SentryFile Developer Blog

PDF Image+Text, Search Keyword Highlighting

2007-01-20T12:57:00.000-08:00

This is really cool!

We've been able to enhance SentryFile so that it now creates "Image+Text" PDF documents. Essentially, this means that the scanned image appears on the screen, but hidden behind the image is the OCR captured text. This gives us the ability to do searches within the PDF document itself (through Acrobat Reader).

We've also enhanced the Search Interface. When doing a Quick Search or an Index Search the keywords that you used are piped into Acrobat Reader when viewing a document. This causes Acrobat Reader to "highlight" the matching keywords on the page.

Some screen shots:

SentryFile now detects "Image Only" PDF and TIF images being added to the system. The "Save Index" button changes to "Save Index, Begin OCR" as the default for "Image Only" documents. If the user presses "Save Index, Begin OCR" it will create an Image+Text PDF document.

The "Image+Text" PDF documents are advantageous because you can search for keywords within Acrobat Reader.

Another advantage is with searching. In the above screen shot, I did a full text search for "Springfield Nuclear Power Plant", then clicked "View Document" on the first result. See the next screen shot for the cool part!

When I view the document, SentryFile pushes the keywords into Acrobat. This causes Acrobat to immediately do a search for those keywords. A list of matches is displayed in the panel on the left side of the screen. Whenever you click one of the matches, the appropriate page is displayed and the matching text is highlighted.

Pretty cool stuff huh! :)

We expect to release these features with the SentryFile 5.11 update due within about two weeks. You're gonna love it! :)

Thanks,

Chris

Page Splitting with AutoCapture

2007-01-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, the importance of page splitting when running batch jobs has now become very clear to me! The ability to just drop 100 pages into a document feeder and have an automated process to eat them up is really impressive!

So, here's a sneak peek at a new AutoCapture feature that allows you to split large PDFs and TIFs into smaller n-page documents.

Screen shots below:

Page Splitting shown on the Job Details page.

Page splitting option when add/editing a job.

We're expecting to release this feature with SentryFile 5.11. Please note that we will be skipping version number 5.10 because it may cause confusion with 5.01.

Lemme know your thoughts! :)

(PS: Thanks to Jim Block for bringing this idea to us. Also, thanks to all the other support forum users who gave us their feedback!)

-Chris

New "View As Grid" Features!

2006-12-02T16:47:00.000-08:00

We've been working hard to improve our "View As Grid" search option. Here's a sneak preview of some new cool stuff...

Hover Thumbnails: When you hover your mouse over the "View Document" button, the Thumbnail image will popup so you can have a quick preview!

Select and Take Action on Multiple Documents: Now, you can choose a bunch of documents and view, email, bookshelf, move and delete simultaneously!

Results per page: Adjust the number of results that are displayed on each Grid page!

We expect to release these new features within a week or two!

Talk to ya later!

Chris

Copier APIs... Myth?

2006-11-23T08:26:00.000-08:00

I've noticed recently that the marketing materials from many of the large copier manufacturer's say that there is an "API" (Application Programmer's Interface), "SDK" (Software Development Kit), or some other type of integration kit available for their Copiers. Got me thinking about indexing documents and sending directly into SentryFile. Very cool idea. Makes a really nice interface for the end-user.

So, I started contacting the manufacturers and requesting these APIs, SDKs, and whatever documentation I could get. I've been horribly dissappointed about the results.

I've been trying to get these toolkits now for almost 6 months. I think I've heard every story imaginable:

"There's a new version of the API coming out, wait for another 6 months and we'll give it to you."

"The API was written by another document management provider and they don't want to share."

"The API costs (insert massive dollar amount here). Send us a cheque!"

"What's an API?" haha -- ;)

Does anyone know if these APIs actually exist? Or are they just vaporware and "marketing spin"?

The potential for end users to file documents directly from the copier is fantastic. Does anyone know if there is a open standard for this type of interface? If there isn't, why not?

Anyone interested in working to develop a standard interface for indexing documents at the copier? I'm game! :)

Thanks for listening to my rant... :)

-Chris

Just me? Or is it insanely busy out there?

2006-10-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, this has been an incredible week. We've had triple the number of dealer inquiries than normal. We've also had five times the normal number of customer inquiries.

Our biggest problem recently has been that we don't have dealers in certain areas to help potential clients!

I know, I know, "don't complain about success"!

Anyway, are the rest of you Document Management keeners out there seeing the same activity levels? I think this may be a good indication that the "solutions market" is really taking off.

I would like to think that the addition of our AutoCapture feature is helping push some of this activity, but there's no way to know for sure.

Tally ho!

-Chris

AutoCapture - Great Feedback, New Video!

2006-10-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

We've had some amazing feedback about the new AutoCapture feature in SentryFile.

Currently our development staff are putting the "finishing touches" on the feature. We hope to release within the next few days.

Thanks to everyone who has provided their feedback!

We've also released a new video demonstration of the AutoCapture feature. Check it out here:

http://www.sentryfile.com/autocapture/

Thanks!

AutoCapture... What is it...

2006-10-10T07:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the "cat is out of the bag" now about our AutoCapture feature.... So, here's some more information:

We've developed an integrated Front-End-Capture solution for SentryFile 5 called "AutoCapture". It will appear in SentryFile 5.07 and later.

What is does:

Templated Zone OCR
Barcode Recognition
Database Lookup
Fixed Values (static field values) -- d'uh!
Coming: Web Services lookups... Very cool, but probably not released with 5.07.

We've built this feature in response to the growing demand for automation. Also we've found that other front end capture solutions are either too complicated, too difficult to integrate or both. This capture solution is integrated with SF5 and will allow you to quickly and easily create automated capture jobs.

The AutoCapture feature will be included in Corporate and Enterprise editions of SentryFile 5 only.

Here are some screen shots to wet your appetite:

You can create an unlimited number of AutoCapture Jobs. You can even have multiple AutoCapture jobs for the same Cabinet.

Above is the is the Job Details page where you can configure the settings for your job. Notice the "Document Sources" pane? This is very similar to the inbox. You can specify the Email, FTP and folder locations that you would like to gather documents from.

This is the "Field Mappins" pane. You can map each field in the Cabinet to a specified source, e.g. Zone OCR region, Barcode, Fixed Value or Database Lookup.

Above is the Zone Selection screen where you can define areas on a page to capture ZoneOCR or Barcode data.

We'll release more information as it becomes available. Lemme know your thoughts! :)

Why Did I Make This Blog?

2006-10-10T06:11:00.000-07:00

My name is Chris Sinkinson, I'm the head developer for the SentryFile Document Management System. Over the past months I've been asking several times "what are you working on for the next release?"

Our development team is working on tons of cool little ideas. Answering all those requests is time consuming. So, finally, I've got a good excuse to set up a blog! :)

But "with great power comes great responsibility" (okay, a blog isn't really "great power", I know.... Just love that quote!) Couple "ground rules"...

The stuff that I post may or may not happen. If you are a SentryFile Customer or Partner, please take this as "collegial banter". We are making no guarantees in this blog whatsoever.

That's pretty much it... Only 1 rule. heh! :)

I'll do my best to post something every couple days. As always, you can check out our website (http://www.sentryfile.com) or our support forum (http://www.sentryfile.com/forum/) for more information!

Thanks,

-Chris