The STF AutoOCR application allows you to automate Optical Character Recognition (OCR) of received faxes. STF AutoOCR will convert received faxes to editable text immediately as they are received, at a scheduled time daily or weekly, or manually at any time you choose.
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Manual Processing using STF Manager
You may recognize one or more selected fax files manually by clicking the OCR button in the “FAX In” window of the STF Manager.
You may also drag & drop fax files onto the STF AutoOCR icon (or its alias) or manually select one or more fax files to recognize using the Recognize ... or Recognize faxes... commands in the STF AutoOCR File menu.
To recognize a file manually from the FAX In window:
1. Run STF Manager.
2. Open the FAX In window.
3. Select the fax file(s) you wish to recognize.
4. Click the OCR button at the top of the FAX In window.
STF AutoOCR will begin converting the fax to text, operating in the background. The converted text file will be given a default name (fax name + “(txt)”) and saved to the STF AutoOCR Text Files folder (default location). The original fax file will be moved to the FAX Archive folder (default location).
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Manual Processing using STF AutoOCR
Running the STF AutoOCR application allows you more control over handling of the original fax file(s) and the resultant text file(s). To begin:
1. Run STF AutoOCR. An alias of this application was installed in the STF AutoPak folder. The application is placed in the Components folder inside your STF folder which is located in the System folder.
2. Select Recognize from the STF AutoOCR File menu. An Open dialog will appear which allows you to select a fax file (or files) to recognize.
3. Select the file(s) you wish to recognize and click the Open button, or click the Recognize All Faxes button to recognize all faxes in the open folder.
4. The following dialog will appear which allows you to select a destination and format for the converted text document
If you wish to save your converted text documents to a location other than the STF AutoOCR Text Files folder, select a destination using the standard Macintosh commands which appear in the dialog.
5. If the original document is not oriented correctly, use the Page Orientation pop-up to flip vertically or rotate the document 90 degrees left or right.
6. Select a file format for the output text file with the Text Format pop-up. Many different formats are supported directly — if yours is not, you should be able to find a format that your word processor can open.
7. If you want to modify or rename the text output file, type a new name for the file in the name field.
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Automatic Fax Processing
STF AutoOCR allows you to select two options for automatically processing received fax files: Immediate — fax processing will begin immediately upon reception of a fax; or Scheduled — fax processing will begin at a scheduled time of day or day of the week that you choose.
Make sure enough memory (RAM) is available for the STF AutoOCR application when it is expected to run, whether immediately or scheduled. If adequate free RAM (4MB) is not available, fax files will not be processed as expected.
If you have only 5MB on your system, you will need to set the STF AutoOCR application's preferred size to 3MB with the Get Info command in the Finder File menu.
To use STF AutoOCR for immediate automatic recognition of received faxes:
1. Open the STF AutoPak folder on your hard drive.
2. Move the STF AutoOCR alias into the FAX In (folder) alias. (You may also find the FAX In folder inside the STF folder in your System folder.)
3. Remove any other applications from the FAX In folder. If the STF AutoPrint alias is in the FAX In folder, please move it to the STF AutoPak folder on your hard drive.
4. Run STF Settings and select the FAX In settings panel.
5. Select Immediate fax processing using the scheduling pop-up.
STF AutoOCR will recognize any received faxes automatically, as they are received.
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Scheduled Fax Recognition
To use STF AutoOCR for scheduled automatic recognition of received faxes:
1. Open the STF AutoPak folder on your hard drive.
2. Move the STF AutoOCR alias into the FAX In (folder) alias. (You may also find the FAX In folder inside the STF folder in your System folder.)
3. Remove any other applications from the FAX In folder. If the STF AutoPrint alias is in the FAX In folder, please move it to the STF AutoPak folder on your hard drive.
4. Run STF Settings and select the FAX In settings panel.
5. Use the pop-up menu to select Scheduled processing.
6. Review the schedule list for the time(s) and day(s) processing is scheduled to occur. You may edit or create additional schedule entries if you wish.
Processing will begin at each time and day which appears in the schedule list. Please refer to the FAX In Settings Panel chapter of your STF AutoPak manual for more details.
7. Click the Done button to close STF Settings.
STF AutoOCR will now begin recognizing received faxes at the scheduled time(s) and day(s) in the schedule list.
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STF AutoOCR Preferences
You may use STF AutoOCR without making changes to the preferences. However, you may find that some settings need to be changed to suit your needs. When you select Preferences... from the STF AutoOCR File menu the following dialog will appear:
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OCR Options box
The options in this box control the conversion to text process. You will use it to select text format, language, country and status window display options.
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Text Format pop-up
Use this pop-up to select the format you wish the recognized (text) file to be saved into. Please note that there are several optional formats. Even if there is not a specific custom format for your particular application, you should be able to save as a format that your application can import.
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Language
The "Language: " field becomes a pop-up when the French and/or German character libraries have been installed.
Only the English character libraries are installed in an Easy Install of the STF AutoPak — German and French libraries may be installed using the "Customize" button in the Installer as explained in the Installation chapter.
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Country pop-up
This pop-up selects the country from which the fax was received. Selecting the proper country improves the accuracy of OCR processing because spelling often varies by country.
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Show status window
Uncheck this box if you do not want to watch the recognition status window during processing. Leave it checked if you wish to observe progress.
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After OCR Options box
This box controls the handling of your original received fax files after conversion to text format.
If you select Do not move you should periodically remove the fax files from the FAX In folder using the STF Manager or system performance will be degraded due to the large number of files which could accumulate in the folder.
Click one of the radio buttons to "Delete this fax," "Archive it," or "Do not move" the fax file(s) after printing. Archived faxes may be sent to the FAX Archive folder or a custom archive folder from the pop-up menu. Please see your FaxSTF™ 3.0 manual for an explanation of creating Archive folders with the New Folder command under the Archive menu in STF Manager.
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Folder Pop-up
This pop-up is used to select the folder to which you wish fax files to be saved after being recognized. It is only active if the "Archive" radio button is selected.
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Quit when idle
Uncheck this box if you want the STF AutoOCR application to remain active in the background after recognizing document(s). If you then set STF AutoOCR to OCR received faxes immediately, the application will be opened automatically when needed, and quit after performing its task.
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Cancel button
Click to exit Preferences, cancelling any changes.
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OK Button
Click to save your changes and exit Preferences.
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STF AutoOCR menus
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File Menu
When the STF AutoOCR application is open, you will find the following commands under the File menu:
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Recognize...
Select this command to manually convert a fax file to editable text. A standard "Open" dialog will allow you to select the file(s) you wish to recognize.
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Preferences
This command opens the STF AutoOCR preferences dialog which allows you to set the preferences options for the application.
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Recognize new faxes
Select this command to begin recognition of all fax file(s) in the FAX In folder which have not previously been converted to text.
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Quit
Select this command to Quit the STF AutoOCR application.
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Recognizing Menu
When fax recognition is in progress, this menu becomes active, allowing you to use the following commands:
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Hide Status Window
Select this command to hide the status window from view. Processing will continue in the background.
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Show Status Window
Select this command to show the Status Window when it has been hidden.
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Stop All Jobs In Current Group
Select this command to stop processing of all fax files in the group which is currently being processed.
