OmniForm Premium 5
OmniForm Premium 5
 By Dale Farris, Secretary Golden Triangle PC Club April 2003 General Overview OmniForm Premium 5 provides a solution to the problem how to capture paper forms and convert the paper document into a usable, electronic file that can be stored and re-used on a computer. When you think of the number of paper forms we still are dependent on in our society, such as loan requests, employment applications, expense reports, purchase orders, or invoices, you soon realize just how many of these paper-based documents still serve as the original and end point steps in whatever process the form represents. With the rapidly increasing quality and speed of scanners, many computer operators are beginning to convert their paper forms to an electronic version, and even providing an electronic means by which their customers can complete and return the computer version back to the supplier. As Internet access continues to expand, and as the speed of Internet access also continues to increase, this adds further pressure to find a way to provide an electronic means for customers to supply whatever information is required. Answering this newly emerging market, ScanSoft announces the latest new edition of OmniForm Premium, version 5, that contains a multitude of new features that further entrench ScanSoft's dominance in this field. OmniForm Premium 5 is an important program that converts a blank paper form into a fully editable electronic form that can be filled out on screen, stored, printed, and electronically distributed to others. The many powerful features in this program are all easily accessed via the streamlined user interface, hiding some very clever programming that is doing much very hard work behind the scenes to enable you to convert and work with a paper form. Comparison With OmniForm 5 The Premium version of OmniForm is the higher end, and more expensive version of OmniForm. The Premium version supports PDF, HTML, RTF, and PDF Form Intelligence formats that are not supported in the standard OmniForm 5. In addition, the Premium version includes 20 filler/data managers, and its Web hosting will support 5 forms up to 1 year, while the standard OmniForm 5 supports 1 form hosted for 1 year. Scansoft also provides an even higher end version, OmniForm Developers Edition that will support the integration of the program inside Web sites and applications. New Features in Version 5 New user interface with tabbed views Publish forms on the Web with eOmniForm Premium.com Automatic Filling with User and Client Profiles Add attachments to filled forms New level of digital signature protection Mailable filler available in 2 file formats Improved HTML conversion (only in OmniForm Premium Intelligent PDF support (only in OmniForm Premium Custom page sizes Save export settings The following are the key steps in the electronic forms process. Convert paper forms into electronic forms Edit or create forms Define fillable fields Save a form Form filling, printing, and distribution Collecting and storing form data Key Features OmniForm Premium 5.0 is the perfect tool for anyone who creates or designs forms. Convert Paper Forms to Digital Quickly and Accurately OmniForm instantly converts paper contracts, applications, administration, and surveys into digital, fillable forms on your P or on the Web. Create Forms from Scratch Create your own forms with the help of the Designer Toolkit or use the pre-designed templates included. Save your work for future use. Save parts of your form and reuse them with a simple drag and drop. Automatic Data Collection Automatic database support saves copies of the forms you fill, as well as the export profiles you define to ODBC-compliant databases like Access and Excel, saving you time and ensuring accuracy. Digital Signatures Now your electronic signature is as legally binding as pen & ink. Sign forms while ensuring form and data integrity. Users with PKI or Entrust authentication can lock the form when signed, or use OmniForm's built-in password protection. Fillable PDF Forms and Formats Save PDF Forms with calculations, field validations, and signature fields - OmniForm creates the JavaScript automatically. Or save forms in HTML, RTF (Word), OmniForm, or Mailable Filler formats. Built-In Form Filling Accuracy OmniForm adds form intelligence, field validations, and calculations to ensure your forms are filled correctly, every time. Fill Forms Faster Previously entered data about you, your business and others is automatically recalled, and filled on new forms, saving you valuable time. Add Attachments Now add attachments such as digital photos, scanned images and computer files to any form record. Attach receipts to expense reports and photos to real estate listings. Post Your Forms to the Web Automatically convert your form to HTML and post it to eOmniForm.com, ScanSoft's e-form hosting service. Plus, you can easily collect form data and download it with just a click from any Web connection. Keep Your Forms Secure SSL-based, industry-standard data transmission encryption ensures high-level data security and