ReadSoft FORMS options

The settings on the Options tab in the UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Paper/Scan Add‑on Options dialog box define a number of scanner and other ReadSoft FORMS settings that are used to set up the form definitions in ReadSoft FORMS when you run the Transfer to Scanning Software command in UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Paper/Scan Add‑on.

Note that these settings are passed to ReadSoft FORMS only if the scanner is connected, its power is on, and the appropriate driver is installed.

Option	Description
Light %	Sets the light setting. The default is 25%, which is generally recommended for questionnaires with a white or lightly-colored background. You may want to change this setting if background color in the response fields reduces the quality of the scanned image. Decrease the value if the images are light or weak.
Contrast %	Sets the contrast setting. 60% is generally recommended for forms with a white or lightly-colored background. Decrease this value if the contrast of the scanned page is poor.

The Light and Contrast settings in UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Paper/Scan Add‑on override the default settings in the ReadSoft FORMS Manager Scanner Settings dialog box.

ReadSoft FORMS has a number of system variables that can optionally be stored with the scanned data in ReadSoft FORMS. Click Configure to define which ReadSoft FORMS system variables you want to store in ReadSoft FORMS with the scanned data.

Sets the Rotate scanning setting. This is typically used when you want to reduce scanning times by scanning portrait-oriented pages in landscape mode.

For example, if you are scanning portrait-oriented pages in landscape mode, enter 270 if you are feeding the left side of the page into the scanner first, or enter 90 if you are feeding the right side of the scanner first.

For example, if you are scanning portrait-oriented pages in landscape mode and you are feeding the right side of odd-numbered pages and the left side of even-numbered pages into the scanner first, enter 90 for the odd-numbered pages and 270 for the even-numbered pages. (Remember that you must have Mirror margins set in Word to scan double-sided questionnaires.)

When you use these options, UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Paper/Scan Add‑on rotates the page descriptions and the individual field definitions by the specified number of degrees before it passes the questionnaire details to ReadSoft FORMS. You do not need to specify these changes in ReadSoft FORMS. If you do so, or if the number of degrees does not match the way you load the pages into the scanner, the pages will be scanned incorrectly. An exception to this is when you want to scan double-sided questionnaires: for more information, see Scanning double-sided questionnaires.

Select this option to treat the mark fields in each categorical question and subquestion as a group. This results in the ReadSoft FORMS category values being defined as 1+, which means that ReadSoft FORMS automatically assigns ascending values to the categories in each question or subquestion. (These values are used internally by ReadSoft FORMS and do not affect the category values in the data when it is exported by UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Paper/Scan Add‑on Transfer.) This option leads to improved validation because all of the categories in the question or subquestion are treated as a group, which means that ReadSoft FORMS correctly recognizes the minimum and maximum values defined in the questionnaire definition and applies them correctly to the question or subquestion, rather than to each category individually. This option is recommended, especially if you are using UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Paper/Scan Add‑on Transfer to export your data from ReadSoft FORMS.

Note With the exception of the Light, Contrast, and Rotation settings described above, default settings in the ReadSoft FORMS Manager Scanner Settings dialog box are automatically applied to all forms in the job when you run the Transfer to Scanning Software command in UNICOM Intelligence Interviewer - Paper/Scan Add‑on. For more information about the ReadSoft FORMS options, see the ReadSoft FORMS documentation.