Step 2: Preparing Files

Video: How to Prepare Files

Prepare Your Files for Inspection

Once your files are loaded, following the instructions from Step 1: Loading Files, the Prep tab is automatically enabled, allowing you to interact with the uploaded files to prepare them for inspection.

Reminder: The inspection process goes through three stages:

1. Prep
2. Results
3. Report

The tools in this section allow you to mark up their files for partial or targeted inspections, limit the file comparison to a specific number of pages, and enable additional inspection types like Processing Flattened Text (OCR) (4), Create Text Zones (5), Ignore Text (6), and Crop (7).

Video: How to Process Flattened Text Using the OCR Tool

Process Flattened Text - OCR Tool

This feature is particularly useful with scanned documents.

The 4. Process Flattened Text is useful whenever there is no instantly identified text in the document meant for inspection or when only part of the file does not contain live text.

You may run OCR on only the Source or New file, or on both files.

In such cases, a warning message will appear indicating that either OCR can be run or only a graphics compare is possible.

Once OCR is run on either the Source or New file, but not both files, another warning message will appear, requesting another OCR or a graphics compare to proceed.

To be able to proceed with a text-based inspection, OCR needs to be applied on both files.

Once both files have OCR applied to them, the identified text will be highlighted in green.

Verify’s OCR engine accurately detects special characters, symbols, and characters with accents as well as Non-Latin scripts:

Special characters: ( ), [ ], { }, &, *, #, \, / ,~, ^, _
Symbols: ∑ , ∫ , √ , $ , € , £ , ¥
Characters with accents: á, é, í, ó, ú
Non-Latin scripts: Arabic, Hebrew, Cyrilic, etc.

To learn more about OCR, read our blog post, OCR: Everything You Need to Know About Optical Character Recognition

Text Zones

The 5. Text Zones tool is used to perform partial or targeted inspections of text. You can specifically select sections of a given document to perform a Text Compare (excluding all other text) and compare directly to the corresponding Text portions in the other panel.

There are two Text Zone options:

Text Select
Marquee

Create a Text Zone Using Text Select

To use Text Select, click and drag the cursor over the desired text in the Source panel. If the selected text exists in the New panel, it will automatically be matched, highlighted, and a Text Zone will be created.

Note: Automatic text detection on the New file only works when using Text Select.

Once a Text Zone is created and the matched text is highlighted in the New panel, click Confirm if deemed acceptable.

Once the Text Zone is confirmed, you will have the option to:
Unmatch the Text Zone in the New Panel by clicking:

Delete the Text Zone in the Source File by clicking:

If the Text Zone created is not acceptable, you will have the option to fix your Zone by clicking Edit in the New Panel. By clicking Edit, you will be able to adjust your Text Zone in the Source Panel.

If the Text Zone created no longer needs to be inspected, click Delete in the Source Panel.

You may also select Clear All to clear all markups.

See How to Create a Text Zone Using Text Select Below

Multiple Text Zones can be created. Each Zone is numbered automatically following the order in which it was created, i.e Text Zone 1, Text Zone 2, Text Zone 3, etc.

Please note, you must confirm your match before creating a new one. Otherwise, this pop-up will appear:

Create a Marquee Zone Using Marquee

To use Marquee, drag and drop to select the Marquee Zone you wish to inspect in the Source and New Panel.

Note: Marquee requires you to create Marquee Zones on both files. Automatic text detection will not occur on the New file.

Once a Marquee Zone is created in both the Source and New Panel, click Confirm in the New panel, if deemed acceptable.

If the Marquee Zone created is not acceptable, you will have the option to fix your Zone by clicking Edit in the New Panel. By clicking Edit, you will be able to adjust your Marquee Zone in the Source Panel.

If the Marquee Zone created no longer needs to be inspected, click Delete in the Source Panel.

You may also select Clear All to clear all markups.

See How to Create a Marquee Zone Using Marquee Below

Note: Multiple Marquee selections can be made.

