Technical FAQs

The legal profession may not be the first sector that comes to mind when thinking about how technology is transforming the way organizations conduct business, but LegalTech is quickly becoming an essential component of practicing law. Innovative digital platforms are helping legal firms to improve efficiency and solve problems, even though choosing and implementing these solutions isn’t always an easy process.

Despite the clear benefits of legal technology, status quo bias and concerns about onboarding difficulties have combined to make many organizations hesitant to invest in these tools. The concerns are understandable given that each new solution has the potential to disrupt established processes and ways of doing business. Today’s legal clients, however, expect firms to be more responsive to their needs and move quickly to advocate for their cases. Forward-thinking legal organizations  recognize that LegalTech isn’t so much a “necessary evil” as an outright necessity to business success.

Obstacles Facing LegalTech Adoption

As the legal industry becomes more competitive, firms are under intense pressure to do more with less while also improving their administrative agility. While there are many technology solutions available to facilitate this digital transformation, the implementation process often presents a series of obstacles. The sheer number of LegalTech solutions to choose from, whether in terms of software applications and platforms or devices and locations, can be overwhelming, especially when it comes time to integrate into a coherent IT strategy.

Lawyers routinely need to switch between different platforms and systems, some of which don’t communicate with each other. A key tool in one application may not exist in another, and in many cases data can’t be transferred between them easily. The constant juggling not only disrupts workflows and impacts efficiency, but also introduces abundant opportunities for human error to creep into processes. These risks combine to make many legal organizations resistant to adopting and learning new legal technologies, and instead drive them to rely upon outdated practices and systems.

Law firms have also been forced to adapt the way they operate due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly, essential tasks like meeting face-to-face with clients, conducting records research during discovery, and consulting with fellow attorneys are much more complicated. With many law offices shifting to a remote environment, legal professionals  find themselves switching between work laptops and personal devices frequently while also trying to access their firm’s intranet securely from off-site locations. All of these factors combine to reduce remote productivity since lawyers aren’t able to access the full range of their legal resources from their current location or device to create a single, cohesive workflow.

LegalTech and API Integrations

Despite the obstacles posed by adopting new tools and platforms, legal firms simply can’t afford to ignore digital transformation trends. By investing in innovative new legal technology, organizations can demonstrate their commitment to long-term growth and providing a better customer experience. Law clients understand that automation and other smart technologies can help them save money and receive better, more personalized service. In order to be successful in this environment, firms need to adopt a competitive growth strategy that is complemented by investments in technology.

Fortunately, many of the technology challenges facing legal organizations can be solved through API integrations. Short for application programming interface, APIs are an essential feature of today’s IT deployments that allow companies to get the most out of their disparate systems and applications.

How API Integration Works

At a very simple level, an API consists of code that allows two separate technology systems to communicate and interact with one another. It functions a bit like a translator and messenger, delivering user requests and data from one system to a completely separate system. This effectively allows an application to utilize the features and data of other applications without having to build out that functionality from scratch.

For example, the Uber ride-sharing app connects customers to available drivers within a specific area. It does this with a combination of smartphone geolocation and accurate maps, but the Uber app doesn’t actually have its own mapping capabilities. To get those features, it connects to Google Maps by way of an API that allows it to access the relevant navigational data and use it to connect customers to drivers.

Another key function of APIs is their ability to automate key processes and connect legacy infrastructure to newer technology systems. Data can be collected in one system, for instance, and “pushed” into another automatically. This not only eliminates the complicated (and error prone) task of manually transferring data between different systems, but also allows users to build a workflow in an application they’re already accustomed to without having to learn an entirely new system. 

More importantly, since APIs allow newer technologies, devices, and legacy applications to talk to each other, they provide firms with substantial flexibility when it comes to adding new platforms. Purchasing new software doesn’t mean throwing out existing tools, which substantially reduces the risks associated with technology investments and upgrades.

