Contents

Introduction

The Business Card Reader Interface

Screen Modes

Main Menu

Creating A New Card Base

Single Card Scanning

Multiple Card Scanning

Image Processing

Editing New Entries


Introduction

What Is Business Card Reader ?

Business Card Reader, or BCR, is a new kind of optical character recognition (OCR) application designed exclusively for business card. With its high speed and accuracy, BCR is the perfect program for busy sales and marketing executives as well as administrators.

This new timesaving application is easy to learn and pleasure to use. It will save valuable time you would otherwise spend manually entering business contact information into database. In just a few easy steps, BCRs friendly interface lets you scan and discard your accumulated business cards, then store the scanned images, along with important contact information, as database entries.

BCR databases, or card bases, can hold up to 32,000 entries (depend on your system capabilities) than you can sort by any field. BCR provides you with a text record along with a perfect image of the card itself, including logo, to store.

Superior Image Quality

Unlike other optical character recognition software, BCR incorporates its own unique scanning techniques to give you exceptionally high quality images.

Brightness is the single most important factor affecting the accuracy of the text recognition for any OCR application. With most programs, you need to adjust the brightness threshold for each document scanned. When you scan a business card that has gray as well as black lettering, some image quality will be lost with manual threshold setting.

But BCR uses adaptive threshold scanning, continuously adjusting for brightness while a document is being scanned. This means that when you scan documents with different levels of brightness, everything- no matter how light or dark it is - comes out crisp and legible. The result is sharper image and fewer recognition errors.

Other Features

BCR recognizes any  business card layout, vertical as well as horizontal. It also recognize all commonly used fonts, even if they are mixed within a block of text.

You can scan single or multiple business cards at a time. Text recognition and entry are automatic. After scanning, BCR separates image into graphics and text, recognizes relevant information for database entry, and places it into the appropriate text fields. Within seconds, business cards are entered into database format. BCRs simple built-in editor lets you quickly edit entries immediately after scanning or later, long after they have been stored.

You will also appreciate BCRs Export and Linking features for sharing BCR databases with other programs.

BCR operates under Windows 3.1. If you are comfortable in the Windows environment, you will find this application very user friendly.

We would like to thank you for purchasing BCR. We are confident that you will enjoy our economical and timesaving package.


The Business Card Reader Interface

Main Menu

Image Window

Command Buttons

Data Fields

Status Line

Cursors


Main Menu

The main menu at the top of the screen offers five separate items:  File, Edit, Mode, Link, Settings and, to the far right, Help.  Each of these is manipulated in standard Windows fashion.

File

New Base

Open Base

Export All

Normalize Base

Normalize Card

Compress Base

Append Base

Print Deck

Exit

Edit

Cut

Copy

Paste

Mode

Scan

Deck

Edit

Link

Link

Unlink

Update

Auto Update

Settings

Input

Scanner

Browse

Font

Normalize

Date/Place


Image Window

Here, in the upper left quadrant of the screen, is where the scanned business card images appear.  The Image Window is used for viewing card images in all modes.  You cannot alter or edit these graphic images in any way, although you can copy text from the card image to the data fields below right after scanning.


Command Buttons

To the right of the Image Window are twelve command buttons which you operate by clicking once with the cursor or by keying in a combination of the <Ctrl> button plus the character underlined on the command button.

The particular command buttons active at any given time will depend upon which screen mode youre operating in.

Command Buttons in Scan Mode

Command Buttons in Deck Mode

Command Buttons in Deck Mode


Data Fields

These occupy the bottom half of the screen below the Image Window and command buttons.  The entry contains the following fields:

Company	Address

Name	City

Title	State

Phone	Zip

Fax	E-mail

Telex	Notes

Date	Place

BCR automatically fills these fields in with the appropriate data after a new business card is scanned.  You will edit your entries in the data fields.


Status Line

Status Line at the bottom of the screen displays the programs activity status, the field by which card base entries are sorted, the current screen mode and, at the far right (0:0), the order of the entry in the open card base.  For example, Deck 3:43 would indicate that the Image Window now displays the third entry in a card base deck containing a total of 43 entries.


Cursors

The cursor assumes various forms in BCR, depending on where its placed on the screen and the operation you are executing.

 	a pointer for clicking on command buttons

   	a text cursor for editing text within the data fields

 	a hand for dragging selected text


Screen Modes

The BCR screen operates in three basic modes: Scan, Deck and Edit. Each of these modes looks similar to the others, but the operations you can perform are different in each.  Note that no particular mode is active when you open BCR for the first time.

