Technical FAQs

Question

What type of license should I be using?

Answer

Accusoft supports 3 primary license types: Evaluation, Toolkit, and Runtime licenses.

Evaluation License:

An Evaluation license is available upon download and will allow you to try our products and determine if they will suit your needs. Most downloads include free demo applications that demonstrate the core functionality of our product and will show you how to get up and running integrating Accusoft products with your solution. While the Evaluation license is free to download it does come with some restrictions. These restrictions may come in the form of water marked documents, pop-up dialogue boxes, or a time limit on the Evaluation license itself.

Toolkit License:

Should you decide that an Accusoft product is right for you, the next step should be to purchase one or more of our Toolkit licenses. Accusoft requires each developer using an Accusoft component to have a Toolkit license on their development machine. Once registered, the Toolkit license will unlock all restrictions of the Evaluation license. Please note, the Toolkit license is strictly to be used for development purposes, and when activated, it will be tied the specific development machine that it was registered on. Understandably, the occasion may arise where a Toolkit license needs to be moved from one development machine to another. In such a scenario, please contact sales@accusoft to see if this is feasible. For more information on how to register a Toolkit license on a development machine please see the ‘Toolkit Licensing’ section of your products Help documentation.

Runtime License:

Finally, once you have completed your solution and are ready for deployment, you will need to purchase a Runtime license. Accusoft offers 2 types of Runtime licenses. Most commonly, you will purchase an Automatically Reported Runtime (or Node-Locked) license, which requires a license for every machine your solution will be deployed to. It is very important to note that Runtime licenses are tied to the machine they are activated on and should not be used for development purposes. Doing so will quickly use up your Runtime licenses and cannot be refunded. For more information about how to activate an Automatically Reported Runtime license, please see the ‘Automatically Reported Runtime License’ section of your products Help documentation. In certain circumstances, Accusoft will issue a Manually Reported Runtime licenses that allow you to embed all of the licensing information directly into your application. These licenses are only distributed under certain circumstances and eligibility is determined by Accusoft sales. For more information on how to activate this type of license, please see the ‘Manually Reported Runtime License’ section of your products Help documentation.

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Question

Can I host multiple PrizmDoc viewers on a single page?

Answer

It is possible to host multiple viewers on a single page. The following example leverages Bootstrap’s tab implementation:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html lang="en">
<head>
    <!-- Metadata -->
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1, user-scalable=no" />
    <meta name="description" content="" />

    <!-- Title -->
    <title>AccuSample</title>

    <!-- Libraries -->
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/normalize/7.0.0/normalize.min.css">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/twitter-bootstrap/4.0.0/css/bootstrap.min.css">

    <!-- PrizmCSS -->
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://pcc-demos.accusoft.com/static/viewer-latest/css/viewercontrol.css">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://pcc-demos.accusoft.com/static/viewer-latest/css/viewer.css">

    <!-- Inline Stylesheet -->
    <style>
        body {
            overflow-y: hidden;
        }
        #viewer1, #viewer2 {
            height: calc(100vh - 3em);
            width: 100%;
        }
    </style>

</head>
<body>
    <!-- #main -->
    <main class="container">
        <ul class="nav nav-tabs" role="tablist">
            <li class="nav-item">
                <a class="nav-link active" id="viewer1-tab" data-toggle="tab" href="#viewer1">Viewer 1</a>
            </li>
            <li class="nav-item">
                <a class="nav-link" id="viewer2-tab" data-toggle="tab" href="#viewer2">Viewer 2</a>
            </li>
        </ul>

        <div class="tab-content">
            <div class="tab-pane fade show active" id="viewer1" role="tabpanel">
                <div id="viewer1">
                </div>
            </div>
            <div class="tab-pane fade" id="viewer2" role="tabpanel">
                <div id="viewer2">
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </main>

    <!-- Libraries -->
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.2.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/popper.js/1.14.1/umd/popper.min.js"></script>
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/twitter-bootstrap/4.0.0/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/underscore.js/1.8.3/underscore-min.js"></script>

    <!-- PrizmJS -->
    <script src="https://api.accusoft.com/v1/docstore/viewer/assets/classic/bundle.js"></script>
    <script src="https://pcc-demos.accusoft.com/static/viewer-latest/js/jquery.hotkeys.min.js"></script>
    <script src="https://pcc-demos.accusoft.com/static/viewer-latest/js/viewercontrol.js"></script>
    <script src="https://pcc-demos.accusoft.com/static/viewer-latest/js/viewer.js"></script>