Stay Tuned for More

API integration and interoperability can deliver tremendous benefits to legal workflows and help firms better serve their clients. Stay tuned for part 2 of this series to learn how Accusoft’s API capabilities can unlock the full potential of your applications.

The COVID-19 pandemic may not be the first pandemic to impact global supply chains, but its impact has been orders of magnitude greater than previous public health crises. Businesses around the world have been forced to contend with the twin challenges of transitioning to a remote workforce and overcoming severe supply chain disruption. As 2020 winds down to a close, it’s becoming clear that the pandemic may well represent a “new normal” for logistics strategy rather than a temporary situation.

3 Critical Supply Chain Challenges 

From implementing new technology to establishing relationships with alternative vendors, organizations across multiple industries are taking steps to meet the challenges confronting their supply chains in both the immediate and long-term future. One of the biggest areas of focus is barcode integration. Although they may not seem like they belong at the forefront of innovation, barcodes are scanned more than six billion times every day and serve an incredibly important role in modern supply chain management.

Here are a few of the biggest challenges organizations are facing:

1. Supply Chain Visibility

Speed and flexibility are competitive advantages in today’s on-demand marketplace. Customers want products delivered faster and will quickly lose faith in brands that fail to meet their expectations. According to a 2019 survey of online consumers, 72.7% of respondents were unlikely to order from a company again after a poor delivery experience. Given those high stakes, it’s incredibly important for organizations to maintain high levels of visibility into their supply chains.

Barcode technology makes it possible to track products and materials throughout the entire production and distribution process. A quick scan is all that’s needed to update an item’s status every time it’s processed at a location. That information feeds into inventory tracking software that allows businesses to get a more accurate picture of how shipments move through their supply chain. This visibility makes it easier to identify potential problems and enhance overall logistics efficiency. 

2. Digital Transformation

Despite the growing emphasis on digital transformation across the economy, the average supply chain is still held back with inefficient, legacy infrastructure. Small and medium-size businesses face the greatest challenges, with only 21% of them using digital tools to integrate their supply chain operations with other departments. In the retail industry alone, bad processes and data disconnects cost companies over $500 billion annually. As the holiday season draws nearer and promises to bring with it a massive increase in online shopping, having a fully digital supply chain in place with enough speed to handle that demand is essential.

Implementing the right digital technology tools can help organizations to streamline their supply chains and gather the data they need to make better decisions. Barcode integration software is a foundational component of this transformation because it forms a bridge between the physical and digital elements of logistics management. Shipments can be instantly scanned into tracking systems to provide a wealth of data points across the supply chain, making it easier to adapt to disruptions and develop better processes. Barcode libraries also need to be able to scan and decode both traditional 1D codes and newer 2D codes quickly and accurately to keep products moving swiftly and smoothly to consumers.

3. Automation

As many organizations have put social distancing protocols in place during the pandemic to protect the health of both employees and customers, automation has become more important to supply chain performance than ever before. These COVID-19 pressures are sure to accelerate what was already a growing push toward implementing automated software and systems. Gartner even projected in 2019 that 30% of warehouse workers will be replaced by collaborative robots by 2023, which will further drive the demand for automated scanning and inventory management tools to accompany them.

For these automated systems to work effectively, they will need robust software that can withstand the difficult working conditions of warehouses, assembly lines, and distribution centers. A barcode integration that struggles to accurately read damaged or broken barcode images, for instance, won’t last very long in such an environment. The software powering automated systems must be able to function under a variety of conditions and be adaptable enough to overcome obstacles without constant oversight from on-site workers.

Unleash Your Supply Chain With Barcode Xpress

Building software capable of meeting the needs of a truly digital supply chain is no easy task. That’s especially true when it comes to integrating barcode reading capabilities into supply chain applications. With so many barcode formats in use, developers need an SDK with the ability to accurately detect, read, and write both common and uncommon barcode types used across all industries.

