Server OCR

The Open API is a component of FineReader Server. It can be installed onto any computer in the network.

FineReader Server provides two types of Open API for integration with external systems:

• COM-based API
• Web Services API

The Web services API enables communication with remote systems via HTTP and therefore allows for remote integration over the Internet. In case of the Web services API, you do not need to install any components on the client computer.

The FineReader Server 14 Web Services API includes a SOAP API and a REST API.

For detailed information please visit API Overview

The Web Services API provides two services:

• WebService (http://<ServerName>/FineReaderServer14/WebService.asmx)
• ServerManager service (http://<ServerName>/FineReaderServer14/ServerManager.asmx)

For detailed information please visit Using WebAPI

Note. In Recognition Server 4.0 the service is available via the following address: http://<ServerName>/Recognition4WS/RSSoapService.asmx

For more information on using the API in Recognition Server, see the built-in help by the path:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\ABBYY Recognition Server 4\Help\Open API Help

Working with REST API

Watch this video and see how to use FineReader Server Web Services API in a few simple steps.

FineReader Server can be used by using REST API. To configure this workflow:

1. Connect to the FineReader Server.
2. Select a workflow: The FineReader Server 14 Web Services API uses a FineReader Server workflow to process image files. See the list of available worflows by using API/workflows endpoint or call the GetWorkflows SOAP method.
3. Upload a file: Use the API/workflows/{workflowName}/input/file endpoint or call the StartProcessFile SOAP method.
4. Check the processing state: Use the API/jobs/{jobId} endpoint or call the GetJobStateInfo SOAP method.
5. Download the result: Use the API/jobs/{jobId}/result endpoint or call the GetJobResultEx SOAP method.

In this video, learn how to configure a workflow for document input and processing via e-mail on FineReader Server.

See how in a few simple steps you can configure this workflow. You can even edit the e-mail subject and message. Watch how to setup usage scenario: Centralized document conversion service in this video.

From the document input to the document output, including the document processing, FineReader Server is designed to simplify, optimize and fasten your worflows. Scalable and easy to configure, FineReader Server can adapt to all your needs.

How to convert several emails from MS Outlook into PDF?

In order to convert several emails into a PDF file, you may use the virtual printer PDF-XChange 5.0 for FineReader.

Follow the steps below:

1. Select the needed emails in MS Outlook.
2. Press File>Print.

   

3. Select ​PDF-XChange 5.0 for FineReader as a printer and press Print.

   

4. Save the PDF file.

How to set up the import from the Gmail mailbox using the IMAP Image Import Profile?

1. In your Gmail, create the folder (mailbox) that you want to import from.
2. In your Gmail, create the folders (mailboxes) for the Exceptions and Processed emails.
3. Enable the IMAP protocol in Gmail settings.
4. Turn on the Less secure app access option in the Security section of Google Account Settings.
   
5. Create a new Image Import Profile (open the project in the Project Setup Station > Project > Image Import Profiles > New). Choose Hot Folder: IMAP Server.
6. Specify the address of the IMAP server: imap.gmail.com.
7. Click settings and specify your Gmail login and password. Choose Type of encrypted connection: SSL.

   

8. Click Browse and select […]
   

Modern Forms Processing applications have AI-based training algorithms that let users point and click on the location of data in their documents and create OCR templates automatically.

This bypasses the technical requirements of creating complex OCR templates, especially for varied documents like Invoices where the data doesn’t always appear in the same place.

But how good are these AI-based training systems?

In our experience they work well when you have:

• Good quality scanned images
• Clearly labeled data
• Tables with regular columns

Point and click style training doesn’t work quite as well with:

• Poor quality images
• Data that appears within paragraphs
• Tables with overlapping columns, subtotal rows, etc.

These types of documents can still be captured with OCR but they will usually require an experienced technician to manually configure the template.

For natural language data like legal documents, a new artificial intelligence technology called NLP (Natural Language Processing) is available. These work by attempting to “understand” the language used in documents to interpret the location of data points based on meaning. ABBYY FlexiCapture also supports NLP-based training for these types of documents.

Modern Forms Processing software can use rules-based templates for locating data on documents based on label keywords, data types, regular expression pattern matching and other methods.

The most common example in business is an Invoice. Businesses receive invoices from 1000s of different vendors, each with important information like the Invoice Number, Due Date and Total needed to process the document, but each vendor invoice is formatted a little differently than the others.

Software like ABBYY FlexiCapture will look for keywords like “Invoice Number” or variations like “Inv #” and “Invoice No.” to locate the invoice number value on each invoice.

These applications are also able to capture complex table data and output to formats like Excel or a SQL Database, especially when it doesn’t line up into regular columns.

In recent years, artificial intelligence based training has made it possible to simply point and click on the location of data on documents as you process them and generate these templates automatically, dramatically reducing the need for ongoing expert help these systems require.