    <!-- Inline Script -->
    <script>
        var viewingSessionId1;
        var viewerControl1;
        var viewingSessionId2;
        var viewerControl2;

        $(document).ready(function() {
            $.ajax({
                "type": "post",
                "url": "https://api.accusoft.com/PAS/V1/ViewingSession",
                "headers": {
                    "acs-api-key": ""
                },
                "data": JSON.stringify({
                    "source": {
                        "type": "url",
                        "url": ""
                    }
                })
            }).done(function(response) {
                viewingSessionId1 = response["viewingSessionId"];

                // Initialize viewer
                viewerControl1 = $("#viewer1").pccViewer({ 
                    documentID: viewingSessionId1,
                    imageHandlerUrl: "https://api.accusoft.com/v2/viewers/proxy",
                    language: languageItems,
                    template: htmlTemplates
                }).viewerControl;
            });

            $.ajax({
                "type": "post",
                "url": "https://api.accusoft.com/PAS/V1/ViewingSession",
                "headers": {
                    "acs-api-key": ""
                },
                "data": JSON.stringify({
                    "source": {
                        "type": "url",
                        "url": ""
                    }
                })
            }).done(function(response) {
                viewingSessionId2 = response["viewingSessionId"];

                // Initialize viewer
                viewerControl2 = $("#viewer2").pccViewer({ 
                    documentID: viewingSessionId2,
                    imageHandlerUrl: "https://api.accusoft.com/v2/viewers/proxy",
                    language: languageItems,
                    template: htmlTemplates
                }).viewerControl;
            });
        });
    </script>
</body>
</html>
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InsurTech SDK

The insurance market is booming. As noted by research firm Deloitte, the property and casualty (P&C) sector saw a massive income uptick in 2018 and steady growth last year that’s predicted to carry forward through 2020. To help manage the influx of new clients and handle more claims, many firms are spending on insurance technology (insurtech) — digital services and solutions that make it possible to reduce error rates and enhance operational efficiency. InsurTech SDKs are important components of this transformation.

Both in-house insurtech solutions and third-party platforms often excel in specific areas but come up short in others, putting insurance firms at risk of writing off potential gains. While solution switching and ground-floor rebuilds offer one route to success, there’s another option that’s more custom to your business needs: software development kits (SDKs). Here’s a look at three top SDKs that offer customized functionality potential.

FormSuite for Structured Forms: Solving for Data Capture

Time is money. The faster insurance companies accurately complete and file documents, the greater their revenue potential. And as noted by KPMG, the need for speed is more pressing than ever. Many insurance sectors have seen substantial increases in both claims and new applications as the COVID-19 crisis evolves. 

As a result, accurate and agile forms processing is critical to keep up with demand. If current insurance software can’t quickly capture forms data, recognize standard form fields, and let users easily create standard form libraries, policy processing falls behind.

FormSuite for Structured Forms makes it easy for developers to build in form identification and data capture that includes comprehensive form field detection with OCR, ICR, and OMR functionality and the ability to automatically identify scanned forms and match them to existing templates.

ImageGear for .NET and C/C++: Simplifying Conversion

Conversion is critical for insurance firms. Depending on the type and complexity of insurance claims, companies are often dealing with everything from Word documents for initial client assessments and .GIF or .JPG images of existing damage to contractor-specific PDFs or spreadsheets that detail necessary materials, time, and labor costs. The result? A mash-up of multiple file types that forces adjusters to spend valuable time searching for specific data instead of helping clients get their claims process up and running. This makes it difficult to recognize value from emerging digital initiatives. 

Accusoft’s ImageGear for .NET and ImageGear for C/C++ empower developers to integrate enterprise-class file viewing, annotation, conversion, and image processing functions into existing applications, allowing staff to both quickly collaborate on key tasks and find essential data across a single, easy-to-search document.

 

ImageGear: Streamlining PDF Capabilities

While insurance technology offers substantive opportunities for end-users to capture, convert, and retain data, this technology can also come with the challenge of increased complexity. According to recent research from PWC, for example, firms looking to capitalize on insurtech potential must be prepared to rapidly develop new product offerings and embrace the expectations. 

As a result, companies need applications that streamline current functions and allow them to focus on creating cutting-edge solutions. For example, PDF is a file format that is still used by enterprises worldwide to maintain document format consistency and maximize security. When it comes to converting multiple files into a PDF, software can be expensive and introduce data security issues. 

This can all be solved with an SDK like ImageGear, which makes it possible to integrate the total PDF package into any document management application, both reducing overall complexity and freeing up time for staff to work on new insurance initiatives.