Scan Mode

Command Buttons in Scan Mode

Deck Mode

Command Buttons in Deck Mode

Edit Mode

Command Buttons in Deck Mode


Scan Mode

BCRs Scan mode is for entering new business cards in an open card base.  When you open the BCR program for the first time, the Scan Mode is active.

Before scanning, you must enter specifications for Input and Scanner options in the Settings menu.

When scanning is complete, the card image appears in the Image Window and BCR proceeds with recognition, separating text from graphics and creating groups of text fragments.  BCR then aligns the card image and places the text groupings it created into the data fields.  The text fragments will be outlined on the card image.

Command Buttons in Scan Mode


Command Buttons in Scan Mode

Start Scan

Store

Type Card

Forget All

ForgetIDHELP_FORGET

Addr Edit


Start Scan

The Start Scan command button is active when you first start the program and after youve stored a scanned entry.  After entering Input and Scanner settings place your card(s) at the proper orientation into the scanner and click Start Scan (or type in <Ctrl> + S) to initiate scanning.

Single Card Scanning

Multiple Card Scanning


Store (Scan-Mode)

Store

When you are satisfied with all the information in a newly scanned entry, click Store to save it in the open card base.  The saved entry disappears from the screen.  If you have scanned multiple cards at one time, the next unstored entry appears on screen for you to change and/or store.  If you   have scanned just a single card, storing clears the screen entirely in preparation for the next scan.


Type Card

Type Card lets you enter information directly into the data fields without scanning a card.  This mode is useful either when you have business cards with extremely poor print quality or you do not have business card at all.


Forget All

Click Forget All to delete several cards at one time after multiple card scanning.  Forget All deletes the current image as well as any scanned images that havent been inspected and saved.  After you select Forget All, you will be asked to confirm that you want to delete the unsaved images.  Click Yes to go ahead and delete the unstored cards or No to terminate the deletion altogether.


Forget

Forget deletes the single, unsaved card entry currently active in the Image Window.  Before you select Forget, make certain that you want the entry deleted.  You will not have an opportunity to undo the deletion.


Addr Edit

Occasionally BCR divides and distributes components of a business card address incorrectly.  In this case you can edit the data fields manually, but, unfortunately, BCRs Drag-and-Drop feature wont help you; if you redraw a box around a portion of the address, BCR will probably repeat its error.  Alternatively, you can press the Addr Edit button (or double-click on a data field) to switch to the address editing mode.  A different set of data fields appears at the bottom of the main screen, as illustrated below.

BCR presents the entire address, as well as the contents of its four subfields, as text strings.  Now you can highlight portions of the entire address or of a specific subfield (using left mouse button).  After highlighting a portion of text, drag it (using right mouse button) and drop it into a new destination field.  The previous contents of the destination field will be replaced with new data.

You can drop portions of one address to subfields of another address field.  When you have made all necessary changes, click on Addr Edit (or double-click on a data field) again to return the standard data fields to the main screen.


Deck Mode

The Deck screen is primarily for searching for and retrieving entries.  Only the card images are visible on screen.  Because the data fields in Deck mode are used to create filters for selecting subsets of a card base, initially they are empty.

The Deck mode provides several methods for creating card base filters.  One is a Field Lists method of entry retrieval.  The advantage of this method is that you wont need to remember the exact spelling of a name or company to conduct a search.

To see how Field Lists works, make sure you are in Deck mode, and double-click on the name of a data field like Company.  A scrolling list of all the companies in your card base will appear, arranged alphabetically.

Field Lists are always indexed independent of the sort field you assign for the Browse setting.  In other words, if you double-click on Company, the list that appears will be arranged according to company name, even if you have designated Address as the Browse setting.

Next, double-click the cursor on the name of a company whose entries youd like to inspect and/or change.  (You can also click once on the entry and then click OK.)  The company list disappears and the cards for the selected company appear in the Image Window.

If more than one card is found for the company, the screen remains in Deck mode.  If only one card was found for the selected company, the screen goes directly into the Edit mode with the data fields for that entry active and ready to edit.  Notice that the number of entries found for the company selected is shown on the Status Line.

If you click once on an entry from the company list, but change your mind, just click Cancel to return to a view of the last card selected.

Another way to create filters for selecting entries in Deck mode is to type key text characters into specific fields and click on the Find command button.  If, for example, you wanted to search for all companies within the (415) area code, type 415 into the Phone field and click Find.  The cards for all companies with phone numbers having that area code will appear in the Image Screen.

Deck mode also lets you use the right mouse button to look through cards sequentially.  Just click once on the top card in the deck, and the next entry will appear.  Click on the previously viewed card (seen in the background) to bring it to the front for viewing.  You can even advance (or go back) several entries by reaching down deeper in the deck with the pointer and clicking the right mouse button.

