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Fulltext SDK vs. Data Capture SDK
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This is a feature and usage scenario comparison between FineReader Engine and FlexiCapture Engine.
- FineReader Engine is a traditional OCR toolkit, designed for converting images and image PDFs into pain text, Office formats, HTML, searchable PDFs or XML. There are different options how the layout of the original document should be analyzed and restored.
- FlexiCapture Engine is based on the same ABBYY core OCR technology - but the purpose of this SDK is document separation, classification and data extraction. FlexiLayout technology used the core internal layout information and then will find the data that is required for a business process.
Here a brief overview how the document analysis makes a difference:
Detailed Feature Comparison
Usage Scenarios
| FineReader Engine | FlexiCapture Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Application Areas | Intelligent Document Conversion into Text, Microsoft Office formats, HTML, XML and PDF; full text recognition | Intelligent Data Capture, data extraction of specific fields of interest |
| Document Types | Any kind of documents e.g. books, magazines, letters, manuals, business documents etc. | Structured Documents e.g. fixed forms, multiple-choice tests, questionnaires; Semi-structured Documents e.g. invoices, shipping documents, passports; Unstructured documents e.g. letters, contracts |
| Further processing | - Access to full textual information (search) Document conversion for further editing - Document conversion for business process streamlining (searchable PDFs instead of paper) - Document Archiving | - Extracted data is used in further business processes and applications - Documents routing and workflow integration - Document Archiving |
Core Recognition
| FineReader Engine | FlexiCapture Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Image Pre- Processing (Noise removal, deskew, despeckle, etc.) | Yes | Yes |
| OCR in 190 Languages | Yes | Yes |
| Chinese, Japanese, Korean OCR | Add on | Not available in FCE V8.0 Available as Add-On in FCE V9.0 |
| ICR in 114 Languages | Yes – manual definition of the recognition area | Yes – recognition areas are defined via Fixed Form Templates and/or found by FlexiLayouts |
| Barcode Recognition | 1D Barcodes included 2D: PDF 417 Barcode (Add-On) | 1D and 2D Support included |
Document Processing Technologies
| FineReader Engine | FlexiCapture Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Document Separation | - No built in document separation, - Document splitting through own logic and code possible | - “Simple” automatic separation, based on blank pages and barcodes - “Advanced” separation, based on multi page document definitions: Fixed Form Templates and FlexiLayouts |
| Document Classification | - No built in document classification - Own logic required, based on OCR results | Documents can automatically be classified via Fixed Form Templates and FlexiLayouts |
| Document and Layout Analysis | Focus: Detection of all text on the document pages, layout retention Automatic analysis of the page/document layout; Location and identification of text blocks, text columns, tables, images or barcodes. \\Full access | Focus: “Own” document analysis, based on FlexiLayout technology Key elements for orientation are detected (specific text strings, lines, white space, barcodes), then the relevant data is located and extracted. Identification based on regular |
| Access to required data | - Own logic, based on OCR results - No built in data access logic | FlexiLayouts internally deal with different hypotheses and uncertainties, for example when the search elements are not unique or OCR errors occur |
Verification
| FineReader Engine | FlexiCapture Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Verification | - Full text verification - Layout optimization | - Data verification - Group and context verification |
| Visual Components | V8.0: No, only data via API V9.0: Yes V10: Yes Details... | V8.0: No, only data via API V9.0: Yes, Details... |
Export
| FineReader Engine | FlexiCapture Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Export Formats to backend systems | Document Export for Digital Editing - Text, RTF, HTML, - DOC(X), XLS(X), PPT(X), - XML with character, layout & formatting info | Data Export to back end applications - Text, CSV, XLS, DBF - XML with data, field types, field position,errors, character recognition quality information - ODBC-Export via own application |
| Export Formats for archiving | - BMP, TIFF, JPEG, JPEG2000, PNG - Searchable PDF, PDF/A, MRC PDFs | - BMP, TIFF, JPEG, JPEG2000, PNG - Searchable PDF, PDF/A, MRC PDFs |
Development
| FineReader Engine | FlexiCapture Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| SDK Integration and Project Setup | Set of DLLs that are used to integrate FineReader Engine functionality in custom solutions or applications | 2 tier development: a) Document description and data extraction logic development in FlexiCapture Standalone Pro (= Fixed Form Templates and FlexiLayouts) b) FlexiCapture Engine DLLs, for integration and document processing in custom solutions or applications |
| API Extension | FineReader Engine API only (no FCE extension possible) | It is possible to license FineReader Engine API within FlexiCapture Engine The new adjusted licensing scheme of ABBYY Europe contains the FineReader Engine API in Version 10  1) |
Summary
| FineReader Engine | FlexiCapture Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Summary | Access to the layout and text recognition results Sophisticated document export to a variety of formats. | Technology for separation and classification of documents and extraction of relevant information Data export and easy to use document export. |
Related Information:
- Comparison: FlexiCapture Engine vs. FlexiCapture Server
- Back to: Comparison Overview
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Licensing scheme can be different in other regions, please contact your local ABBYY Office/Distributor for details
