Technical FAQs

HubSync needed a white-label solution to help them capture secure taxpayer data from multiple sources in a single workflow. Using the Docubee API, they were able to launch quickly and get the support they needed to ensure their product was successful.

Most software developers turn to third party integrations like Accusoft’s PrizmDoc to incorporate document processing capabilities into their applications. Since developers are frequently pressed for time and resources, it doesn’t make sense to build document lifecycle features from scratch when they can easily deploy a proven, scalable solution that provides all the tools they need. An API-based integration like PrizmDoc can quickly add industry-leading viewing, editing, collaboration, conversion, and assembly features to an application, which allows developers to focus on other features that will help their software stand out from competitors.

Pros and Cons of Server-Side Viewing

All that document processing power has to come from somewhere, and in the case of solutions like PrizmDoc, most processing is handled by a dedicated server. The server may be self-hosted on the developer’s local infrastructure, a dedicated private cloud, or a public cloud that’s shared by multiple customers.

There are plenty of advantages to this model. Scalable infrastructure is available for the heaviest document processing workloads, but customers only have to pay for the resources they actually use. A dedicated server also makes it easy for applications to manage document storage and avoid version confusion.

Server-side resources can also pose challenges for some applications. If the server is constantly being used to prepare and render documents for viewing, customers may find themselves utilizing more processing resources than expected. Scaling viewing capabilities for multiple users can increase resource usage because each session places additional processing requirements on the server, especially if users need to make annotations, redactions, or other alterations to files.

Viewing multiple, lengthy files server-side can also impact performance. PrizmDoc’s HTML5 viewer, for instance, converts and renders documents in SVG format. While this format offers outstanding quality and flexibility, load time may take longer and it also takes up server storage space.

Introducing PrizmDoc Hybrid Viewing

The new PrizmDoc Hybrid Viewing feature solves these challenges by offloading the processing work for viewing in PDF format to the end user’s device. This is a hybrid approach between server-side processing and client-side processing, with all of the viewing capabilities handled by the client-side device. This drastically reduces the server resources needed to prepare files for viewing, which translates into cost saving and improved performance. Since all viewing is handled by the browser on the client-side device, Hybrid Viewing offers much greater responsiveness for a better overall user experience.

For files not already in PDF format users can take advantage of the new viewing package which converts any file format to PDF. This not only allows documents to be viewed more quickly in the future, but also reduces server load and storage requirements.

5 Key Benefits of PrizmDoc Hybrid Viewing

The Hybrid Viewing feature works within PrizmDoc’s existing viewing package infrastructure, making it a simple and streamlined solution for both new and existing customers. Shifting viewing processing from the server to client-side devices provides applications with several important benefits.

1. Cost Savings

Transferring the processing work required for document viewing to an end user’s device reduces server workloads. Since customers pay for the server resources their applications utilize, minimizing server requirements for viewing can deliver significant cost savings over time.

2. Better Resource Management

All file types can be used with this new Hybrid Viewing feature. The new PDF viewing package pre-converts all file types into PDF only, rather than creating SVG files with large amounts of data. This saves both processing time and storage resources. Developers can take advantage of this flexibility and resource savings to implement additional application features that leverage PrizmDoc’s capabilities.

3. Increased Productivity

Shifting document viewing workloads to client-side devices allows applications to process, view, and manage multiple documents faster. This helps end users to do their jobs more efficiently and get greater value out of their applications.

4. Enhanced Performance

Hybrid viewing not only requires fewer resources, but files can be viewed and manipulated faster with enhanced responsiveness. For applications that need to provide editing features such as annotations, offloading processing to client-side devices minimizes load times and lag for a better overall user experience.

5. Scalable Document Viewing

By handling document viewing capabilities on local devices instead of the server, scaling capacity becomes far less resource intensive. File conversion only needs to be performed once, so adding more users doesn’t increase the overall server workload.

What Hybrid Viewing Means for PrizmDoc Users

The new Hybrid Viewing feature allows PrizmDoc users to get more out of their integration than ever before. For customers who have long relied on desktop-based PDF.js viewers due to concerns about server workload or performance, the Hybrid Viewing feature provides a localized viewing solution that streamlines their tech stack and leverages the full capabilities of PrizmDoc. By minimizing server requirements, developers can unlock the potential of their applications to scale their document lifecycle features without worrying of runaway costs.