Command Buttons in Deck Mode


Command Buttons in Deck Mode

Find

Clear

Top and Bottom

Next and Previous

Browse

All

Export


Clear

Clicking Clear automatically clears all fields and the Image Window in preparation for a card search using Find.  Clear does not delete entries, so dont panic when all the fields empty.


Find

To locate a specific entry or a subset of the card base, use the Find button.  This button is active in both Deck and Edit modes.

Suppose you want to look for all of your prospective clients from Cognitive Technology Corporation.  Place the cursor in the Company data field and type in Cognitive.  Now click the Find command button or press <Enter>.  BCR will begin searching.  When its finished, the number of cards found for Cognitive Technology will be displayed at the left end of the Status Line.

If no cards are found, the Status Line will read 0 card(s) found.  Click on the Clear button (or type <Ctrl> + C) to clear the data fields, and enter another search key to try to find the card again.  If multiple cards are found, the screen will stay in Deck Mode, with the cards representing the found data subset stacked in the Image Window.  If only one matching record is found in the course of the search, the screen will go directly into Edit mode.

The Find button will conduct a search based on any data field and any key word within that data field.


Top and Bottom

Click once on Top (<Ctrl> + T) to bring up the first card in the deck.  Click once on Bottom (<Ctrl> + B) to bring up the last card.


Next and Previous

These command buttons offer another simple way of looking through cards in the deck sequentially.  Click on Next (<Ctrl> + N) to view the next card.  Choose Previous (<Ctrl> + P) to return to the last card you viewed.


Browse

Use the Browse button to look over your entire card base, or to select an entry for closer inspection and editing.  Click on the Browse command button (or type <Ctrl> + R) to invoke a window containing a scrolling List of Entries in the card base.  The specific fields displayed and the order in which entries are listed will depend upon how you set the order under Browse in the Settings menu.  The field by which the card base is sorted is shown in the Status Line, to the left of the mode indicator.

There are two ways to select an entry to edit from the list.  Either double-click on the entry, or click on it once and then click OK.  In either case, the screen instantly moves to Edit mode, with the selected entry displayed in the Image Window.  With the second method, its possible to cancel your selection.  If you decide to select Cancel, the screen returns to display the last card shown.


All

Click on All (or enter <Ctrl> + A) to bring the entire card base deck into view in Deck Mode.  If you have just retrieved several entries through Find in the Deck mode, click All to return to the full deck.  If you click All while in the Edit mode, the screen will transfer immediately to Deck.


Export

The Export command button is for exporting a subset of the card base to another program.  Use it to transfer data from just one entry, or from several found through a search.  If you find seven cards for a specific company in your card base, you can selectively export them while theyre stacked in the Image Screen.

The Cards Export window appears as soon as you click on Export (or <Ctrl> + E).  This window is identical to the one that comes up when you use the Export All option from the File menu to export an entire database.  Specify the name of the file to which youre exporting the entries, as well as the drive and directory containing that file, and click OK.

To move from the Deck screen to the Edit screen, either select Edit from the Mode menu (<Alt> + M, then E), or double-click on a card in the Image Window.


Edit Mode

BCRs Edit mode lets you edit stored card base entries.  Unlike the Scan Mode, Edit mode doesnt let you extract information from the card image itself.  Instead, you work only within the data fields.

To get into the Edit screen mode from Deck Mode, select Edit from the Mode menu (<Alt> + M, then E), or double-click on the card displayed in the Image Window.  To get to Edit from the Scan Mode, you can only select Edit from the Mode menu.

While in Edit mode, you can perform almost all the operations that you can in Deck.  (The exception to this is use of the right mouse button to leaf through sequential entries.  The command buttons Next and Previous, however, accomplish the same thing.)

Edit mode has a Drag-and-Drop feature for moving text from one field to the next.  If, for instance, you notice that the fax number is in the Phone field, just click and hold on the number using the right mouse button.  The text cursor becomes a hand.  Drag the number into the Fax field and release the mouse button.  The number now appears in the proper field.

Delete text by dragging it from its field over to the Delete button.  When you do this, the hand cursor assumes the form of a trash can, indicating that youre about to throw the text away.

Once deleted, this information cannot be retrieved.  You can always go to the next or previous entry, or return to Deck Mode without saving the changed entry.  In this case, the information you threw away will return to the field it was in originally.

You can also edit your entries in the same way you edit using conventional word processing applications.  Simply select the text you wish to replace with the text cursor and type over it, or insert new text into existing text.