Accusoft’s Barcode Xpress is a multi-language barcode integration capable of reading and writing more than 30 different barcode types quickly and accurately. A truly robust SDK solution, Barcode Xpress leverages the imaging functionalities of ImagXpress to repair damaged orbroken barcodes that other readers are unable to read.

Speed

Barcode Xpress is capable of detecting and decoding multiple barcodes on a page at speeds of up to 1,000 pages per minute. It doesn’t matter where the barcode is located, what type of code it is, or how many are present. The control is able to read them regardless of orientation within milliseconds.

Accuracy

Every time Barcode Xpress detects a barcode, it not only provides the information encoded within the image, but also reports a confidence value to ensure high levels of accuracy. Damaged, broken, or poorly printed barcodes can also be scanned thanks to the SDK’s image processing capabilities. Black noise, white noise, erasures, low resolution, white line streaks, and other common barcode problems are reconstructed and scanned automatically to keep the supply chain moving.

Versatility

With the ability to detect, read, and write over 30 different barcode types, Barcode Xpress is available in multiple configurations for Windows and Linux-based operating systems. The SDK library supports 24-bit color images, 8-bit grayscale images, and 1-bit black and white images, as well as providing more than 80 additional image processing and editing functions thanks to its ImagXpress integration.

Experience Barcode Xpress Today

Easy to deploy and utilize, Barcode Xpress is a true all-in-one solution for desktop and web applications seeking barcode recognition capabilities. Just a few lines of code is all it takes to unlock the full potential of your supply chain technology.

Find out just how simple barcode integration can be with Barcode Xpress. Sign up today to download a free trial or talk to one of our SDK specialists today to learn more.

Spreadsheets are to finance what cranes are to construction. As a result, financial services organizations including traditional banks, tax companies, insurance agencies, and fintech firms opt for software-driven spreadsheet solutions as standard operating procedures. The problem? Ubiquitous spreadsheet software introduces a host of cybersecurity, compliance, and collaboration challenges, especially as regulatory and operational requirements evolve around the use, storage, and sharing of clients’ financial data.  Enter PrizmDoc Cells for finance. 

Accusoft’s newest addition to the PrizmDoc Suite — PrizmDoc Cells — offers both form(ula) and functional advantages for financial data entry and integrity.

Managing Market Forces

As noted by Forbes, the finance market is changing. Recent survey data found that 69 percent pointed to fintech firms as a “lifeline” during the current crisis. And these shifts are ongoing. Even once pandemic pressures begin to ease, there’s no going back from the speed and convenience offered to users when brick-and-mortar locations were locked down. 

Financial firms across multiple markets that made the move online application processing, claims evaluation, and loan approvals must now support these initiatives at scale — but many are now finding themselves frustrated by the limitations of current spreadsheet solutions.

Addressing Operational Challenges

Familiar spreadsheet software offers straightforward function: Staff can enter relevant data and derive actionable output through formulas. But these tools also pose problems for finance firms, including:

• • Operational errors — As noted by CFO, 88 percent of spreadsheets contain some type of error. These include errors in formulas, human data entry issues that create impossible data ranges, and even hidden fonts that can impact the outcome of calculations. This is no small issue — for one financial firm, a missing negative sign caused a 2.6 billion dollar mistake in reporting net capital losses, forcing the company to cancel year-end dividend distributions.

• • Version consistency — The more people handle and modify a spreadsheet, the harder it is to identify the “right” version. This becomes especially problematic as spreadsheets are saved to desktops or mobile devices, then modified and sent back into corporate email environments.

• • Data security — While email presents a significant spreadsheet security risk, the same is true of any solution — cloud-based, on-premises or a mix of both — that allows users to download, copy, and share spreadsheets. Consider the case of a well-meaning user who downloads a financial spreadsheet from a cloud app and then sends it to his personal email so he can work on them remotely. If this email account is compromised, so too are any supposedly secure spreadsheets, putting financial firms at risk of regulatory compromise.