Hybrid Viewing is available for PrizmDoc Server v13.15 or greater and can be used for self-hosted, private cloud-hosted, or public cloud-hosted deployments. To learn more about how it can provide the flexibility your application needs to scale with user demands, talk to one of our PrizmDoc specialists today.

To comply with federal anti-money laundering/anti-terrorist laws and regulations, the USPS analyzes images of cleared postal money orders to detect possible suspicious activity. Because there are no required standards for the image formats, when the Federal Reserve initiates the digital process and issues the electronic image of the money order, the USPS must be able to read the multiple formats as well as convert the files to a standard format for analysis. Each money order is made up of two images, one each for the front and back. 

JRMC’s Information Systems (IS) department maintains all the equipment and software within its facility. The center uses multiple applications for clinical documentation within all the areas of the hospital, and an electronic medical record system (EMR) which serves as the main documentation entry point. They were looking for viewing support on their EMR product since it plays a critical role in providing our clinical staff with electronic access to patient charts and other important data. JRMC began researching image viewers for the ability to open MO:DCA-formatted documents, specifically our MO:DCA images. 

PrizmDoc’s Hybrid Viewing offloads document viewing to the end user’s device to save server resources and improve viewing performance. Utilizing server resources to render and deliver documents for viewing can increase your operational costs, hinder performance, and make it difficult to scale your viewing solution for multiple users.

PrizmDoc is a powerful API-based integration that enables developers to incorporate powerful document viewing features into their applications. By offloading document viewing to the end user’s device, PrizmDoc’s Hybrid Viewing feature can save server resources by up to 30% and improve overall performance. Let’s take a look at how Hybrid Viewing works and how it can benefit your application.

How Does Hybrid Viewing Work?

Accusoft’s technical team works hard to incorporate customer feedback and develop state-of-the-art features that cater to businesses of all sizes. PrizmDoc’s Hybrid Viewing feature showcases their commitment to delivering innovative technology that meets customer needs and takes their applications to the next level.

PrizmDoc Hybrid Viewing works by offloading much of the processing workload associated with document viewing from the server to the end user’s device. This reduces server strain as well as improves overall performance since the client-side device doesn’t need to communicate with the server for every action taken in the viewer. 

How Can I Benefit from Using Hybrid Viewing?

PrizmDoc’s Hybrid Viewing feature is a game-changer for organizations looking to improve their document viewing capabilities. By offloading the document viewing functions to the user’s device, Hybrid Viewing can save up to 30% in server resources while simultaneously improving their viewing performance. This technique not only streamlines the process but also frees up resources, allowing businesses to allocate their resources and focus on other vital areas.

Reducing server utilization by 30% can quickly translate into huge cost savings for applications with heavy document viewing workloads. Since most of the viewing is handled by the end user’s device, there’s also no need to download and save files to view them at a later time.

What Are Some of The Other Benefits of Hybrid Viewing?

Another benefit of Hybrid Viewing is the ability to process, view, and manage multiple documents faster by diverting workloads to local, client-side devices. As more document processing is handled locally rather than server-side, the performance of the viewing process improves significantly. This means that users can work with documents more efficiently and effectively, saving time and increasing productivity.

Hybrid Viewing also makes scaling viewing capacity across multiple users less resource intensive for industries with high-volume workloads. With the processing work being done on the end user’s device, the server can handle a greater number of requests without becoming overloaded. This means that businesses and organizations can scale their document management systems with less investment in additional hardware or infrastructure. By reducing the need for server-side processing, Hybrid Viewing provides a cost-effective solution for businesses looking to expand their document management capabilities.

Finally, Hybrid Viewing has the capability to convert all file types into ready-to-view PDFs. This not only reduces server load but also minimizes storage requirements. By converting all file types into PDFs, businesses can streamline their document management systems and reduce the amount of storage space required. This feature is particularly useful for organizations with large volumes of documents, as it helps to optimize document storage and retrieval processes.