Ignore Text

The Ignore Text(button 6) allows you to strikeout text on your Source and New document that you wish to ignore and exclude during an inspection - all other text will be included. The selected text is crossed out in red.

To Use Ignore Text

Click Ignore Text.
Click and drag the cursor over the text to be excluded in either the Source or New panel.

Note: Ignore Text Zones created in the Source Panel will not automatically be created in the New Panel. Create separate Ignore Text Zones as needed in the Source and New Panels.

To Modify or Delete Ignored Text

To modify Ignore Text, click and drag the blue dots on the corners of the Ignore Text Zone.
To delete Ignore Text, click on Delete.

Select Clear All to clear all markups.

Note: Multiple Ignore Text selections can be made.

Warning: Ignore Text and Zone Text cannot be applied together. Only one text tool can be used at a time.

Crop

The Crop Tool (button 7) tells Verify which area/s to inspect with a single click, drag, and drop. It works on all inspection types and you can apply the crop to all pages in prep.

When this feature is selected, Verify will show an info box highlighting that all non-selected areas will be ignored during the inspection.

To Use Crop

Click the Crop button. Teal rulers will appear on both the Source and New Panels to help you crop and select which areas of your file you wish to inspect with precision and ease.
Once the selection/s are made, the system will confirm the cropped zone.
The selected area will be marked with a red box. The rest of the document will be greyed out.

After creating a crop, you will see these three options at the bottom of your cropped area.

They are:

Snap to Content: Tightens a crop to the content of your file and automatically creates a more precise crop.

Apply to All Pages: Automatically applies the same cropped area to all pages of your file.

Delete: Deletes the cropped area on your file.

More Crop Options for PDF Files

Verify offers More Crop Options that help make inspecting PDF files more intuitive. To view more Crop Options, click on the Crop dropdown menu.

The More Crop Options for PDF Files include:

BleedBox: Defines the region inside which the graphic elements need to be clipped in. Usually the graphic is extended about 2 mm beyond the TrimBox.
TrimBox: The TrimBox is the final size of the trimmed label and packaging after cutting.
ArtBox: Indicates the area covered with the graphic. It is known as the the area where it is safe to put graphic elements.

You can apply More Crop Options on both the Source and New files by clicking Source/New on the toggle

Crop to Dieline

Crop to Layer offers the ability to automatically crop a file based on the layers that are set in your file.

Some example of layers that can be cropped through this feature include dieline, cutter, fold, etc.

Crop to Layer will differ according to your specific file layers. You will only be able to crop by layers that are set in your file.

To crop by a specific layer, click on the icon in the Layer & Spot Color Controls dropdown.

When a layer has been selected, the icon will turn red.

You can apply Crop to Layer on both the Source and New files by clicking on the Source/New tabs in the Layer & Spot Color Controls dropdown.

Clear All

Click 8. Clear All to remove all markups (Text Zones, Ignore Text, and Crop).

Note: The Clear All button is disabled unless you use one of the markup tools (Zone Text, Ignore Text, and Crop).

Text Compare

With 9. Text Compare checked, Verify will perform a character-for-character inspection, where the identified text is compared in both documents. For an even more precise inspection, you may choose to filter your Text Compare by different parameters by clicking on the ellipsis icon on the right.

This will not perform a language-based spell check. For that, please refer to the Spell Check section below.

QRD Template

When running a Text Compare, you will also be able to run an automatic prep and inspection of QRD templates by checking the QRD Template option.

QRD Template allows you to automatically compare QRD templates to outer and immediate packaging artwork files character-by-character, while automatically ignoring headers, greyed out text, and page numbers, and works in all EU languages.

To use QRD Template:

Upload the QRD Annex III document in the Source Panel
Upload your artwork file in the New Panel
Check the QRD Template option
Click Preview

The auto-prep will create marquee zones, matching text from the QRD Annex III to the artwork file. You will then be able to inspect your files.