In addition to its editing features, the Edit mode lets you Dial out on your modem.

In Edit as well as in Scan, the Edit pull-down menu is activated.  This a conventional edit menu that includes Cut, Copy and Paste options that become active when you highlight text to edit.

Command Buttons in Deck Mode

Command Buttons in Edit Mode


Command Buttons in Edit Mode

The Edit mode has three command buttons in addition to those found in Deck Mode. These are Dial, Store and Delete

Command Buttons in Deck Mode


Dial

The Dial command button lets you dial the phone number in the current entry through a modem line.  Once you click Dial, the window shown next comes up.

The first number from the Phone data field is highlighted in the Phone to dial box.  You can either accept the number as shown, manually edit it, or select a replacement number from the Choice of numbers list below it.

The Dial prefix field at the bottom left of Dial window lets you specify any special prefix you need to dial (e.g., a 9 to obtain an outside line from within your office).

Enter your own area code in the box labeled Local area code.  BCR compares this  area code with the one in the Phone to dial box.  If they are the same, BCR recognizes that you are making a local call and omits the area code from the dialing sequence.  If they differ, the area code will be dialed along with the rest of the number.

Next to Modem on, select the modem through which youll be dialing.  Now click OK to initiate dialing, or Cancel to abort the operation.


Store (EDIT MODE)

Click once on Store (or type in <Crtl> + S) to store an entry when you want to save any changes you have made.  Store saves one entry at a time in both Edit and Scan Modes.


Delete

With Delete you can either delete an entire entry or just a selected field.  These operations are carried out in quite distinct ways.

To delete an entire entry, press Delete any time you are in the Edit screen.  The entry will be lost no matter what field you have selected and regardless of where the cursor was previously placed.  Before it deletes anything, a window appears asking you to confirm the deletion.

To delete a single field of text only, select the text by placing the cursor just to the left of its data field, then drag that selection over to the Delete button and release.  The field will empty.  You can leave it blank or enter new data manually.  If you delete a single field of text, but change your mind, you can always go back to the Deck Mode without saving the changes.  The fields in that entry will revert to their previous, unedited values.


THE BCR MAIN MENU

Most of the main menu items at the top of the BCR screen are available and active in all three screen modes.  The only exception is Edit, which can only be activated in Edit and Scan Modes. Each menu item is described in detail below.


The File Pull-Down Menu

To see the File pull-down menu, click once on File or key in <Alt> + F.

New Base

Open Base

Closing Base

Export All

Normalize Base

Normalize Card

Compress Base

Append Base

Print Deck

Exit


New Base

The New Base option in Files pull-down menu is active in all three screen modes.  You can create a new card base from any screen mode, but after you have created one in the Deck or Edit screen, BCR will transfer immediately into Scan Mode in preparation for scanning the first entry in the new card base.

When you select New Base with your cursor (or type <Alt> + F, then N), the Create Cards Base window appears.  From the Directories and Drives lists, select a directory and drive for storing your new card base.

In the File Name field, replace the asterisk to the left of .cdb with a name containing up to eight characters.  For our purposes, well use Prospect.  Now click OK.  The BCR main screen appears with the name of the new card base, Prospect.cdb, displayed to the right of BCR in the heading.

You neednt make changes in the Save File as Type box at the bottom left of the window.  The default setting Cards Base is the form card base files remain in unless you Export them to another program.

The main screen now transfers to Scan Mode, in preparation for scanning and storing your first card entry.


Open Base

Click on Open Base in the File menu (<Alt> + F, then O) to call up a window with the heading Select Cards Base.  To open an existing card base, either type its name into the File Name field and click OK, or double-click on the file name in scrolling list below the File Name field.

Other fields allow you to select a directory or drive other than the one you are in.  The List of Files Type will always display (*.cdb) when you create a new card base or open an existing one.


Closing a Card Base

BCR has no separate command for closing a card base.  When a card base is open and you go to the File menu to either open an existing base or create a new one, the file currently open automatically closes.

If you have made changes to an entry in the open card base without saving it, a BCR: Warning box comes up, asking if you want to save your changes.  Click Yes to save your edited entry before opening another card base, No to lose your changes and open another base, or Cancel to stay in the current card base.


Export All

You can export BCR entries to Lotus Organizer as well as any applications that accept the.dbf file type, including Excel.

If you want the entire card base currently open to be copied to another program, select the Export All option in the File menu (<Alt> +F, then E).  This will invoke the Cards Export window.

Type the name of the file into the File Name text box, or double-click on a file name in the scrolling list beneath the text box.  Now go into the recipient application to import the exported BCR data.

