Scan to Google Docs

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Scanning to Google Drive and Docs

™

with

ccScan

Document Capture to the Cloud

Overview

This white paper shows how ccScan, a production-quality document capture application,

can be used to capture documents to Google Drive and Docs

™

in an automated, time-

saving manner.

Google Drive and Docs allows you to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and

drawings online using an Internet browser and share those documents with colleagues and

external parties. It is even possible to share and communicate in real-time, and see each

other’s additions and modifications to the document as they are entered. Google Drive and

Docs is part of Google Apps, which is a suite of online productivity software used by more

than 3 million businesses.

Google Drive and Docs also provides the ability to upload, store and organize any type of

file in Google Drive and Docs. Uploaded files can be accessed from any PC, laptop, tablet,

or smart phone with an Internet connection. These documents can be searched and shared

just like the Google documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings that were created

online. In addition, many common document file types can be viewed with the Google

Drive and Docs viewer. Since there is more to Google Drive and Docs than this short

introduction can cover please visit the Google Docs website at http://docs.google.com, the

Google Drive website at http://drive.google.com, or the Google Drive and Docs Blog at

http://googledocs.blogspot.com for in-depth information.

Although Google Drive and Docs customers can easily upload their documents if they are

already in digital format, paper documents must be scanned first and then manually

uploaded. ccScan eliminates the time typically wasted with such a multi-step, manual

operation that consists of scanning a document locally to the PC, naming this document,

creating a folder in Google Drive and Docs, uploading the document to Google Drive and

Docs, and finally setting sharing properties. Instead ccScan does all of the above in a

single-step operation that is fully automated. Naming of documents and folders can be

manual or automated by using barcodes or running counters. In addition to scanning

paper documents, ccScan has bulk import capabilities for already digitized documents that

allow entire folders to be uploaded to Google Drive and Docs in a single step using wild

card file specifications and recursion.

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ccScan for Google Drive and Docs™

Capture Components, LLC markets different versions of ccScan targeted for different

document repositories. The ccScan versions for “Internet Cloud” based storage support

Google Drive and Docs, Box, Salesforce, Dropbox, Microsoft SkyDrive, Amazon S3,

Windows Azure, etc, but other types of document repositories are supported as well. For

example, documents can be captured remotely and stored in Microsoft SharePoint and

SharePoint Online using SharePoint’s Internet-based web services interface. Additionally

ccScan works with the Microsoft Windows file system utilizing its local hard drive or

networked folders for storage.

Two Editions: ccScan Advanced and ccScan Standard

ccScan Advanced for Google Drive and Docs is best explained with some examples: run

unattended jobs to import electronic faxes, upload them to automatically selected Google

Docs folders, and automatically name the document, all based on information extracted

from barcodes and text pattern searches in text obtained through OCR. Or scan documents

and automatically create document names and descriptions. Since ccScan is highly

configurable it can be applied to many scenarios where opportunities for automation and

large time savings are present.

ccScan Advanced features are based upon sophisticated technologies such as barcode

detection, OCR, and Text Pattern search with Regular Expressions. These capabilities are

applied to both the scanning of paper documents in the paper-based office and the

processing of electronic documents in the paperless office.

ccScan Standard for Google Drive and Docs is similar to ccScan Advanced without the

automation capabilities. ccScan Standard is typically used in a paper-based office to

efficiently scan paper documents to Google. Use ccScan Standard to eliminate wasted time

and the following extra steps: scan a document to your PC using any Twain scanner, name

the document, create a folder in Google Docs, upload the document to Google Docs, and

finally setting up Google Docs document properties such as Description, Visibility, and

Sharing mode. Instead, ccScan Standard does all of the above in a single-step operation.