• • Ongoing Time and effort — From the time needed to track down and verify the most recent and accurate version of key spreadsheets to the effort required if data is entered incorrectly and requires remediation, current software tools often see staff focused on putting out formula and framework fires instead of moving financial firms forward.

Gaining Control with PrizmDoc Cells for Finance

PrizmDoc Cells changes the spreadsheet paradigm by shifting data out of proprietary software and into the application of your choice. As a web-based spreadsheet viewer and editor designed to natively support XLSX files, PrizmDoc Cells provides the ability to securely embed spreadsheet data into any website, intranet, portal or CMS application without compromising security. This makes it possible for independent software vendors (ISVs) and other fintech providers to deliver the best of both worlds: Familiar functions in a user-friendly, online form that’s separated from the critical formulas and proprietary business logic behind-the-scenes.

Key benefits of PrizmDoc Cells for finance include:

• Solve for proprietary dependencies — Excel remains the de facto spreadsheet standard for many organizations but also locks financial firms into a cycle of software dependency — and if legacy applications or in-house tools don’t work well with Excel, firms face extra operational steps to ensure reliable data access. PrizmDoc Cells solves this proprietary problem by allowing any application to import, edit, and export XLSX files without Excel dependencies.

• Safeguard source data — In many cases, end-users need to view spreadsheets and make minor edits but can’t be granted access to original files. With PrizmDoc Cells, fintech providers can secure intellectual property by removing end-user access to proprietary source files, encrypting the data, and hosting it securely in their own environments.

• Separate underlying logic and UI — While proprietary business logic, formulas, and calculations form the basis of spreadsheet value and actionable insight, users don’t need the ability to see — or modify — these functions. PrizmDoc Cells lets administrators control what’s visible, what’s accessible, and what’s changeable to ensure spreadsheet consistency.

• Streamline version control — By removing the need for client-side software installs and downloads, PrizmDoc Cells sets the stage for enhanced version control. While users can view and edit spreadsheets with the right permissions, these spreadsheets are continually updated with the most recent changes to ensure version consistency. 

• Start ASAP — PrizmDoc Cells makes it easy for companies to get started and get building their best-fit spreadsheet solution by using the simplicity and speed of Docker containers. Instead of worrying about potential conflicts with other software or issues with specific operating system requirements, companies can start up a PrizmDoc Cells container in a matter of seconds.

Securely Embed Your Data Now

Even as the value proposition evolves, the volume of spreadsheets processed by financial firms continues to grow. For industry operators, this presents a challenge: How do they align evolving client expectations with current spreadsheet limitations? 

For ISVs, this offers an opportunity. Empowered by PrizmDoc Cells, vendors can offer a new take on spreadsheet form and function that delivers ease of integration and on-demand customization without breaking the bank — or increasing regulatory risk.

Unlock the PrizmDoc Cells potential — try the online demo today and experience the future of formula and function.

When it comes to the COVID-19 crisis, the only constant is change. As noted by Insurance Business Magazine, this creates a “growing opportunity” for insurance firms to embrace digital transition and improve their processes — provided they can quickly embrace insurance claim form automation to underpin underwriters’ efficiency.

This is no small task. From legacy systems that were never designed to live on cloud networks to proprietary processing solutions that are struggling with handprinted forms and multiple file formats, health insurance agencies now recognize the need for efficient, accurate, and complete forms processing — but often lack the backend infrastructure to make remote data capture a reality.

Accusoft’s FormSuite for Structured Forms can help bolster digital backends and build out insurance data collection capacity with efficient information capture, reliable structured form field recognition, quick data verification, and multiple form identification to both streamline forms processing and support the “new normal” of health insurance operations.

Managing Healthcare Data Analytics During COVID-19

Crisis conditions are rapidly evolving. From dynamic case variables to emerging equations that govern policy and coverage requirements, it’s critical for insurance companies to have systems in place that allow for capture and routing of this data quickly and accurately, in turn empowering actuaries to create cutting-edge risk models.

