms to the layout of your document) and 

apply this template to all pages with the same layout you 

wish to recognize (lmage>Load Blocks Template menu). 

• Improve the Recognition Quality of Double Page 

Images 

To increase recognition quality, split scanned images so that



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a batch page is created for each page of a double page 

image. Images can be split both automatically and 

manually. To split images automatically, before you add 

them to the batch check Split dual pages on the 

Scan/Open tab. 

To split images manually, select the Split image item in the 

Image menu. Deskewing, layout analysis and recognition 

will then be performed separately for each page. 

When scanning very thick books, the text close to the 

binding may be distorted. To remedy such distortions, select 

Tools>Options and click the Scan/Open tab. Under 

Image processing, select Straighten text lines. 

• Recognition Speed 

The recognition speed depends on different parameters: 

processor speed, size of RAM, type of image, etc. 

If you wish to process a large amount of documents with 

simple layout and good image quality, you can use a special 

recognition mode - Fast recognition. To turn on this mode, 

go to the Read tab in the Options dialog (menu 

Tools>Options) and select the Fast item in the 

Recognition mode group. 

On multiprocessor machines, you can increase the 

recognition speed of large batches by turning on the 

"Background recognition" mode (Corporate Edition only). 

• Advanced Search in Recognized Documents 

You can search through all the recognized pages for words 

in all of their grammatical forms. The search pattern can be 

one or several words. To do this, select Advanced search 

in the Edit menu or press ALT+F3. 

• Characters are Displayed Incorrectly 

If the ABBYY FineReader Text window does not display 

characters correctly (i.e. "?" or "□" can be seen in place of 

some or all of the letters), this means that your current font 

does not support your recognition language alphabet in full. 

Select a font that supports your entire recognition set (for 

example, Arial Unicode or Bitstream Cyberbit) on the Save 

tab (Tools>Options menu) in the Fonts group, and 

recognize the document again. 

• Editing the Recognized Text in Microsoft Word 

If you prefer editing the recognized text in Microsoft Word 

rather than in the ABBYY FineReader text window, you may 

still have uncertain characters highlighted. On the 

RTF/DOC/Word XML tab in the Format Settings dialog, 

select the Highlight uncertain characters items in the 

Text settings group. The saved file will have all the 

uncertain characters highlighted with the same color that is 

used in the ABBYY FineReader Text window. You can change 

this color on the View tab of the Options dialog box 

(Tools>Options). 

• Reducing Document Size 

If the recognized document contains many pictures, you can



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reduce the size of the document when saving in RTF, DOC, 

Word XML, PDF, HTML, or PPT formats: select the desired 

picture quality and format in the Picture settings group on 

the corresponding tabs in the Format Settings dialog. 

• Editing Hyperlinks 

ABBYY FineFeader 8.0 can recognize hyperlinks to files, filetransfer 

protocols, Web sites and e-mail addresses. ABBYY 

FineReader will recognize the text of a hyperlink and 

recreate its destination address in the output document. 

Recognized hyperlinks are displayed in blue and underlined. 

You can edit the text and address of a hyperlink. You can 

also change the color of a hyperlink on the Read tab in the 

Options dialog. 

• Saving batch settings 

To save batch settings in a file, click the Save Options 

button on the General tab (Tools>Options menu). A Save 

Options As dialog will open. Enter the file name. The 

following settings will be saved: the Read, Scan/Open, 

Save, and Check Spelling tab settings, as well as all 

Formats Settings dialog tab settings. User languages, user 

language groups and user patterns will also be saved in this 

file. 

• User Languages and Language Groups 

In addition to the built-in languages and language groups, 

you may also create a new language or make up a new 

language group (from languages supported by ABBYY 

FineReader) and use it for recognition. 

• Customize ABBYY FineReader Toolbars 

You can add/remove the buttons that provide access to any 

command of the application to/from the Standard, Image 

and Formatting toolbars in the Customize dialog 

(Tools>Customize menu). 

• Document with dark borders 

Sometimes a scanned image may have dark borders. You 

can crop the unwanted black areas before running OCR. 

To crop the image: 

1. Select the Crop Image command from the Image 

menu. 

2. The image will be displayed in a Crop Image window 

and its borders indicated by black lines. 

3. Rest the mouse cursor on the color border and drag it 

to the desired location. Alternatively, you can rest the 

mouse cursor in one of the corners and drag it 

diagonally. The part of the image that will be 

removed will be displayed in gray. Click the Crop 

button. 

You can also use the Crop Image tool to reduce the image 

to a standard paper size, such as A4 or A5. In order to do 

this, select the desired paper size in the Crop to drop-down 

list and click Crop.



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Configuring Abbyy Finereader 8 - mits07

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