OCR Zones

The OCR Zones tab is a visual editor for marking rectangular regions on a page where targeted recognition is performed. Zones pull specific data — an invoice number, a date, a customer name — from fixed positions, can act as document separators, and can mask sensitive content through redaction. The tab is shown only when the output format runs OCR.

Screenshot: Scan Workflow editor — OCR Zones tab

How It Works

When documents share a consistent layout, zone-based recognition is faster and more reliable than reading the whole page. You draw zones on a page canvas, size and position them over the fields you care about, and give each one a type and a name. At scan time the OCR engine reads just those regions. The editor has a page canvas in the centre, a tool strip on the left (paper format, orientation, zoom, background image) and a sidebar on the right with two lists: OCR zones and Redaction.

Zone Types

Each type is colour-coded on the canvas for quick identification — blue for single-line, green for multi-line, purple for handwritten and orange for barcode.

Creating and Editing Zones

1. On the OCR Zones tab, click Add Zone (on the canvas or in the sidebar). A new zone appears on the page.

2. Drag the zone to position it and drag the handles to resize it. Single-click selects a zone; the selected zone shows resize handles and a delete button.

3. Double-click a zone to open its properties.

Barcode zones add a Barcode Type selector; Handwritten zones add a recognition-mode selector (digits, letters or alphanumeric).

Zones as Document Separators

A zone flagged as Separator can drive document splitting. This links to the By OCR Zone separation mode on the Processing and OCR tab, where behaviour is deliberately constrained so a workflow can't silently do nothing:

• The separator dropdown on the Processing tab lists only zones marked as Separator here — you cannot pick a zone that would not actually separate.

• If no zone is flagged as a separator, the Processing tab shows a prompt to mark one first.

• Selecting a separator zone is required to save a workflow using Zone separation, and if you later delete the chosen separator zone the editor warns you so you can pick another or change the mode.

Canvas Controls

• Paper Format — Ax (the A-series: A4, A3…), Letter, Legal, or Custom dimensions in millimetres.

• Orientation — toggle between portrait and landscape.

• Zoom — 100% to 300% for precise placement.

• Background Image — upload a sample document image as a positioning reference; the canvas shows a grid until one is set. Use the small remove control to clear it.

Redaction

The Redaction sidebar tab masks sensitive content in the output. It supports two approaches, and both are listed with live counts.

Zone-based redaction

1. Switch to the Redaction tab and click Add Redaction to draw a redaction zone on the canvas.

2. Position and size it over the area to mask.

3. Set the Redaction Color (default black).

A redaction zone masks a fixed area on the page regardless of its content.

Text and regex redaction

Rule-based redaction finds and masks matching content anywhere in the document:

1. Click Add Text or Add Regex.

2. Enter the text or the regular-expression pattern to match.

3. Set the Redaction Color.

4. For text rules, optionally enable Whole Words and/or Case Sensitive matching.

For example, a text rule CONFIDENTIAL masks every occurrence of the word, while a regex rule such as \d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4} masks anything shaped like a social-security number.

Using Zone Values

Recognised zone values are available to the rest of the workflow. A zone can be used as a document separator (above), and zone values can be mapped to scan parameters — which in turn feed filename patterns, folder routing and metadata. This lets a structured document drive its own naming and filing from data read off the page.

Best Practices

• Upload a representative document as the background image so zones line up with the real layout.

• Make zones slightly larger than the target text to tolerate minor scan misalignment.

• Use Single Line Text for one-line fields and Multi-line Text for blocks.

• For barcode zones, restrict the barcode type to the symbology you actually use for faster, more reliable reads.

• Test recognition with sample documents before rolling the workflow out.

In Summary

OCR Zones turns a fixed document layout into structured data. Typed zones (single-line, multi-line, handwriting with the ICR add-on, and barcode) read precise regions; separator zones split batches with guard-rails that prevent a non-functioning configuration; and zone plus text/regex redaction removes sensitive content from the output. Because zone values map to parameters, a well-designed zone set lets scans file and name themselves automatically.

Related articles

• Processing and OCR

• Output Options

• Parameters

• Scan Workflows Overview