This is especially critical as healthcare costs continue to rise. According to a recent data brief, uninsured patients could face medical bills of more than $74,000 if they experience major complications, while the International Travel and Health Insurance Journal (ITIJ) reports a rising demand for more comprehensive employer-sponsored healthcare policies to help offset out-of-pocket COVID-19 costs.

As a result, it’s critical for companies to focus on the certainties of the current claims continuum: the crisis isn’t static, customer satisfaction is paramount, and comprehensive forms capture across four key functions defines the first step toward improved data analysis and risk modeling.

1) Efficient Information Capture

On-demand information capture underpins effective analytics, in turn empowering agents with the critical information needed to provide best-fit coverage recommendations and ensure high customer satisfaction. Even prior to the COVID crisis, 61 percent of consumers said they wanted the ability to submit and track claims online. But nine out of ten firms lack the in-house ability to process these forms and capture this data at scale, let alone empower staff to do so at a distance. 

FormSuite for Structured Forms provides a software-driven solution to this challenge with the ability to automatically capture forms data using a combination of OCR, ICR, and OMR technologies, making it possible to quickly and accurately record everything from phone numbers and signatures to hand-printed text fields. For actuaries, agents, and underwriters this reduced reliance on manual processes shortens the distance between data information and insight, allowing staff to better serve customer needs with custom-built health policies.

2) Reliable Form Field Recognition

Poorly-constructed fields represent a real problem for insurance data capture and accuracy. Consider common form characteristics such as comb lines or character boxes. If comb lines are too close together or too short, they will not be recognized. They should be at least half the height of any expected character. Accurate, automated reading may be difficult. When it comes to character boxes, meanwhile, rectangular boxes higher than they are wide can result in compressed characters that are challenging to identify. Even paper thickness and bleed-through can cause form field frustrations, in turn reducing overall claims throughput.

Solving this problem starts with improved form frameworks. Insurers are often best-served by leveraging the latest ACORD standards to ensure claims documentation construction is both current and comprehensive. But in a world driven by socially-distant technology solutions, companies must also account for the expanding volume of new forms used by clients and third-party providers alike. Recent PWC data found that “clunkiness and redundancy” remain common across insurance forms. As a result, it’s critical to deploy SDK solutions capable of streamlining form recognition to ensure staff spend less time checking and re-checking paperwork and more time writing new policies. 

3) Confident Data Verification

Data confidence is critical for success, especially when it comes to capturing data from hand printed or scanned insurance forms. Even small errors can cause big problems — if applicant data is incorrectly entered or policy values aren’t accurate, insurance companies lose the information confidence required to drive strategic analytics at scale. 

Confidence values provide the critical connection between OCR assessment and data output. Described on a scale from 0 to 100, higher numbers represent greater likelihood of character accuracy, while lower values indicate a “suspicious” character that may require secondary analysis. FormSuite for Structured Forms allows developers to customize key confidence thresholds that trigger notifications — if characters are deemed suspicious, they can be flagged for further review to ensure data is completely accurate.

4) Multiple Forms Identification

According to the World Insurtech Report 2020, the shift from corporate operations to home offices has accelerated digital insurance innovation, with 60 percent of firms launching in-house innovation teams to help embrace the need for technology-first, customer-facing processes. 

The caveat? These initiatives are only successful with backend processes support, specifically in the area of forms recognition. As noted above, while industry-standard forms remain the ideal iteration for claims processes, pandemic priorities have compelled rapid adaptation as both staff working environments and consumer expectations evolve. To meet emerging demand, firms must be prepared to regularly create, vet, and verify new form templates on-demand. 

Advanced optical character recognition is critical to bridge the gap between scanned forms and current templates by ensuring correct formats are quickly identified and efficiently routed. Formsuite for Structured Forms also takes this process a step further with the ability to accurately detect and align form templates even if they’re rotated, skewed, or scaled.