Export All is really only active in the Deck screen mode.  If you select it while in the Edit mode, the screen will instantly revert to Deck Mode.


Normalize Base

Use the Normalize Base option to establish consistent style formats for data fields. In a normalized card base, all data fields are converted to some standard format, depending on the data field semantic.

Before normalizing a card base, you must choose normalizing types for all data fields using the Normalize option in the Settings menu (see description later in this chapter).


Normalize Card

Select Normalize Card to normalize data fields for the current card only.  To save the normalized card (replacing the non-normalized card base entry), click either Next or Previous.  Youll be asked to confirm replacement of the existing card base entry.


Compress Base

While you are using business card base you can edit several cards and Store them, you can delete some cards, normalize all base and so on. Each of this operations can leave unused disk space within a .cdb file as well as within a .img file. To optimize the use of hard disk space you can compress business cards base.

Choosing Compress base menu item starts the procedure of the current cards base. You can interrupt this process at any time by clicking on Cancel button of the progress monitor.


Append Base

Use Append base to add cards from some other business cards base to the one which is open now. To do this chose Append Base menu item. You will be asked for name of a cards base to append to current base.

You can select name of a base to append and click on OK button to start process of merging or click Cancel button to reject go futher.

If you selected a base to append, the progress monitor will appear on the screen.

You can stop merging at any time by clicking  Cancel button of the progress monitor. Your current base will remain unchanged.


Print Deck

When you select Print Deck, dialog box appears, prompting you to indicate the number of copies, print quality and some other details. When youve completes all the settings, click OK. The images of all cards in the currently selected deck will be printed out.


Exit

To exit BCR, you can either select Exit from the File menu, or key in <Alt> + F, then X.


The Edit Pull-Down Menu

The Edit menu becomes active only in the Edit and Scan screen modes after you select a block of text to change.  It is not active in Deck Mode.  The three options in its pull-down menu - Cut, Copy and Paste -  all operate in standard Windows fashion.

With your cursor, select some text in one of your data fields.  Select Edit in the main menu and choose Cut from the pull-down menu (or just key in <Shift> + Delete).  Click you cursor anywhere in a different data field, and then select Paste (<Ctrl> + Ins) from the Edit menu.  The text you cut from the first data field will be inserted where you placed your cursor in the second field.  The Copy option

(<Shift> + Ins) works in the same way.


The Mode Pull-Down Menu

The Mode menu lets you switch easily between BCRs Scan, Deck and Edit screen modes.  The menu options can be activated by selecting them with the cursor or by keying in <Alt> + M followed by S for Scan, D for Deck or E for Edit.  A check mark appears to the left of the mode you select.

Scan Mode

Deck Mode

Edit Mode


The Link Pull-Down Menu

Access the pull-down menu for Link either by clicking once on Link or by keying in <Alt> + L.  BCRs special linking feature is designed specifically for use with Lotus Organizer.  It lets you establish a data exchange link between your BCR and Organizer files so that changes and additions to a BCR card base file will automatically be reflected in the linked Organizer file.

Link and Unlink Base

Update and Auto Update


Link Base
Link and Unlink Base

Choose Link Base from the Link menu to connect your current card base with a Lotus Organizer address database.  A window with the heading Select Lotus Organizer File to Link appears.  Specify the Organizer file to which you want your current card base linked by typing its name in place of the asterisk in the File Name text box.  Alternatively, select an .org file by double-clicking its name in the scrolling list beneath the File Name text box.  The lists for Directories and Drives let you specify another drive and/or directory.

Please note that linking to an Organizer file does not open that file.  In fact, BCR cannot transfer data to an open Organizer file.  If you try to write to an open Organizer file through the BCR link (e.g., when you perform an operation like Store, which would otherwise update the Organizer), an error message will advise you that data transfer is impossible.  To make the link successful, youll first have to go into Lotus and close the linked Organizer file.

Once youve chosen an Organizer file, its name appears in the heading next to the name of the BCR file to which its linked.  A window with the heading Export into Lotus Organizer appears.  The window prompts you to indicate whether you want all the entries in the BCR home file exported to the linked Organizer file.  Click Yes if you want all entries from the open card base exported.  If you click No, only new changes and additions you make to the card base will be reflected in the Organizer file.


update and auto-Update
Update and Auto Update

The Update and Auto Update options in the Link menu determine how data will be transferred.  Select Auto Update if you want all the changes and additions you make to be reflected instantaneously in your Organizer file.  A check mark appears to the left of the option to indicate that it is selected.