Insurtech forms the framework of functional futures in policy applications, claims processing, and compliance reporting, but existing software systems may not provide the complete capability set companies need to make the most of digital deployments. These top SDKs offer insurance IT teams the ability to integrate key services, improve speed, and boost security at scale. Learn more about Accusoft’s SDKs at www.accusoft.com/products. 

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SmartZone powershell
 

Continuous innovation has allowed Accusoft to build sustained success over the course of three decades. Much of that innovation comes from talented developers creating novel solutions to everyday problems, many of which go on to become patented technologies that provide the company with an edge over competitors. 

Others, however, are the byproduct of looking at problems from a different perspective or using existing technologies in unique ways. Accusoft supports both approaches by hosting special “hackathon” events each year. These events encourage developers to spend time working on their own unique projects or try out ideas they think may have potential but have never been implemented.

For this year’s hackathon, I took a closer look at how our SmartZone SDK could be implemented as part of an automation solution within a .NET environment without creating an entire application from the ground up. What I discovered was that PowerShell modules offer a quick and easy way to deploy character recognition for limited, unique use cases.

.NET and PowerShell

One of the underestimated abilities of the .NET infrastructure is support loading and executing assemblies out of box from the command line using a shell module. Although there are many shell variants available, PowerShell comes preinstalled on most Windows machines and is the only tool required to make the scripts and keep them running. PowerShell also runs on Linux and macOS, which makes it a true cross-platform task automation solution for inventive developers who crave flexibility in their scripting tools. 

Incorporating the best features of other popular shells, PowerShell consists of a command-line shell, a scripting language, and a configuration management framework. One of the unique features of PowerShell, however, is that unlike most shells which can only accept and return text, it can do the same with .NET objects. This means PowerShell modules can be used to build, test, and deploy solutions as well as manage any technology as part of an extensible automation platform.

Implementing SmartZone Character Recognition

Accusoft’s SmartZone technology allows developers to incorporate advanced zonal character recognition to capture both machine-printed and hand-printed data from document fields. It also supports full page optical character recognition (OCR) and allows developers to set confidence values to determine when manual review of recognition results are necessary. 

Implementing those features into an application through a third-party integration is the best way to incorporate recognition capabilities, but there are some use cases where they might need to be used for general tasks outside of a conventional workflow. A number of Accusoft customers, for instance, had inquired about simple ways to use some of SmartZone’s features in their existing process automation software without having to spend weeks of development time integrating those capabilities on a larger scale.

Thanks to the versatility of PowerShell, there’s no reason to build such an application from scratch. SmartZone’s zonal recognition technology can easily be incorporated into any .NET environment with just a few snippets of code. PowerShell syntax itself is not very difficult to understand and for a quick start it should be enough to use a Windows Notepad application, but we recommend using your favorite integrated development environment (IDE) for a better experience.

Getting Started

First, you need to download SmartZoneV7.0DotNet-AnyCPU.zip from the Accusoft SmartZone download page and unpack it to any suitable directory. This bundle contains all required binaries to run SmartZone.

Create a Simple.ps1 file inside the unpacked directory and start typing your script:


using namespace System.Drawing
using namespace System.Reflection
using namespace Accusoft.SmartZoneOCRSdk

# Load assemblies.
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Drawing
$szPath = Resolve-Path ".\bin\netstandard2.0\Accusoft.SmartZoneOCR.Net.dll"
[Assembly]::LoadFrom($szPath)

# Create a SmartZone instance.
$szObj = [SmartZoneOCR]::new()
$szAssetsPath = Resolve-Path ".\bin\assets"
$szObj.OCRDataPath = $szAssetsPath.Path

# Licensing
# $szObj.Licensing.SetSolutionName("Contact Accusoft for getting the license.")
# $szObj.Licensing.SetSolutionKey(+1, 800, 875, 7009)
# $szObj.Licensing.SetOEMLicenseKey("https://www.accusoft.com/company/legal/licensing/");

# Load test image.
$bitmapPath = Resolve-Path ".\demos\images\OCR\MultiLine.bmp"
[Bitmap] $bitmap = [Image]::FromFile($bitmapPath.Path)

# Recognize the image and print the result.
$result = $szObj.Reader.AnalyzeField([Bitmap] $bitmap);
Write-Host $result.Text

# Free the resources.
$bitmap.Dispose();
$szObj.Dispose();


This simple code snippet allows you to use SmartZone together with PowerShell in task automation processes like recognizing screenshots, email attachments, and images downloaded by the web browser. It can also be deployed in other similar cases where the advantages of PowerShell modules and cmdlets can help to achieve results faster than writing an application from scratch.