Solving for Structural Integrity

Structural integrity is essential for insurance success in the age of COVID-19. To achieve this goal, firms can’t simply focus on front-line functions. Other critical steps include needing to bolster back-end forms processing and bridge functional gaps, empowering staff to capture data, identify form fields, achieve higher character confidence values, and identify document formats on-demand. Ready to streamline claims processing? Download your free trial of FormSuite for Structured Forms.

Effective document management is now a top priority for organizations, but for many, it remains a challenge. As noted by recent AIIM survey data, companies are struggling to handle both the documents they have and the rapid uptake of new information. In fact, 43 percent said their biggest priority is effectively leveraging the structured and unstructured content they already have, while 57 percent are focused on understanding the overwhelming big data.  Optical character recognition (OCR) is a critical component of document management.

For software development firms, this poses a particular challenge. Products are no longer feature complete without critical end-user functions such as advanced optical character recognition and powerful search. However, adding this functionality is not as easy as it sounds. Developers building out this comprehensive construct from the ground up requires both time, effort, and continued maintenance, which is a large undertaking for any company.

Accusoft’s ImageGear SDK offers a way to bridge the OCR gap with comprehensive image processing and manipulation capabilities that both streamline software development and deliver on end-user expectations.*

What is ImageGear?

ImageGear easily integrates into existing applications to deliver cutting-edge document management functionality at scale. Available for both .NET and C/C++ frameworks, ImageGear allows developers to quickly deploy and white-label key features including image processing, manipulation, conversion, and PDF and document search.

This add-on OCR functionality delivers highly-accurate optical character recognition to any .NET (C#) or C/C++ application. ImageGear’s OCR add-on provides full-page character recognition for more than 100 languages — including both Western and Asian languages such as Korean, Japanese, and Chinese character sets. It’s capable of recognizing multiple languages within a single image for enhanced document management. Other OCR features include:

• Automatic page segmentation into individual zones for processing
• Type assignment per zone based on defined flows, tables, or graphics
• Table detection with advanced technology to enhance data reconstruction output
• Entire page or individual region image processing
• Zone definition by user, existing files, or detected automatically by the OCR engine

In addition, software developers can enhance ImageGear OCR functionality by leveraging both predefined and customizable dictionaries to ensure validated results using regular expressions. 

Why Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Matters to End-Users

Advanced OCR integration makes it easier for end-users to find what they’re looking for, when they’re looking for it. Instead of forcing users to find additional apps that deliver specific services, in-app OCR delivers increased satisfaction by streamlining user search functionality.

Common use cases include:

• Legal eDiscovery — The eDiscovery process is a critical — and often complex — stage of legal case preparation. Firms need to quickly find key terms, phrases, and images within legal documents to ensure they meet both client expectations and compliance obligations. With many forms now scanned and stored in non-standard file formats that contain form fields, text boxes, and digital imagery, OCR is essential to help lawyers streamline the process of eDiscovery at scale.

• Financial Document Processing — Clients now expect loan applications and credit card applications to be processed at scale and speed. This is especially critical as firms embrace the idea of remote work — both staff at home and those in the office need end-to-end OCR functionality to deliver complete document management.

• Insurance Documentation Assessment — Insurance claims are both complex and comprehensive, requiring complete documentation from clients, contractors, and compliance agencies. As insurance firms move to tech-first frameworks to enhance document processing, speed, and accuracy, OCR makes it easy for staff to find specific data and ensure documentation is complete. 

Integrating OCR

Advanced OCR functionality won’t deliver expected outcomes if integration is cumbersome and complex. ImageGear streamlines this process with easy SDK implementation for both .NET and C/C++.

ImageGear .NET can be easily deployed on multiple platforms. These .NET deployments include ASP.NET functions such as image display, thumbnail display, annotation support, and cloud capture along with WPF printing and annotation support. ImageGear for C/C++, meanwhile, offers support for several platforms as well. Check out the developer resources section to see an updated list.

