OCR - Google Cloud Vision

Tuesday, 5 September 2017

To use the Google Cloud Vision OCR service, you must first have a Google Account.

The Create your Google Account page takes you through these steps.

Note: Since the OCR service is configured under Global Settings in finPOWER Connect, only a single Google Account is required for the entire database.

Accessing the Google Cloud Platform

finPOWER Connect uses Google Cloud Vision API service which is part of the Google Cloud Platform. Therefore, you must first subscribe to the Google Cloud Platform:

  1. Sign in at https://cloud.google.com/ using your Google Account credentials.
  2. Click the "TRY IT FREE" button at the top-right of the page:
    Try It Free link
  3. Fill in the relevant information to complete your registration.

Gaining Access to the Cloud Vision API

  1. Launch the Google Cloud Platform console available at https://console.cloud.google.com
  2. Select the "APIs & Services" option.
  3. Click the "ENABLE APIS AND SERVICES" button:
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  4. Select the "Vision API" link:
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  5. Click the "ENABLE" button:
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Generating an API Key

For finPOWER Connect to be able to use the Cloud Vision service, an API key is required.

These first steps are to add API Credentials. If you already have these then skip to the next set of instructions.

  1. Click the "Credentials" link and then the "Create credentials" button and select "API key":
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  2. This generates a new API key:
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You must now allow this API key to use the Cloud Vision API:

  1. Click the "Library" link and select the "Vision API" link.
  2. Click the "Selected" button and ensure the new API key is checked:
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Configuring finPOWER Connect

The final step is to copy the API key into finPOWER Connect.

  1. Click the "Credentials" link and then select your API key.
  2. Use the "Copy" icon to copy the API key to the clipboard:
    Created from paste into Topic content

In finPOWER Connect:

  1. Open the Tools, Global Settings form.
  2. Switch to the Documents, OCR page.
  3. Ensure "Google Cloud Vision" is the selected OCR service.
  4. Paste in the API key:
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  5. Use the "Verify" button to check that finPOWER Connect can connect to the Google Cloud View service.