Introducing the newest feature to our beta software, Truth Concepts 3.0: the OCR File Converter. It’s not as complicated as it sounds. In fact, this feature may make inputting your life insurance values easier than ever. This new feature will allow you to turn pictures and scans into copyable PDFs, right from the Truth Concepts software. No more difficult formatting, or even inputting illustrations by hand simply because your PDF won’t allow you to copy. One great example of this type of file is a PDF you may get from the advanced underwriting department of a special illustration, which may just be a photograph or scan. These file types don’t have the characters encoded, so you cannot copy them.
For example, if you’re traveling and have a physical copy of an insurance illustration with you, and you’d like to put it in Truth Concepts, you can. You just snap a photo or use a document scanner, move that file to your computer, and use the OCR reader to turn that image/scan into a new PDF. If you have a life insurance illustration that has unusual formatting, you can also use the OCR reader to make it copy without the formatting.
If you’re a member of TC 360, you can get special access to TC 3.0 and try the following tutorial for yourself. We hope that this will streamline your learning curve as you input values into the Life Insurance Values tool.
What is OCR?
OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. As the name implies, OCR uses software to analyze images and identify all of the characters so that they can be encoded into the PDF and therefore be copied from the document.
Until recently, OCR software has been mediocre. In other words, it hasn’t been 100% accurate all the time, however, it’s often better than inputting everything by hand in the first place. Recently, however, Todd came across some technology that combined the original Tesseract OCR engine with AI technology, which has increased the accuracy exponentially.
This new OCR technology is going to drastically improve your time inputting difficult illustrations into Truth Concepts. However, you should keep in mind that there may still be some work to do on your end to clean up. This OCR feature is still in “Beta,” so there are going to be adjustments and improvements along the way.
How to Use the Truth Concepts OCR
Step 1: Open OCR to PDF Tool
In the latest Truth Concepts 3.0 software (currently only available to TC 360 members), you can find the OCR to PDF converter under the tools tab. It is listed directly under the Life Insurance Values tool.
Once you have the OCR File Converter open, you have the option to “Select File to Convert.” If you click on those words, you’ll be prompted to select a file.
Step 2: Choose Your File
Once you select the file you wish to upload, it will present you with the option to “Convert all __ pages,” with the blank space representing the number of pages. As you know, life insurance illustrations can be lengthy, though not every single page has the information you need in order to put values into your Life Insurance Values tool. You may only need the last four pages, for example.
It’s a good idea to check ahead of time which pages you need for your scan, which can save you some time during the conversion process. If you then click on the “Convert all __ pages” button, it will toggle to allow you to choose which pages you want.
You can also upload multiple files to the OCR Converter, by clicking the “Single File Conversion” so that it toggles to “Multiple File Conversion.” From here, you can upload files that you want to convert into a single document.
Step 3: Choose Your Enhancements
If you have a scan or image that isn’t crystal clear, the OCR Converter has some advanced enhancement options you can choose.
This step may require some trial and error, and you likely won’t need to choose every enhancement. You may, for example, want to straighten out your pages. If the scan has low contrast (like black text with a grey background) you might choose to increase your image contrast. Choose a few enhancements you think are necessary, and see how they work. You can make adjustments if the file doesn’t turn out how you want it to.
Step 4: Create New Document
Once you’ve uploaded your file, chosen your pages, and identified any enhancements, it’s time to click “Create New Copyable PDF.” An hourglass symbol will show up, to indicate to you that this is working.
Note: This process can take up to 5 minutes, because it’s very CPU intensive. The computer is scanning each image for characters, which takes time. The hourglass symbol means that it is in process, so don’t worry if it isn’t immediate. You will not be able to make any adjustments to your input while it’s working.
Step 5: Find Your New PDF
When your new PDF is finished, the following box will show up letting you know. You can now find your PDF saved to the same file location as your original document. The file name will also be he same, with the word “CopyAble” added to the end.
If you click “OK” on the box, you now have the option to either “Open Newly Created PDF,” which will open your PDF in your default PDF reader, or “Open Newly Created PDF File Location.” The latter option will open your file explorer, so you can see where your file is saved on your computer.
Once you open your PDF, if your results are not clear enough due to your enhancements, you can repeat steps 2-4 to try and get a clearer PDF. When you create your new PDF, it will save with the same file name, adding a number each time so you can track how many versions you have.
Step 6: Copy and Paste Into Life Insurance Values
Now that you have your copyable PDF, you can input your values into the Life Insurance Values tool. We recommend copying and pasting by column. For example, copying and pasting everything from the premium column first, then cash value, then death benefit. However, you can do whatever is easiest for you.
If you notice anything odd in the IRR column, this is an indication that the OCR may have incorrectly translated the characters somewhere. If this happens, simply find the number corresponding to the IRR anomaly, and compare it to the original PDF. You may need to make an adjustment here or there, however, this is ultimately preferable to manually inputting all figures.
Access the Beta OCR Converter with TC 360
This new OCR converter opens up all sorts of opportunities for inputting life insurance values, especially while traveling, working on joint cases, or using scanned documents. The OCR Converter is available now with the latest Truth Concepts 3.0, available only to those with a TC 360 membership. As a part of the membership, you will also gain access to Truth Concepts Academy, which has a special OCR tutorial from Todd, from his January 2022 monthly TC 360 in 60 call.