Another Hackathon Success

Identifying a new way to deploy existing Accusoft solutions is one of the reasons why the hackathon event was first created. This script may not reinvent the wheel, but it will help developers save time and money in a lot of situations, which means fewer missed deadlines and faster time to market for software products. Developing unique approaches to existing problems can be difficult with deadlines and coding demands hanging over a developer’s head, so Accusoft’s hackathons are incredibly important for helping the company stay at the forefront of innovation. 

To learn more about how that innovation can help your team implement powerful new features into your applications, talk to one of our solutions experts today!

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TAMPA, Florida, February 9, 2022 — Accusoft announces the launch of the Women In Tech Scholarship for 2022. The new scholarship program is aimed at female students passionate about pursuing a career in the Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics fields.

The scholarship is open to a female-identifying undergraduate student pursuing a two or four-year degree and studying STEM. Accusoft will award $3,000 in scholarship to the winner. Apply at https://bold.org/scholarships/women-in-tech-scholarship/

The tech field has been exploding recently and offers lucrative job opportunities. Unfortunately, women are still quite underrepresented in all STEM fields, including tech. Despite making up roughly half of the workforce, less than 27% of tech positions are held by women and only 22% of Fortune 500 tech companies have female leaders.

This scholarship aims to support women pursuing STEM so they can find successful careers and create a more diverse workforce.

“Accusoft is a software company with a mission to make the world in which we live and work a better place,” said Jack Berlin, CEO of Accusoft. “We do this by inventing new ways to help organizations become more efficient and innovative, promoting the continuous improvement of our community, and working to minimize our impact on natural resources. We hope that our new scholarship will not only encourage women to go into the tech field but also to give them the resources to complete their degree.”

To apply, students must write an essay detailing why they are interested in STEM and what their career goals are. Apply at https://bold.org/scholarships/women-in-tech-scholarship/

Applications are due May 29th, 2022. The winner will be announced on June 30, 2022.

About Accusoft

Founded in 1991, Accusoft is a software development company specializing in content processing, conversion, and automation solutions. From out-of-the-box and configurable applications to APIs built for developers, Accusoft software enables users to solve their most complex workflow challenges and gain insights from content in any format, on any device. Backed by 40 patents, the company’s flagship products, including OnTask, PrizmDoc™ Viewer, and ImageGear, are designed to improve productivity, provide actionable data, and deliver results that matter. The Accusoft team is dedicated to continuous innovation through customer-centric product development, new version release, and a passion for understanding industry trends that drive consumer demand. Visit us at www.accusoft.com.

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Question

In PrizmDoc, my document appears to be small on the page relative to the viewer. How can I fix this?

enter image description here

Answer

By default, PrizmDoc renders a PDF file according to the MediaBox, which is normally the same as CropBox, though sometimes this is not the case. The larger area you see in the PrizmDoc Viewer is the size of the MediaBox. Please note that the product provides the fileTypes.pdf.pageBoundaries control option (or useCropBox in the older versions) to change the default behavior. Try setting the option to cropBox in the Central Configuration File in order to get the PDF content rendered according to the CropBox. You can read more about configuring image frame rendering in our documentation here.

For additional reading, see 7.7.3.3 on “User Space” of Adobe’s PDF 1.7 specification:

https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/devnet/pdf/pdfs/PDF32000_2008.pdf

Note: In some older versions of PrizmDoc, there exists an issue where setting the pageBoundaries field to cropBox can cause light blurring/distorting on the page. This issue was addressed in version 13.4.

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OnTask API
sTAMPA, Fla. – OnTask, a workflow automation and eSignature tool, announces the launch of their new product, OnTask API.

OnTask API is a solution created for software developers looking to integrate eSignature functionality into new or existing applications. Often, creating an in-house solution to solve for these needs is a costly, time-consuming process involving a large lift from team members. This new offering aims to cut down on deployment time, while scaling with the needs of growing businesses. 

The automated eSignature solution from OnTask can easily be embedded into applications, and is a white label product that is fully-configurable to company needs and branding guidelines. 

“We believe OnTask API is going to be a gamechanger for start-ups and businesses with less development resources,” states Steve Wilson, President. “This solution is going to help a lot of businesses save resources, while still being able to accomplish their digital document goals.”

OnTask API allows users to embed legally-binding eSignature technology, as well as workflows complete with document routing, fillable digital forms, and document upload features into their applications. Additionally, users have the ability to bulk launch workflows to collect large numbers of eSignatures and participant data at a single time.