privacy. Using OmniForm Premium 5 Using the Logical Form Recognition (LFR), OmniForm Premium technology evaluates a scanned image and automatically recreates form elements that include fillable fields, graphics, tables, circle text objects, check boxes, and combination fields. LFR supports color scanning and maintains color graphics and text, as well as other color elements, such as page color and colored area. LFR also maintains the absolute positioning of form elements on the scanned form, so the electronic form looks almost exactly like its paper original within OmniForm Premium. The Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology converts text on forms into editable text, and it even recognizes vertical oriented and reversed out (white on black) text. OmniForm Premium includes the same OCR engine found in ScanSoft's OmniPage Pro 11, a well known standard in OCR accuracy. This means OmniForm Premium can recognize fonts as small as 4 points, an important feature when working with densely packed forms with very small printed features. The Form Assistant, an interactive wizard, allows users to choose one of six basic OmniForm Premium procedures. These include scanning in a form, filling in a form, printing or faxing a form, searching a form for information, working on a form's design, or creating a new, blank form. The Print to OmniForm Premium command allows forms created within other Windows applications to be recognized in OmniForm Premium, helping you to migrate to OmniForm Premium. You invoke this feature by printing from any application and choosing OmniForm Premium as the destination from the printer selection box, where the form is converted to the OmniForm Premium format. If in Word for example, you create a typical table-based "form," you can now have this converted into an OmniForm Premium file for distribution to others, as well as for real-time use. The Auto Calculation feature automatically creates calculations on a form. For example, this feature can recognize common field headers like "price" or "quantity," and then automatically creates a multiplication formula and place it in the "total" field, so that the total will be automatically calculated once price and quantity information have been entered. The Direct Scanning Support allows you to scan directly into OmniForm Premium, and it supports many scanners adhering to the TWAIN standard. There are also many sophisticated form design tools that allow users to design new electronic forms from scratch or enhance existing ones while in Design mode. In addition, once you have installed the program, you can also take advantage of many free sample forms at ScanSoft's web site. The Proofing Wizard allows you to quickly touch up forms, Drawing Tools are used to create circles, rectangles, and lines, and the Proofing Toolbar provides easy access to the Format Painter, Object Stamp, Line Convert, Field Name, and Tab Group tools. Web Toolbar provides easy access to the Preview in Browser, Publish in Web, and Create Hyperlink tools, and the Customizable Toolbars enable you to create custom toolbars. Field Creation Tools are used to add new fillable fields to a form, and the Scrapbook allows you access to pre-built fields and graphics. The Calculation Builder allows you to manually add calculations into form fields, and the Arranging Tools feature is used to arrange and align objects on a form. Font/Text Formatting Tools define parameters of field headers, and the Graphic Tool allows you to add graphic elements to forms. The Format Painter Tool copies text formatting from one text object to another. Other marvelous features and tools include the Object Stamp Tool, Line Convert Took, Field Name Tool, Tab Order, Preview in Browser, Publish to Web Tool, Create Hyperlink Tool, Insert Symbol, Select All/Select Special, Shrink Page to Fit, Spelling Took, Adjust Colors Feature, Merge Text, Break Table Apart, Reorder Pages, Direction-Key Nudging, Protection, Zoom, Convert Object, Size and Position, Object Appearance and Visibility. When defining fillable fields, OmniForm Premium allows you to define the properties of Fill Text objects, and other options that will affect data entered by users filling out the form. The field name, type, and format can be set, along with auto filling, maximum length, and setting up a help message. Validation options, such as Must be Filled Out, or Must Match List of Choices, can also be set, and you can set form properties for the form. A signature field option allows you to allow keyboard signatures to be added to forms. The serial number option enables you to automatically populate new form records with an incrementing serial number. You have many options when choosing to save a form, including OmniForm Premium 5 format, along with earlier OmniForm Premium versions, Word, RTF, as well as being able to create a mailable filler with the extension .EXE. This means the form can be distributed by e-mail or diskette, and enables users to distribute an OmniForm Premium form with a run-time executable Filler attached. Recipients can fill out the form without