Laserfiche Capture Engine-Convert Same File Types to Tif as Universal Capture

asked on November 28, 2016

When using Universal Capture with QuickFields, you are able to convert .bmp, .jpg, and several other formats to Laserfiche TIF's. However when using Laserfiche Capture Engine you are only able to convert PDF's to Laserfiche TIF's. Is there a reason that the Laserfiche Capture Engine is so much more limited and are there plans to add this functionality in the future?

The scenario is that we are wanting to use it to convert Forms attachments to TIF and thus the documents already exist in Laserfiche and force us to use Laserfiche Capture Engine. I understand that they can be manually converted by generating the pages via snapshot but that is not feasible for an enterprise roll-out where automation is key. We've limited the extensions they can provide in Forms but are hesitant to limit them even more to only PDF. Is there another automation that is preferred for converting the Forms image attachments (jpg, png, bmp, tif, ...) to to Lasefiche TIF's?

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replied on November 28, 2016

I just ran a TIF, a BMP, and a JPG through the Unversal Capture in QuickFields 10.1 and I assume it converted them as I show nothing for them under "Electronic Document Properties" and page info shows them as a tif.

If I go to this document in the volume it attempts to open it as a TIF.

So you are saying this document is not actually a TIF now and that QF just changes the extension as part of the import process? This seems like an issue waiting to happen as we are showing that they are TIF, storing them as TIF, reporting to the end user from a Records Management perspective that they are TIF, but they actually aren't TIF?

Also, why doesn't the Laserfiche Capture Engine do this same process then?

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View 2 previous replies

replied on November 28, 2016

I am saying the Laserfiche Server stores all images corresponding to image pages with a TIF regardless of their actual format.

Quick Fields' Universal Capture recognizes BMP, JPG and TIF documents as images and creates image pages in the documents.

Forms creates all attachments as electronic documents, regardless of their format.

Capture Engine does not interpret electronic files, it just exports them and they are kept as the electronic component of the document. Quick Fields was not designed to handle image files as a document's electronic component because that was never an expected configuration.

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replied on November 28, 2016

So now that Forms is such a massive part of Laserfiche and Records Management (in TIF format) has always been so important, what is the recommended method for converting those Forms attachments that are in image format (JPG, BMP, TIF) to Laserfiche TIF images or is it just a manual process? Is there new functionality (e.g. future QuickFields functionality, DCC enhancement, new service, ...) that is coming to assist with this?

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replied on November 28, 2016

I filed an enhancement request for Forms and we can look into adding a new process to Quick Fields that could handle that conversion.

I don't disagree that the conversion process could be easier because Windows does not have great image display tools and having image files as electronic documents makes the user experience somewhat more uneven. However, as far as records management is concerned, it does not matter whether the document has image pages, is in an electronic format or has both image pages and an electronic component. Retention schedules apply to it in all cases.

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replied on November 28, 2016

Correct Retention Schedules still apply but many retention standards (State schedules and others that are determined outside of Laserfiche) require the document to be in TIF format to constitute an original. This is why it is so imperative to have the ability to convert these as opposed to telling the end user we can only accept it in PDF because that is the only thing we know how to convert to the TIF format we need to meet the retention standards.

I do appreciate the input as I now have a clearer understanding of how the import processes (Laserfiche Capture & Universal Capture) function/differ. Also, thanks for creating an enhancement request for QuickFields. I am hoping this functionality is also added to the DCC as document conversion (from PDF, TIF, JPG, & BMP) would be a huge benefit and seems necessary to continue to grow the Forms product.

Thanks again for your help on this.

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SELECTED ANSWER

replied on December 13, 2016

On further investigation, image attachments are converted to Laserfiche image documents as of Forms 9.1. The extensions converted are based on the options under New Documents\File Conversion for the user specified in the connection profile in the Save to Laserfiche action.

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Laserfiche Capture Engine-Convert Same File Types to Tif as Universal Capture

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