How Your Clients Use Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

PDFs remain the go-to file format for many industries, offering both standardized image and text conversion along with the ability to easily set or restrict document permissions. The problem? PDFs are notoriously difficult to search, making it hard for end-users to quickly find the text or data they need.

ImageGear makes it easy to OCR PDFs using the ImGearRecPage.Recognize Method, which leverages the zone list of the image to deliver accurate OCR — or, if this list is empty, automatically calls the page-layout decomposition process (auto-zoning) to complete the OCR process.

C# supports OCR to PDF.

using System.IO;
using ImageGear.Core;
using ImageGear.Formats;
using ImageGear.Evaluation;
using ImageGear.Recognition;

namespace ImageGearTest
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Initialize evaluation license.
            ImGearEvaluationManager.Initialize();
            ImGearEvaluationManager.Mode = ImGearEvaluationMode.Watermark;

            // Initialize the Recognition Engine.
            ImGearRecognition igRecognition = new ImGearRecognition();

            // ImageGear assemblies require explicit initialization at application startup.
            ImGearCommonFormats.Initialize();

            // Open a FileStream for our output document.
            using (FileStream outputStream = new FileStream(@"c:\temp\outputDoc.txt", FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.ReadWrite))
            {
                // Open a FileStream for our source multi-page image.
                using (FileStream multiPageDocument = new FileStream(@"c:\temp\test.tif", FileMode.Open))
                {

                    // Load every page of the multi-page document. Starting at page 0 and loading the range of spaces specified.    
                    // Since the range is -1, that specifies that all pages shall be loaded.     
                    ImGearDocument doc = ImGearFileFormats.LoadDocument(multiPageDocument, 0, -1);

                    // Determine the amount of pages in the multi-page image.
                    int numPages = ImGearFileFormats.GetPageCount(multiPageDocument, ImGearFormats.UNKNOWN);

                    // Recognize each page of the multi-page document and add the results to outputStream.
                    for (int pageNumber = 0; pageNumber < numPages; pageNumber++)
                    {

                        // Cast the current page to a raster page and import that page.
                        using (ImGearRecPage igRecPage = igRecognition.ImportPage((ImGearRasterPage)doc.Pages[pageNumber]))
                        {

                            // Preprocess the page.
                            igRecPage.Image.Preprocess();

                            // Perform recognition.
                            igRecPage.Recognize();

                            // Add OCR results to the outputStream.
                            igRecognition.OutputManager.WriteDirectText(igRecPage, outputStream);

                        }
                    }
                }

            }
            // Dispose of objects we are no longer using.
            igRecognition.Dispose();
        }
    }
}

OCR Access and Analysis

Advanced OCR isn’t enough in isolation — developers must also empower end-users to quickly access and analyze OCR output. ImageGear offers multiple options to help streamline this process, such as:

• Storage of Output as Code Pages
• Export to Text Format
• Export to PDF
• Export to MRC PDF
• Export to a Formatted Document

Find Your Best Fit

ImageGear OCR makes it easy for end-users to quickly search critical documents, find the data they need, and analyze optical character recognition output, but don’t take our word for it. Seeing is believing. Test ImageGear in your own environment and discover the difference of advanced OCR. 

*Optical character recognition is an ImageGear add-on and must be requested upon purchase of a license.

The scalable vector graphic (SVG) format continues to enjoy steady adoption across the web. According to data from W3Techs, SVG now accounts for 25 percent of website images worldwide. But it wasn’t always this way. In 1998, it became apparent that vector-based graphics had a future on the web, and the W3C received six different file format submissions from technology companies that year. Some were mere proposals ready for a complete revamp, while others were proprietary products that W3C wasn’t permitted to modify. Instead of forging a format from one of the submissions, however, W3C’s SVG working group decided to start from the ground up — and SVG was born.

While the file format had lofty ambitions, focusing on common use rather than specific syntax, the original iteration was cumbersome and complex. However, SVG has improved year after year after year. With increased support came more streamlined functionality and usable features. Now, SVG is often the first choice for meeting the evolving demands of scalable, responsive, and accessible web content.