If, for some reason, you want to make a number of changes in your BCR card base, but dont want these changes to be reflected yet in the linked Organizer file, you can delay the data exchange.  First, make all the changes and additions to the BCR file.  When youre finished and ready to transfer the data to the Lotus Organizer, select Update.  This will then update the linked Organizer file, making all the changes to entries corresponding to edited or new card base entries since the last data transfer occurred.


The Settings Pull-Down Menu

Click once on Settings or key in <Alt> + S to access its pull-down menu.

Input

Setting Scanner

Setting Browse

Font

Setting Normalize

Set Date/Place


Input

Select the Input option from the Settings pull-down menu to specify the dimensions of the area you want to scan.  The Page Layout window shown below provides separate fields into which you type the measurements of the desired area (card or page) to scan.

The default values for single card scanning are Left: 0.00, Top: 0.00, Width: 3.50 and Height: 2.00.  This corresponds roughly to the dimensions of a standard business card.  Click OK.  (Be sure that the Multiple Cards box is unchecked.)

For multiple card scanning, the values you enter for page size can be approximate, but should at least include the area occupied by the cards placed.  Check the box at the bottom of the window to select Multiple Cards and click OK (or Cancel if you wish to quit the operation entirely).


Setting Scanner

Before scanning any business cards in BCR you must select Scanner settings.  Choose Scanner from the Settings menu (or type <Alt> + S, then S) to invoke the Scanner setup window illustrated below.

From the box labeled Access, choose a scanning systemsISIS, Specific, or TWAIN.  When you choose a system, the name of currently selected scanner appears in the Scanner field below.  Next, click OK to confirm, click Scanner to make another selection or click Setup to initiate a setup procedure.

Setup procedure

For a TWAIN scanning system, select either Native or Buffered transfer mode.  You can also choose to use the TWAIN-source dialog.  Consult your scanner manual for details.

With an ISIS scanning system, most scanners dont require any setup. Again, consult the scanner manual.  If your system is neither TWAIN nor ISIS, select Specific from the Access box.

Scanner Selection

For any type system you choose, a box listing all currently available scanners of that type appears when you click the Scanner button.  Choose one of these and click Select (or Cancel).


Setting Browse

Choose Browse (<Alt> + S, then B) from the Settings menu to set the order in which you will want entries listed and to specify the fields you want included when you use the Browse command button (described below).  BCR will sort your entries based on any of fourteen data fields.

Click once within the circle to the left of the data field by which you want your entries sorted.  The circle darkens to indicate that this is the sort field you chose.  Click OK to initiate the sort.  When the operation is completed, the name of the sort field will appear in the Status Line, just to the left of the screen mode display.

Check to see if your entries were sorted properly by clicking on the Browse command button.  A scrolling list of sorted entries appears on screen.  The sort order will also be retained in the cards displayed in the Deck screen.

Two additional parameters for viewing entries can be set in the Select Fields and Key Field for Browse window.

Use the boxes to the left the field names to designate the fields you want to include in the Browse listing, as well as the order in which you want them listed (from left to right in the Browse window).  The illustration above shows the default setting for fields to display.  In this example, when you click Browse, all fields will be shown with the name displayed first, company second, title third, etc.

To change these settings, click on Reset.  This will clear all of the boxes so that you can customize the Browse listing.

Suppose, for example, that you want to display the name, title, and company for each entry, and in that sequence.  Click first on the Name box, next on the Title box and, finally, on the Company box.  As you select each box, sequential numbers (1, 2 and 3) will appear inside of them.  Click on OK.  When you next click Browse, youll see the fields for Name, Title and Company displayed from left to right in the window.

You can also change the Browse settings by deselecting the fields that you dont want to display.  Just click in the numbered box to the left of the field.  The box will empty (the number disappears), indicating that this field will not be included in the listing.  The other selected fields will be automatically renumbered, reflecting the absence of the deselected field.

To revert to the original default settings, click Reset and then OK.  When you next invoke the window for specifying the browse settings, the fields will appear in their default order.

Note that you can also select a key field for a new card base before entering scanned cards into it.  The newly scanned cards will be automatically sorted as they are stored.


Font

Select Font from the Settings menu to call up the Font window.

You can choose from different fonts and point sizes to customize text in the data fields of your entries.  When you change settings, the Sample box instantly shows you how text will look from now on.  When youre satisfied with the font settings, click OK.

Do not  bother yourself with choosing Font Style because  BCR always use Bold for field names and Regular for fields content.