Reduce Server Workloads by 30% with Hybrid Viewing

PrizmDoc’s Hybrid Viewing feature is an excellent solution for developers who want to offer their clients faster, more reliable document viewing experiences without having to worry about runaway server costs or sacrificing quality of service. By offloading document processing to client-side devices, applications can save up to 30% in valuable server resources that can be dedicated to other priorities. Hybrid Viewing also allows users to access and load documents faster without sacrificing other PrizmDoc features like annotation, redaction, and watermarking.

If you’re looking for a powerful yet cost-effective way to provide your customers with an exceptional viewing experience while minimizing server utilization, start your free PrizmDoc trial to see how Hybrid Viewing can enhance your application.

FinTech applications have become indispensable to the financial services sector, enabling users to easily engage with financial offerings in a manner that suits them, while also boosting operational efficiency. The industry’s ongoing digital transformation continues to redefine FinTech functions, with developers tirelessly crafting new apps capable of handling tasks formerly dispersed across numerous systems and software.

Among the most crucial features of FinTech applications is the ability to view and share documents. Developers have a range of document lifecycle solutions at their disposal to circumvent the challenging process of building these features from the ground up. However, the financial sector presents distinct security and compatibility prerequisites when it comes to choosing partners for integration. To truly grasp these technical hurdles, it’s important to understand the significance of Java in the development of FinTech applications.

A (Brief) History of Java in the Financial Sector

Financial institutions pioneered the adoption of automated workflows. The advent of the first electronic communication network that facilitated the trading of financial products off the trading floor was seen as early as the 1960s. During the 1970s, computerized order flows saw greater acceptance, with most financial companies crafting their own proprietary systems. The digital revolution truly ignited in the 1980s and early 1990s with the launch of the Bloomberg terminal and the Financial Information eXhange (FIX) protocol. By the late 1990s, the Nasdaq enabled the execution of securities trades autonomously, without the need for manual interference, through the incorporation of Island ECN.

Java shook up the programming language world when it debuted in 1995, and its timing couldn’t have been better. The financial industry witnessed an extensive wave of mergers and acquisitions in the late 1990s and early 2000s, which resulted in several companies grappling with the integration of a multitude of applications and data. Java’s ability to support diverse platforms was an appealing solution to this challenge, and numerous financial applications were translated into Java. Sun Microsystems, which first introduced Java to the market, even adopted the slogan “Write once, run anywhere” to promote its flexibility. Java’s simplicity of use and significantly enhanced speed compared to legacy code on outdated platforms quickly made it the language of choice for developers.

In a few short years, Java ascended to become the leading programming language within the financial services industry. Its popularity surged again following the launch of OpenJDK, a free and open-source version of the language, in 2007. An Oracle report in 2011 estimated that over 80% of electronic trading applications and virtually all FIX engines were written in Java. Even close to three decades after its debut, Java continues to be the primary programming language employed by financial services, surpassing other open-source alternatives by a considerable margin.

Java’s Enduring Appeal for the Financial Industry

The enduring preference for Java among financial sector developers isn’t simply due to tradition or resistance to change. Java’s unique attributes are an exceptional fit for financial applications, spanning both long-established enterprise-level banking systems and pioneering FinTech solutions.

Security

In the realm of financial services, security is the highest priority for developers. Applications related to banking and trading must have robust security provisions to guard financial data and personally identifiable information against unauthorized access. Java simplifies data access restriction and provides an array of memory safety features to diminish potential vulnerabilities, particularly those stemming from prevalent programming mistakes. Oracle consistently rolls out regular updates to fix recognized vulnerabilities and tackle the most recent cybersecurity threats.

Portability

Java, being a platform-independent language, allows applications to operate on virtually any device. This has always been a substantial benefit in the financial sector, but it has proven even more crucial in the era of cloud computing and mobile applications. Developers can employ the same code to roll out software in a virtual environment and render it accessible to end-users via their smartphones, computers, or other devices. The ability of Java virtual machines to support additional programming languages only adds to the language’s versatility.

