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Recognition quality depends largely on the quality of the scanned image. Control image quality with three basic scanning options: image type, resolution, and brightness. Documents usually arrive from the Scanning Station or from a Hot Folder. You can also scan them on the Verification Station or the Project Setup Station, and in that case you select the scanning options yourself.

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How the program interacts with scanners

When you scan through ABBYY FlexiCapture, the program can work with a scanner through the TWAIN or ISIS driver in two ways:
  • Through the ABBYY FlexiCapture interface – Scanning options are set in the ABBYY FlexiCapture Scanner settings dialog box. You can also set them when you create an import profile with Scanner as the import source.
  • Through the interface of the scanner TWAIN or ISIS driver – Scanning options are set in the dialog box of the scanner driver. That dialog box opens automatically when you click Scan Images… on the drop-down menu of the import button.
Option names in the scanner driver dialog box vary by scanner model. Brightness, for example, can be called threshold, or be marked with a sun or a black-and-white circle. Refer to the documentation that came with your scanner for what each option means.

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Basic scanning options

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Color mode

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Brightness

Select a brightness value that preserves the anchor blocks and keeps the blocks intended for recognition as clear and sharp as possible. The average value of 50% suits most cases. Some documents scanned in black-and-white mode need additional brightness adjustment.

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Resolution

The recommended resolution for forms filled out by hand is 300 dpi. The resolution of scanned forms must match the resolution of the template image. Scanning at 400-600 dpi instead of 300 dpi, or in gray or color instead of black-and-white, can take considerably longer. On some scanner models, scanning at 600 dpi takes four times as long as scanning at 300 dpi. Do not scan below 200 dpi.

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Scan forms with a colored background

The method for scanning colored forms is normally chosen at the form development stage. What you need depends on the scanner and the shade of the form:
  • Monochrome scanner – Fit the scanner with a suitable light-filtering lamp so the background disappears during scanning: a Red-Lamp for pink forms, and a Green-Lamp for green forms.
  • Color scanner – Configure the filtration mode for the relevant color in the scanner settings.
  • Light-shade forms – Because the color strength is low, the background may disappear when you scan with a white lamp even without software color filtration.

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Check and improve scanned image quality

A scanned image must be readable. To view a scanned image, open it in the document window. If the letters in the scanned image are torn, light, or thin, use one of the following ways:
  • Reduce brightness and increase contrast to make the image darker.
  • Scan in grayscale, so that brightness is selected automatically.
If the scanned image has a dirty background, deformed, smeared, or fused characters, or dark, thick letters, use one of the following ways:
  • Increase brightness to make the image lighter.
  • Scan in grayscale, so that brightness is selected automatically.