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ccScan Overview

Although ccScan costs significantly less than competing products, it is a full-featured,

production-level, document capture system. The software takes full advantage of today’s

multi-core processors. On a quad-core computer the scanning, barcode detection, text

recognition, and export to Google Drive and Docs each run on a separate core to maximize

throughput. Consequently most TWAIN-compatible production scanners are operated at

rated speed. Since ccScan has been designed to be enterprise-friendly, it contains a Setup

mode and a User mode. The Setup mode is password protected. Jobs are created in Setup

mode and can be used over and over again in User mode. To make sure ccScan can be used

immediately after installation, without having to create a job first, a set of default jobs is

provided to cover common document capture scenarios.

Jobs can be associated with a scanner button, which can make running a job in User mode

as simple as pressing a button on the scanner. ccScan also contains an Index/QA mode that

allows the operator to check the document or enter indexing data before the document is

sent to Google Drive and Docs. Documents are automatically separated if barcode sheets

are used.

On platforms that contain no native document viewing options such as Amazon S3 and

Windows Azure, ccScan provides the capability to create View jobs that will list all

documents entries or a subset in either a sequential list or hierarchical format. View jobs,

however, are not enabled for Google Drive and Docs since Google natively provides

document viewing capabilities.

ccScan uses the Google Documents List API to upload documents to Google Drive and

Docs. The Google Documents List API is also used to create, rename, and delete folders.

Although there is no need to know anything about the Google Documents List API to use

ccScan, Google Drive and Docs users interested in learning more about this API can go to

http://code.google.com/apis/documents/docs/developers_guide.html.

Despite its low price, ccScan has all the high-end features and no restrictions such as page

click charges. For detailed information about ccScan or to download a free trial version,

please visit Capture Component’s website at www.capturecomponents.com.

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Typical Scenario

To give the reader a flavor of capturing and storing documents in Google Drive and Docs

with ccScan the following sections contain walkthroughs annotated with screenshots of a

typical scanning and bulk import scenario. Although the default set of jobs installed with

ccScan cover capturing and storing documents in Google Drive and Docs, the example

scenarios assume that no ccScan Jobs have been created previously so both Setup and User

modes can be shown. For ease of illustration certain details such as the creation of an

account with Google Drive and Docs or how to enter Setup mode have been left out of

these descriptive scenarios.

Create Scanning Job

To start a new scanning job must be created. In ccScan jobs are created in Setup mode.

Once a job has been created, it can be used over and over again in regular User mode. The

Administrator selects default values for the various job settings and decides which job

settings can be entered or modified by the operator. The job settings are organized by

category such as Scanner settings or Export settings.

Figure 1 - Create New Scanning Job

In the dialog box above Google Drive and Docs has been selected as the repository for

export of the captured documents. If ccScan were licensed for multiple repositories, the

target repository for the job would be selected here from the list of available repositories.

Note that the Job Type is Scan, Export.

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Enter Google Credentials

Immediately after the new job has been created, the dialog below comes up to enter the

user name and password for a Google account.

Both in User mode and Setup mode the operator must enter an email/username and

password of an active Google account. When the Login button is pressed ccScan obtains an

authorization token from Google that is subsequently used to request information from

Google Drive and Docs such as a list of existing folders on Google Drive and Docs.

Figure 2 - Enter Google Credentials

To prevent users from having to login each time ccScan is started, the obtained

authorization token is stored in between ccScan sessions in an encrypted file that can only

be read by ccScan and only on the PC where it was created. At any time the user has the

option to revoke the authorization token on the Google website. Note that ccScan can be

configured to disable the default auto-logon which requires that users re-enter their Google

credentials each time they use ccScan.

To give the administrator some flexibility, ccScan allows the administrator to set a time-

out for a particular job; if the job has not been run for e.g. 60 seconds, the currently logged-

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in user is automatically logged out (and the dialog above will come up when the job is

started again).

Note that ccScan fully supports the optional Google 2-step Verification where an

additional code (typically received with a text message from Google) must be entered after

entering the login credentials.

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Configure New Scanning Job

In the form below the Administrator can configure the new Scanning job. The same form is

used to make modifications to the job later. The name and description of the newly

scanned document are entered in Document Name and Description. Optionally, the name

of a folder located on Google Drive and Docs can be entered or selected in Google Folder

(or selected from the list of existing folders).