What is a Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) and how does it work?

Today, SVG is the de-facto standard for vector-based browser graphics. But what exactly is this file format, and how does it work?

Based on XML, SVG supports three broad types of objects: 

• Vector graphics including paths and outlines that are both straight and curved
• Bitmap images such as .jpeg, .gif, and .png
• Text

What sets SVG apart from bitmap-based images is the use of lines and curves along the edges of graphical objects. Because bitmap images use a fixed set of pixels, scaling them up creates blurriness where the edges of pixels meet. In the case of vector images, meanwhile, a fixed-shape approach allows the preservation of smooth lines and curves no matter the image size.

SVG also offers the benefit of interoperability. Because it’s a W3C open standard, SVG plays well with both other image format and web markup languages including JavaScript, DOM, CSS, and HTML. This allows the format to easily support responsive design approaches that scale websites and web content based on the user device rather than defining standardized size parameters. Thanks to the curves and lines of SVG, scaling presents no problem for responsive designers looking to ensure consistency across device types.

The Benefits of SVG

While scalability is often cited as the biggest benefit of SVG, this format also offers other advantages, including:

• Responsiveness — Images can be easily scaled up or down and modified as necessary to meet web design and development demands.
• Accessibility — Since SVG is text-based, content can be indexed and searched, allowing both users and developers to quickly find what they’re looking for.
• Performance — Image rendering is quick and doesn’t require substantive resources, allowing sites to load quickly and completely.
• Use in Web Applications — Browser incompatibilities and missing functions often frustrate web design efforts, forcing developers to use multiple tool sets and spend time checking content and images for potential format conflicts. SVG, meanwhile, offers powerful scripting and event support, in turn allowing developers to leverage it as a platform for both graphically rich applications and user interfaces. The result? Better-looking sites that enhance the overall user experience.
• Interoperability — Because SVG is based on W3C standards, the format is entirely interoperable, meaning developers aren’t tied to any specific implementation, vendor, or authoring tool. From building their own framework from the ground up to leveraging third-party SVG applications, web developers can find their format best-fit.

SVG in PrizmDoc Viewer

Accusoft’s PrizmDoc Viewer offers multiple ways for developers to make the most of SVG elements at scale, such as:

• File Transformation — Conversion is critical for effective and efficient web design. If development teams need different file transformation tools for every format, the timeline for web projects expands significantly. PrizmDoc Viewer streamlines this process with support for the conversion of more than 100 file types — including PDFs, Microsoft Office files, HTML, EML, rich text, and images — into browser-compliant SVG outputs. In practice, this permits near-native document and image rendering that’s not only fast, but also accessible anytime, anywhere, and from any device.
• HTML5 Functionality — Using SVG in PrizmDoc Viewer is made easier thanks to native HTML5 design. The use of HTML5-native framework not only improves load times with smaller document sizes but means that PrizmDoc Viewer works in all modern web browsers — while also dramatically enhancing document display quality.
• Pre-Conversion — One of the biggest challenges with viewing large documents in a browser is delay. Pages toward the end of the document may take longer to load and frustrate users looking to quickly find a specific image or piece of information. PrizmDoc Viewer solves this problem with a pre-conversion API that returns the first page as an SVG while the rest of the document is being converted, allowing users to interact with documents as conversion takes place and lowering the chance that files will experience format-based delays.

SVG hasn’t always been the go-to web image format. Despite a promising start based on open, interoperable standards, the lack of early support and specific use cases for vector-based file formats saw SVG sitting on the sidelines for decades. 

The advent of on-demand access requirements and mobile-first development realities has changed the conversation. SVG is now continuously gaining ground as companies see the benefit in this scalable, streamlined, and superior-quality file format. Get the big picture and see SVG in action with our online document viewing demo, or start a free PrizmDoc Viewer trial today!