Reliability

Given the nearly three-decade-long consistent use and the backing of a robust development community, Java has established itself as one of the most dependable programming languages globally. Potential instabilities have long been addressed, and there is a wealth of developer tools and documentation at hand to ensure software is built on a solid foundation. This reliability is critically significant for banking and financial applications, which demand high performance levels coupled with fault tolerance.

The Value of Java-Based Document Viewing and Sharing

As FinTech developers continue to build novel applications aimed at simplifying life for clients and employees in the financial industry, they’re facing a growing expectation from users for superior document viewing and sharing capabilities. Users want to bypass the time-consuming and resource-heavy task of manually processing paper documents, and most organizations strive to eliminate the security hazards associated with using external applications for managing digital documents.

However, developers face significant challenges when attempting to build these complex document viewing capabilities from scratch. Although there are numerous integrations that can introduce document lifecycle features, most aren’t based in Java and need extra development work to embed them into existing FinTech solutions. Without the option to natively view, share, and edit documents within the Java application, users frequently resort to external programs, a practice that presents potential security issues and version discrepancy risks.

Facilitating Java-based Document Functionalities through PrizmDoc^® for Java

Accusoft’s PrizmDoc^® for Java, formerly VirtualViewer^®, is a robust, Java-based HTML5 document viewing tool designed to assure optimal compatibility with FinTech applications without compromising functionality and security. By supporting an array of document types, such as PDF, TIFF, JPEG, AFP, PCL, and Microsoft Office, PrizmDoc® for Java creates a streamlined viewing experience that eliminates the need for external viewing solutions.

As an integration built on Java, PrizmDoc^® for Java can operate on nearly any operating system and is simple to deploy. There’s no need to install software on the user’s desktop, enabling FinTech developers to deploy a scalable solution that fulfills their crucial security and business continuity needs within a single, high-velocity application. PrizmDoc^® for Java’s server component swiftly renders and dispatches individual document pages for local viewing as required, allowing users to access, view, annotate, redact, and manipulate financial documents instantaneously. Since documents are rendered within the web-based viewer, users never have to download or transfer files, which could put sensitive data at risk.

Experience PrizmDoc^® for Java’s features for yourself by signing up for a free trial!

Discover the future of legal data management with AI-powered PII detection and redaction. As legal entities grapple with vast volumes of sensitive data, AI-driven solutions provide a welcome relief, transforming case management, eDiscovery, and practice management software. Navigating the data deluge, AI revolutionizes the identification and categorization of PII in extensive datasets, minimizing the risk of errors. Ensuring compliance with complex data protection regulations becomes seamless as AI automates checks, reducing the burden on legal practices and mitigating legal risks. Experience the future with PrizmDoc’s AI capabilities, setting a new standard in identifying sensitive content and ensuring a leap towards a more efficient, secure, and compliant legal practice.

Document image cleanup is a vital step in building an efficient and accurate processing workflow. In a perfect world, every file an organization receives would be in pristine, high-resolution condition so it could be processed quickly and easily. Unfortunately, the reality is that documents come in all sizes, conditions, and formats. Companies can receive vital information in the form of email, traditional mail, fax, or even text. Documents scanned into a crooked, low-resolution file are just as likely to be received alongside digital versions submitted entirely through a web application.

This poses a significant challenge for software developers building the next generation of automation solutions. Without some way of cleaning up document images, companies that still rely upon manual processes will struggle to read and process files. More importantly, poor image quality interferes with optical character recognition (OCR) engine accuracy, making more human interaction necessary to verify recognition results. By integrating document image cleanup tools into their applications, developers can enhance the speed and accuracy of their automated processes and help their customers leverage the full potential of digital transformation.

7 Essential Document Image Cleanup Features Your Application Needs

There are a few essential document image cleanup tools that should be considered absolutely essential for any application that has to manage multiple file formats. To see these tools in action and understand why they’re so vital, let’s take a look at how these features work in ImageGear, Accusoft’s powerful document and image processing SDK integration.