needing OmniForm Premium Filler installed on their machine. Form data entered into the mailable filler can be imported into the database in OmniForm Premium. A license for 100 free Mailable Fillers, which relies on the honor system, is included with the program. Forms can also be saved in a variety of Web-enabled formats, including HTML, DHTML, Fillable PDF with Form Marks, and OFML, the ScanSoft OmniForm Premium Internet Publisher Web format. The OFML format enables exact positioning of form elements within the browser, and offers better printing control over HTML. The Windows 95/98/NT4 plug-in allows users to save OFML forms to their desktop. As a result, users can fill out forms when convenient, even when offline, and save a record of the forms they fill out. To submit the form, users need only to click the Submit button on the plug-in toolbar, once they have re-established their connection. Filling out forms, printing and distributing forms are supported by features such as Tab-and-Type Filling, Automatic Text Resizing (a feature alone worth the investment in the program), Intelligent Fields, Type Ahead, Mailable Fillers, Save Record, Automatic Printer Page Orientation, Send option, and the option to Add Routing Slip. Collecting and storing form data is enabled by how OmniForm Premium automatically adds data from forms into a database when the forms are filled out and saved. The features of this database include a Flat-File Database, Individual or Multiple Users can refresh records, Level 3 Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), Password Protection and an Import function to let you import data into an OmniForm Premium database from forms filled out with the Mailable Fillers. All of OmniForm Premium's Web formats return straight HTML data to the server. This HTML data can be linked to databases using several methods, including Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripting, Microsoft Windows NT Internet Database Connectivity (IDC) capabilities under Internet Information Server (IIS), and middleware applications. Any Web server capable of receiving HTML form data can be deployed to process data returned to it. Users of OmniForm Premium can embed instructions for processing the form data that is submitted from a browser. Users can identify where the form data will be sent and how the form data should be submitted. This is done using the Action option found in the Properties dialog box. You can also select the Method of submitting the data. Forms can be processed using "Get," which will append the data to the URL specified in the Action option, or using "Post" to notify the Web server to open the CGI application and pass it the data. Standard Features Summarized Enhanced Logical Forms Recognition (LFR) New Toolbars Form Proofing - view form image, spell checking, color adjustments, text formatting, object appearance, line recovery, field names, tab grouping, printable area, final adjustments Improved Tabbing Control Support of Hyperlinks OmniPage Pro 9.0 OCR Engine Improved Spell Checking Multiple Page Orientation Within Single Form Customizable Toolbars Euro Support Sample Forms AutoFilling Support for Electronic Signatures and Security Improved Microsoft Word Output Serial Number Support Automatic Text Sizing Output to HTML and DHTML Save to Fillable PDF Publishing Forms to the Web Data Collection Save to OmniForm Premium Internet Publisher Format OmniForm Premium Filler 5.0 OmniForm Premium Filler 5.0 (included with OmniForm Premium 5.0) is a low-cost solution to let users in an office or workgroup fill out forms created in OmniForm Premium while protecting the form design from modification. Easy tab-and-type entry make filling out the forms simple, and the automatic database keeps a record of the entries. OmniForm Premium 5 contains two modes, Design and Fill. In Design mode, you scan and convert paper forms, convert previously scanned images, edit forms and design forms. In Fill mode, you fill out, save, send and print forms and form data and use the database functions of OmniForm Premium. OmniForm Premium Filler 5.0 contains only the fill mode of OmniForm Premium 5.0, and is a lower-priced product designed as a companion to OmniForm Premium 5.0. OmniForm Premium Filler lets many people in an organization access forms and information, accurately fill out forms, and more, while keeping the form layout and built-in intelligence safe from modification. Recommendations Any business or organization that finds itself still burdened with a dependence on paper forms as their means of capturing key operational data should seriously consider this excellent program that will enable them to quickly convert these forms into more meaningful computer files. The integration of the program with Web-based access, along with the important subsequent database capturing, storage, and retrieval of the data entered through electronic OmniForm Premium files will likely require savvy Information Systems staff familiar with database development and design. OmniForm Premium definitely applies in those environments where users are more used