Figure 3 - Configure New Scanning Job

To allow for automated naming, ccScan supports the use of “macros” in document and

folder names that automatically insert counter and barcode values. Automated naming is

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used with high-capacity scanners whose hoppers can hold large stacks of documents

separated by barcode sheets.

The Upload Document settings determine what happens if a document already exists on

Google Drive and Docs: Always Create New, Update Existing, or Conflict on Error (which

means stop the job in progress and report an error). Job Expiration can be set to the number

of seconds of idle time after which the logged-in Google Drive and Docs user is

automatically logged out. The default setting of zero disables this automatic logout. Google

OCR can be enabled to have Google OCR extract text from PDF or image files.

Documents by default are converted to Google Docs format unless Convert Document is

unchecked (which means the uploaded files are stored as arbitrary files). Checking Starred

will mark the document on Google Drive and Docs with a star.

Visibility, which can be set to Private, People at Domain, or Public on the Web, determines

how documents are shared. Share As, which can be set to Viewer or Editor, determines

whether people can only read or also edit the shared documents. If Visibility is set to

People at Domain, Share With must be set to one or more domain names (e.g.

capturecomponents.com) to allow anybody at those domains access to the documents. If

Visibility is set to Private, Share With can optionally be set to individual names and email

addresses of Google Drive and Docs users who can access the documents (as an exception

to Private).

The URL to the document is returned in Shared URL. This return value is also recorded in

the daily log file that ccScan produces to allow automated post-processing. This JSON

format log file contains information about all jobs that were run on a particular day and the

Google Drive and Docs return values are recorded for each document in the job. Typically

this capability is used in environments where Google Drive and Docs is used for document

storage but links to the documents are stored in another database.

For each setting, the Administrator selects or enters a value. Default values are provided

where possible. The Administrator can also make settings available for the operator to

enter, except for the Administrator-only settings. For the settings to be entered by the

operator, the Administrator determines the order in which these settings are shown,

optionally modifies the default description of each setting, and selects which type of input

control should be presented to the operator.

After the Export Settings, the Scanner Settings are entered. The scanning of documents in

ccScan is based on the TWAIN standard. The scanner manufacturer provides TWAIN

drivers. All the scanner settings you would expect in a production-level document capture

system are provided: basic settings such as export format, resolution, paper size, and

advanced settings such as barcode detection, which for example, can be used to

automatically separate documents or automatically specify folder names. Jobs can also be

associated with a button at the scanner front panel so that the job is started automatically

with a press of the button.

TWAIN settings highly specific to the type of scanner can optionally be set with the

TWAIN dialog box. These settings are saved locally on the computer and associated with

the job. For those settings common between ccScan and the TWAIN dialog box, the

ccScan settings can be given priority over the TWAIN settings. With this capability the

administrator can give the operator access to the TWAIN dialog box and still, for example,

enforce company standards such as 200 DPI resolution.

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Run this Scanning Job

Once the job has been created it can be run over and over again in User mode. The job is

started either from the scanner front panel or with the Start Job button in ccScan.

Figure 4 - Run this Scanning Job

Typically jobs are configured so that the operator must enter at least a document name or

title, unless ccScan’s automated naming capabilities are used. Optionally the operator can

change default scanner settings or enter or select additional Google Drive and Docs fields.

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Once the job is started, ccScan disables the Start button and does not allow any changes to

the form. However, the operator is allowed to press the Cancel button. To provide visual

feedback the scanned pages are displayed while the job is running.

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Create Import Job

To start a new Import job it must be created. In ccScan jobs are created in Setup mode.

Once a job has been created, it can be used over and over again in regular User mode. The

Administrator selects default values for the various job settings and decides which job

settings can be entered or modified by the operator. The job settings are organized by

category such as Import settings or Export settings.

