After installation, configuration consists of specifying Global Settings, such as the polling interval and application log file settings, defining Output Definitions, which define how electronic documents are handed off to Capture, and Import Processes, which define the polling location and import processing options for documents, tied to an Output Definition. Notify Settings can also be configured to send email notifications in the case of an application shutdown.

1. Configure Global settings on the Global Settings tab. This includes the polling interval, location of the application log file, location of the Tungsten “Bin” directory, and login settings for Tungsten Capture. 
   
   
2. Configure at least one Output Definition on the Output Definitions tab. An Output Definition designates how Image Express™ will interact with an Ascent Capture Batch Definition. For instance, documents can be handed off to Tungsten as a “batch”, in which Tungsten recognition will be used for document separation and form recognition, or as documents, in which each original electronic file is treated as a discrete document of a specified Form Type in Tungsten. Output definitions also provide for mapping information about each electronic import file to Tungsten Batch fields. For instance, the original file name, file date or date + time, or the descriptive location of where a file came from – for instance “3^rd Floor Copier”. An Output Definition may be referenced by more than one Import Process. 
   
   
3. If documents will be imported from Email, configure at least one email address on the Email Accounts tab
   
   
4. Configure at least one Import Process on the Import Processes tab. An Import Process specifies the network folder location or Email Address that will be polled (mapped or UNC), as well as the file types (TIF, PDF or both) that will be included in the polling. The Import Process also provides additional Descriptive labels that can be forwarded to Tungsten about the polling location. It also contains settings that limit the size of batches sent to Tungsten, based on the Number of Files or the cumulative size of files accessed within each polling interval. An Import Queue also designates the Output Definitions that will be used when sending files to Tungsten Capture.
   
   
5. (Optional) On the Notify Settings tab, provide notification email configuration information (SMTP Settings).
   

 To begin Configuration, open Image Express from the Start menu, or from the desktop icon and configure the Laserfiche Login tab.

Tab-by-Tab Configuration 

Global Settings Tab

Global Settings
The Global Settings tab establishes overall processing parameters for Image Express™. Click on “Edit Settings” to make changes to existing settings, and be sure to “Save Settings” when complete.

Polling Interval

The polling interval is expressed in Hours & Minutes in the form HH:MM. The example above polls the folders specified in the Active profiles every 15 minutes. The polling interval should be set to a value which allows processing of the expected volume of files before the next polling interval, though there is handling within Image Express™ to confirm that a prior polling interval’s activities are completed before the next polling interval is initiated.

Application Settings

Log File Location

Image Express™ writes startup and shutdown messages to the Windows Application Event log, and more detailed processing information to a separate text file. The default location of this file is the Application Data directory on the local machine, which is C:\ProgramData\Bluelake Software\Image Express\ImageExpress40.log.

Log Imports with Errors / Log All Imports
You can opt to only track Error events in the log file (“Log Imports with Errors”) or choose verbose logging which logs activities for successful imports as well (“Log All”).

Retain Accepted Files
By default, only files that encounter an error on Import into Tungsten Capture are saved in a REJECTED subfolder, beneath the specified Tungsten Folder location (see below). Checking the “Retain Accepted Files” option will cause all files to be saved after import, including successful imports. Successful imports will be saved the an ACCEPTED subfolder. 

Reasons for file rejection include invalid image file formats, network issues in reaching a polling or output location, Tungsten licensing issues, Tungsten configuration problems, or issues with user profiles and security being enabled without providing proper Tungsten login information to Image Express™.

Kofax Capture Settings

Login Name/Password
If user profiles are enabled in Tungsten Capture, a login name and password are required for Image Express™ to login to Tungsten. In addition, the specified user login must be granted rights to the Scan Queue as well as to the individual Tungsten Batch Definitions referenced in any active Output Profiles.

Work Folder Location
Image Express™ creates several processing folders beneath this specified Work Folder location. These folders are called ACCEPTED, REJECTED, IMPORT and CONTROL. The IMPORT and CONTROL folders are work folders used by the Image Express™ process. The ACCEPTED and REJECTED folders contain processed files. The ACCEPTED folder will remain empty unless the Retain Accepted Files option under application settings is checked. 

Click the browse  button to navigate to a mapped folder location, or manually provide a UNC path (see performance note below).

 For best performance, specify a Work Folder Location that is on the same machine on which Image Express™ is installed. This will minimize any extra bandwidth needed to copy image files to additional network locations.

It is recommended to keep this folder path as short as possible, because it is included in a Command string sent to Tungsten Capture, that has maximum length limitations.  If there is an extra drive letter configured on the machine, it is suggested to use a value like D:\ImageExpress4.0, otherwise used C:\ImageExpress4.0 but ensure there is at least 50GB of available space on the selected drive.

Kofax Capture Path Location

Image Express™ interacts with the Tungsten Capture XML Import module (ACXMLAI.EXE) and needs to know the path to the "Bin" directory where this file is located. Depending on the type of Capture installation (network vs standalone), and whether the Image Express process is running on the Tungsten Server or another workstation, this location will vary. 

Click the browse  button to browse to a mapped folder location, or manually provide the local "Bin" directory path.

Click "Save Settings" to save the Global Settings before moving on to the other tabs.

Output Definitions Tab

Output Definitions

The Output Definitions tab allows configuration of one or more Output Definitions. An Output Definition references a Tungsten Batch Class and establishes how Image Express™ will deliver the documents to Capture: As a Batch of documents that will be passed on to the Recognition process in Capture for separation and Form Identification, or as a collection of pre-separated documents of a particular Capture Form Type. At least one Output Definition must be defined to Image Express™ for any folder polling to take place.