“Our developers have taken all of the features users love about OnTask, and given them the ability to integrate it directly into the applications they’re already using,” says Wilson. “Users can still build complex workflows with conditional logic, but now they can be launched directly from their site or application.”

OnTask has helped small to mid-sized businesses across a variety of industries stay in compliance, collect legally-binding signatures, and save time where it matters most. The OnTask team is looking forward to the feedback from this latest release.

 

About OnTask

OnTask is a workflow automation tool that makes it easy for small to mid-sized businesses to digitally send and fill forms, get signatures on documents and automate overall business processes, saving time and resources. For more information on OnTask, visit www.ontask.io

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On August 3, 2021, Accusoft announced the release of the paid Professional version of Accusoft PDF Viewer. Initially released in March of 2021, the Standard version of Accusoft PDF Viewer is a free-to-use, lightweight JavaScript PDF library featuring a responsive UI for out-of-the-box mobile support. The new Professional version adds enhanced PDF tools and document functionality without introducing any complex server dependencies that could impact application security or performance.

“We’ve received tremendous feedback so far regarding the Standard version of Accusoft PDF Viewer,” says Jack Berlin, CEO of Accusoft. “With the release of the paid Professional version, customers now have a clear upgrade path that allows them to add new features without having to rethink their application architecture.”

Key Accusoft PDF Viewer Professional features include:

  • Multiple Annotation Types
  • Customizable UI
  • White Labeling
  • Electronic Signature

As an entirely client-side integration, Accusoft PDF Viewer can be incorporated into any web application with just a few lines of code. The paid Professional version features the same intuitive UI controls that provide an optimized viewing experience across all screen types, making it ideal for web apps that need to run on both desktop and mobile devices.

“We did a lot of research to determine which features are most important to developers,” says Mark Hansen, Product Manager at Accusoft. “The ability to markup and electronically sign documents without having to rely on external servers or backend processing is going to be a gamechanger for a lot of applications.”

To learn more about the latest Accusoft PDF Viewer features, please visit our website.

About Accusoft: 

Founded in 1991, Accusoft is a software development company specializing in content processing, conversion, and automation solutions. From out-of-the-box and configurable applications to APIs built for developers, Accusoft software enables users to solve their most complex workflow challenges and gain insights from content in any format, on any device. Backed by 40 patents, the company’s flagship products, including OnTask, PrizmDoc™ Viewer, and ImageGear, are designed to improve productivity, provide actionable data, and deliver results that matter. The Accusoft team is dedicated to continuous innovation through customer-centric product development, new version release, and a passion for understanding industry trends that drive consumer demand. Visit us at www.accusoft.com.

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On July 23, 2021, Accusoft announced the latest update to SmartZone, its versatile data capture SDK for forms processing. The version 6.1 update expands the integration’s already robust language support for Optical Character Recognition (OCR) by adding 65 new languages, with a special emphasis on Central European, Cyrillic, Baltic, and Asian language groups.

“We have a strong customer base in North America with SmartZone, but we’ve received multiple customer requests to expand support to a global range of languages,” said Irina Tabac, Product Manager for Forms and Cloud APIs at Accusoft. “This update will help developers serve their international customers better and offer OCR support for new customers around the world.”

Newly supported languages include: 

  • Turkish
  • Malay
  • Russian
  • Polish
  • Greek
  • Chinese
  • Korean
  • Japanese
  • Thai
  • Vietnamese
  • And over 50 more…

SmartZone v6.1 also expands the SDK’s OCR capabilities to include full page recognition for forms processing. Now developers can give their forms processing applications the ability to capture data using targeted zonal recognition or by extracting text from the entire page.

Available as an individual SDK or as part of the FormSuite Collection, SmartZone’s data capture technology eliminates the need for manual data entry in forms workflows. To learn more about Accusoft’s SmartZone OCR/ICR SDK or download a trial for a first-hand look, please visit our website.

About Accusoft: 

Founded in 1991, Accusoft is a software development company specializing in content processing, conversion, and automation solutions. From out-of-the-box and configurable applications to APIs built for developers, Accusoft software enables users to solve their most complex workflow challenges and gain insights from content in any format, on any device. Backed by 40 patents, the company’s flagship products, including OnTask, PrizmDoc™ Viewer, and ImageGear, are designed to improve productivity, provide actionable data, and deliver results that matter. The Accusoft team is dedicated to continuous innovation through customer-centric product development, new version release, and a passion for understanding industry trends that drive consumer demand. Visit us at www.accusoft.com.

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