What's new

Capture SDK now supports the following PDF/A-4 formats:

• PDF/A-4
• PDF/A-4e
• PDF/A-4f

The CSDK Engine supports various MRC (Mixed Raster Content) compression levels. In CSDK version 22.0, the former MRC compression Level 5 became available as Level 4. Level 5 is now updated to use a more advanced MRC compression algorithm, which builds on a high-resolution (900 dpi) selector layer, resulting in much sharper text and characters with smoother contour.

You can use the MRC compression with fast processing without running OCR and still providing high-quality output. However, OCR helps to achieve even better text/graphics separation.

In CSDK, the environment affecting on the result of a workflow can be very complex: intent, source format, processing options, output format, and others are involved. Despite the high-quality samples provided with CSDK, novice users may face difficulties finding the right set of API calls and settings to get optimal results. Profile-based processing helps to overcome this issue with built-in Profiles containing optimized settings tuned for a common scenario. Instead of applying individual settings for each step of the workflow, developers can select a profile as the first step, then fine-tune settings and conduct the workflow.

Besides usual settings, Profiles can incorporate the following intents:

• Indexing (with text)

• Archiving (without text)

• Unstructured text (sure text)

• Tabulated data (all tables on separate sheet)

• Data extraction (templated)

• Format retention (true copy)

• Content reuse (essay mode)

• Editable copy (flowing page with headers and footers)

• Barcode reading

• Form creation (LFR)

Profiles can contain information on the input type and structure to allow more efficient optimization:

• Source type

  • Scanned document

  • Camera document

  • Screen capture

  • PDF/XPS document

• Relationship between pages

  • Mixed document with unrelated pages

  • Related pages (like books or contracts)

• Content

  • General text

  • Templated form

  • Free form

  • Tables (spreadsheet mode)

• Scripts

  • Printed text only

  • Possible others

    • Barcode

    • Handprint

Using Profiles not only accelerates development but can optimize speed or quality. For example, if the intent is to make an image searchable, that allows to speed up the processing since no need for keeping track of the logical layout, fonts, or the pictures on the page. In addition, we can select a faster OCR engine combination.

Refer to the Built in scenarios topic in the help for the list of built-in profiles and samples.

Earlier versions of CSDK already supported the recognition of handwritten characters and barcodes besides the machine-printed text. However, the API did not have a unified tool for zoning and detection. CSDK introduces kRecLocateZonesEx, a new API function that automatically detects zones and sets the filling method according to the zone content. An extra bit field argument describes the different filling methods that can be used on the page, and the areas (zones) written on those ways are detected automatically. The supported filling methods and their corresponding kRecLocateZonesEx bits are the following:

• FM_OMNIFONT – LZX_OMNIFONT: machine print zones

• FM_HANDPRINT – LZX_HANDPRINT: handprint zones

• FM_BARCODE – LZX_BARCODE: 1D or 2D barcode zones

By setting the FM field for each detected zone, kRecLocateZonesEx denotes the appropriate engine for recognition. Using kRecLocateZonesEx simplifies the development process and improves the OCR accuracy by separating handwritten and machine-printed text automatically. For details, refer to the Automatic handwriting and zone detection topic in the help.

CSDK now applies English recognition on Arabic zones to look for English text embedded in the Arabic. With this method, CSDK can effectively locate English text within the Arabic text in great detail: English areas may cover a section, a sentence, or even just a word. Using the appropriate recognition engine per language provides more accurate recognition results.

Earlier versions of CSDK calculated the output page size based on the input image dimensions. CSDK now allows customers to specify the page size for the output file (DOCX).