Tips for optimal zone discovery

When the Advanced Zone Locator Zone Wizard analyzes a document during zone discovery, the state of the document is important. Knowing which documents to use in the Zone Wizard will help you to maximize the efficiency of zone discovery.

Select a reference document and four other sample documents with the following characteristics:

  • All sample documents should have the same layout and represent the same form.

    The following examples cannot be considered the same form:

    • A multi page image of the same form but with a different page order.

    • A US letter sized document that is printed on legal paper and significantly shrunk as a result.

    • A small document such as an ID card that is scanned in large format and not always in the same location of the large image.

    • A faxed document that has been faxed multiple times and has shrunk as a result.

  • All sample documents should have the same page count.

  • All sample documents should have the same orientation.

  • All sample documents should have the same horizontal and vertical resolution.

  • The layout of the document and its fields are easily distinguishable.

  • There is no noise, punch holes, or marks on the documents.

  • The documents are not skewed or stretched in any way.

  • If forms contain hand written text, ensure that the text does not fall outside the space available for each field.

  • The document contains typical values and any check boxes are clearly marked.

Important For the Zone Wizard, if you are using a single sample document only, that document should be an empty copy of the form. If you are using multiple sample documents, only one should be empty and all others should be unique examples of the same form and filled in with different values.

For the best results when adding zones with the Zone Wizard, work in small groups of zones. Only add a handful of zones at a time so it is easier to modify the new zones. This means that you should select only a subset of discovered zones and accept them. After accepting those zones, you can edit the zone properties and modify each zone as necessary. The following options for each automatically added zone should be modified as appropriate:

  • Type a descriptive zone Name.

  • On the General tab, edit the options as needed.

  • On the Image Cleanup tab, enable background removal and select an image cleanup profile as needed.

  • On the Anchors tab, map any available anchors to this zone as needed.

  • Select an appropriate Recognition engine.

Once you have finished one area of the document, you can open the Zone Wizard again to select and accept additional zones. Repeat this process until all field data is accounted for by a zone.