Setting Normalize

If you want data in certain fields to conform to specific formats, you can set these by selecting Normalize from the Settings menu. The following window will appear:

This window displays the current normalization settings for all fields and lets you choose from different formats for each.  Click and hold on a downward-pointing arrow to view a list of available formats for a field. Scroll through the list and click the desired entry. Note that the option No Normalizing appears in all the lists. You can also switch Normalization off by ckecking the box at the top of the window. In this case, all list arrows will be ghosted.


Set Date/Place

When you click Set Date/Place in the Settings menu, the following window appears.

In the box labeled Date, specify one of three options for the Date field: leave it empty (Empty Date), enter the Current Date or enter a specific date (to be typed into the Set Date> field).

In the text box below Place, enter any text that you want to go in the Place field. For example, if you have a stack of cards from a recent seminar, you could use this feature to create a default Place setting for those new cards. Make sure that you reset or empty the Place text box after entering your new cards. Otherwise, its contents will go into the Place field for all subsequent card entries.

Date and Place fields can be filled for each card either automatically, when the card is first added to the card base, or every time the card data are stored. Choose either mode of entry in the box at the bottom of the window.  Click the circle next to Only for new card to fill in Date and Place fields automatically only once, when the card is first entered.  Click next to On every Store to update both fields each time a card is changed and saved.


Creating A New Card Base

Suppose you have just exhibited your companys new product at a trade show and have collected a large number of business cards which represent sales leads youll have to follow up on.

Go to the main menu and click once on File and once again on New Base (or press <Alt> + F, then N).

The Create Card Base window shown here appears.

From the Directories and Drives lists, select a directory and drive for storing your new card base.

In the File Name field, replace the asterisk to the left of .cdb with a name containing up to eight characters.  For our purposes, well use Prospect.  Now click OK.  The BCR main screen appears with the name of the new card base, Prospect.cdb, displayed to the right of BCR in the heading.

You neednt make changes in the Save File as Type box at the bottom left of the window.  The default setting Cards Base (*.cdb) is the form card base files remain in unless you Export them to another program.

The main screen now transfers to Scan Mode, in preparation for scanning and storing your first card entry.  Before you scan, however, youll need to set a few scanning parameters. This procedure is described in the Settings menu section of Chapter 2.


Single Card Scanning

Lets assume for now that you want to scan cards one at a time.  Move your cursor to the Settings menu and choose Input  (or enter <Alt> + S, then I).  This will call up the Page Layout window

Under Page/Card size, key in the dimensions of the card youll be scanning.  Enter the appropriate values, expressed in inches, in the dialog boxes labeled Left (left margin), Top (top margin), Width and Height.  The default values are Left: 0.00, Top: 0.00, Width: 3.50 and Height: 2.00, or roughly the size of a standard business card.  Click OK (Be sure that the Multiple Cards box is unchecked.)

Please note that Input and Scanner values can be set from any screen mode.  The order in which you set these is not important.

Now that you have opened a card base file, the Start Scan command button is active in the Scan screen mode.

To proceed with the scan, feed a card into your scanner as per the manufacturers instructions.  (Although BCR can correct for slightly misfed cards, try to properly align them to ensure that you get the best possible image.)  Next, click once on the Start Scan button (or enter <Ctrl> + S).  As scanning begins, a window appears to tell you that scanning is in process.  You can watch the left side of the Status Line to follow the stages of scanning and image processing.

If you forget to insert a card, or you feed one into the scanner incorrectly, a message box will appear to advise you that the scan resulted in an empty page.  Click OK to dismiss the window, and click on the Forget command button (or type <Ctrl> + F) to Delete the blank entry.  Reinsert your card and try again.

When scanning is complete, the card image appears in the Image Window.  The Status Line now reads:

| None |     Scan 1:1

indicating that the card base has no Key field (None) and that the first card in a card base containing one entry has been scanned (1:1).

Notice too that, now that you have a scanned image, Forget , Forget All, Store and Addr Edit command buttons are active.


Multiple Card Scanning

In addition to single card scanning, BCR lets you scan up to eight cards at a time on flatbed type scanners.  While you are still in Scan Mode, switch from single to multiple card scanning by selecting Input from the Settings menu (or key in <Alt> + S, then I).  The Page Layout window will appear.

Enter the margins of the area or page you want to scan in the Page/Card size boxes and check the box at the bottom to select Multiple Cards.  These values can be approximate, but should at least include the area occupied by the cards placed.

Place the cards at the proper orientation for your scanner model.  Its important that the cards dont touch one another or touch the border of the scan area.  BCR needs to detect a brightness difference between adjacent cards so that it can distinguish between them.  If they are too tightly grouped, BCR might see them as one large card.  We recommend that you place the cards about ¼ apart.  This should give you the best results.