See How QRD Template Works Below

Pro Tip: For an even more precise inspection of your QRD Templates, crop the exact zones you wish to inspect.

Graphics Compare

When checked, 10. Graphics Compare allows for a pixel-to-pixel graphics comparison to be performed on all the pages available in the uploaded documents.

This inspection is fully automated, and is available at all times. No manual intervention is required to select zones, but rather these areas are created automatically by Verify. Furthermore, Verify will automatically list identified possible graphics differences.

By checking the Graphics Compare selection, you will be given the option to customize your inspection:

Sensitivity Setting: You will have the option to adjust the sensitivity of your inspection. You can choose to keep the sensitivity to Standard or High.

Pages in same order: You may select this option to make your inspection faster. Tick this option if you are certain that the Source and New files you are comparing have the exact same page order.

Spell Check

With 11. Spell Check enabled, Verify will flag spelling errors that exist in your New document (Comparison Mode) or in the document uploaded in Proofreader mode (single-file inspection).

Check the Spell Check box.
Select the correct language of your files from the dropdown menu. It is also possible to apply Custom Dictionaries to your Spell Check, allowing you to use multiple dictionaries for a Spell Check inspection.

You can only select one language when running a Spell Check. You are, however, allowed to select multiple Custom Dictionaries.

Custom dictionaries allow Latin special characters (i.e. accented vowels) as well.

Once all relevant dictionaries are selected, they will appear in the list as applied dictionaries

To remove languages or Custom Dictionaries from your Spell Check inspection, click on .
Results will display after you click Inspect.

Note: Custom Dictionaries can be applied by users but cannot be added or modified. However, you have the ability to propose additions to dictionaries while reviewing the inspection results.

An Admin Role is required for Custom Dictionary creation and modification.

Video: Approval Workflow for Custom Dictionaries

Barcode and QR Code Inspection

With 12. Barcode checked, Verify will analyse and inspect available barcodes and QR codes in the Source and New files (Comparison Mode) or in your single-file (Proofreader Mode).

This feature can be enabled easily and it will perform the identification and grading of all barcodes and QR codes available in the document.

Note: In comparison mode, the inspection is performed solely in the New file. As such, the Barcode annotation/details description will be listed for the New file only.

Braille Inspection

Video: Braille Inspection

With 13. Braille checked, Verify will analyse available Braille areas in the Source and New files (Comparison Mode) or in your single-file (Proofreader Mode).

Once selected, the language selection will be prompted on the screen.

Braille Inspection is available in 44 languages.

Note: If no Braille area is found, the following message will pop up on screen.

Layers & Spot Color Controls

14. Layers & Spot Color Controls allows the breakdown of all layers and colors identified in your uploaded files. It is possible to select or hide any combination of relevant layers and colors to be considered during your inspection.

This functionality will show the layers and colors identified in your files. In the example below, both layers and spot were identified.

You can view Layers and Spot Colors of both the Source and New files by clicking on the Source and New tabs on top on the Layers and Spot Colors Controls dropdown.

Note: You can now show/hide Layers and Spot Colors in the Prep Tab. Graphics Inspection will be affected by visibility of the Spot Colors (meaning only visible Spot Colors are inspected).

When both files have Layer & Spot Color enabled, both should have the same applied layers for an optimal inspection.

Page Selection

15. Page Selection allows you to include or exclude pages from a multi-page document when running an inspection. The options are Inspect All Pages and Page Range.

Inspect All Pages: Every page in the document gets inspected.

Page Range: Allows you to limit the inspection to the indicated pages of the Source and New files by entering the range of pages desired.

Inspect

While in the Prep tab, click 16. Inspect to run an inspection. Once completed, the inspection results will be displayed in the Results tab.

Canceling an Inspection

To cancel an Inspection:

Click on the Cancel button while an inspection is running. Your inspection will be cancelled and you will be brought back to the Prep stage.