1. Despeckling

Speckles can appear on document images for a variety of reasons. In some cases, they are unwanted image noise created during the original scanning process (the classic “salt and pepper” noise), but in other instances, they’re simply the result of dust particles on the surface of a scanned document or on the scanner itself. They are frequently encountered when converting old documents into digital form. Speckling not only interferes with OCR engine performance, but can also make it difficult to maintain image fidelity when compressing or converting files. 

ImageGear can reduce or eliminate speckling as part of the document image cleanup process. There are two ways to approach speckle removal:

• Despeckle Method: This function removes color noise from 1-bit images by taking the average color value in a square area around the speckle and replacing its pixels with that value.
• GeomDespeckle Method: This function uses the Crimmins algorithm to send the image through a geometric filter, reducing the undesired noise while preserving edges of the original image. This process is applied only to 8-bit grayscale images.

2. Image Inversion

With so many documents being scanned, converted, and transferred between applications, there’s a greater likelihood of something going wrong along the way. One of the most frequent problems is image inversion, which swaps pixel colors and turns a standard white background with black text into a black background with white text. This mix-up can render documents completely unreadable by OCR engines.

ImageGear can be configured to automatically recognize when image inversion is necessary. The invert method can also be used to immediately change the color of each pixel contained in the entire image, turning white to black and black to white.

3. Deskewing

Skewed document images are both cumbersome to manage and challenging for OCR engines to read accurately. Unfortunately, manually scanned documents are often uneven, and the problem is only becoming worse now that many people are using their phone cameras as makeshift document scanners. That’s why the first step in the document image cleanup process is often deskewing, which rotates and aligns the images to enhance recognition accuracy.

The deskewing process often involves more than just rotating a document, especially where images taken by a digital camera are concerned. ImageGear’s 3D deskew feature corrects for perception distortion, which can occur whenever a document is scanned by a handheld camera, using a sophisticated algorithm.

4. Blank Page Detection

Many documents converted into digital format contain information on both sides. If they are fed into a scanner along with single page documents, the resulting file will contain multiple blank pages. This might not seem like much of a problem, but if there is enough speckling or noise around the edge of the image, an application may try to apply an OCR engine to it and generate an error result. Blank page detection can quickly identify any image that is blank or mostly white and flag it for deletion.

5. Line Removal

Although they may not seem very troublesome at first glance, lines can create a number of problems for OCR engines. When lines and printed text overlap, it can be difficult for the engine to distinguish between the two. In some instances, the engine may even misread a line as a letter or number. Removing lines from a document prior to OCR reading ensures that the remaining text will be recognized more quickly and analyzed more accurately.

ImageGear supports both solid line removal and dotted line removal. The first method automatically detects and removes any horizontal and vertical lines contained in the document (like frames or tables), while the second method determines which dotted lines to remove by measuring the number and diameter of dots.

6. Border Removal

When scanned documents don’t align properly with the boundaries of the scanner or were copied onto paper that was larger than the original image at some point, the remaining space is often filled in with black. These borders are not only unsightly, but they also interfere with other document image cleanup processes. Although they can usually be cropped out easily, the cropping process alters the proportions of the image, which could create more problems later.

Removing these large black regions is easy with ImageGear’s CleanBorders option. It focuses on the areas near the edge of the page, which typically should not contain any important image data. 

7. Remove Hole Punches

Important documents were often stored in binders before they were prepared for digitization. When scanned, the blank space from the hole punch leaves a large, black dot along the edge of the document. Unfortunately, these holes sometimes overlap with text or could be picked up as filled-in bubbles by an optical mark recognition (OMR) engine.

ImageGear can identify and remove punch holes created by common hole punchers, including two, three, and five hole configurations. The RemovePunchHoles method can be adjusted to account for differing hold diameters in addition to different locations.

Unlock Your Application’s Document Image Cleanup Potential with ImageGear

Although ImageGear can perform a variety of document handling functions such as viewing, conversion, annotation, compression, and OCR processing, its document image cleanup capabilities help applications overcome key content management challenges and enhance performance in other areas. Improved document image quality allows data to be extracted more quickly, enhances the viewing experience, and reduces complications when it comes to file compression and conversion.

Learn more about the ImageGear collection of SDKs to discover how they can deliver versatile document and image processing to your applications.