to filling out employment applications for example, or loan requests, or even filling invoices. These more usual paper-based approaches can now be electronically converted into usable computer files, and the data can now be captured and managed much more easily. Don't let the user-friendly interface fool you. This is a powerful program packed with features that on first use are simply amazing. With the use of paper forms still so common in most all companies, OmniForm Premium 5 definitely has a place in just about all these companies. Price $699.99 OmniForm Premium 5 $549.99 Upgrade $ 99.00 OmniForm Premium 5 Check with ScanSoft for further information on acquiring OmniForm Premium Developer Edition 5.0. eOmniForm Premium.com service eOmniForm Premium.com is now available as a direct launch through OmniForm Premium. OmniForm Premium includes one year of eOmniForm Premium.com Basic Service. Once you have the Basic Service, included in OmniForm Premium, you can also choose to upgrade your eOmniForm Premium.com service level. These are the three levels of available service, so check with ScanSoft for details on pricing for these levels. System Configuration Requirements Pentium CPU or greater Windows 95C, 98 SE, ME, NT 4, 2000, XP Pro 32MB RAM 81MB free hard disk space 45MB for IE, if installation is necessary IE 5 or higher (Comes with IE 5.5 on the CD) - To publish paper forms to eOmniForm Premium.com) An ISP account to publish forms and retrieve data on eOmniForm Premium.com SVGA monitor with at least 256 colors and 800 x 600 pixel resolution CD-ROM drive for installation A compatible scanner if you plan to scan paper forms Windows-compatible pointing device Scanners Supported OmniForm Premium 5 works with many popular desktop scanners using the TWAIN interface. Supported scanners require a TWAIN source driver, which is provided by the scanner or interface card manufacturer. Please consult your scanner's documentation for details about installing your scanner, interface card, and driver. Or, check ScanSoft's Web site for links to information about the many scanners supported by OmniForm Premium 5. Go to scansoft.com and then click on their Scanner Guide link. The Microsoft Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) device driver interface is supported on Windows ME and Windows XP systems. If a WIA device driver is available for your scanner and you are using Windows ME or Windows XP, it is recommended that you scan using the WIA interface instead of installing the TWAIN driver. If you are using Windows ME, you might not need to install the software that came with your scanner. If you have any problems with your scanner, technical support is available to help resolve these difficulties. Install and Setup Installation should proceed with little difficulties, although your system should already have installed whatever selected scanner you will be using to scan in the paper forms. The install process found my existent USB scanner, and when I needed to open a paper form in OmniForm Premium, it found the scanner and requested the paper form then be scanned. Also, be sure you are prepared for the slight learning curve required to master the many powerful features of this vital program. The included Help files and the intuitive user interface and toolbars do make this initial process go smoothly. If you have a previous version of OmniForm Premium, it is recommended that you uninstall that version before installing this new version. Language Support OmniForm Premium 5 is available with interfaces in English and German. It can recognize forms written in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish. In addition, OmniForm Premium can be set for various versions of these languages to account for currency differences, regional differences, and other variables. About ScanSoft, Inc. ScanSoft, Inc. develops digital imaging software that enables users to leverage the power of their scanners, digital cameras, and other electronic devices. The product line now includes several well known applications, in addition to OmniForm Premium 5, including PagisPro, TextBridge Pro, OmniPage Pro, OmniPage Pro Scan Suite Plus, PageKeeper, Kai's PhotoSoap2, Kai's SuperGoo, Kai's PowerShow, PhotoFactory, along with PaperPort Deluxe. If many of these programs sound familiar, you would be right in thinking these used to be developed and sold by other companies. At this point, ScanSoft now dominates this market with their full line of programs, many formerly developed by other companies, and only time will tell if this multi-product line will merge into fewer applications. With this dominance, don't be surprised to find ScanSoft software bundled with newly purchased scanners or digital cameras in the future. Also, Microsoft has licensed ScanSoft OCR software for use in future Microsoft products, a feat that will be of keen interest to any computer owner. Contact Amy Sullivan User Groups ScanSoft, Inc. 9 Centennial Drive Peabody, Massachusetts 01960 978-977-2000 888-781-1189 888-345-6203 800-654-1187 Customer Service user.groups@scansoft.com www.scansoft.com |