ABBYY FLEXICAPTURE 12

FLEXICAPTURE BASIC
Task 03 Structured definition creation.
First steps
Task 03 Structured definition creation.
First steps

By completing this task you will learn how to:

• Work in the Project Setup Station;
• Create a new document definition;
• Create document definition sections;
• Create and configure static elements used to identify documents;
• Create and configure text fields used to capture data.

Note: This task has been tested against version ABBYY FlexiCapture 12 build
12.0.3.4040. Other versions may not work properly.

Please consider environment before printing this task.

If you really need to print it – you may not need to print 2 first pages (title list and table of contents).

ABBYY FlexiCapture 12. Task 03 Structured definition creation. First steps 2

Task 03 Structured definition creation.
First steps
During this task you will start the Project Setup Station, create a new project, create a new
document definition and go through the first stages of creating a document section.

1. Create a folder named Task 03 in C:\ABBYY Training\MyLocalFCProjects.

2. Start the Project Setup Station
(Start>Programs>ABBYY FlexiCapture 12 Stations>Project Setup Station).
3. Create a new project (File>New Project) in the folder
C:\ABBYY Training\MyLocalFCProjects\Task 03 and name it WorkProject.
4. Open the list of Document Definitions (Project>Document Definitions).
5. Click the New button.
6. In the Create New Document Definition dialog box, use the following settings:
• What kind of documents: Forms. Click Next>.
• Select Image file and click Browse.
• Provide the path to the image of a blank form:
C:\ABBYY Training\Basic_Classwork\6 - Definition Creation\Banking\01_Blank.tif. Click
Next>.
• Name: BankingDoc.
• Language: English. Click Next>.
• Make sure the options for Text and Checkmarks are unchecked, сlick Finish.

Note: When a page gets added, the program always searches for anchors. If the image has
standard anchors (e.g. black squares), these will be detected and marked. If the user has
enabled the Text or Checkmarks options, the program searches for text fields and checkmarks
with “visible” regions.

7. Briefly familiarize yourself with the definition editor window, toolbars, and menu commands.
8. Switch to the Static Elements Mode (CTRL+1).

Static elements are used for definition matching and

identification. They do not extract data.
This mode displays additional static element fields
(deep-red frames enclosing black squares) that were
automatically created by the program for the purposes
of matching the definition with the document images.

ABBYY FlexiCapture 12. Task 03 Structured definition creation. First steps 3

9. Return to the Field Regions Mode (CTRL+2).
10. Use the Create text tool to capture several text fields of the image (see the green rectangles
in the screenshot below). Draw rectangles around the area of each field on the image. Change
the zoom level if needed.

• First Name
• Last Name
• City of Birth
• Social Security Number

Note: The fields are named automatically based on the nearby text, i.e. field captions/titles
(if the fields do not show up on your screen, select View > Document Structure > Fields).

11. Select the created fields (First Name, Last Name, City of Birth and Social Security Number) in
the Document Structure on the right, right click>Properties>Recognition tab.

• Select the text type ICR (hand-printed), click Apply then OK.
12. We want to combine the data from the First Name and Last Name fields into one single field in
our export file/database, therefore you will create a Merge Rule.

ABBYY FlexiCapture 12. Task 03 Structured definition creation. First steps 4

 To merge the fields, create a new field, which will contain the required data merged
by a special rule (the rule will be created in the next task).
• Make sure that the BankingDoc section name is selected in the Document Structure
on the right.
• Select Edit>Create Field>Text (Alt+Shift+T).
• Change the name of the field to Full Name on the General tab.
• Set it as an Index field on the General tab and confirm the changes with Apply, then OK.

We will need this setting later when we will work with Export Settings in the following task.
13. Add one more page to the document section: select the section name and then go to
Document Definition > Add Pages.
14. Load the image 02_Blank.tif.
In the Select Field Types to Detect Automatically dialog box, set the Text and Checkmarks
options as unchecked! Then click Finish.
15. The third page of the document, Banking Card Application, may occur multiple times in a
document. For this reason, we will place this page into a separate document section. To add it,
go to Document Definition > Add Document Section.
Only sections can be a repeatable part in the document definition.
• Section type: Forms
• Load the image 03_Blank.tif
• Keep the default name
• Text and Checkmarks options should be unchecked!
16. The new section has been added to the document definition. Please see the screenshot below.

ABBYY FlexiCapture 12. Task 03 Structured definition creation. First steps 5

 You can use the Document Structure > Pages bottom tab to switch between the Fields list and
Pages. Double-click page thumbnails to select individual document definition pages.
17. Create identifier elements for each page in the document sections. They will make definition
matching faster and more reliable. To create identifier elements, click the Static Elements
Mode button.

18. Open the first page. Select the Autodetect Objects tool from
the toolbar and click in the area of the document title
("Customer's Reference Data Confirmation"). The Anchor Text
will be automatically selected on the image.
19. Create an element of the Anchor Barcode type (as before, use the Autodetect Objects tool).
The barcode is at the bottom of each page.
20. Repeat the steps 17-19 for the other pages of the definition (sections 1 and 2).
21. Save the changes and close the Document Definition Editor.
22. Publish the BankingDoc document definition and close this window.
23. Go to the Working Batches List and create a new batch of the Default type.
• Rename it to Banking.
• Right click on the batch and select Load Images or click on the batch name and go to
File>Load Images. Load all the images from the
C:\ABBYY Training\Basic_Classwork\6 - Definition Creation\Banking\6-1 folder.
Recognize images if the recognition process has not started automatically (select all
images>CTRL+R)and review the recognition results.
The other fields for recognition and document processing settings will be specified
in the following task.

The new document definition has been created successfully!

ABBYY FlexiCapture 12. Task 03 Structured definition creation. First steps 6