Figure 5 - Create New Import Job

In the dialog box above Google Drive and Docs has been selected as the repository for

export of the imported documents. If ccScan was licensed for multiple repositories the

target repository for the job would be selected here from the list of available repositories.

Note that the Job Type is Import, Export.

Enter Google Credentials

Immediately after the new job has been created and the Google credentials have not been

entered yet, the user name and password for a Google account must be entered with the

dialog described earlier in this document.

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Configure New Import Job

In the form below the Administrator can configure the new Import job. The same form is

used to make modifications to the job later.

Figure 6 - Configure New Import Job

The name of the newly imported document is entered in Document Name. If Document

Name is left blank, the new document will get the same name as the imported file (or the

name of the first file if multiple files are imported). All the Google Drive and Docs fields

mentioned earlier for scanning are available for import as well.

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For each setting, the Administrator selects or enters a value. Default values are provided

where possible. The Administrator can also make settings available for the operator to

enter, except for the Administrator-only settings. For the settings to be entered by the

operator, the Administrator determines the order in which these settings are shown,

optionally modifies the default description of each setting, and selects what type of input

control should be presented to the operator.

After the Export Settings, the Import Settings are entered. First the type of import must be

selected, either File Import or Bulk Import. File Import brings up the standard Windows

file selection dialog and allows the user to navigate to a particular folder and select one or

more files to import. Since this capability already exists on the Google Drive and Docs

website, this option is typically not used with Import jobs for Google Drive and Docs.

Therefore, the interesting option for Google Drive and Docs is Bulk Import. Bulk Import

allows the selection of a folder and for ccScan to automatically walk through this folder

(optionally recursively so all subfolders and their subfolders are included) and import all

files that match one more wildcards (such as *.*, *.pdf, ccitt_?.tif?, etc). Even wildcards

can be specified to exclude certain types of files. Also, for files containing scanned images

only, there is an option to combine all files into a single file and import only this combined

file (optionally de-skewing the images first).

In Bulk Import Folder either enter the name of the folder to traverse (or select from a list of

folders). The wildcard specification to include files is entered in Bulk Inclusion Pattern

while the wildcard specification to exclude files is entered in Bulk Exclusion Pattern. To

recursively traverse subfolders enable Bulk Folder Recursion.

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Run this Import Job

Once the Import job has been created it can be run over and over again in User mode. The

job is started with the Start Job button.

Figure 7 - Run this Import Job

Typically jobs are configured so that the operator must enter at least a document name

unless the new document must be named after the imported document. Optionally the

operator can enter or select a Google Drive and Docs folder name where the imported

document will be stored.

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Once the job is started, ccScan disables the Start button and does not allow any changes to

the form. However, the operator is allowed to press the Cancel button. To provide visual

feedback, the imported pages are displayed while the job is running.

Annotation and Redaction

It is not uncommon to annotate or redact selected paragraphs of documents that are shared.

For example, redaction is used routinely in the legal sector. To allow review, correction, or

annotation of documents before they are stored in Google Drive and Docs, ccScan provides

an optional Index/QA mode. This mode can be enabled on a per-job basis by checking the

Index/QA Later field. When enabled the documents produced with a Scanning or Import

job are cached locally and made available in the Index/QA tab of ccScan.

Figure 8 - Index/QA Mode

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Before releasing the documents to Google Drive and Docs from Index/QA, descriptive

information can be added to index fields, and pages can be deleted or inserted. Index

information can be entered manually using the keyboard or extracted automatically from

selected zones of the image using OCR (Optical Character Recognition).

In addition, pages can be annotated with text and selected portions of the pages could be

redacted. Note that the annotations and redactions become permanent once they are saved

and cannot be removed later.

Afterword

We at Capture Components LLC hope that this White Paper is of benefit to you. If it is and you are

able to conveniently and efficiently capture and import your documents to Google Drive and Docs,

then we have achieved a measure of success. If you choose to use ccScan as your document capture

application, we will do our best to provide you with the highest quality product and support.

Visit us at http://www.capturecomponents.com