Now begin scanning just as you would for single cards, by clicking on Start Scan (or <Ctrl> + S).  When the scan is complete, the number of cards successfully scanned will appear in the Status Line and each card will come up one by one in the Image Window for you to edit and Store.  If youve scanned eight cards, 1:8 will appear on the right side of the Status Line.


Image Processing

After multiple or single card scanning, BCR automatically separates out the cards graphic components and converts the remaining image to text.  BCR then divides the text into recognizable groupings like phone numbers, company names, etc., surrounds them with text boxes on the card image and corrects any misalignment resulting from crooked card placement.  It then places each text grouping into what it interprets as the appropriate data field below.

While remarkably accurate for an optical character recognition program, this process is not foolproof.  You may have to do some minor editing before storing your entry.

BCR has some convenient features that make editing quick and easy.  You can use the drag and drop feature (described later in the chapter), or you can simply type the correct information into a field.

If you find a card difficult to read because the characters are too small, magnify the card in the Image Window by double-clicking on it.  Use scroll-bars to scroll an image.

Another easy way of viewing different parts of a magnified image in Scan Mode is to click the cursor in a field containing the text you want to see close up.  For example, if the Image Window shows only the address, and you want to see if the persons name is correct, click the cursor in the Title data field.  The card image will shift so that the persons name is centered in the Image Window.

To revert to the previous magnification, just double-click on the image.


Editing New Entries

Redrawing Boxes

Drag-and-Drop Editing

Editing Address Fields

Manual Card Data Input


Redrawing Boxes

To alter text in a data field, you can redraw the box to surround just the correct text in the Image Window.  Press and drag with the left mouse button to draw an area that includes only the information you want.

Once you redraw a box, BCR frequently takes the information and drops it into the appropriate field without your help.  It does this because your changes make the text more recognizable to the program.  Say that the phone and fax numbers appear on the same line of a card and BCR has inaccurately grouped the numbers.  If you redraw a box that originally included the phone number as well as part of the fax number, both numbers will fall into place in the data fields when you correctly redraw one of the boxes.


Drag-and-Drop Editing

Now use drag-and-drop by clicking and holding the right mouse button on the new box.  When the hand cursor replaces the pointer, drag the text to the correct data field and release the mouse button.

If you attempt to drag a text segment into a field that BCR interprets as incorrect, the cursor will assume the form of a circle with a diagonal line through it.  This tells you that youre about to drop text in the wrong location.

You can use drag-and-drop to rearrange text boxes on the screen.  To select and drag a text box that BCR created automatically, click and hold on the box with the right mouse button.  The pointer becomes a hand cursor to let you know that you can now move (copy) the box.  The message Move image to desired card field appears in the screens Status Line.  Now drag the text box to its proper field and release the mouse button to drop it in.

Theres no need to line a box up precisely within the data field.  The program will take care of text alignment.

As long as youre operating in the Scan Mode and you havent yet stored your scanned entry, you can recreate the text boxes on the image, and drag and drop text boxes into the fields you choose.  Once the entry has been saved, however, you wont be able to extract information directly from the card image.

Except for taking information directly from the card image, you can use all the editing operations described here when you go into Edit mode.  The Scan Mode shares yet another text tool with the Edit screenThe Edit pull-down options in the programs main menu.


Editing Address Fields

Sometimes BCR incorrectly divides and distributes address information into data fields. When this happens you can edit these subfields manually, but, unfortunately, the Drag-and-Drop technique doesnt help in this case. If you redraw a box around a portion of the address, BCR will probably repeat its mistake. As an alternative, you can switch to an address editing mode by double-clicking somewhere in the address field (or by clicking the Addr Edit button in Scan Mode).  The following data fields appear at the bottom of the screen.

BCR shows you an entire address as well as the contents of its four subfields as text strings. Now you can highlight desired portions of the whole address or of a subfield (using left mouse button). Drag highlighted text (using right mouse button) and drop it in a new destination field. The previous contents of that field are replaced. You can also drop portions of one address to subfields of the other address. When youve made all necessary changes, double-click again on an Address field (or click the Addr Edit button) to revert to the standard field template.


Manual Card Data Input

Suppose you want to enter information about some person, but you do not have business card to scan in. What can you  do?

To manually create a new entry in a card base, go into Scan Mode  and click the Type Card button. All fields are cleared and the cursor automatically appears in the first field so that you can enter the company name. After entering data, advance to the next field by pressing <Tab>.

To edit address fields, use the Address Edit mode described earlier in this chapter. When youre finished, press Store. Of course, you can freely switch between scanning (Start Scan) and manual input (Type Card) since youre in Scan Mode.