To add a new Output Definition, click the Add button:


Provide a name for the Output Definition and click OK:

Back on the Output Definitions tab, provide the Batch Class Name.

NOTE: in our basic example, the Definition Name we chose for the Output Definition matches the Batch Class Name itself, but in other scenarios, an Output Definition Name could be more reflective of the properties of the documents as they are to be delivered to Tungsten. For instance, "Sample Batch Class - Pre-Separated". Likewise, multiple polling profiles could point to the same Output Definition.

Output Options

Output as Batches / Output as Document options:

When files are imported into Tungsten Capture by Image Express™, they can be imported in two ways:

1. As Batches, where identification of each document and form type will be determined by subsequent processing in Tungsten Capture – i.e. by Recognition or Xtrata processing or manual identification in Quality Control.
   
   Create One Batch Per Imported File
   If "Create One Batch Per Imported File" is checked, each individual file pulled from the polling location will be handed off as a separate batch within Tungsten. This option is useful if the electronic files are large, containing multiple documents. 
   
   
2. As Documents, where each individual electronic file imported will be handed off to Tungsten as a discrete document, of the form type specified, as illustrated below with the form type “New Form Type”.
   
   

Batch Fields

There are 5 system values available within Image Express™ that can be assigned to Batch-level fields within Tungsten. These values are passed from the Import Process that references the Output Definition.

System Value	Description
Original File Name	The name of the file as it existed in the polling location.
Original File Date	The date of the file as it existed in the polling location.
Original File Date/Time	The date and time of the file as it existed in the polling location.
Import Location	The “Location” value provided in the Import Profile definition.
Control FileName	The name of the file as it was known to Tungsten Capture

Within Capture, these Batch Fields can be pulled down to the individual Document Class field level by setting Document Class default values equal to the Batch Field values. The usefulness of these fields may vary according to the combination of settings selected for the Output as Batch vs. Output as Document Settings, and/or the “Create One Batch per Document” setting.

To assign any of these values, provide the EXACT index field name as it is defined in the Properties of the Document Class with Tungsten Capture, as shown below:

Click "Save Settings" to save the current Output Definition settings BEFORE moving on to the other tabs.

Import Profiles Tab

Configuring Import Processes

An Import Process defines a windows network polling location or inbound email address, with additional attributes and options applied to it. Each unique import location is configured as an individual Import Process.

To define a new process, click the Add button:

Provide a unique name for the Import process and click OK to save:

We recommend keeping the Process Name as short as possible as this is one of the fields that is passed as part of a command string to Capture, and command strings cannot exceed a certain length. You can use the Description field to provide more information about the location.

Back on the Import Process tab, fill in additional information as outlined below:

Description

Provide a description for the Import Process - in our simple scenario we will make it match the Process Name. The description helps to distinguish cases where there may be multiple, similar locations -for instance, "Purchase Orders from St Cloud". This field can also be mapped to a Batch field via the Output Definition, which can in turn be mapped down to a document class level within the Capture batch.

Source Type

Select Polling folder or Email Import. If Email Import is selected, you must first configure an inbound Email Account from the Email Accounts tab and select it here.

Polling Directory (not applicable to Email accounts)

Click the browse button   to select a mapped drive location, or paste in a UNC path to the desired polling location  - for instance \\server01\Documents\Out.

NOTE: The account under which the Image Express Service will run MUST have rights to access the polling folder on a Read/Write basis. If the polling location is on another machine, the account login for the Image Express 4.0 service needs to be changed from the default “LocalSystem” account to a domain account with access to the polling folder. 

Output Definition

Click the dropdown to select an Output Definition that was created earlier on the Output Definitions tab

The defined Output Definition will provide for mapping of system values such as “Description”, original import file names, etc. to the Kofax Batch Class.

Include File Types

Check one or more entries for TIF/TIFF, PDF, or Other file types. If other file types is checked, a value MUST be provided in the “Other” box, consisting of one or more filename patterns separated by commas. For instance “*.jpg,*.bmp” as shown below.

Batch Size Limits

It is possible and in fact advisable to limit the size of batches forwarded to Capture. There are two options for doing this:

1. Based on the number of import files per batch
   
2. Based on the cumulative size of the files in MB.
   
3. Both options - whichever measure is met first will govern the cutoff of the particular batch.

At each polling interval, all electronic documents meeting the specified file type criteria will be converted to live Kofax Batches. If size limits are specified, a new Kofax Batch will be created each time the particular limit is reached. 

If neither value is provided, the system will default to 50 files per batch, with no limit on cumulative size per batch in megabytes. To turn off batch size limits, set both values to zero.

Test This Import Profile
Click the button to immediately execute the selected Import Process.

 Suspend this Process
Checking this box and saving the change will make the selected Import Process inactive. It will no longer be executed by the running service.

Click "Save Settings" to save the current Import Process settings.

Emails Accounts Tab

Configuring Inbound Email Accounts

In addition to network folder locations, email addresses can be configured for polling by Image Express.

Notifications tab

Configuring Notifications

Image Express can be configured so that when there is an issue with the Image Express service which causes it to shut down, an email notification can be sent to one or more email addresses.

Other tab

The Other tab includes an option to convert 8-bit grayscale images, which are incompatible and non-readable by Capture, to compatible 1-bit black and white renderings.

 Product Licensing

When first installed, Image Express is granted a 14 day, 500 document demonstration license. After install, to view the license status, select Help, License Status, as shown below: