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IDNow User Manual

Copyright 1998 - 2007 KB Software Trademark names used in this manual are the property of their respective owners.

About............................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Installation .................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Getting Started.............................................................................................................................................................. 7 Menu Options ............................................................................................................................................................. 10 Shortcut Keys ............................................................................................................................................................. 14 Toolbar ....................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Open Access Database ............................................................................................................................................... 17 New Access Database................................................................................................................................................. 18 Open SQL Server Database........................................................................................................................................ 19 New SQL Server Database......................................................................................................................................... 20 Change Password ....................................................................................................................................................... 21 Card Details ................................................................................................................................................................ 22 Finding An Existing Database Record ....................................................................................................................... 27 Print History ............................................................................................................................................................... 28 Field Summary ........................................................................................................................................................... 29 Photographs, Signatures and Fingerprints.................................................................................................................. 30 Colour Adjustment ..................................................................................................................................................... 34 Sort ............................................................................................................................................................................. 35 Multiple Layout/Package Print Setup......................................................................................................................... 36 Payments .................................................................................................................................................................... 37 Entry Notes................................................................................................................................................................. 39 Database Notes ........................................................................................................................................................... 40 Data Display ............................................................................................................................................................... 41 Photo Lineup .............................................................................................................................................................. 43 Quick Search .............................................................................................................................................................. 45 Surname Search .......................................................................................................................................................... 46 Card Layouts .............................................................................................................................................................. 47 Text And Database Field Properties........................................................................................................................... 54 Barcode Properties...................................................................................................................................................... 57 Image Poperties .......................................................................................................................................................... 60 Magenetic Stipe Properties......................................................................................................................................... 62 Shape Properties ......................................................................................................................................................... 64 Photograph Properties ................................................................................................................................................ 65 Signature Properties.................................................................................................................................................... 67 Fingerprint Properties................................................................................................................................................. 69 PDF417 2D Barcode Properties ................................................................................................................................. 71 DataMatrix 2D Barcode ............................................................................................................................................. 73 2D Barcode Fields ...................................................................................................................................................... 75 Concatenate Fields...................................................................................................................................................... 76 layout Setup ................................................................................................................................................................ 78 Assign Layouts ........................................................................................................................................................... 80 Copy Layout ............................................................................................................................................................... 81 View All Layout Objects............................................................................................................................................ 82 Packages ..................................................................................................................................................................... 83

Print Current Card and Quick Print ............................................................................................................................ 84 Batch Print .................................................................................................................................................................. 86 Print Membership/Loyalty Cards ............................................................................................................................... 90 Print Templates........................................................................................................................................................... 92 Contact Sheet.............................................................................................................................................................. 93 Contact Sheet Barcode Properties .............................................................................................................................. 96 Clear Print Flags ......................................................................................................................................................... 97 Reports........................................................................................................................................................................ 98 Audit Log ................................................................................................................................................................. 100 Find Cards About To Expire Contractor/Temp About To Expire............................................................................ 103 Missing/Invalid Date ................................................................................................................................................ 104 Setup Options ........................................................................................................................................................... 105 User Defined Fields.................................................................................................................................................. 112 Dropdown List Entries ............................................................................................................................................. 114 External Card Details Database Setup...................................................................................................................... 115 Default Layout Setup................................................................................................................................................ 119 Printers...................................................................................................................................................................... 121 Print Types ............................................................................................................................................................... 123 Charge Rate .............................................................................................................................................................. 124 Receipt Setup............................................................................................................................................................ 125 Data Import............................................................................................................................................................... 126 Data Export............................................................................................................................................................... 129 Access Database Import ........................................................................................................................................... 130 Import Layouts From Another Database.................................................................................................................. 132 Update A Field ......................................................................................................................................................... 133 Copy A Field ............................................................................................................................................................ 135 Move A Field............................................................................................................................................................ 136 Delete A Field .......................................................................................................................................................... 137 Remove Trailing Spaces From Data......................................................................................................................... 138 Generate Barcodes.................................................................................................................................................... 139 Create New Entries................................................................................................................................................... 141 Check For Duplicates ............................................................................................................................................... 142 Clear Print History.................................................................................................................................................... 143 Delete Card Details................................................................................................................................................... 144 Export Photographs .................................................................................................................................................. 145 Image Conversion..................................................................................................................................................... 147 Change Photograph Zoom/Offset............................................................................................................................. 149 Rename Photos/Signatures/Fingerprints .................................................................................................................. 150 Import Fox ID 3 Database ........................................................................................................................................ 151 Import Fox ID 3 Photos/Signatures.......................................................................................................................... 152 Import Images Into IDNow Database....................................................................................................................... 153 Export Images From IDNow Database .................................................................................................................... 154 Export Database........................................................................................................................................................155 Compact Current Database.......................................................................................................................................158 Using Digital and Analogue Cameras ......................................................................................................................159 Security Options .......................................................................................................................................................162

Serial Number........................................................................................................................................................... 166 Registering IDNow................................................................................................................................................... 167 Support Contact ........................................................................................................................................................ 168 Upgrade To Professional/Professional Plus Version Of IDNow ............................................................................. 169 Canon Compact Digital Camera............................................................................................................................... 170 Topaz Signature Tablet Settings............................................................................................................................... 173 Topaz IDGem Fingerprint Scanner .......................................................................................................................... 174 ACS AET60 Fingerprint Scanner............................................................................................................................. 175 Windows Tablet Devices.......................................................................................................................................... 176 Student Slips............................................................................................................................................................. 178 Backup...................................................................................................................................................................... 181 Restore...................................................................................................................................................................... 182 IDNow Visitor System ............................................................................................................................................. 183 Visitors Not Signed Out ........................................................................................................................................... 185 Visitor Log ............................................................................................................................................................... 186 IDNow Versions....................................................................................................................................................... 187

Introduction
The IDNow software system is an ID card database and printing system designed to be used with plastic ID card printers but can also be used with any Microsoft Windows colour and black and white printer. The system is designed to be used as a stand alone card printing application and under normal circumstances requires no interaction with other software, other than the import/export of information as required. Optionally, almost any database, provided there is an ODBC driver available for the database, as a READ ONLY source of IDNow card details (Professional version only). There are many configurable options in IDNow and it is suggested you familiarise yourself with these in order to get the maximum benefit from IDNow. Note: Any functions that state that they are only available in the Profession version of IDNow only are also available in the Photo Edition. Any functions that state that they are only available in the Photo Edition of IDNow are not available in any other version. The evaluation version of IDNow is the full featured Photo Edition. If you purchase the Lite or Professional version of IDNow some functions will not be available. If you wish to store large numbers of images within the database and/or will be using the database across a Local Area Network or Wide Area Network you may want to consider using SQL Server 2000 for your IDNow database rather than the standard Access database. There is an Upsize option if you want to do this at a later stage. Note: SQL Server 2000 is not supplied with IDNow. The software offers WYSIWYG card layout design, configurable data fields, photo and image support with various interfaces into digital still and both digital and analogue video cameras. There are also a number of data and photograph manipulations functions available. Support for high resolution photographs without a need to convert to IDNow size format. Support for both individual and common digital signatures. Photographs and/or Signatures may either be stored as individual graphics files or stored in the IDNow database. Refer to Setup Options for more information on this option. The following help topics should provide the information you need to setup and use IDNow. Pressing the F1 key while most IDNow windows are open will display the relevant on-line help for that window. You can also use the Index and Search options within the on-line help file.

Installation
The IDNow software may be installed on the following versions of Windows: Windows 98 Windows Millennium Windows 2000 Windows NT 4 SP5 or better Windows XP Microsoft has withdrawn all support for Windows 95. IDNow may install and run on Windows 95 with all updates and IE6 installed but no guarantees are given. Internet Explorer 6 must be installed. IE6 installation is on the IDNow CD if required. IDNow requires up to 20 megabytes of disk space for its installation but may require up to 50 megabytes during the installation process. If you install DirectX 9 requires a further 15 megabytes of disk space is required and up to 55 megabytes during the installation process. Most Firewire or I-Link products are only supported on Windows98 Second Edition or better. A screen resolution of 800x600 or better with a colour depth of 16 bit or better. To install the IDNow ID Card printing software just insert the program CD into the CD drive and it should automatically execute. If the auto-execute function has been disabled on your system then just click Start button and select Run. Enter D:\SETUP.EXE and click OK button. If your CD drive is not D then enter the appropriate drive letter. After the program has been installed or during the installation you may be required to reboot the computer. The install program will normally do this for you. If the reboot is required during the installation, the install will continue automatically when the computer restarts. You can now run the IDNow program.

Getting Started With IDNow


If this is the first time you have used IDNow or are unfamiliar with how to use the software then please take a few minutes to read this section of the on-line help file. This help file contains many links (in green and underlined) to other sections that contain more information on how to use a particular function. Just click on the link to jump to that section. IDNow is basically software that will enable you create ID cards on your card printer. It has many functions including designing card layouts, capturing photographs, signatures and fingerprints, storing details to be printed and image and data manipulation functions. While many of these can be quite complex the software has been designed to make most of these operations as simple as possible. If you read and understand the basic steps below you should find you can create professional ID cards very quickly. There is a demonstration database called demo.mdb. If you like you can open this database (File menu Open IDNow Database) and get an idea of how to design a card layout (Production menu, Layout Designer). There are sample layouts for double sided cards, cards with a magnetic stripe and cards with no database fields (membership type cards). It is recommended that you understand what the different menu options and toolbar buttons do. Pressing the F1 key while most IDNow windows are open will display the relevant on-line help for that window. You can also use the Index and Search options within the on-line help file. The system will remember which database you last had open and the next time the program is started it will automatically open this database. You may also have more than one database open at a time. All menu options apply to the currently active database. There is no interaction available between databases other than the ability to import layouts from other databases. Basic Card Production Instructions Creating a new database The first task within IDNow is to create a new database. A database is required not only to store the card details but also contains the setup information and card layouts. It is recommended that you maintain separate databases for each client, if relevant. To create a new database click on the File menu and select Create new IDNow Database. You should then use the Browse Window to locate the folder that you wish to store the database in. Enter the file name you wish to have for the database. Click the Save button. The database will be created in the location selected with the name you have entered. The database will be opened and the Setup Details screen displayed. You should enter a screen name for the database. If you intend linking photographs, signatures or fingerprints to database entries you should enter the path where these should be stored. Unless you intend to store the images in the IDNow database do not enable the Store Photographs in IDNow Database option. Most of the Setup defaults are acceptable for the most common tasks but you should familiarise yourself with the various options in Setup Options. The first time IDNow is opened you will be asked if you want to create a new database. The system will remember which database you last had open and the next time the program is started it will

automatically open this database. You may also have more than one database open at a time. All menu options apply to the currently active database. There is no interaction available between databases other than the ability to import layouts from other databases. Setup the database fields After creating a new database the next task is to setup the database fields you wish to use in IDNow. Tools/User Defined Fields. IDNow can have up to 30 alphanumeric fields. The Caption for each field many be changed to something meaningful for you. Fields not used or required my be turned off by unticking the Visible option for each field. There are a number of options for each field which are explained in User Defined Fields. Setup your card printer The printer you intend using for your card production must be selected in Printers. Tools/Printers. Select the printer to be used for card printing and reports from the list. More information on this may is available in Printers. Design your card layouts/templates Once the above has been completed you can now get to the task of designing what your cards will look like. Layout Designer menu option. The first time you open this function a new layout will be created and you can decide if your card will have the orientation of Landscape or Portrait. IDNow supports the creation of as many different layouts as you like. You may have up to 50 different objects on a card consisting of Text, Database, Barcodes, Magnetic Stripes, Logos, Photographs, Signature, fingerprints, Shapes, 2D Barcodes or Counters. To insert an object just right-click, on blank section of the layout, where you would like the object placed on the layout and select the object you wish to insert. Most objects may be moved by selecting it with the left mouse button and dragging it, while holding the left mouse button down, to the position desired. You may also change the size of most objects by selecting it and dragging the blue handles to create the size required. Most objects also have properties associated with them. Double clicking on an object will display the properties for the object. Pressing F1 will display the Help screen for the particular properties screen. Objects may be placed on both the front and back of a card layout. It is important, particularly with database fields, to ensure that the field is wide enough to accommodate the information that may be printed on the card. Right clicking on an object will also display various option for that object. More information on Layouts is available in the Card Layouts section. Once you have designed your card layout you should save it after giving it a name. Setup Default Layouts Once you have designed your layouts it is a good idea to set the default layout. Tools/Default Layouts. This allows IDNow to automatically assign a card layout to a database entry based on the information contained in the entry and/or to just use a particular layout if one is not entered in the Card Details. If you only have one layout then you should select this at the bottom of the default layout screen. If you have multiple layouts and wish to have IDNow assign a layout based on the information in that entry then you should setup the conditional default layouts if desired. More information on this function can be seen in Default Layout Setup.

Enter Card Details If applicable, you should now enter you Card Details. A card detail entry should be created for each card you wish to print. It contains the variable information applicable to that card, such as Name, Employee Number, Department etc. Card details may be entered manually or imported using the Import functions under the Tools menu. Photographs, Signatures and Fingerprints may be associated with each database entry if required. These can be obtained using the Photo menu options or loaded from a disk file by right clicking on the image panel on the Card Details screen. Refer to the Card Details section for more information. Print Cards There are a number of ways to print cards. They can be printed one at a time using the Production/Print Current Card menu option or F9 Quick Print. Refer to Print Current Card for more details. Cards may be printed in batches using the Production/Batch Print Cards menu option. This option offers a number of printing options and filters which may better suit those printing large numbers of cards. Refer to Batch Print Cards for more information. If printing cards that do not contain any database details, other than a counter, you can use the Production/Print Membership/Loyalty Cards function. Refer to Print membership/Loyalty Cards section for more information. Tools There are a number of functions available under the Tools menu to help manage your database information better. Most are only available in the Professional version of IDNow. If you prefer IDNow can use almost any existing external database that has an installed ODBC driver as a READ ONLY source of card details. Direct connect support for Access, SQL Server 2000, Oracle and DBase 5 databases is also provided. You must still create an IDNow database which is used to store the links between your external database and IDNow. This option is only available in the Professional version. Areas of IDNow that may be of interest are: Photographs and Signatures Menu Options Toolbar buttons If you have any problems or questions please contact us via e-mail at support@kbsoft.com.au NOTE: If you are using the 'Standard/Lite' version of IDNow, some functions are disabled and only available in the Professional or Photo Edition versions. Some advanced formatting features are only available in the Photo Edition version. If you have the Standard/Lite version and would like to upgrade to the Professional or Photo Edition version you can get further information on the Upgrade page.

Menu Options
The IDNow menu options allow you to select the various functions within the program. Note: Not all menu options are available to all versions of IDNow. The appearance of some menu options depends on your setup options. File menu Open Database - Allows you to open an existing IDNow database. You may have multiple databases open at the one time. All functions you select apply to the currently active database window. There is no interaction between databases other than the option to import layouts from another database. IDNow will remember the last database that you had open and will attempt to open this database when you next open the program. Close Database - Closes the currently active database. New Database - Allows you to create a new database. You will asked for the location and name of the new database. Once entered the database will be created and you will be asked to enter the basic setup details for this database. Quick Search - Allows you quickly locate a particular Card Detail record. This option may be accessed via the F12 shortcut key.

Refresh Data - This option may be used to refresh the Card Details data. This option may be useful in a network environment where data may have been added or modified from a another location while you are using it. If doing a search for a particular database entry and it is not found then IDNow will automatically refresh the data and try to locate the entry again before displaying a message to say it could not find the entry. This option may be accessed via the F5 shortcut key. Recently Opened - This menu option will display a list of up to 10 recently opened databases. When you start IDNow the entry at the top of the list is always opened by default. If you have multiple database open the active will be the one at the top of the list. If you close IDNow with multiple databases open then the order of the recent list will depend on the order in which Windows closes each database. To open one of the entries in the list just click on that entry. Change Password - This option, if enabled, allows you to change your IDNow login password. Exit - Closes all databases that are open and exits the program Sort menu Allows you to set the sort options for the currently active database. View Menu - Contains various options for viewing the details contained in IDNow. Layout Designer - This option is used to create, design and maintain layouts or templates that are used to print cards.

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Production menu Print Current Card - May be used to print the card for the currently displayed database record. Batch Print Cards - This option is used to print cards in a batch run. Print Membership/Loyalty Cards - this option allows you to produce cards that are not associated with any database information. Quick Print - May be used to print the card for the currently displayed database record with a Print Type of 'New Card'. Clear Print Flag - Use to clear any database records that may have had the Print flag enabled. Clear Reprint Flag - Use to clear any database records that may have had the Reprint flag enabled. Photos menu Capture From Kodak Digital Still Camera - Used to capture photos from Kodak DCxxx cameras. Capture From VideoVue Video Camera - This option is used when capturing images from an analogue video camera connected to a VideoVue capture card. Capture From Video Camera - Used to capture images from a digital video camera and some analogue video capture cards connected to the computer. Capture From Topaz Signature Tablet - If enabled (ticked) this is the device that will be used when the F6 key is pressed or button is clicked to capture signatures. Capture Signature From Windows Tablet Device - If enabled (ticked) this is the device that will be used when the button is clicked to capture signatures. F6 key is pressed or Capture From Canon Compact Digital Camera - Use to capture photographs from Canon compact digital cameras. Capture Fingerprint From Topaz IDGem Scanner - Used to capture fingerprint from the Topaz fingerprint scanners. Capture Fingerprint From ACS AET60 Scanner - Used to capture fingerprints from the ACS AET60 scanner. Capture Photograph - This option may be used to capture photographs from digital and VideoVue video cameras. This option may also be accessed via the F8 key and Photo Capture button on the toolbar.

Capture Signature - This option may be used to capture signatures from digital video cameras or Topaz Signature Tablets if installed. This option may also be accessed via the F6 key and Signature Capture button on the toolbar.

Acquire From Twain Device - This option may be used to acquire a photograph, signature or fingerprint from the currently selected twain device. This option is the same as using the Acquire option when you right-click on the photograph, signature or fingerprint. Just click in the frame that you want to use the twain device with and press the F11 key. You need to be sure that you have selected the twain device to use first though using the Select Source option. This option may also be accessed via the F11 key and Acquire button on the toolbar.

Reports menu The reports menu options can be used to produce reports relating to your card data. 11

Tools menu The Tools menu options allow you to setup/configure the various options with the IDNow program. There are also a number of utility functions available. Setup - This is where the basic options are set for the currently active database. User Defined Fields - Allows for the customisation of database field labels and also which fields are to be used for barcodes and magnetic stripes. Dropdown List Entries - Allows for the entry of dropdown list options. External Card Details Database Setup - Allows for the access of card detail entries from an external database source. Default Layouts - Allows for the setup of assigning layouts based on the information contained in a card detail entry. Printers - This option is used to set the card and default reports printers. Edit Print Types - This option may be used to edit the Print Types used by IDNow. Charge Rates - This option may be used to setup charge rates for different layouts/print types. Receipt Setup - This option is used to configure receipts that may be produced by IDNow. Import Text File - This option allows for the import of card details from a delimited text file. Export To Text File - Allows for the export of database records to a delimited text file. Import Access Database - Allows for the import of card details from an Access database created by another application. Import Fox ID 3 Database Data - Allows for the import of Fox 3 database information into IDNow. Import Fox ID Photos/Signatures - Allows for the import of Fox 3 Photos and Signatures into IDNow. Import Layouts From Another Database - This option enables you to import card layouts from another IDNow database. Update A Field - Allows you to change the data in any field for the entire database. Copy A Field - Allows you to copy the data from one field to another field for the entire database. Move A Field - Allows you to move the data from one field to another field for the entire database. Delete A Field - Allows you to Delete the data from a field for the entire database. Remove Trailing Spaces From Data - This function removes all trailing spaces from data that has been entered.Generate Barcodes - This option is used for the generation of barcodes and also the automatic generation of barcode numbers. Data Display - This option displays all data contained in the IDNow database. Check For Duplicates - This option checks for duplicate card detail entries. Clear Print History - This function may be used to clear the print history from the Card Details screen. Delete Card Details - This option may be used to delete any existing Card Detail database records Export Photographs- This option may be used to export your existing IDNow photographs to a folder and optionally change the file name, size, colour depth and image type. Image Conversion - This utility may be used to perform a batch conversion of existing images/photographs to make them more suitable for use with IDNow. Rename Photos/Signatures/Fingerprints - This function can be used to change the link field for these images. Import Images Into IDNow Database - This function may be used to import images stored externally into the IDNow database. Export Images From IDNow Database - This function may be used to export images stored in the IDNow database to individual image files. Export Database - This option may be used to export your existing IDNow database to either a new or existing IDNow Access or Microsoft SQL Server database (SQL Server not supplied).

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Security menu - This function may be used to setup security options in IDNow. Window menu This is the standard Windows menu option that allows you change how the currently open windows or forms are displayed. Help menu IDNow Help Contents - This option will display the contents of the IDNow on-line help file. Pressing the F1 key while most IDNow windows are open will display the relevant on-line help for that window. About - This option displays version and contact/support information. There is also a toolbar which contains shortcuts to the most commonly used menu options.

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Shortcut Keys
IDNow has a number of shortcut keys (Function Keys) that may be used to quickly access commonly used functions. F1 - This shortcut is used to display the on-line help file. The help will be displayed for the current screen. F3 - This shortcut may be used to find an existing database entry. F4 - This shortcut may be used to call up the Surname Search function F5 - This shortcut may be used to refresh the Card Details data. This option may be useful in a network environment where data may have been added or modified from a another location while you are using it. If doing a search for a particular database entry and it is not found then IDNow will automatically refresh the data and try to locate the entry again before displaying a message to say it could not find the entry. F6 - This shortcut may be used to capture an signature from a digital video camera currently displaying its preview on the screen. This option may also be used if you have a Topaz Signature Tablet installed and have enabled the Capture From Topaz Signature Tablet under the Photo menu. F7 - This shortcut may be used to display the Card Preview for the current entry. The F9 key may be used from the Card Preview screen to print the card. F8 - This shortcut may be used to capture an image from either a digital or VideoVue video camera currently displaying its preview on the screen. F9 - This shortcut may be used to print the currently selected card detail record as a 'New Card' without the user having to enter any options. F11 - This shortcut may be used to access the Acquire From Twain Device function for the import of photographs, signatures and fingerprint via a twain source. Just click in the frame that you want to use the twain device with and press the F11 key. You need to be sure that you have selected the twain device to use first though using the Select Source option. F12 - This shortcut may be used to call up the Quick Search function.

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Toolbar
The toolbar contains buttons that act as shortcuts to a number of frequently used menu options. Shortcuts available include:

- Open an existing IDNow database.

- Create a new IDNow database.

- Layout Designer.

- Prints the current card.

- Shows a print preview of the current card.

- Launches the digital video camera capture window.

- Used to capture photographs from digital and VideoVue video cameras. Also available via F8 key.

- Used to capture signatures from digital video cameras. This option may also be used if you have a Topaz Signature Tablet installed and have enabled the Capture From Topaz Signature Tablet under the Photo menu. This option also works with Windows Tablet devices and that option has been enabled on the Photo menu. Also available via F6 key.

- Used to capture images from a twain device such as a scanner or digital still camera. Also available via F11 key. Just click in the frame that you want to use the twain device with and click on the button. You need to be sure that you have selected the twain device to use first though using the Select Source option.

- Closes IDNow.

- Opens the IDNow help file.

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- Quickly prints the current card as a 'New Card' without the user having to enter any options. Also available via F9 key.

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Open IDNow Access Database


This option can be accessed via the File menu or button on the Toolbar. IDNow allows you to open as many existing IDNow databases as you like at the same time. All IDNow functions apply to the active (top most) Card Details window. There is no interaction between databases other than the option to import layouts from another database. When this option is selected you will be presented with a standard Windows 'Open' dialog box. You should browse to the location where the database is located. This may be either a local or network location. UNC paths may be used. Once you have found the location of the database it should be displayed in the list. Select the database you want to open and click on the Open button. IDNow will open and display the database in a new Card Details window. Clicking on the Cancel button will abort the process. Note When next started IDNow will open the last active database by default. If the IDNow security option is active you may not have been given the right to use this option.

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New Access Database


This option can be accessed via the File menu or button on the Toolbar. IDNow allows you to create as many new Access databases as you like. When this option is selected you will be presented with a standard Windows 'Save As' dialog box. You should browse to the location where you would like to save the new database. This may be either a local or network location. UNC paths may be used. Once you have the location selected you should enter a file name for the new database in the File Name box. This may be anything meaningful to you. You do not have to enter the .MDB part of the file name if you do not want to as it will be added when the new database is created, provided you have not changed the Save As Type list. You should then click on the Save button and the new database will be created in the location specified. Once the new database has been created IDNow will Clicking on the Cancel button will abort the process. Note: You must ensure that you have the access rights to create a new file in the location specified if creating the database on a network. If the IDNow security option is active you may not have been given the right to use this option.

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Open IDNow SQL Server Database (Professional version only)


This option allows you to open an existing SQL Server 2000 Database for use with IDNow. To use this option you must have SQL Server 2000 installed, running and visible to this computer. The database must have been created using either the New SQL Server Database or the Upsize To SQL Server options. Server - The network name of the server hosting the instance of SQL Server 2000 you wish to use. Database - This is the name of the database within SQL Server. The name MUST NOT include any path or file name extension. Eg. IDNowData is a valid name. To open the database just click on the Open button. Note This option is only available if the Enable SQL Server 200 Support option has been enabled in Setup Options. When a connection is made to the SQL Server host it is assumed that the connecting computer is 'trusted'. If it is not then a User Name/Password screen will be displayed for the user to log into the SQL Server host. If this the case then the user name/password will need to be entered every time you try to open this database. The time taken to open an SQL Server database may vary depending on the server hosting SQL Server, other users on the same server, your network speed etc.

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New IDNow SQL Server Database (Professional version only)


This option allows you to create a new SQL Server 2000 Database for use with IDNow. To use this option you must have SQL Server 2000 installed, running and visible to this computer. SQL Server Name - The network name of the server hosting the instance of SQL Server 2000 you wish to use. Database Name - This is the name you wish to call the new database. The name MUST be unique within SQL Server and MUST NOT include any path or file name extension. Eg. IDNowData is a valid name. Do not use any spaces in the name. Trusted Connection - If enabled (Default) then It will be assumed that your computer does not require a user name and password to login into the SQL Server host computer. If a login is required then you should un-tick this option and enter a valid User Name and Password in order to login to the SQL Server host. Path To Store Database - This is the location where the physical database will be created. The default is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Data\ but may be any physical location on the computer hosting SQL Server. THE PATH ENTERED MUST ALREADY EXIST. The path must be entered relative to the computer SQL Server is installed on. Not a network path. If you get a file name error when creating the database it is most likely because the path is incorrect or does not already exist. Initial Size - This the initial size that will be allocated for the database when it is created. You may increase or decrease this to suit. The minimum size is 1 MB. By default the Growth Increment for the database will be 100% of what the initial size is. The initial size of the transaction log file will be 50% of the database size and the Growth Increment for this file will be 50% of its initial size (25%) of the initial database size. The minimum for any size will be 1MB. These defaults may be altered after the database has been created using the SQL Server Enterprise Manager. To create the new database just click on the Create button. NOTE This option is only available if the Enable SQL Server 200 Support option has been enabled in Setup Options. If you specify a very large size for the new database it may take a few minutes for the database to be created. The purchase, setup, configuration and backup of SQL Server is your responsibility. Some installations have had trouble creating a new SQL Server database due to network security. There is an SQL Server script file on the CD in the SQL Server Script folder. You can use this script with SQL Server 2000 to create an IDNow database. The default database name is IDCARDS and the default location of the database is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Data You can open the script file in Notepad and do a Search and Replace on either of these if you need to.

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Change Password
The Change Password option may be used by all users to change their login password if security in IDNow has been enabled. This option is available from the File menu. This screen will also be automatically displayed if the user does not have a password when they first login. A password must be entered. It will be saved for that user for subsequent logins. The users old password must be entered along with the new password they wish to use. The new password must be entered again to confirm that it has been entered correctly. The save the changes click on the Change Password button.

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Card Details
The Card Details form is used to store the relevant details of each card that is or has been printed. These details may be updated at any time. The details may be added manually or imported from another source via a delimited text file. Refer Import/Export section for more details. To add a New record just click on the New button. You can then enter the details you wish to record. The ID field is automatically maintained by the program and can not be entered manually or altered. Once you have entered all of the details you should then click on the Save button. If the New Record After Save option is ticked the program will automatically create a new record ready for the next entry. The labels used for each field may be altered by clicking on the Tools menu and selecting User Defined Fields. Refer to the User Defined Fields for more information. Any fields may be fixed dropdown lists rather than free text entry if you prefer (Professional version only). These can be defined in User Defined Fields and the lists created/edited in Dropdown List Entries. Any field may also be nominated as being Mandatory which will cause IDNow to ensure that information has been entered into the field before the entry can be saved. To Find an existing record just click on the Find button. To Delete an existing card details just click on the Delete button while that record is displayed on the screen. After a confirmation message the entry will be deleted. There is no undo feature for deleted entries. Any photograph or signature associated with the entry are optionally deleted and sent to the Windows Recycle Bin. IDNow automatically maintains a print history of each database record. The Print History panel may be turned off in the Setup options. The print history will still be updated even if the panel is not visible. A photograph, signature and up to four fingerprints may be associated with each database record. The card details may be sorted using any database field you wish using the Sort option on the menu. There is a Print and Reprint option available for each database record. Print - Allows you to select the record for printing as part of a batch run. This option is useful where selection of certain records using the normal batch printing selection process would be difficult or impossible. Reprint - Allows you to flag database records where the original batch run produced a 'bad' card for whatever reason. Cards printed in a batch run based on the Reprint flag are not added to the print history for those cards. The Exclude From Batch Print option may be used flag an entry so that it will be excluded when printing cards in batch mode. To view which entries have had this option set use the Data Display function and sort the entries by the Exclude column.

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The Print, Reprint and Exclude From Batch Print flags may be cleared for all entries by using the Clear options under the Production menu. The Inactive option may be used to mark an entry as Inactive. Inactive entries are automatically excluded when Batch Printing cards. If you flag an entry as Inactive it will still be visible on the Card Details screen until you close or Refresh (F5) the database. To view any inactive entries you will need use the Show Inactive Entries option. If an entry is made Inactive then a date the entry became inactive will appear. The default date will be the current date. This may be changed to any date by clicking on the arrow to the right of the date. The Show Inactive Entries option, if enabled, will include entries marked as Inactive otherwise they will not show up on the Card Details screen. You MUST enable this option in order for inactive entries to be included when using the Find, Quick Search, Data Display and Find Duplicates functions. Inactive entries will be included in all other function of IDNow. The setting if this option is not saved and will NOT, by default, be enabled the next time you load the database. Inactive entries are not included when checking to see if a field is unique (if that field has been flagged as Unique in User Defined Fields) unless the Show Inactive Entries option is enabled. The Inactive and Show Inactive Entries options are NOT available with External Databases. There is an option for all user defined fields that allows you to convert the case of the data. Just right-click on the field label, not the field itself, and a menu will popup with the options Field Summary, Covert To Proper Case, Convert To Upper Case and Convert To Lower Case. Field Summary will show a list of all distinct data for the selected field and the number of entries with the same data. Refer to the Field Summary section for more information. Convert Case. Select whichever option you want and all records in the database will have that field converted to the option you selected. This option is available for all user fields regardless of the proper case setting in the User Defined Fields. By default there is a small card preview on the Card Details screen. If the card layout associated with the entry has information both front and back then 1/2 will be displayed at the top of the preview. By clicking on the arrow buttons you can see both sides of the card. The card preview may be turned off by disabling the Card Preview option in Setup Options. Double clicking on this preview will display the Layout Designer with that particular layout displayed. To see a full size preview of the card for the currently displayed entry just click on the Preview Card button. A preview of the card will be displayed on the screen. To use this function a Card Layout to use must be set and the details saved. If the card layout selected prints data on the reverse side of the card both sides will be displayed in the preview. Note: Due to the small size of this preview objects may not display exactly as specified in the layout. A better representation can be seen using the Preview Current Card function (F7). The Text Colour button to the right of each field may be used if you wish to select a colour that will be used to print another field on a card layout. Clicking on this button will display the Windows colour selection box. Select the colour that you want and a number representing that colour will be entered into the field in question. For this option to appear you must enable the Colour Selection Button in the Setup Options. Refer to layout Text and Database Field Properties for more information on the use of this option. Fingerprint Templates - IDNow has the ability to acquire and store up to four fingerprint templates per card

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detail. Templates may be acquired from supported fingerprint scanners or loaded from disk files. If there is a template on file for a particular Card Detail entry then Fingerprint Template On File will appear on the Card Detail screen for that entry otherwise No Fingerprint Template On File will appear. Templates may also be loaded from a binary disk file. To load a template from a disk file just right-click on the template message and select Load From Disk. You will be asked to browse to the location of the template file. Click the Open button to load the file into the template. Fingerprint templates may be deleted by right-clicking on the Fingerprint Template On File message and selecting Delete Template. If the security settings (Professional version only) require a password to delete or modify a fingerprint template you will be required to enter this password before deleting or replacing a fingerprint template. If you have a fingerprint template for a card detail entry then you can use the Verify Fingerprint button to verify that the template on file and the finger of the person that the detail entry is for match. The finger must be scanned for this verification. At this stage this option only works with the AET60 fingerprint scanner. Scan Photo Folder For New Images and Insert Automatically (Professional Version Only) This option, if enabled, will scan the folder nominated to hold the photographs for any new entries every second based on the file date/time and the last time a photograph was loaded in this manner. If a new photo is found and the current Card Detail entry does not have a value in the photo link field then the new photo filename will be inserted into the photo link field and the photograph will be loaded into IDNow. This option is useful if the photographs are being sourced from a professional digital camera using third party remote capture software which is adding new photographs to the folder as they are taken. If there is already a value in the photo link field and you wish a new photo placed in there automatically then clear the photo link field and capture a new photograph into the folder. Note: Moving existing photographs into the folder will not trigger this function as the file date/time must be greater than the last time a photograph was loaded in the current session. Moving to a new Card Detail entry or creating a new entry resets the internal timer so that any new photographs will not be loaded automatically until another new photograph is captured. If this option is enabled IDNow will remember the setting for this database and it will be enabled next time the database is opened. Default Card Printer - By default this is the printer that has been selected in Tools/Printers. If required you can change this default to a different printer for the session of that database only by right-clicking on the printer name and selecting Change Default Printer For This Session. If the default printer is changed then that is the printer that will be used by default for all card print jobs for this database for this session. This printer information is not saved by IDNow unless the printer is the same as that defined in Tools/Printers or the Associate Default Card Details Printer With Database option is enabled. If more that one database is open then each may have a different default card printer. Changing the default card printer does NOT alter the saved card printer details (Tools/Printers), which will be used as the default the next time the database is opened. Photo Edition printer options - The Photo Edition of IDNow has the option to have up to 3 production printers setup. There is also the option to Alternate between those printers when doing single card prints. The next printer that will be printed to will be displayed at the top of the screen. If you wish to skip to the next printer then just double click on the printer name and the next printer will be displayed. Alternating between printers may be temporarily turned off by right clicking on the printer name and select Change

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Default Printer For This Session. Untick the Alternate option. Multiple Layouts To Be Printed (Photo Edition Only) The Multiple Layouts To Be Printed button serves two purposes. It allows you select any number of layouts/packages to be printed for the current Card Detail entry. All of the layouts will be printed with a single click of the Quick Print button or F9 key. The selected layouts/packages will be printed regardless of what entry, if any, is entered in the Card Layout field. If no pending entries are present then the entry in the Card Layout field will be printed. It also allows you to apply payments to entries that have not yet been printed by placing pending entries into the Print History. Entries that have been selected will be entered into the Print History and displayed in red. This means that they are pending. The selected entries may be changed by clicking on the button again and making the changes required, or removing entries. When these entries are actually printed they will be changed from pending to completed and the Date/Time changed to the actual Date/Time printed. Refer to Multiple Layout/Package Print Setup for more information. NOTE: Printing of multiple layouts/packages is only available when using the Quick Print (F9) print method. It is not available from Print Current Card or Batch Printing. If multiple production printers have been setup all prints will be output to the one printer. Quick Print (F9) The Quick Print button may be used to do a quick print of the current entry. It is the same a pressing the F9 function key. The Quick Print option will print the card with the default print type, 'New Card' for the Lite version. If you wish to print the card as a different type you may click on the down arrow next to the Quick Print button on the Card Details screen and select the print type required or you should use the Print Current Card option. The Quick Print option will also save any changes made to the current database entry, including a new photograph and/or signature if the Auto Save option in Setup is enabled before printing the card. There is no preview option with Quick Print. Note: Changing the Quick Print Print Type only applies to the current entry and if you Use Quick Print or change entry the Print Type will change back to the default. Payments (Photo Edition Only) If the Payments Module has been activated in Setup Options then a Payment button will appear on the screen. Refer to Payments for more information on this option. Database Notes This option allows you to enter any notes than may be relevant to the database. Refer to Database Notes for more information. Entry Notes This option allows you to enter any notes than may be relevant to each entry in the database. Refer to Entry Notes for more information. Note Each database field is limited to 60 characters. More recent versions of IDNow allow fields to be 100 characters long. All fields accept alphanumeric data and no validation is done for numeric or date fields. If your Card Details are being sourced from an External Database any changes you make to the data will NOT be

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saved to the external database. The New and Delete functions will not be available. Changes made to the Print Flags, Layout and Print History will be saved to IDNow's internal database. If the Print, Reprint and Exclude From Batch Print flags have been ticked or unticked and no other details have been altered then you will not be asked to save the card details. They will be automatically saved. If you enter or change the data in the field that has been nominated as the Photo Link Field then the new image will be loaded, assuming a photograph with that name exists, when you press the Enter or Tab keys. Be sure to center and correct the zoom of the image, if necessary, before saving the details. If when saving a new entry with a photograph, signature or fingerprint that will have the same file name as an existing photograph, signature or fingerprint, or saving a new photograph, signature or fingerprint with an existing entry you will receive a warning that you are about to overwrite that photograph, signature or fingerprint and request confirmation that you wish to continue. If you choose to continue then the existing photograph, signature and/or fingerprint will be moved to the recycle bin prior to the new image being saved. If you find that you accidentally overwritten the wrong image you should be able to recover it from the Windows Recycle Bin.

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Finding An Existing Database Record


To find an existing record just click on the Find button on the card details screen, or press the F3 Key, and you will be presented with the Find Screen. Records may be searched for using any field in the database. You also have the option to select up to four Display Fields of each matching entry that will be displayed in the result list. IDNow will remember which fields you have selected for the next time you use this function. Select the Field To Search On and enter the Search Criteria. Entering just the first part of the search criteria will find all records matching that criteria in any part of the field. If you leave the search field at None then all records will be returned. There is an option for a second search field. You may use this field in the same way as the first search field. There is also the option of either AND or OR for the second field. The default is AND. If AND is selected the search will look for entries containing both search fields. If OR is selected then entries containing either will be returned. Click on the Search button and if any matching entries are found a list of these will be displayed. Just select the entry you require and click on the Select button. You can also select an entry by double-clicking on it or pressing the Enter key on the keyboard. If there are a large number of entries then a scroll bar will appear next to the list of entries and you may scroll up and down the list to locate the entry you want. Once you have selected an entry the program will then move the Card Details screen to that entry. Inactive entries are not included when using the Find function unless the Show Inactive Entries option is enabled on the Card Details form. If this option is enabled then you also have the option to restrict the search to Inactive Entries Only. This option is not available with External Databases. If the Find Screen only find one matching entry then that entry will automatically be displayed without you having to select it from the list. You may also use the Surname Search and Quick Search option (F12) to quickly locate an entry.

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Print History
The print history on the Card Details screen will show all of the times that a card has been printed, the type of print it was and the Card Layout used to print the card, the number of cards printed and who printed them (if the security option is enabled, Professional version only). It is automatically updated by the program as each card is printed but may be added to manually if desired using the Add button or entries may be deleted using the Delete button. The print history is also used by IDNow to determine which cards have/have not been printed. You may turn off the Print History display on the screen in System Setup. Existing print history may be deleted using the Clear Print History function under the Tools menu.

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Field Summary
This option is accessed by right clicking on any user defined field label on the Card Details screen and selecting Field Summary. This option will display a list of all distinct data in the selected field. Next to each entry is the number of entries in the database with the same data. It may be sorted by either column ascending or descending by clicking on the column header. The Print button which will print the list in the order defined above in 2 columns per page.

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Photographs, Signatures and Fingerprints


A photograph, digital signature and up to four fingerprints/fingerprint templates may be assigned to each Card Detail. These are automatically displayed when the card details are displayed. Signatures may either be acquired directly via a scanner, drawing tablet or loaded from an existing disk file. There is also direct support for Topaz Signature Tablets. If loading from a disk file the signature image should be approximately 370 x 120 pixels in size and preferably be on a pure while background or background that will suit you card layout. The location of the signature images can be set in the Setup options under the Tools menu. Signature files are saved as .BMP files. This is done to preserved the background colour as compression used in many file formats may distort the colour slightly and make it impossible to have a transparent background on the signature. Photographs may be assigned via a variety of methods. These include paste, scanner, twain, Kodak digital camera interface, VideoVue analogue video camera interface, MCI analogue/digital video camera interface or loaded from an existing disk file. Refer to Using Digital or Analogue Cameras for more details on using these devices. The default photograph size used by the program is 320 x 378 pixels although this can be up to a maximum of 400 x 400 pixels. Small or larger images may be used. The default image size may be changed in the Setup Options under the Tools menu. It is strongly recommended that you do not change the default image size more than about 10% of the default. If the image size is larger than the defined size then it will be centered within the image frame and the border around the photograph/signature/fingerprint will be red. Signatures are saved at a size of 370 x 120 pixels. Colour depth optionally is 1 bit black and white. Fingerprints are saved at a size in Setup Options. The default size is 192 x 192 pixels. The maximum size is 400 x 400 pixels. Colour dept is 8 bit greyscale. IDNow can store up to 4 fingerprints per database entry. To see each fingerprint you only need to click on the slider under the fingerprint panel. It will indicate which fingerprint you are viewing, 1/4, 2/4, 3/4 or 4/4. It will also show which finger the image is of. Note: When scanning new fingerprints the scanned fingerprint/template will be placed into the currently active fingerprint, If you are using a fingerprint scanner to source your fingerprints the fingerprint template is also stored in the IDNow database. At this time the template can only be written as data to a smart card or PDF417 2D Barcode. Loading Images To load images into IDNow use the Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Colour Adjustment, Acquire, Select Source and Load From Disk options are accessed by right-clicking within the image area and selecting the option required from the pop-up menu. The paste option is only available if a suitable graphic image is contained in the Windows Clipboard. When loading photographs from an existing disk file the original image is not altered in any way by the program. Cut - Removes the photograph/signature for the current card detail. Copy - Copies the photograph/signature to the Windows Clipboard. Paste - Pastes a photograph/signature/fingerprint into the current card detail from the Windows Clipboard. Only available if a suitable graphic image is contained in the Windows Clipboard.

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Delete - Removes the photograph/signature/fingerprint for the current card detail and moves it to the Windows Recycle Bin. Colour Adjustment - This option will allow you to adjust the brightness, contrast, gamma and many other attributes of photographs only. Changes may be applied to the current photograph or all photographs. Any changes made are not permanent and each image is altered at the time of being displayed or printed. And adjustments made can be undone at any time by going back to the adjustments screen and clicking on one of the Clear buttons. This option is also available by double clicking on the photograph. This option is only available if the new photograph or any changes to it have already been saved. Please note that any adjustments made also apply at the time of printing the photograph. What looks good on the screen may not have the same result when printed. Acquire - Obtains a photograph/signature/fingerprint from the currently selected Windows Twain device, such as a scanner. There is a shortcut for the selected twain device. Just click in the frame that you want to use the twain device with and press the F11 key. You need to be sure that you have selected the twain device to use first though using the Select Source option. Select Source - Enabled you to select the twain device to use. Load From Disk - Used to load an existing photograph/signature/fingerprint currently stored on a disk. Windows Drag and Drop - You may use the Windows Drag and Drop functionality to load images into IDNow. To use this functionality you must use the mouse left button to click on the image required in Windows Explorer and while holding the left mouse button down drag the image into the image frame required in IDNow and release the mouse button. The image will appear in the Image fame. If IDNow is not visible on the screen when you drag the image from Windows Explorer you should drag the image (keeping the left mouse button pressed) to the Windows Taskbar and hold it over the IDNow button. Windows will then make IDNow active and you can then place the image into the Image frame. Remember to keep the left mouse button pressed until you are ready to drop it into the image frame. Different versions of Windows may required a slightly different method. Refer to your Windows Help for more information on Drag and Drop. When loading new images are loaded the Image Toolbox is displayed and the Move Image option (Hand) is active. Scan Photo Folder For New Images and Insert Automatically (Professional Version Only) This option, if enabled, will scan the folder nominated to hold the photographs for any new entries every second based on the file date/time and the last time a photograph was loaded in this manner. If a new photo is found and the current Card Detail entry does not have a value in the photo link field then the new photo filename will be inserted into the photo link field and the photograph will be loaded into IDNow. This option is useful if the photographs are being sourced from a professional digital camera using third party remote capture software which is adding new photographs to the folder as they are taken. If there is already a value in the photo link field and you wish a new photo placed in there automatically then clear the photo link field and capture a new photograph into the folder. Note: Moving existing photographs into the folder will not trigger this function as the file date/time must be greater than the last time a photograph was loaded in the current session. Moving to a new Card Detail entry or creating a

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new entry resets the internal timer so that any new photographs will not be loaded automatically untill another new photograph is captured. If this option is enabled IDNow will remember the setting for this database and it will be enabled next time the database is opened. Image Toolbox (if enabled in Setup Options) Clicking on an image with the mouse will display the image adjustment tools. There are a number of tools available. Zoom In, Zoom Out, Zoom Rectangle, Move Image and Zoom Preview. To use each tool you just click on the button of the tool required. Arrow - Disable current tool. +Magnifying glass - Zoom in on image. The mouse pointer will change to a + Magnifying Glass and each click on the image will zoom in. The point of the click on the image will be centered in the image frame. Percent of zoom is determined by the Zoom Increment defined in Setup Options. -Magnifying glass - Zoom out on image. The mouse pointer will change to a - Magnifying Glass and each click on the image will zoom out. The point of the click on the image will be centered in the image frame. Percent of zoom is determined by the Zoom Increment defined in Setup Options. Note: The percentage of zoom applied is a percentage of the current zoom level. For example if the current zoom level is 150% and you have a zoom increment of 5% then the percent increase/decrease will be 5% of 150%, resulting in a percentage change of 7.5%. The displayed zoom level is rounded to the nearest whole number so may not display the exact zoom level of the image. Zoom Rectangle - This option may be used to draw a rectangle around the area of the image you wish to use by holding down the left mouse button while drawing the rectangle. When the mouse button is released the rectangular area defined will be zoomed in on. Note that if the rectangle is not the same ratio of width/height of the image frame then the rectangular area will be adjusted to suit. Hand - This option is used to move the image within the image frame. Moving the mouse pointer over the image will result in the mouse pointer changing to a hand. Holding down the left mouse button will allow you move the image by moving the mouse. The image will be cropped when saved to the section of the image displayed, unless the Maintain Original Image Size option is enabled. Zoom Preview - This option may be used to zoom in on the section of the image where the mouse pointer is positioned over the image when the left mouse button is clicked. The zoom displayed is released when you release the mouse button. The image is never saved in this state. If this option is not enabled then these tools are not available and the only tools you will have available are a zoom in/out slider next to the image and the ability to move/drag the image in its frame using the left mouse button. Photographs/signatures/fingerprints should not be zoomed and saved to a size less than that specified in the Setup options otherwise you may end up with images, when printed, of poor quality. Note: If the Fit option for photographs is enabled in Setup Options then you will not be able to Zoom or move photographs with the image tools. Saving Images All photographs are saved in the folder nominated in the setup options for the photographs and are in the .JPG, BMP or TIF format. The default is JPG and is the format recommended. All signatures are saved in the folder nominated in the setup options for the signatures and are in the .BMP format.

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All fingerprints are saved in the folder nominated in the setup options for the fingerprints and are in the .TIF format. The default JPG compression settings are designed to minimise any noticeable loss of quality yet keep the image sizes as small as possible. Refer to the Setup section for more details. Photographs, signatures and fingerprints are by default linked to the card ID. If you wish to link these to a different database field then you should select the field to use from the list in the Setup options. The photolink field may be changed at any time and existing photographs/signatures/fingerprints names changed using the Rename Photo/Signature function under the Tools menu.

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Colour Adjustment
The colour adjustment option can be selected by right-clicking on a card detail photograph. This option may be used to adjust the photograph colours on either an individual or global basis. Adjustments include Brightness Contrast Gamma Sharpness Hue Saturation Luminance Red Green Blue After making an adjustment, the preview of the image will be updated with the changes made. Any changes made may be undone by clicking on the Reset button. Once the adjustments have been made you can apply the changes to the current photograph or all photographs. You can also use this option to clear the existing settings for the current photograph or all photographs. The actual photographs are not saved with the settings selected but rather the adjustments are made once the photograph has been loaded. This is done to enable any changes made to be undone. You may notice the photograph colours change as soon as it is displayed on the screen. Note: Colour adjustment apply to both screen and printer. What looks acceptable on the screen may not produce the same results when printed. Some testing on the part of the user is required here. Care must be exercised when using these adjustments as the image can be 'destroyed' rather quickly if you do not know what you are doing.

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Sort
The card details may be sorted using any three database fields you wish. By default they are sorted by IDNow ID field. You may change this by clicking on the Sort option on the menu. You can select the fields to sort on by selecting them from the dropdown lists and then click either the Apply button or Default button. Apply means that the sort will apply for the current session or until you choose to change it again within the session. Default means it will become the default for this and future sessions until you choose to change it. Note Sort settings apply to all databases but are on a per computer basis.

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Multiple Layout/Package Print Setup (Photo Edition Only)


This function is access from the Card Details screen by clicking on the Multiple Layouts To Be Printed button. This function allow for the selection of multiple Layouts/Packages to be selected for printing without having to select each one and print them on at a time. It also allows Payments to be applied to entries that have not actually been printed as it places Pending entries into the Card Detail entry's Print History. The Multiple Layout/Package Print Setup will initially display a list of the Layouts/Packages that have been setup in IDNow for the current database. Entries are selected by entering the number of copies to print for the selected entry. 0 = Do Not Print. When all of the entries required have had the number of copies entered just click on the Save button. The entries will be added to the Print History in Red, indicating that they are pending. The selection made may be changed prior to printing by clicking on the Multiple Layouts To Be Printed button again. The list will now contain the previously selected pending entries in Red as well as the normal Layouts/Packages in black. The pending entries may be changed to the required number of copies or removed by entering 0 in the number of copies. Entering a number of copies into the black entries will add further pending entries, even if they are the same as the existing pending entries. To clear all Pending entries just click on the Multiple Layout/Package Print Setup button and then the Save button. Once pending Print History entries have been setup it is possible to make payments against them even though they have not been printed using the Payments function. This may be useful if you which to confirm at a credit card payment is not declined, etc. Printing the pending entries will not add further entries to the print history, but rather update the existing pending entries. If payments are applied to the pending print history entries then you will no longer be able to change them or remove them, even if the receipt is reversed. These entries will be displayed on the Multiple Layout/Package Print Setup screen in Blue. These entries are locked. All changes can be saved by clicking on the Multiple Layout/Package Print Setup button. To cancel any changes made just click the Cancel button. NOTE: Printing of multiple layouts/packages is only available when using the Quick Print (F9) print method. It is not available from Print Current Card or Batch Printing. Multiple layouts/packages may also be scanned if the barcode is preceded by the special character defined in Packages. This character must be one that you would not normally use when entering data on the Card Details screen. Eg the ^ character. When on the Card Details screen and you scan a barcode that begins with the character entered, IDNow will assume that it is a package and will automatically add it to the Multiple Layouts/Packages To Be Printed for that entry. Scanning the same barcode more than once will increment the copy count for that package. The barcode scanner must output a CR (Carriage Return)after the barcode for this function to work correctly.

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Payments (Photo Edition Only)


The Payments function is only available if you have enabled the Payments Module in Setup Options. Payments can only be made against each individual Card Details entry. To make a payment you much click on the Payment button. The Payments screen will display list of print history entries and the amount due based on the Charge Rates setup previously. All entries that have an amount outstanding on them will be highlighted. Under each print entry will be a list of payments made against that entry, if any. Only those entries selected (highlighted) can be processed for payment. Individual entries may be selected/deselected by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on the entries. A block of entries can be selected by clicking on the first entry to be selected and then holding down the Shift key and selecting the last entry to be selected. Payments can not be selected. Selected Amount Due will show a the total amount due based on the selected entries. This field can not be changed. This amount will also be displayed in the Total field initially. If desired a Discount may be applied by entering the discount amount. It may be either an Amount or Percent by selecting the discount type from the dropdown list. Once the discount type has been selected the Total field will be altered to reflect the discount. The Add Payment button should then be clicked to add the payment to the list. These payments are only Pending at this stage and are displayed in blue. Multiple payments may be made involving different discounts, but all must be for the same Payment Method. As pending payments are added the Total Amount To Pay field will be updated. If Rounding has been setup in Setup Options this will be displayed under the Total Amount To Pay field. It may be turned off if required for a particular payment by clicking on the check box. This may be necessary if its a EFT payment type. Pending payments may be cleared if a mistake is made by clicking on the Clear All Pending Payments button. Payment Method can be selected from the dropdown list. There is no default and must be selected from the list for each payment. The Total Amount To Pay may be changed from the amount calculated by the system. The amount may not be more than the system has calculated and it can not be a negative value. If you enter an amount that is less than Total then when you Finalise the payment the system will ask you if the payment is a deposit/part payment. If the answer is Yes then IDNow will process the payment and produce a receipt which will show a balance owing

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on it. If the Answer is No then IDNow will re-calculate any discount given to make this the final payment due. Note: If you override the amount paid then IDNow will not round the amount if that has been setup. It will be the users responsibility to apply any rounding necessary. Once all of the pending payments have been added for a particular payment type you should click on the Finalise Payment Print Receipt button. This will commit the payment and print a receipt to the Receipt Printer setup in Printers. If you do not wish to print a receipt then you should click on the Finalise Payment Only button.

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Entry Notes
TheEntry Notes function allows you to enter a note that may be relevant for the current Card Detail entry. It may be any text that you require. The form will scroll verically if you have more text than can be displayed on the screen. To Save the notes information just click on the Save button. Clicking the Cancel button will not save any changes you may have made. If any notes have been entered the Entry Notes button on the Card Details screen will have a cyan (light blue) background colour. Note: Entry Notes may be printed on the cards.

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Database Notes
The Database Notes function allows you to enter a note that may be relevant for the current database. It may be any text that you require. The form will scroll verically if you have more text than can be displayed on the screen. Display Notes When Database First Opened - This option, if enabled, will display the notes screen when the database is first opened. To Save the notes information just click on the Save button. Clicking the Cancel button will not save any changes you may have made. If any notes have been entered the Database Notes button on the Card Details screen will have a cyan (light blue) background colour.

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Data Display
This option can be accessed via the View menu. The Data Display can be used to display a list of all relevant data fields for the current database. It also includes the Exclude From Batch Print flag and last print date. If the card has only been printed with the Bad Print/Waste print type then it will be regarded to have never been printed and the last print date will be blank. Data Display will be shown as a separate window to IDNow, as is the Print Preview window, and will have its own entry on the Windows Task Bar. Unless the Show Inactive Entries option on the Card Details screen is enabled, Inactive entries will NOT be displayed. If Inactive entries are included then the first column in the list will show whether each entry is Inactive or not. The information displayed will initially be sorted according to the settings you currently have in place for the Card Details. You can change the sort order to any column displayed by clicking on the column header. Clicking on the same column header again will sort the entries in Descending order based on that column. You may also change the order of the columns displayed by clicking on the column header you want to move and drag it to the position you want it to be in. There is an option to Go To the Card Details entry for the currently selected entry by either double clicking on the entry required or clicking the Go To button. You may make any changes to the Card Details entry you like, as normal. To return to the Data Display window just click on the entry on the Task Bar. The data will be refreshed to reflect any changes you may have made in the Card Details screen. There is an option to export the data as it is displayed on the screen. That is, in the sort order and column order that you may have specified. When you click on the Export button you will be asked if you want to Export All or only Export Selected. The default option is Export All unless you have selected more than one entry. Once you have decided which to use click on the Export button. The Export Selected option may be handy if you only want to export those entries you have selected. To select multiple entries you must use press either the Shift or Ctrl key on the keyboard when you select each entry. This is the same convention as employed in many Windows programs. You will then be asked to browse to and enter a file name to save the exported data to. The exported data is save as a standard Windows Tab delimited text file. Note Any user changes to the sort order or column placement are for the current session only and are NOT saved. The Data Display will always start with the default settings. The data display screen does NOT allow you to change any details. How quickly the Data Display will refresh after using the Go To option will depend on the speed of your computer, data location and how many entries are in the database.

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If IDNow's security option is enabled then this option is only available to users logged in with Admin rights. If you are using this function with an external database you may find it takes quite some time to initially load. This is because it must match the external data with the IDNow internal details. This can take some time if there are a large number of entries. If you change the Exclude From Batch Print flag on a Card Detail entry you MUST click on the Save button before going back to the Data Display otherwise the change will not be reflected in the data displayed.

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Photo Lineup
This option can be accessed via the View menu. The Photo Lineup option may be useful if you want to be able to scan through the photographs to be able to locate a particular entry for some reason. There is also an option to also display the signatures. Card Selection Options If required you may restrict which photographs will be selected for display. You may use up to four IDNow fields in the selection process. Select the field(s) you want to use from the dropdown list. Next select the type of operator you want to use for the list. Option available are: = - The entries selected field must match exactly the criteria entered. This is not case sensitive. LIKE - The entries selected must begin with the criteria entered. This is not case sensitive. To select only those entries with the criteria in any part of the field you must place a % at the beginning of the criteria. >= - The entries selected must have a field value greater than or equal to the criteria entered. This is not case sensitive. <= - The entries selected must have a field value less than or equal to the criteria entered. This is not case sensitive. Not = - The entries selected must have a field value not equal to the criteria entered, including blank. This is not case sensitive. Note: If more than one IDNow field is selected then the records will be selected on an AND basis. That is the entry must match the selection criteria of all fields. If selecting which photographs to display using the field lists, and you want to include card details entries that have a field value of x or y then you should select the field, the operator (=, >= etc) and enter x;y in the criteria section. The semicolon tells IDNow to look for entries with either value. Eg. Department = Accounts;Marketing will print all cards where the Department field has either Marketing or Accounts. If you select Department = Accounts and Department = Marketing then you will not get any result. There is a limit of 10 'segments' separated by ; for each field. Other options available are: Layout = - Restrict the photographs to be printed to those entries assigned the selected Layout. Include Inactive Entries - By default Inactive entries are excluded from the selection. If you enable this option Inactive entries will be included in the selection. Inactive Entries Only - This option may be used to restrict the contact sheet to Inactive entries only. If enabled the New Entries Between date range will become Inactive Entries Between. This may be used to further restrict the inactive entries to a date range based on the Inactive Date on the Card Details screen. The Include Inactive Entries and Inactive Entries Only options are NOT available with External Databases. Flagged For Batch Printing Only - Restricts the photographs printed to those entries which are flagged for batch printing only. Last Printed Between - Restricts the photographs printed to those which have were last printed between the dates selected. To enable this option you must 'tick' the checkbox on the From Date field. New Entries Between - Restricts the photographs printed to those which were first created between the dates selected. To enable this option you must 'tick' the checkbox on the From Date field.

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Note: The Include Inactive Entries and Flagged For Batch Printing Only options are mutually exclusive with the Inactive Entries Only option. If all selections options are left blank then all cards in the database will be printed. Other options available: Group By - The Group By option may be used to optionally group photos together, Eg. group by department. You may select any database field from the list to group the entries by. The entries will be displayed sorted by the Group By field and then the Sort Order fields that you have selected. Sort Order - Up to two IDNow fields may be used to sort the photographs displayed. They will be sorted by the first field then the second field. Eg. Last Name, First Name. If no sort fields are selected then the photographs will be displayed in order that they are found. Text Printed Under Photos - This allows you to select up to 3 IDNow fields that will be displayed under each photograph. Special Use fields may also be selected if they have been defined in User Defined Fields. The default font size used to display the text is Arial 10. The text displayed may use up to 50% of the gap either side of the photograph. Text Colour - This allows you to select the colour of the displayed text. The default is black. You may change it to any colour you like by clicking on the colour panel and selecting the colour to use from the Windows Colour list. Photo Width - This must be entered. The size is in millimeters. The default size is 30mm. The minimum size is 25mm. How many photographs will be displayed at a time depends on the photo width and the width of the screen. Include Signatures - This option is only available if IDNow has been setup to store signatures. If enabled then the signatures will also be displayed under the photographs. Once you have made your selection you just click on the Display button. There are navigation buttons to allow you to move to the first, next, previous and last photograph. There is also an option to allow you to have the software scroll the photographs by clicking on the Scroll button. There is also an option to set the time interval used for the scrolling. The default is 1 second. You may also set the scroll direction by clicking on the << button. << scroll the photographs from right to left and >> scrolls them from left to right. Clicking on the Stop Scroll button will stop the scrolling. The navigation buttons may be used even if scrolling is in operation. If you click on any of the photographs, signatures or text under them then that Card Details entry will be displayed. If scrolling is in operation then that will be paused. Note: All of the above options are saved so that you can easily display with the same properties each time.

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Quick Search
Quick Search is a function that may be used to quickly find a card detail record. The option is also available by pressing the F12 function key. Once the window is displayed you have the option to choose which field to search on from the list. Next enter the criteria to search on and click the Search button or press the Enter key. IDNow will search for the first matching record and display it, if found in the Card Details window. If searching in a text field then any match with the search criteria in any part of the field is considered a match. If no matches are found a message will be displayed. IDNow will remember the search field you have selected for the next time you use this function. This search method may also be used with wedge type barcode scanners. Inactive entries are not included when using the Quick Search function unless the Show Inactive Entries option is enabled on the Card Details form. Note If the Auto Save When F9 or F12 Pressed option (Tools menu) is turned on then the existing card detail record and/or photograph and signature will be saved before the Quick Search window is displayed. The Leave On Top option, if enabled, will leave the Quick Search form on the screen after a search has been sucessfully completed ready to do another search. The selected record can still be edited with the form on top.

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Surname Search
To find an existing record just click on the File menu and select Surname Search or press the F4 Key. If you have not previously done so you must first select which IDNow field is the Surname field from the Card Details screen. Once selected the list will be populated with all of the Active entries in the database. You also have the option to select up to three additional Display Fields of each entry that will be displayed in the list. IDNow will remember which fields you have selected for the next time you use this function. If there are a large number of entries then a scroll bar will appear next to the list of entries and you may scroll up and down the list to locate the entry you want. You may also locate an entry by typing the first few letters of the surname. Just select the entry you require and click on the Select button. You can also select an entry by double-clicking on it or pressing the Enter key on the keyboard. Once you have selected an entry the program will then move the Card Details screen to that entry. Inactive entries are not included in the Surname Search. You should use the Find option if you wish to locate inactive entries. You may also use the Quick Search option (F12) to quickly locate an entry.

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Card Layouts
Card Layouts are used to tell IDNow what and where to print on the card. Any number of any type of object can be placed anywhere on the front or back of the card. You may have any number of layouts and assign different layouts to different Card Detail entries. To do this you can use the Assign menu option, select it manually on the card detail form or have them assigned automatically using the Default Layouts feature. Card print layouts can be created at anytime by selection Layout Designer from the Production menu. You can also use the button on the toolbar. Ensure that the Card Printer has been defined in the Printers option of the Tools menu before entering this option. When the Layout Designer is first loaded it will check to see if any existing layouts in the database have the same name. If any are found with the same name then you will be informed that the names must be unique. To create a new layout just select New Layout from the File menu (automatically selected when there are no layouts). You will then be asked what Orientation, Portrait or Landscape, you would like the card printed. This may be changed at any time by selecting the Setup option on the menu. Layout Toolbar

There are a number of buttons on the Layout Tool bar. These are New Layout, Save Layout, Open Layout and Delete Layout. Layout Name is also entered on the toolbar. There are button to insert a text field, database field, barcode, magnetic stripe, picture, shape, photo and signature. There is an exit button, zoom level as well as the show back/front button. Field inserted using the toolbar buttons are placed on the top left corner of the card. To open an existing layout just click on the Open Layout button or from the File menu select Open Layout. A list of existing layouts will be displayed. Select the one you want and click on the Select button. To create a new layout based on an existing layout just click on the Copy menu option. You will be asked to select which layout you wish to copy. Just select it from the list and an new layout will be created with a name that has Copy Of <original layout name>. Change the name to something more meaningful to you. You can then make any changes necessary to the new layout. The current layout may be deleted by clicking on the delete button on the toolbar or selecting Delete from the File menu. The zoom level of the layout may be changed by selecting the level required from the dropdown list. The default is Whole Page. Objects Objects may be placed on either the front or back of the card layout. Objects may be moved on the layout by first selecting it, by clicking on the object, and dragging the selection rectangle while the left mouse button is depressed. Objects may also be moved left, right, up and down by pressing the Shift key and then using the Arrow keys.

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The size of an object may be changed by selecting it, by clicking on the object, and dragging the appropriate blue handle on the selection rectangle in the direction required. The position and size of each object may also be altered manually in the properties of the object. Any object may be centered either horizontally and/or vertically, left, right, top or bottom on the card via either the object menu or right-click menu. Refer to Rulers section below for more information on this option. Object properties may be changed from the defaults by selecting the object and then right-clicking on it and selecting Properties. You can also display the properties window by double-clicking on the object on the layout. Multiple objects may be selected at a time by pressing the Shift key while clicking on the objects. If multiple objects are selected the Properties, Copy and Paste options are disabled as well as the resizing handles. To place objects on the reverse side or back of the card just click on the Show Back button. Add them as you would the front of the card. If your cards have a magnetic stripe on the back of the card you need to ensure that you do not place objects where the magnetic stripe is located. To return to the front section of the card just click on the Show Front button. To add objects to the layout just right click with the mouse on the layout where you would like the object inserted or use the toolbar or Insert menu options. To insert a text only field select Insert Text Field. The actual text and properties may be changed in Text And Database Properties. Text fields may also be used to create a transparent rectangle by specifying a border, setting the fill colour to be transparent (default) and having no text in the Text field properties. To insert a database field consisting of variable data select Insert Database Field and then select which database field you would like to use. The properties of this field may be changed in Text And Database Properties To insert a barcode based on a database field select Barcode and then select which database field you would like to use. The default barcode type is 3 of 9. Use the Barcode Properties to change it to the type of barcode you require and other properties. To insert a magnetic stripe encoding field based on a database field select Mag Stripe and then select which database field you would like to use. A small picture of a card with a magnetic stripe on it will appear on the screen. You must enter the printer prefix and suffix codes used to tell the printer that the data is to be used to encode a particular track on the card. Refer to the Magnetic Stripe Properties for more details. You will need to insert multiple magnetic stripe objects if you want to encode multiple tracks. One for each track. Magnetic stripe fields may be placed anywhere on the card layout. The writing of these to the card will be handled by the printer driver so it does not matter where on the card they are. Most printers encode the magnetic stripe fields before printing the card so it is important that you place these fields on the front layout if this is the case. If the magnetic stripe data prints on the card as text then it is likely that you have not entered the printer prefix/suffix codes correctly, your printer does not have the capability to encode magnetic stripes or the option has been turned off in the card printer printer driver. Refer to your printer's user manual for more information of magnetic stripe encoding. To insert a graphic image on the card select Insert Picture. If the image being inserted is larger than the card

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then IDNow will resize the image so that it fits on the card based on the point where you have inserted it. The aspect ratio will be maintained. If the image is very large you may find, depending on your computer, it takes a second or two to resize. Use Image Properties to customise the image. Pictures/images may be placed on the layout with a transparent background with regard to a card background ONLY. You must nominate the colour in the image that is to be made transparent. The transparent colour must be a pure colour or results may not be satisfactory. Images that are to be used with a transparent background should not be saved as JPG images as the compression used may cause the colour to change slightly. If there is no card background then selecting an image to have a transparent colour will have no effect. Having transparent images requires quite a lot of computer processing and as a result you may find that the refresh of the layout screen will take quite a bit longer to process. To Insert a shape select Shape. The default is a rectangle. You can use the Shape Properties to change this to a circle and/or make other customisation changes. You may also draw a line using the rectangle shape and sizing it to the line height or width you require. To Insert an issue date select Issue Date. This date is based on the date/time that the card is printed. Refer below for more information on Issue Dates. To Insert an expiry date select Expiry Date. This date is based on the date printed + a predefined period. The default is 1 year. Refer below for more information on Expiry Dates. To insert a photograph select Photograph. Customisation may be done using Photograph Properties. The photograph panel displayed on the layout will be the size defined in the program Setup. The size of the printed photograph may be changed but the aspect ratio of the photograph will be maintained regardless of the height/width you specify and the photograph will be centered within the defined rectangle. This may result in 'white space' either at the top/bottom or left/right. If your printed photograph on the card must be a certain size then it is important that the image captured be of the correct size. The default size in IDNow is 320 x 378 pixels. This will by default produce a printed image size of 28mm x 33mm (ratio of 0.8 to 1). You can have the image smaller or larger but the ratio of width to height will always be maintained so you may not be able to produce a card with the size photograph you require with this size image. For example, if you require a printed photograph size of 32mm x 43mm (ratio 0.744 to 1). The standard 320 x 378 pixel capture size will not be suitable. First you must calculate the width height ratio. In this case 32 divided by 43 = 0.744. The capture size should be 400 times the ratio. 400 x 0.744 = 298. The capture size would be 298 x 400 pixels. If using large format photographs and the Fit option has been specified in Setup Options then it is important that the defined photograph size in Setup Option be of the same ratio, width/height, as the photographs being used. Even though IDNow has a maximum defined photograph size of 400 x 400 pixels the ratio of width to height should be the same as the photographs being used. For example. If your photographs are 2272 pixels wide and 1704 pixels high then the ratio is 1.33 times wider than high or 0.75 times as high as the width. The Photo Width and Height in Setup Options should be set to 400 Wide and 300 High. To insert a signature select Signature. The signature may be either a common signature or based on the one stored against the card details entry. Customisation may be done using Signature Properties. Digital signatures on the layout may either be the one you have associated with each card detail entry, if you have done so, or a master signature that is common to all cards printed. This option can be selected in the options for the signature. Signatures may also be printed with a transparent background but only if the

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signature is placed within the photograph on the layout. The background colour on the signature image to make transparent must be nominated, the default is white. The background colour of the signature image must be a pure colour otherwise the results may not be what you expected. If you nominate a common signature then that signature will be displayed on the layout otherwise a sample signature will be displayed. To insert a background image select Background and select Insert Background. A background image will cover the whole card. To remove a background image select Background and select Remove Background. Background images will automatically be resized to fit within the card print borders without regards for aspect ratio. If you want to use an image as a background but wish to maintain the aspect ratio then you will have to resize the image first within another graphics application or insert it as an image file and use the Send to Back option. The Photo Edition of IDNow also has the option to insert a background colour. Database object options will vary depending on what options you have selected in the User Defined Fields section of the program. If you have nominated which fields are used for Title, First, Last and Preferred Name in the Special Use column of the User Defined Fields then you will have the option to use special database fields which have those fields concatenated (joined with a space between them). If Preferred and First Names have been defined then you may also use Preferred/First. Note: When concatenating the Preferred/Last names or using Preferred/First, preferred name will be used if present otherwise the first name will be used. If first name is also not present then the field will be left blank. There is also a Concatenate option (Professional version Only) which allows you join up to any 10 fields into a single field on the layout. Issue and Expiry Dates - These fields are not associated with any database fields and are based on the current computer date. Both have the same properties as Text and Database objects except that they also have date format and separator fields. The Expiry Date has two additional fields to indicate when the card expires. This can be any number in days, months or years from the date the card is printed. The date separator may be either /, - or . Select the date format you wish to use from the dropdown list. Each may also optionally include the current time in 24 hour format. If you have fixed Issue or Expiry dates then you should use a database field instead to accommodate these. Counter - This is a special database field. The counter field may be used to print an auto incrementing number based on the Starting Number and Increment By, such as a membership number. This number may be printed as either a number, barcode or magnetic stripe. You can set the properties of the field, depending on the type of object, as if it was a normal field. You may also set a Prefix for the number and a Suffix if required. The Number Length option may be used to define the minimum length of the number portion. If the number is less than this length the number will have leading zeros added to it. This length does not include any Prefix/Suffix. If set to Zero then this option has no effect. If the Counter field is used any Suffix/Prefix/Length properties that normally will be available for an object type will be disabled. Multiple counter objects may be used on the same layout if desired with different numbers/increments. IDNow will remember the last number used and will start with the next number the next time cards are printed. You can reset these properties in the Layout Designer if required.

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The saving of the last counter number does not apply if only Previewing a card or cards. If a counter object is placed on a layout used with database entries the preview for all cards with use the same counter number until a card is actually printed. There is a limit of 50 objects per layout. Fonts The font options used on layouts are those fonts you currently have installed on your computer system. If you print the layout from another computer you must ensure that the fonts you have used are installed on that computer otherwise Windows will use what it considers to be the closest match based on the fonts installed. Fonts which are not standard True Type fonts may produce different results to those shown on the layout. Once your layout is the way you would like it you should give the layout a name and save it by clicking on the Save button. Note: Layout names must be unique within the one database. Rulers There are rulers at the top and to the left of the card layout. The rulers may be used when aligning objects to the left, right, top or bottom and also when positioning objects to the center either horizontally or vertically. To use the rulers you just move the ruler pointer, by clicking on it with the left mouse button down, to the position that you would like. The Layout Designer will then use the position you have selected for the alignment, Left or Right. If you select Right Align and the Top Ruler is set to 0 then the object/s will be right aligned to the card right border. If you select Bottom Align and the Left Ruler is set to 0 then the object/s will be bottom aligned to the card bottom border. To Center objects either horizontally or vertically between 2 given points, other than the card width/height, just move the ruler pointer to the first point you require then press the Shift key and move the pointer to the second point. A blue line should appear between the two points. Any centering options selected will occur based on this 'blue' area. Objects may also be positioned and sized on the layout using the Size To Rulers option. To use this option you move the top ruler to the Left position you require for the object. Move the left ruler to the Top position required. If you would also like the object sized as well at the same time you should press the shift key and move the top ruler to the position that indicates the width required for the object. The 'blue' line on the ruler will be the width. Do the same with the left ruler to set the object height. When Size To Rulers is selected the object will be moved to the position set by the rulers and, if set, the width/height as determined by the blue section of the rulers. Layers IDNow uses a number of layers for objects. This allows you to determine the order in which objects will be printed. The further back an object is on the layout the earlier it will be printed. There are 7 graphics layers and 7 text (text and database fields) layers. layer 1 is further back on the card than layer 7. By default when any new object is placed on the card it will be placed on layer 4, the middle layer. Backgrounds placed on the card sit on layer 0 and are the only object that can be placed on this layer. Graphics layers comprise Shapes, images, photographs, signatures, fingerprints and barcodes (if a transparent background is specified). All other objects fit into the text layers. The graphics layers are always laid down before the text layers. Text will always print on top of graphics layers. Objects can be placed on top of other objects. If you find that an object is behind another object and you wish it to

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be on top then you can right-click on the object on top and select Send Back 1 Layer. There are also options to Send Forward 1 layer, Send To Back, Send To Front and Send To Middle. The layer an object is on can be seen in the Object/View All (F3) function. The layers can also be changed on this screen. Graphics objects on the same layer are printed in the following order - Background, Images, Shapes, Photographs, Signatures, Fingerprints, Barcodes (where the barcode has a transparent background). Other objects on the same layer are printed in the following order - Issue/Expiry Date, Text, Database, Barcode (where the background is not transparent), 2D barcodes.

Undo / Redo There is the option to use Undo and Redo if you make a mistake on the layout. There are 5 levels of undo, meaning you can go back up to your last 5 steps. If you make a mistake just click on Undo under the Edit menu. You use the undo option you can also use the Redo option to 'undo' the changes made by Undo. Rectangular Selection Tool There is a rectangular selection tool which can be used to select either multiple objects at a time and/or objects that are difficult to select because of their small size. Just click on the layout with the left mouse button in a location that does not contain any objects. While holding down the left mouse button drag the mouse on the layout. A blue rectangular box will be draw on the layout. Make the box large enough to fully enclose the required objects and then release the mouse button. All objects fully contained within the rectangular area will be selected for you. View All Objects This function is under the Object menu and can be selected using the F3 function key. This function is useful to see all of the objects that are on the layout. Objects may be moved, deleted, properties changed or the layer changed from this screen. This function can be very useful if you have an object under other objects that you want to make some changes to without moving the objects on top. You can also see objects that may be off the card. Assigning Layouts Layouts must be assigned to card details and can be assigned by using the Assign function or may be done manually on each card detail record by selecting it from the list. You can setup default layouts to use for each new card
detail created by setting up the Default Layouts option of the Tools menu. IDNow will attempt to assign a default layout if you do not specify one.

Any card detail that does not have a layout associated with it can not be printed. There is an option, when right-clicking on an object to Lock it. By doing so the highlight rectangle will change to a blue colour. A locked object can not be moved or resized and the Properties for that object are not available. This helps to ensure that you can not accidentally delete or move the object. Packages (Photo Edition Only) The Packages function may be used to create packages that consist of multiple layouts. Packages may be assigned in the same way as layouts to Card Detail entries. Refer to the Packages section for more information. Note If you select multiple objects at one time with the idea of moving them as a group then it is strongly 52

recommended that you have Snap To Grid turned off or the objects may be moved out of their current positions when you release the mouse button to match the closest grid position. Placing objects on a layout that are outside the card printers print borders can have varying results depending on the card printer manufacturer supplied printer driver. Part of the object may be clipped, it may not print at all, it may be printed on a second card or the card may exit the printer blank or only partially printed. This situation is beyond the control of this software. If you find this situation occurring you should endeavor to keep the objects within the card borders. Newer versions of printer drivers may help the situation. Some printers also offer the ability to print on the entire card surface. For these printers you can tick the Override Card Borders option in the layout setup. Results on how well this may work will vary from printer to printer. Some card printers do not support the option to change the orientation at print time. If this is the case with your printer then the card will be printed at the default orientation of the card printer regardless of the setting in this software. To overcome this you will need to change the orientation using the printer properties in Windows Control Panel to suit before printing. Colour representation on the screen will probably differ slightly from that which is printed on the card. This is due to monitor variations, contrast, brightness, gamma etc. and is beyond the control of this software. You can usually obtain the desired print result by modifying the colour required in the object properties. You may find it necessary to define your own colours to obtain the desired result. Even if the colour does not look right on the screen it should print properly on the card. If you have setup a double sided layout your card printer should print both sides automatically, if the printer supports this option, otherwise you will need to manually feed the card back into the printer again to print the other side. Refer to your printer manual for more details on this option. There is a manual duplex option in Printer Setup to help with printers that do not support double sided printing. NOTE: If the defined height of a text or database object is not large enough to accommodate the information to be printed the field height will automatically be adjusted to fit the information. This will occur on both the Layout Designer and at the time of printing the card. If this occurs then you may find that the object may no longer line up or appear exactly where you think it should or the information be printed as expected. If placement and alignment are critical then it is recommended that the object frames be large enough to accommodate the largest amount of information likely to be encountered by the object. Use the Preview option if in doubt. Graphics objects are all merged into the background image, or a white background if no background image/colour selected. This results in a single image which is then output to the printer. This allows the graphics objects to have a transparent background if required (except photographs). This operation requires quite a large amount of computer processing power and may take a second or 2 to display the card on the screen when you make a change to the layout on slower computers. IDNow uses the printer driver selected to display the layout. Some printers report a page size larger than the printer can print to. This can cause a white line or border at the right and bottom of the layout. This is nothing to be concerned about and should not cause any issues with the printed card.

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Text And Database Field Properties


The following is an explanation of each of the text and database field properties DB Field (database fields only) - Indicates the database field linked to this field. You may select a different field if desired by selecting it from the dropdown list. Text (text fields only) - This is where the text that will be displayed/printed on the card is entered. Prefix/Suffix (database fields only) - These fields may be used to add a prefix and/or suffix to the database information at the time of printing the cards. The prefix/suffix will not be displayed in the layout at design time. If, at the time of printing the card, the field is blank then the prefix/suffix will not be printed. An example of the use of this would be when printing a list of member names on a card that you want to be numbered. In this case you would enter "01 " (without quotes) in the prefix for the field that is used for name one, "02 " (without quotes) in the prefix for the field that is used for name two and so on. 01, 02, 03 etc. will be printed in front of each name. Date Field (database fields only) - This option should be enabled if the information in this field is a date. If you enable this option then you can select the Date Format that you would like the date printed in. Meaning of format characters: dd - 2 digit day Eg. 05 mm - 2 digit month Eg. 04 yyyy - 4 digit year Eg. 2002 yy - 2 digit year Eg. 02 mmm - Short name for month Eg. Apr mmmm - Long name for month Eg. April Note It is recommended that even if your database field does contain a date that it is displayed on the Card Details in the format that you wish to print it that you still use the date format option as the date, depending on your computer's regional settings and the format in which it is stored in the database, may become reversed. Border - Select this option if you wish to have a border drawn around the field. Width - This is the width of the border. A number greater than 0 must be entered. Colour - You can change the border colour by clicking on the colour panel. If you have nominated to have a border then you may also wish to enable the Shrink Field To Fit Data option (database fields only). If enabled this option will draw the border around the information printed and not the full size of the field as defined on the layout. Note: The Shrink Field To Fit Data option can NOT be used if the split text over multiple lines option is enabled. It is recommended that you only use the Left, Centered or Right horizontal alignment and the Top or Middle vertical alignment options with the Shrink Field To Fit Data option. Fill Colour - By default the background of text and database fields is transparent. Should you wish to fill the background with a non-transparent colour then you should disable the Transparent option and select the fill colour desired by clicking on the colour panel.

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Horizontal Alignment - May be use to align the text either Left, Center, Right or Justify within the defined width on the layout. If Justify is used the text will be justified (spread out to fill the entire width) if there is more than a single line of text and, if a database field, the Multiple Lines option must be enabled. Vertical Alignment - May be use to align the text either Top, Middle or Bottom within the defined height on the layout. Database Text (database fields only) - These two options may be used to either have IDNow automatically reduce the size of the font used for this field at the time of printing should the resultant text is longer than the field length defined on the layout. The other option is to have IDNow split the text over multiple lines if the resultant text is longer than the field length defined on the layout. If this option is selected you must ensure that the height of the field on the layout is large enough to accommodate the expected maximum number of lines that may result. Font - The font button may be used to select the font type and size used for the field. Font colour may also be set from this screen as well as using the Text Colour option below. Text Colour - By clicking on the colour panel you can select the colour of the font used. Text Colour Based On (database fields only) - This option may be used to vary the colour of the text printed based on a number value that has been entered into another card details database field. This allows different entries using this layout to print this field in a different colour. This may be useful where the colour can vary from entry to entry, in the case of some security ID cards. Just select the field that contains the value from the dropdown list. If left blank the colour selected in Text Colour will be used. If the selected database field is blank or contains an invalid value then the colour selected in Text Colour will be used. To select the colour to input into the text field just click on the Text Colour button to the right of the Card Details field and select the colour you want to use in that field. A number will be placed into the field for you. You should keep in mind that each field that uses this option will require two fields on the card details screen. One for the value to print and one for the colour to use for that entry. For this option to appear you must enable the Colour Selection Button in the Setup Options. Use of this option will have no effect if using an external database. Rotate Xo - Default is 0o. This option allows you to rotate the text either 90, 180 or 270 degrees. This may be handy if you need to print the text in an orientation different to the card layout. Rotation is counter-clockwise pivoting on the top left hand corner of the object, so you can expect it to move on the layout. You may need to reposition the text after the rotation. Shadow - If you wish to have the text printed with a shadow effect the you should enable the shadow option. By default the shadow colour is a silver/grey but this may be changed by clicking on the colour panel. The default shadow offset is 15 pixels. This may be changed to any positive value you desire. The show position may be selected from the options available. The default is Top/Right. Left, Top, Width & Height - These fields show the current left & top position and dimensions of the text. You may alter these here if you need to move the text by a very small amount which may be difficult to do with the mouse.

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Counter If you are using this special database field it may be used to print an auto incrementing number based on the Starting Number and Increment By, such as a membership number. This number may be printed as either a number, barcode or magnetic stripe. You can set the properties of the field, depending on the type of object, as if it was a normal field. You may also set a Prefix for the number and a Suffix if required. The Number Length option may be used to define the minimum length of the number portion. If the number is less than this length the number will have leading zeros added to it. This length does not include any Prefix/Suffix. If set to Zero then this option has no effect. If the Counter field is used any Suffix/Prefix/Length properties that normally will be available for an object type will be disabled. Multiple counter objects may be used on the same layout if desired with different numbers/increments. IDNow will remember the last number used and will start with the next number the next time cards are printed. You can reset these properties in the Layout Designer if required.

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Barcode Properties
The following is an explanation of each of the barcode properties DB Field - Indicates the database field linked to this barcode. To select a different field to use for this barcode select it from the dropdown list. Horizontal Alignment - May be use to align the barcode either left, center or right within the defined barcode width on the layout. Vertical Alignment - May be use to align the barcode either top, middle or bottom within the defined barcode height on the layout. Style - Used to select the barcode type required. Select the type used for the dropdown list. Rotation - Allows for the rotation of the barcode on the layout. Barcode Height - This is the height of the bars within the barcode in millimeters. Widebar Ratio - This is the ratio of the wide bar to the width of the narrow bar. The default is 2.2. Valid range is 2.0 to 3.0. The default value should be correct for most barcode scanners but may be varied if necessary. Dim X - Nominal dimension of the narrow bars. The default is 0.254. Valid range is 0.13 to 12.7. The default value should be correct for most barcode scanners but may be varied if necessary. Characters In Barcode - This is the number of characters that will be in the resultant barcode. If the length of the data used to construct the barcode at print time is less than the number of defined characters then the data will be padded with leading zeros to bring it up to the length defined. Full ASCII On Code 39 - If you are using a code 39 barcode and the data that will be used to construct the barcode contains characters not normally supported by the Code 39 barcode then you should enable this option. Use this option if you get an error when printing or previewing cards that reads "Error Code 39 (Non Full Ascii Mode) - Unknown character in given text". Calculate Check Digit - If the barcode you have selected requires a standard check digit for the barcode type selected and it is not included in the data that will be used to construct the barcode you should enable this option. Note: Many scanners expect a check digit with Code 128 barcodes. If you find your Code 128 barcodes will not scan it is recommended that you enable this option to see if they scan. Include Readable Text - This option will print the data used to construct the barcode underneath it. You may also select the font used for the readable text by clicking on the font button. It has been found that the barcode generator used in IDNow sometimes will not print the text when the font is changed. If this is the case then you can place the barcode field on the layout as a normal database field. Multiline - This option is enabled by default. If enable and the Readable Text option is enabled then the text

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printed under the barcode may be spread over multiple lines if need be. Match Frame Size - This option if enabled will shrink/expand the barcode to fit the size of the barcode frame you have defined, including the readable text, if enabled. This option is enabled by default when you add a new barcode. Care should be taken when using this option. If the data being represented by the barcode is more than expected the barcode may be shrunk to a size that is unreadable by the end user's barcode scanner. Alternatively if the data is less than expected then the barcode elements may be larger than desired and again the barcode reader may not be able to read it. As with all barcodes suitable test should be done to ensure that the barcode will be readable by the end user barcode scanner. Note: If Match Frame Size is enabled then any values you enter in Widebar Ratio and Dim X are ignored. Left, Top, Width & Height - These fields show the current left & top position and dimensions of the barcode. You may alter these here if you need to move the barcode by a very small amount which may be difficult to do with the mouse. Foreground, Background Colour - These may be used to change the default colour of the barcode and the background behind it by clicking on the colour panel and selecting the colour desired. Note: Extreme care must be used when changing the barcode colours from the default. Many barcode readers 'see' using infrared light and many colour combinations may not be visible to these readers. Transparent Background - If enabled then the barcode will be created with a transparent background. The result of this option may not look very good on the layout but when printed on a card should produce a good quality barcode. If you have the Include Readable Text option enabled and the Transparent Background option is also enabled you may find that the text printed under the barcode has a large amount of 'artifacts' around it. This is a characteristic of text generated in graphics and it outside the control of IDNow. This may result in the text not having a clear transparent background. If you require the text under the barcode you may be better using a database field to display the text. This will give an excellent result. Note: Care must be used if you specify a transparent background for a barcode. It may result in the barcode being unreadable depending on what other graphics are behind the barcode. Some printers may not print the barcode using the K panel (black) of the ribbon if the background is transparent. A non-transparent background should result in the printer using the K panel if the Use K Panel for Graphics option is enabled in the printer driver options. After you have altered the properties of your barcode and Match Frame is not enabled IDNow will estimate the size of your barcode and add 20% to the width and 10% extra to the height to help ensure that the barcode will be large enough for your data when printing the card/s. Refer notes below if your barcode does not print on the card. Counter If you are using this special database field it may be used to print an auto incrementing number based on the Starting Number and Increment By, such as a membership number. This number may be printed as either a number, barcode or magnetic stripe. You can set the properties of the field, depending on the type of object, as if it was a normal field. You may also set a Prefix for the number and a Suffix if required. The Number Length option may be used to define the minimum length of the number portion. If the number is less than this length the number will have leading zeros added to it. This length does not include any Prefix/Suffix. If set to Zero then this option has no effect. If the Counter field is used any Suffix/Prefix/Length properties that normally will be available for an object type will be disabled.

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Multiple counter objects may be used on the same layout if desired with different numbers/increments. IDNow will remember the last number used and will start with the next number the next time cards are printed. You can reset these properties in the Layout Designer if required. Note If your defined physical size of the barcode on the layout is not large enough to accommodate the barcode then the barcode will not be displayed or printed on the card. You should adjust the size of the barcode frame to suit. It is your responsibility to ensure that the information you wish to encode into the barcode is suitable for the Barcode Style you have selected. If the information is not suitable then the barcode may not be scannable or may not print. The barcode displayed in the Layout designer uses numeric sample data only. Some barcode styles require more space for alphabetic characters. It is strongly recommended that you make you barcode frame larger on the layout given the number of characters in the barcode. The Datacard Smart printer driver has a problem with a barcode that has Readable Text enabled. It tries to encode it as a magnetic stripe. To overcome this issue do not enable the Readable Text option. Instead use a database field under the barcode the same same size as the barcode with it center aligned. Always do some test prints and scans before printing large number of cards.

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Image Properties
The following is an explanation of each of the image properties. Transparent Background - This option allows the image to have a transparent background. You must select the colour in the image that will become transparent by clicking on the Colour panel. The transparent colour must be a pure colour or results may not be satisfactory. Images that are to be used with a transparent background should not be saved as JPG images as the compression used may cause the colour to change slightly. There is a small display of the image at the bottom of the properties screen. Clicking on the background colour on this image will change the transparent colour for the purposes of transparency. Merge Style There are 3 options available - Normal, Only darker Pixels and Only Lighter Pixels. Normal will place the image on the layout without and modifications. Sometimes images have colour artifacts around the edges of the parts of the image that are to be displayed. They may look like they are the same colour as the background but are slightly off. This results in the background not being transparent around these edges. This is particularly true with logos that have text in them. The Only Darker Pixels option will tell IDNow to only display the parts of the image that are darker than the background they are being placed on. This can help clean up the artifacts that can result or if the transparent colour is not a pure colour. The Only Lighter Pixels option is similar to above but only displays those parts that are lighter than the background they are being placed on. This option may give a better result when the image is much lighter than the background. Superimpose options are also available in the Photo Edition of IDNow to allow different effects when the images are merged. The Superimpose Minimum and Maximum values may also be set in this version. Some experimentation with these settings will be required to get the result that you require and will vary greatly depending on the image used and what graphics are behind it. The merge style options can especially help with images where you require a transparent background. You may even get a transparent background without enabling the Transparent Background option. Rotate X degrees - Default is 0 degrees This option allows you to rotate the image either 90, 180 or 270 degrees. This may be handy if you need to print the image in an orientation different to the card layout. Rotation is counter-clockwise pivoting on the top left hand corner of the object, so you can expect it to move on the layout. You may need to reposition the image after the rotation. Brightness - This option allows you to adjust the brightness of the image on the layout. Contrast - This option allows you to adjust the contrast of the image on the layout. Gamma - This option allows you to adjust the gamma of the image on the layout. The above option can help to improved the look of the image in some circumstances and may also help when images are to have a transparent background and the background colour is not pure or has 'artifacts' at the edges of the image.

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Note Having transparent images requires quite a lot of computer processing and as a result you may find that the refresh of the layout screen will take quite a bit longer to process. Left, Top, Width & Height - These fields show the current left & top position and dimensions of the Image. You may alter these here if you need to move the image by a very small amount which may be difficult to do with the mouse. ReInsert Image may be used to either insert the image, if you have made a change to the original image, or replace it with another image. The original size and location will be maintained. Note When resizing images the aspect ratio of the image is maintained at all times. If you increase the image width without increasing the height then the image will be centered within the frame and not made larger. You can use the View All Objects function to find where the images should be on the layout if necessary.

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Magnetic Stripe Properties


The following is an explanation of each of the magnetic stripe properties. DB Field - This is the database field linked to the magnetic stripe. It can not be changed. If you want to encode more than one track then you should place multiple Magnetic Stripe objects on the layout. Prefix Characters - This field may be used to optionally add characters to the beginning of the magnetic stripe data contained in the database. Suffix Characters - This field may be used to optionally add characters to the end of the magnetic stripe data contained in the database. The Prefix and Suffix characters should not be confused with the Printer Prefix Suffix characters below. Core Length - This field may be used to define the length of the core data coming from the Card Details. If used and the length of the data used to create the Magnetic Stripe is less than the defined core length then leading zeros (0) will be added to make the length up to that defined. This length does not include and Prefix or Suffix characters defined above. Eg. Card Details has a value of 1234 and the core length is set to 6. AAA id defined for the Prefix and ZZZ is defined for the Suffix. The resultant Magnetic Stripe will contain AAA001234ZZZ. Printer Mag Stripe Prefix - This field MUST be used for the special prefix characters used to tell your card printer that this data is to be encoded as a magnetic stripe and which track to use on the card. Printer Mag Stripe Suffix - This field MUST be used for the special suffix characters used to tell your card printer that this data is to be encoded as a magnetic stripe and which track to use on the card. Details of the Prefix and Suffix characters that are to be used for you printer can be obtained from the printer user manual. For example for Fargo Card Printers To encode track 1 you would enter ~1% in the Printer Prefix field and ? in the Printer Suffix field. To encode track 2 you would enter ~2; in the Printer Prefix field and ? in the Printer Suffix field. To encode track 3 you would enter ~3; in the Printer Prefix field and ? in the Printer Suffix field. We have found that some Eltron/Zebra printers require the following codes contrary to what the manual and web site say. To encode track 1 you would enter ${1 in the Printer Prefix field and }$ in the Printer Suffix field. To encode track 2 you would enter ${2 in the Printer Prefix field and }$ in the Printer Suffix field. To encode track 3 you would enter ${3 in the Printer Prefix field and }$ in the Printer Suffix field. You may also need turned on "enable macro processing" in the Eltron/Zebra printer driver and ${ in the Start of Data field and }$ in the End of Data field. If you have a Datacard printer that expects a special magnetic stripe font to be sent with the information to be encoded you will need to change the printer driver so that it will work with Escape Codes for Mag Stripe encoding. To do this right-click on the Datacard SmartDriver Printer and select Properties. Click Printing Preferences button. Click Advanced button. 62

Locate the Mag Stripe Escape Compatibility setting. On Windows 9x, choose the Mag Stripe tab. On Windows 2000 and XP, scroll through the settings list to locate the Mag Stripe Escape Compatibility setting. Choose Enabled for the setting. Locate the Mag Stripe Encoding Format setting. If you will encode IAT (ISO) format, choose IAT for the format. If you will encode a variation to IAT (ISO) format, choose "Use printer settings" for the format. Click Apply or OK to save the settings and close the dialog box. Once this is done you can then use the Printer Prefix/Suffix codes for Fargo Printers. Do Not Output Magnetic Stripe Before Printing Card Most card printers encode magnetic stripes before printing the card. If you have a printer that does not encode the magnetic stripe first then you should enable this option. Counter If you are using this special database field it may be used to print an auto incrementing number based on the Starting Number and Increment By, such as a membership number. This number may be printed as either a number, barcode or magnetic stripe. You can set the properties of the field, depending on the type of object, as if it was a normal field. You may also set a Prefix for the number and a Suffix if required. The Number Length option may be used to define the minimum length of the number portion. If the number is less than this length the number will have leading zeros added to it. This length does not include any Prefix/Suffix. If set to Zero then this option has no effect. If the Counter field is used any Suffix/Prefix/Length properties that normally will be available for an object type will be disabled. Multiple counter objects may be used on the same layout if desired with different numbers/increments. IDNow will remember the last number used and will start with the next number the next time cards are printed. You can reset these properties in the Layout Designer if required. Note The Font and Printer Mag Stripe Prefix/Suffix methods are mutually exclusive. You can only use one method to tell the printer which track to use. The number and type of acceptable characters varies depending on the track used. IDNow does not validate the magnetic stripe data. Check your printer manual for details. Failure to enter the correct printer prefix and suffix characters will result in the magnetic stripe not being encoded and the data will probably be printed on the card as a normal field in the top left hand corner.

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Shape Properties
The following is an explanation of each of the shape properties. Left, Top, Width & Height - These fields show the current left & top position and dimensions of the shape. You may alter these here if you need to move the shape by a very small amount which may be difficult to do with the mouse. Shape - Either Rectangle, Line or Circle may be selected. A line is drawn using the rectangle shape and sizing it to the line height or width you require. Lines may only be either horizontal or vertical. There is no way to have it at any other angle. If Rectangle is selected you may have Rounded Corners by enabling that option. The Corner Radius must also be set. A value of 100 - 200 is usually sufficient depending on the size of the rectangle. A value of 0 will result in square corners. Note - If your line with is less than 0.1mm you may find it difficult to select it using the mouse pointer. If this happen just click around the line until it is selected. If you want a very thin line it is best to have it initially wider than you require till you get it located exactly where you require it and then reduce the width. Fill Colour - Click on the colour panel to select the colour that will fill the shape. Transparent - This option will result in the shape option having a transparent internal area. Border - This option may be used to add a border to the shape. The border width must be entered and any positive number may be entered. The border colour may be selected by clicking on the colour panel.

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Photograph Properties
The following is an explanation of each of the photograph properties. The photograph is automatically linked the database. Border - This option may be used to add a border to the photograph. The border width must be entered and any positive number may be entered. The border colour may be selected by clicking on the Colour panel. Rounded Corners may also be applied. You must also enter the Radius of the rounded corner required. The higher the value the large the corner radius. Note: To achieve rounded corners on photographs IDNow creates a white arc on each corner and then prints the photo with white being a transparent background. If you have a coloured background and there is some pure white in the photograph, which is usually unlikely, then the background may show through in that area. Merge Style There are 3 options available - Normal, Only darker Pixels and Only Lighter Pixels. Normal will place the image on the layout without and modifications. Sometimes images have colour artifacts around the edges of the parts of the image that are to be displayed. They may look like they are the same colour as the background but are slightly off. This results in the background not being transparent around these edges. This is particularly true with logos that have text in them. The Only Darker Pixels option will tell IDNow to only display the parts of the image that are darker than the background they are being placed on. This can help clean up the artifacts that can result or if the transparent colour is not a pure colour. The Only Lighter Pixels option is similar to above but only displays those parts that are lighter than the background they are being placed on. This option may give a better result when the image is much lighter than the background. Superimpose options are also available in the Photo Edition of IDNow to allow different effects when the images are merged. The Superimpose Minimum and Maximum values may also be set in this version. Some experimentation with these settings will be required to get the result that you require and will vary greatly depending on the image used and what graphics are behind it. You may get what appears to be a transparent background on the photograph but results are unpredictable depending on the options used, this is because photographs rarely have a solid colour background. Left, Top, Width & Height - These fields show the current left & top position and dimensions of the photograph. You may alter these here if you need to move the photograph by a very small amount which may be difficult to do with the mouse. Rotate - Default is 0o. This option allows you to rotate the photograph either 90, 180 or 270 degrees on the layout. Rotation is clockwise. This option may be used in conjunction with the Rotate Photograph X Degrees On Display option in Setup Options but the amount of rotation may be different if desired as one is not affected by the other.

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Security Options - Brightness - This option may be used if you wish to print a second smaller photograph on the card, for security reasons, which is lighter or darker than the original. The default is 0 which prints the photograph on the card as it appears on the Card Details screen. Moving the scroll bar to the right will lighten the image and to the left will darken it. Crop Photo To Fit Frame This option, if enabled, will size the photograph to fit the frame size defined on the layout. As the aspect ration of the photograph is always maintained it may be necessary for some part of the photograph to be cropped or cut off. By default the cropping will be done from the bottom of the photograph. You have the option to change this to the Top, Left or Right of the photograph. All cropping is done after any rotation of the photograph. Print Full Size Photo (Professional version only) This option, if enabled and you are using large sized photographs which IDNow may be cropping for the purpose of producing ID cards, will print the full photograph rather than just the cropped selection. Note When resizing photograph the aspect ratio of the image is maintained at all times. If you increase the image width without increasing the height then the image will be centered within the frame and not made larger. If the Crop Photo To Fit Frame option is enabled then the result is different.

The photograph displayed on the layout is just a sample with a size based on the photo size in Setup Options.

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Signature Properties
The following is an explanation of each of the signature properties. Border - This option may be used to add a border to the signature. The border width must be entered and any positive number may be entered. The border colour may be selected by clicking on the colour panel. Rounded Corners may also be applied if you enable that option. You must also enter the Radius of the rounded corner required. The higher the value the large the corner radius. Note: If rounded corners are used and you have a large radius you may find that the square edges of the signature are visible at the edge of corners. Making the border a little wider can sometimes overcome this. Transparent Background - This option allows the image to have a transparent background. You must select the colour in the image that will become transparent by clicking on the Colour panel. The transparent colour must be a pure colour or results may not be satisfactory. Merge Style There are 3 options available - Normal, Only darker Pixels and Only Lighter Pixels. Normal will place the image on the layout without and modifications. Sometimes images have colour artifacts around the edges of the parts of the image that are to be displayed. They may look like they are the same colour as the background but are slightly off. This results in the background not being transparent around these edges. This is particularly true with logos that have text in them. The Only Darker Pixels option will tell IDNow to only display the parts of the image that are darker than the background they are being placed on. This can help clean up the artifacts that can result or if the transparent colour is not a pure colour. The Only Lighter Pixels option is similar to above but only displays those parts that are lighter than the background they are being placed on. This option may give a better result when the image is much lighter than the background. Superimpose options are also available in the Photo Edition of IDNow to allow different effects when the images are merged. The Superimpose Minimum and Maximum values may also be set in this version. Some experimentation with these settings will be required to get the result that you require and will vary greatly depending on the image used and what graphics are behind it. The merge style options can especially help with images where you require a transparent background. You may even get a transparent background without enabling the Transparent Background option. Rotate Xo - Default is 0o. This option allows you to rotate the signature either 90, 180 or 270 degrees. This may be handy if you need to print the signature in an orientation different to the card layout. Rotation is counter-clockwise pivoting on the top left hand corner of the object, so you can expect it to move on the layout. You may need to reposition the signature after the rotation. Common Signature - This option may be used to specify a common signature that will be printed on all cards using this layout. Just click on the Browse to locate the signature BMP. If this field is left blank then the signature associated with each database record will be used.

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Foreground Colour On Print - This option allows the foreground colour of the signature to be changed to a different colour other than the default of black. Background Colour On Print - This option allows the background colour of the signature to be changed to a different colour other than the default of white. Note: Changing the foreground and background colours will only have an effect if Convert Signature Scans/Capture To Black & White is enabled in Setup at the time of capture. If your signatures were not captured in this mode, and they are not saved in the IDNow database, then you can use the Tools/Image Conversion function (Professional version only) to convert them to to the required format. Set the conversion function to 100% of original, BMP format and 2 Colours. The Foreground and Background colours should NOT be the same colour. If you have nominated the signature to have a transparent background then the transparent colour will be changed to the same colour as the selected background. If you nominate a different transparent colour then the transparent option will not work. Left, Top, Width & Height - These fields show the current left & top position and dimensions of the signature. You may alter these here if you need to move the signature by a very small amount which may be difficult to do with the mouse. Note Both a common and database signature may be placed on the layout.

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Fingerprint Properties
The following is an explanation of each of the fingerprint properties. Border - This option may be used to add a border to the signature. The border width must be entered and any positive number may be entered. The border colour may be selected by clicking on the colour panel. Rounded Corners may also be applied if you enable that option. You must also enter the Radius of the rounded corner required. The higher the value the large the corner radius. Note: If rounded corners are used and you have a large radius you may find that the square edges of the signature are visible at the edge of corners. Making the border a little wider can sometimes overcome this. Transparent Background - This option allows the image to have a transparent background. You must select the colour in the image that will become transparent by clicking on the Colour panel. The transparent colour must be a pure colour or results may not be satisfactory. Merge Style There are 3 options available - Normal, Only darker Pixels and Only Lighter Pixels. Normal will place the image on the layout without and modifications. Sometimes images have colour artifacts around the edges of the parts of the image that are to be displayed. They may look like they are the same colour as the background but are slightly off. This results in the background not being transparent around these edges. This is particularly true with logos that have text in them. The Only Darker Pixels option will tell IDNow to only display the parts of the image that are darker than the background they are being placed on. This can help clean up the artifacts that can result or if the transparent colour is not a pure colour. The Only Lighter Pixels option is similar to above but only displays those parts that are lighter than the background they are being placed on. This option may give a better result when the image is much lighter than the background. Superimpose options are also available in the Photo Edition of IDNow to allow different effects when the images are merged. The Superimpose Minimum and Maximum values may also be set in this version. Some experimentation with these settings will be required to get the result that you require and will vary greatly depending on the image used and what graphics are behind it. The merge style options can especially help with images where you require a transparent background. You may even get a transparent background without enabling the Transparent Background option. Rotate Xo - Default is 0o. This option allows you to rotate the signature either 90, 180 or 270 degrees. This may be handy if you need to print the signature in an orientation different to the card layout. Rotation is counter-clockwise pivoting on the top left hand corner of the object, so you can expect it to move on the layout. You may need to reposition the signature after the rotation. Left, Top, Width & Height - These fields show the current left & top position and dimensions of the signature. You may alter these here if you need to move the signature by a very small amount which may be difficult to do with the mouse.

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PDF417 2D Barcode Properties


PDF417 2D barcodes are a 2 dimensional barcode that may contain a large amount of information. These barcodes require a special barcode reader to read them. PDF417 is a multi-row, variable length bar code symbol. It has the benefits of high capacity and error correction. It is capable of encoding more than 1,100 bytes, 1,800 ASCII characters or 2,700 digits depending on the data compaction mode. PDF417 supports full ASCII character including extended character set. When you select this option of the Card Layout Designer a sample PDF417 barcode is placed on the layout. Following is a list of the barcode setup options. Display Mode: This has 4 options Exact Cap & Size - This generates the bar code in fixed capacity and same symbol image appearance. It will have a fixed capacity and will be printed at the size specified. You must have enough Rows and Columns to accommodate all of your data. Exact Cap & Match Frame - Similar to above but automatically calculates some sizes. You must have enough Rows and Columns to accommodate all of your data. The size of the frame is used to calculate the structure of the barcode. Auto Cap & Exact Size - This option is more suitable for variable data such as used in IDNow. This is the default setting. Using this option will cause the system to calculate the size of the barcode required to hold your data. Auto Cap & Match Frame - Similar to above. The size of the frame is used to calculate the structure of the barcode. Rotation - This option will rotate the barcode to the angle selected. Rotation is anti-clockwise. Vertical Align - Options are Top, Center and Bottom. This option sets the vertical alignment of the barcode within the size specified. Horizontal Align - Options are Left, Center and Right. This option sets the horizontal alignment of the barcode within the size specified. Rows - This is the number of rows of data the barcode will have. If the Display Mode is set to either of the Auto Cap options then the Rows and columns is used to determine the minimum amount of data the barcode must hold. Columns - This is the number of columns of data the barcode will have. If the Display Mode is set to either of the Auto Cap options then the Rows and columns is used to determine the minimum amount of data the barcode must hold. DimX - This sets the nominal width of the narrow bar. Narrow bar is the smallest displayable element in the barcode. Changing this value can greatly affect the amount of data the barcode can hold if the size is fixed. A size greater than 2mm is not recommended. The default is 0.3mm. Any changes made to this field should be made in very small increments/decrements.

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Height Ratio - This sets the height to width ratio of the narrow bar. Narrow bar is the smallest displayable element in the barcode. It is used in conjunction with DimX to construct the barcode. The default is 3.0. GLI - GLI is the Global Label Identifier. This is used to determine the encoding method of the barcode. The default is 0 and normally need not be changed. ECC - ECC is the Error Correction used in the barcode. The higher the number the better the level of error correction. The more error correction the less room there is in the barcode for the data. The default is 5 but you may drop this to as low as 2 without too many problems. Truncated - If enabled this option does not print the lines at the right side of the barcode. This is sometimes preferable but may make reading the barcode more difficult if the barcode is not read in a clean environment or is subject to slight damage. Left, Top, Width & Height - These fields show the current left & top position and dimensions of the text. You may alter these here if you need to move the text by a very small amount which may be difficult to do with the mouse. Data Fields - This button will allow you to select which IDNow fields are to be included in the construction of the barcode. At least one field must be selected for the barcode to print on your cards. The default settings used are generally satisfactory for most circumstances. Note: The size you have defined for the barcode may not be large enough to contain the information you have selected for it to hold. It is highly recommended that you do a test Print, or Preview, of a card that has the maximum amount of information that you are likely to want to have in the barcode.

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DataMatrix 2D Barcode Properties


DataMatrix barcodes are a 2 dimensional barcode that may contain a large amount of information. These barcodes require a special barcode reader to read them. DataMatrix is a variable size two dimensional matrix symbology capable of encoding full ASCII character including extended character set. There are two types of DataMatrix, ECC 000-140 and ECC 200. Both types of DataMatrix has error correction capability. ECC 000-140 includes user selectable error correction capabilities. It is for closed applications where a single party controls printing and scanning of symbol. ECC 200 has larger data capacity. It is for public usage. You should use ECC 200 instead of ECC 000-140 in most applications. It can encode up to 2,000 characters. When you select this option of the Card Layout Designer a sample DataMatrix barcode is placed on the layout. Following is a list of the barcode setup options. Display Mode: This has 4 options Exact Cap & Size - This generates the bar code in fixed capacity and same symbol image appearance. It will have a fixed capacity and will be printed at the size specified. You must have enough Rows and Columns to accommodate all of your data. Exact Cap & Match Frame - Similar to above but automatically calculates some sizes. You must have enough Rows and Columns to accommodate all of your data. The size of the frame is used to calculate the structure of the barcode. Auto Cap & Exact Size - This option is more suitable for variable data such as used in IDNow. This is the default setting. Using this option will cause the system to calculate the size of the barcode required to hold your data. Auto Cap & Match Frame - Similar to above. The size of the frame is used to calculate the structure of the barcode. Rotation - This option will rotate the barcode to the angle selected. Rotation is anti-clockwise. Vertical Align - Options are Top, Center and Bottom. This option sets the vertical alignment of the barcode within the size specified. Horizontal Align - Options are Left, Center and Right. This option sets the horizontal alignment of the barcode within the size specified. DimX - This sets the nominal width of the narrow bar. Narrow bar is the smallest displayable element in the barcode. Changing this value can greatly affect the amount of data the barcode can hold if the size is fixed. A size greater than 2mm is not recommended. The default is 0.381mm. Any changes made to this field should be made in very small increments/decrements. Type - This option sets the type of DataMatrix symbol type used. The two options are ECC 000-140 and ECC 200. The two have different symbol structures, data capacities and error correction capabilities. The default is ECC 200.

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Size - This option allows you set the size of the barcode symbol. By default the option is set to Auto which allows IDNow to determine the best size for the barcode. If you wish to select another option be sure that the option you select matches the Type field (above). ECC - ECC is the Error Correction used in the barcode. The higher the number the better the level of error correction. The more error correction the less room there is in the barcode for the data. The default is 1. This setting is only valid for ECC 000-140 barcode types. ECC 200 types has pre-defined symbol recovery capability. ECI - Extended Channel Interpretation. This option if greater than 0 inserts ECI encoding at the beginning of the symbol. ECI Encoding is only valid for DataMatrix type ECC 200. Make sure your barcode reader can transmit the symbology identifiers, if used. Left, Top, Width & Height - These fields show the current left & top position and dimensions of the text. You may alter these here if you need to move the text by a very small amount which may be difficult to do with the mouse. Data Fields - This button will allow you to select which IDNow fields are to be included in the construction of the barcode. At least one field must be selected for the barcode to print on your cards. The default settings used are generally satisfactory for most circumstances. Note: The size you have defined for the barcode may not be large enough to contain the information you have selected for it to hold. It is highly recommended that you do a test Print, or Preview, of a card that has the maximum amount of information that you are likely to want to have in the barcode.

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2D Barcode Fields
This option is used to select the fields that will be encoded into the PDF417 & DataMatrix 2D barcodes. A list of all IDNow fields used on the card details will be displayed. To select a field just click on it and it will be highlighted. Clicking on a highlighted field will unselect it. At least one field must be selected for the barcode to be printed on your cards. Delimiter Between Fields - This option allows you to select the type of delimiter that will be placed between fields. The options are None, Carriage Return + Line Feed, Line Feed Only, Tab or Comma. The default is Line Feed Only. When scanned this should produce an output that lists each field under the previous one. Which delimiter you use very much depends on the application the scanned data is used in.

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Concatenate Fields (Professional version only)


The Concatenate Fields option is available in number of places in IDNow including the Layout Designer when inserting a Database, Barcode or Magnetic Stripe object. To select the concatenated option you should select 'Concatenate' from the list of fields available. The option allows you to select up to 10 fields that you wish to concatenate into a single field on your layout. The individual fields, when printed, are separated by a single space. You should ensure that your field on the layout is large enough to accommodate the largest possible amount of data, based on the information that has been entered. The Concatenate Fields option may also be used, to a limited extent, to break a single field into 2 seperate fields when printed. The Concatenate Fields option allows you to select up to 10 fields to join together. To select a field you only need click on the box in the Include column of the field/s you wish to include. To de-select a field just click on the box again. The Order field is used to tell IDNow the order in which to use the selected fields. This should be between 0 and 10. Fields with the same Order will be used as they are encountered, which may not be as you expect. There is also a Trim To option which allows you limit the number of characters that are included from that field. If left blank or 0 is entered then all of the characters from that field will be included. You may also include a , or . or ; at the end of this field. If you do include a . or , or ; then that character will be placed in the field after all of the data to be included. If you enter a 1 followed by . then only the first character from that field will be included in the concatenation followed by . at the end. This may be useful if you have 3 fields, one for First Name, one for Middle Name and one for Last Name. You may wish to concatenate all 3 fields into a single field but only include the first letter of the Middle Name followed by .. For example Smith Andrew John would be concatenated to make John A. Smith or perhaps Smith, A. John, depending on the field order set. The only other characters allowed in the Trim To field are the # ~ - t c l and r characters. The # character may be used to suppress the printing of the first part of the field when the r character is to be used. This is useful if you only wish to print the end of the field defined by the r parameter. If the # character is used on its own then no data will be printed. If used the # MUST be the first character in the Trim To Field. The ~ character may be used to tell IDNow not to place a 'space' after the field. If you exclude this character a space will be placed between this field and the next field. Concatenating First Name and Last Name with ~ in the Trim To field for First Name would result in JohnSmith This option may be useful when using concatenated fields with barcodes or magnetic stripe fields. The - character may be used to place a - between the data. It may be used with a the ~ to eliminate any space. For example if concatenating 1111 and 2222 with just the - character then the result will be 1111 - 2222. If using ~- then the result would be 1111-2222. The t character may be used to add a TAB to the end of the field. The c character may be used to add a carriage return (Enter) to the end of the field The l (lower case L) may be used to add a line feed to the end of the field. The r character may be used to tell IDNow to use a certain number of character back from the right of the field. The R must be immediately followed by the number of character to include otherwise it will be ignored. Note: If the t, c or l characters are used then the ~ character is assumed and no spaces will be added between this and the next field. Only one of either . , ; or - may be used on any one field Only one of either ~ t c l or r can be used on any one field If the r character is used then a second set of . , ; - and ~ t c l may be used after the r to be included with the second part of the field. Examples: Field Data 1234567890 #r4 results in 7890

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2r3 results in 12 890 2~r3 results in 12890 2tr3 results in 12

890

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Layout Setup
The layout setup option is used to set a number of options relevant to the layout. The default printer is displayed at the top. If the default print size is less than that defined in Card Width and Height, clicking on the printer box will insert the card size into the layout. By default a new layout size is the size obtained from the default card printer. The card size is also determined by the Override Card Borders option. Layout orientation is either Landscape or Portrait. Override Default Card Size may be used in instances where the card printer driver reports the card size to be larger than it actually is. This is the case with Fargo HDP printers. If enabled, a size of 54 x 85.6mm (CR-80 card) is the default. Any size may be entered. Do not enable this option unless you find that objects on the layout are printed over the right or bottom edges of the card. This option may also be used to define a different card size if using the Print Multiple Cards Per Sheet (Professional version only) option when printing cards otherwise a CR-80 card size is assumed. You may also select the option to Override Card Borders as defined by the card printer's driver. You should select this option if your card printer allows for printing of the full card surface. This option is enabled by default. IDNow uses the printer driver selected to display the layout. Some printers report a page size larger than the printer can print to. This can cause a white line or border at the right and bottom of the layout. This is nothing to be concerned about and should not cause any issues with the printed card. There is also an option to Show Grid on the layout. The grid spacing is 1mm. If the grid is to be displayed you also have the option to have objects Snap To Grid. If turned on this will cause any object that is moved to 'snap' to the top and left of the grid square on which the top left hand corner of the object is placed. This option is particularly useful if you want to ensure that a number of objects are lined up either vertically or horizontally. Turning snap to grid on or off will not move any objects currently placed on the layout. The snap to grid only works when an object has been moved. Layout has NO graphics, photographs, signatures or fingerprints - This option should be ticked provided the layout does not have any graphic images on it. Enabling this option will not stop you placing graphic images on the layout but they will not be printed on the card. If enabled this will save a lot of computer memory when printing or displaying layouts. The Printer Bin To Use When Using This Layout option can be used to assign a different printer bin or card hopper to each layout. This is particularly useful is you use multiple layouts and want to use cards from a different card hopper depending on the type of layout. If you only have the one hopper or all hoppers contain the same type of card then you should just leave it set to the default value of First Available. If no options appear in the dropdown list just leave the entry blank. Note

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As printer assignments are on a per computer basis the bin selection option is also on a per layout per computer basis, so this option needs to be set for all layouts on all computers used for printing unless you are happy to use the default option of First Available.

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Assign Layouts
This option may be used to assign a layout to a number of card details entries. You can select up to four database fields along with the type of match (operator) and the criteria to match, on which to base the assignment. You can also assign the layout to those entries whose existing card layout matches an entry you select from the dropdown list. Leaving the selection criteria blank will assign the layout to all card detail entries. You may also optionally only include those details that do not currently have a layout assigned to them. If this option is not enabled then existing layout assignments on selected entries will be overwritten If selecting which entries to assign layouts to using the field lists, and you want to include entries that have a field value of x or y then you should select the field, the operator (=, > etc) and enter x;y. The semicolon tells IDNow to look for entries with either value. Eg. Department = Accounts;Marketing will assign the layout to all cards where the Department field has either Marketing or Accounts. If you select Department = Accounts and Department = Marketing then you will not get any result. There is a limit of 10 'segments' separated by ; for each field. Note If you require the option to assign a layout to cards where a particular field is blank then you must select the field, the '=' operator and leave the criteria field blank. You may also assign layouts to entries where a particular field is NOT blank. The Operator would be 'Not =' and the criteria left blank. Only the '=' and 'Not =' operators may be used with a blank criteria.

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Copy Layout
This option may be used to create a new layout based on an existing layout in the current database. Just select the layout you wish to copy from the list and click on the Copy button. All objects will be copied to the new layout and the layout name will have "Copy Of ..." in front of it. The name may be changed to anything you like provided it is not already in use.

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View All Layout Objects


The View All Layout Objects function cab be used to list all the objects contained in the layout. Loc shows whether the object is on the Front or Back of the layout. Details contains the Text for a Text Field or the Field Name if a Database Field. The Layer on which an object resides is also displayed. This may be changed by selecting a layer from the dropdown list. If you have background images on the layout these are not displayed in the list. You can change the mm From Left and mm From Top settings for an object by directly entering them into the appropriate cell of the grid. The Type and Details fields may not be edited. Click the Save button to save any changes you have made. You may also delete the currently selected object in the list by clicking the Delete button. This will remove the object from the layout. The Properties button may be used to display the properties of the selected object in the list. This may be handy if you can't seem to see the object on the layout. The Select button may be used to select the currently highlighted object on the layout. This may be handy if you can not easily get to an object because it is beneath other objects.

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Packages (Photo Edition only)


The Packages option allows for multiple layouts to be assigned to a package. Packages may be assigned to card detail entries in the same manner as single layouts. When the detail entry is printed the multiple layouts will be printed in the order in the left list. This option is accessed from the Card Layout screen. Existing Packages are displayed in the list on the left. The layouts assigned to the selected package are displayed in the list on the right. To create a new package just click on the New Package button. Enter the name you wish to use for the package. Package names may be changed at any time. If the name is changed, any Card Details using that package are NOT automatically changed. To assign layouts to the package click the Add Layout button. A new line will be added to the left list. Use the dropdown list to select the layout required. As many layouts as required may be assigned to a package. The same layout may be assigned multiple times if required. The layouts assigned may be changed by clicking on the one required and selecting a new layout from the dropdown list. To remove a layout from the package just select the layout required and click the Remove Layout button. To delete a package just highlight the package required and click on the Delete Package button. Packages To Print Are Scanned and Begin With the Character - This option allows you enter a special character that precedes any barcodes when entering packages/layouts using a barcode scanner. This character must be one that you would not normally use when entering data on the Card Details screen. Eg the ^ character. When on the Card Details screen and you scan a barcode that begins with the character entered, IDNow will assume that it is a package and will automatically add it to the Multiple Layouts/Packages To Be Printed for that entry. Scanning the same barcode more than once will increment the copy count for that package. The barcode scanner must output a CR (Carriage Return)after the barcode for this function to work correctly. Refer to Multiple Layout/Package Print Setup for more information on this option. All changes are automatically saved. When finished with the Packages option just click on the Close button. Note: It is recommended that you turn off the Card Preview on the Card Details if using packages as the preview will attempt to show all layouts involved in the package and this can slow down the refreshing of the card details or when you move to a new record.

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Print Current Card and Quick Print


The print current card function may be accessed from either the Production menu or button on the Toolbar. button

The Quick Print function may be accessed using from the Production menu, the F9 function key or the on the Toolbar.

Unless you have selected to preview the cards the Print Type must be selected from the list. This is used in the generation of the print history. The available Print Types are New Card, and by default Replacement and Bad Print/Waste. Other Print Types can be setup in Print Types (Professional version only). The Print Current Card and Quick Print option will attempt to assign a default layout if one is not already associated with it. Refer Default Layouts more details. Printer To Use (Print Current Card Only) By default the printer to use is the printer defined in the Printer setup under the Tools menu. If you wish to use a different printer then you should select it from the list displayed when the Select button is clicked. You may change the printer properties, for the current print session, of the selected printer by clicking on the Properties button. It should be noted that changing the Orientation in the printer properties will have no effect when the cards are printed as the orientation set in the card layout for each card will override any changes you may make. (Print Current Card Only) Print Front Only - This option if enabled will force IDNow to only print the front side of the card even if the layout used by that card has something to be printed on the back. If the card being printed does not have anything on the front side of the layout the card will not be printed. Print Back Only - This option if enabled will force IDNow to only print the back side of the card. If the card being printed does not have anything on the back side of the layout the card will not be printed. The details printed from the 'back' of the layout will be printed on the up side of the card. If you have a double sided printer the card will not be flipped before printing. Copies (Print Current Card Only) The default value is 1 but may be changed to any number you require. Use Printing Template (Print Current Card\Professional version only) - This option, if enabled, will print the selected card a non-card printer. It may be a Laser or inkjet printer printer for printing to Avery ID Badge labels. A list of Templates will be displayed. Select the template to use, and/or add/edit any existing templates, and click the Select button. To select a different layout Template to use click on the Template button. The Printer To Use will be changed to the Default Template Printer setup in Printers. A list of available Printer Bins will be displayed. You may select one if required. A list of available Paper Sizes, for the selected printer, will be displayed and default to the default paper size for the selected printer. You may select a different paper size if required. The paper size list contains the more commonly defined paper sizes. If your printer supports other sizes these will be listed as Custom xxx.

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Unfortunately the printer drivers do not report the custom size name or dimensions. IDNow will remember these settings when using the Print Current Card function and will by default use the template defined previously. To disable the Use Printing Template function just un-tick the option in Print Current Card. Printing with templates is supported by the Quick Print function, provided the template/printer details are setup in Print Current Card. The Quick Print option will print the card with the default print type, 'New Card' for the Lite version. If you wish to print the card as a different type you may click on the down arrow next to the Quick Print button on the Card Details screen and select the print type required or you should use the Print Current Card option. The Quick Print option will also save any changes made to the current database entry, including a new photograph and/or signature if the Auto Save option in Setup is enabled before printing the card. There is no preview option with Quick Print. Note: Changing the Quick Print Print Type only applies to the current entry and if you Use Quick Print or change entry the Print Type will change back to the default. If using the Preview option in Print Current Card - Magnetic stripe fields will not be displayed in the preview. - The card can be printed from the preview screen by pressing the F9 key. - The print history is not updated when doing a preview. - If the card layout selected prints data on the reverse side of the card both sides will be displayed in the preview. If IDNow's security option is enabled then this option is only available to users have access to the Production menu.

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Batch Print
This option is used to print cards in batch mode. This option is available from the Production menu. The batch printing option allows you a number of selection options as well as the option to produce a report of cards to be printed only and also a preview option of what the printed cards will look like. Unless you have selected to preview the cards the Print Type must be selected from the list. This is used in the generation of the print history. Selection Options If required you may restrict which entries will be selected for batch printing. You may use up to four IDNow fields in the selection process. Select the field(s) you want to use from the dropdown list. Next select the type of operator you want to use for the list. Option available are: = - The entries selected field must match exactly the criteria entered. This is not case sensitive. LIKE - The entries selected must begin with the criteria entered. This is not case sensitive. To select only those entries with the criteria in any part of the field you must place a % at the beginning of the criteria. >= - The entries selected must have a field value greater than or equal to the criteria entered. This is not case sensitive. <= - The entries selected must have a field value less than or equal to the criteria entered. This is not case sensitive. Not = - The entries selected must have a field value not equal to the criteria entered, including blank. This is not case sensitive. Note: If more than one IDNow field is selected then the records will be selected on an AND basis. That is the entry must match the selection criteria of all fields. If selecting which cards to print using the field lists, and you want to include cards that have a field value of x or y then you should select the field, the operator (=, >= etc) and enter x;y in the criteria section. The semicolon tells IDNow to look for entries with either value. Eg. Department = Accounts;Marketing will print all cards where the Department field has either Marketing or Accounts. If you select Department = Accounts and Department = Marketing then you will not get any result. There is a limit of 10 'segments' separated by ; for each field. Other options available are: Layout = - Restrict the cards to be printed to those entries assigned the selected Layout. You may include cards from a second layout type in the same batch by selecting a second layout from the OR Card Layout = list. Flagged For Batch Printing Only - Restricts the cards printed to those entries which are flagged for batch printing only. Flagged For Reprint Only - Restricts the cards printed to those entries which are flagged for reprint only. The Print History is NOT updated for Reprints. Not Yet Printed - Restricts the cards printed to those that have never been printed previously. Cards that have only ever been printed using the Bad Print/Waste print type are considered to have never been printed. Not Printed Since - Restricts the cards printed to those which have not been printed since the date entered. You may include a time in the date if required. The format is DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS (24 hour format). Cards that have only ever been printed using the Bad Print/Waste print type since the date/time entered are considered to have

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not been printed since that date/time. If printing using the Batch Print and Reprint flags then you will be asked if you want these flags cleared as each card is printed, when the Print button is clicked. IDNow ID Between - Allows you to select a range of cards to print based on the IDNow ID number. If you whish to use this option you must enter a starting and ending ID number. Tick 'Exclude From Batch Print' Flag For Cards Printed - If you tick this option all cards printed will have the Exclude From Batch Print flag ticked (Card Details screen). This option will have no affect if only previewing the cards to be printed. If this option is ticked it will be stored by the system and will be ticked by default each time you batch print cards. If all selections options are left blank then all cards in the database will be printed. If using the Preview option Magnetic stripe fields will not be displayed in the preview. The cards can not be printed from the preview screen. The print history is not updated when doing a preview. If multiple cards are to be printed then all will be shown in the preview. If a large number of cards are being previewed it may take some time for the preview to complete. If you do not have a lot of memory in your computer then you should not try to preview a large of cards otherwise your computer may lock up. If you want to exclude certain cards from being printed because they are missing a photograph, signature or any database, barcode or mag stripe field which is to be printed based on the layout assigned to the card detail entry then you should tick the Exclude those entries missing photograph, signature or field data that should be printed on the card option. This applies whether printing, previewing or generating a report. By default it is ticked. Use Printing Template (Professional version only) - This option, if enabled, will print the selected cards to a noncard printer. It may be a Laser printer or dedicated printer for printing on plastic sheets etc. A list of Templates will be displayed. Select the template to use, and/or add/edit any existing templates, and click the Select button. To select a different layout Template to use click on the Template button. The Printer To Use will be changed to the Default Template Printer setup in Printers. A list of available Printer Bins will be displayed. You may select one if required. A list of available Paper Sizes, for the selected printer, will be displayed and default to the default paper size for the selected printer. You may select a different paper size if required. The paper size list contains the more commonly defined paper sizes. If your printer supports other sizes these will be listed as Custom xxx. Unfortunately the printer drivers do not report the custom size name or dimensions. This option may also be used to print labels. Duplex Print, Match Front - If printing the back of the cards on the same sheet as the front it is recommended to enable this option so tha the front and back portions of the card line up correctly. In effect the left margin on the front will be the right margin on the back. Duplex Print On Separate Page - If printing the back of the cards on a separate sheet it is recommended you enable this option so that when the two sheets are placed back to back the cards line up correctly. Note: If using the Template option all entries selected must have the same size defined for the card, if they use different layouts, otherwise the results are unpredictable.

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Only the Front or Back of the layout may be used, by default the Front Only option is enabled. Any magnetic stripe objects on the layout are ignored. Care must be taken to ensure that the Print Template layout is correct to suit your requirements before printing large numbers of cards. The Page Size selected must be large enough to accommodate the template being used otherwise result are unpredictable. Some printers may even indicate a 'paper jam'. If the Preview option is enabled then the the number of pages to preview will be displayed next to the option. The default is 2 pages. Previewing large full colour pages can consume huge amounts of computer memory, causing slow response times or even complete computer lockup. It is not recommended that you preview too many pages. If the Preview option is not enabled the you may limit the number of pages printed, for test purposes, to the number entered. Setting this option to 0 will preview/print all pages. Printer To Use By default the printer to use is the printer defined in the Printer setup under the Tools menu. If you wish to use a different printer then you should select it from the list displayed when the Select button is clicked. You may change the printer properties, for the current print session, of the selected printer by clicking on the Properties button. It should be noted that changing the Orientation in the printer properties will have no effect when the cards are printed as the orientation set in the card layout for each card will override any changes you may make. Alternate Printers Starting With Above - This option is only available in the Photo Edition. If enabled it will cause IDNow to output the batch printing between the production printers defined in Printers one after the other. If this option is enabled be sure that all production printers are turned on, connected and ready to print. Print Front Only - This option if enabled will force IDNow to only print the front side of the card even if the layout used by that card has something to be printed on the back. If the card being printed does not have anything on the front side of the layout the card will not be printed. Print Back Only - This option if enabled will force IDNow to only print the back side of the card. If the card being printed does not have anything on the back side of the layout the card will not be printed. The details printed from the 'back' of the layout will be printed on the up side of the card. If you have a double sided printer the card will not be flipped before printing. The Sort Order option may be used to select in what order the cards selected will be printed. You may select up to three IDNow fields to sort on. You may also choose to sort them in either Ascending or Descending order. IDNow will remember the sort options selected. There is also an option to sort the cards numerically. This option should only be selected if the field(s) selected for sorting are numeric. If no sort fields are selected then the cards will be printed in order that they are found in the database. Override Card Detail Entry Layout and use this layout for all selected - If you wish to override the card layout associated with each selected entry with a different layout then select the layout you wish to use. All entries printed will use the layout selected. If the Report Only option is selected then a report of the cards to be printed only will be generated. You may select up to three IDNow fields to be printed on the report. The entries will be sorted by the Card Sort Option fields/options selected. No cards are printed if Report Only option is used. Delay Between Cards

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There are fields to allow you to enter the amount of delay you would like between cards. This helps prevent the Windows printer spool file from growing too large too quickly due to the slow nature of card printers. How much delay should be entered is a matter of trial and error and will depend on the printer. Slightly less than the amount of time it takes to print one card is generally sufficient. If no time delay is entered then IDNow will spool the cards as fast as your computer system will allow and will consider the cards printed even if you cancel the print jobs in the printer driver. Spooling a large number of cards at once will consume a large amount of temporary disk space. Pause After Printing x Cards You may also choose to pause after printing x number of cards. Click on the Resume button to continue printing. If a card jams during the print run or has printing imperfections you may choose to later flag each one you wish to reprint and then use the Reprint option to print only those selected. If a delay has been entered then the number of seconds remaining before the next card will be printed will be shown. If the pause after printing x cards option is used then the number of cards printed since the last pause will be displayed. When printing is paused due to the delay between cards a Pause screen is displayed. This will show the number of seconds remaining before the next card is printed. You may change the delay between cards here. You may also click on the Resume button or Cancel the print job. This screen is also shown if Pause After Printing X cards is used and that number of cards has been printed. No more cards will be spooled to the printer until you click on the Resume button. It should be noted that using the pause function will not stop the printer from printing any cards that have already been spooled to the printer. As cards are printed the print history for each card detail will be updated automatically. The print history is not updated when doing a preview. Note Batch printing will only include entries that have a valid layout associated with them. Each entry printed is sent to the printer as a separate print job rather than as one large print file. If an entry would normally be selected for batch printing but the Exclude From Batch Print flag has been set for that entry in the Card Details then it will not be printed in the batch run. If IDNow's security option is enabled then this option is only available to users have access to the Production menu.

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Print Membership/Loyalty Cards


This option is available from the Production menu. The Print Membership/Loyalty Cards option can be used to print cards that do not contain any fields from the database, such as membership or loyalty cards. You must select the Layout to use from the dropdown list. The Number Of Cards To Printed can be any number but must be entered. Unless you have selected to preview the cards the Print Type must be selected from the list. This is used in the generation of the print history. Use Printing Template (Professional version only) - This option, if enabled, will print the selected cards to a noncard printer. It may be a Laser printer or dedicated printer for printing on plastic sheets etc. A list of Templates will be displayed. Select the template to use, and/or add/edit any existing templates, and click the Select button. To select a different layout Template to use click on the Template button. The Printer To Use will be changed to the Default Template Printer setup in Printers. A list of available Printer Bins will be displayed. You may select one if required. A list of available Paper Sizes, for the selected printer, will be displayed and default to the default paper size for the selected printer. You may select a different paper size if required. The paper size list contains the more commonly defined paper sizes. If your printer supports other sizes these will be listed as Custom xxx. Unfortunately the printer drivers do not report the custom size name or dimensions. This option may also be used to print labels. Note: If using this option all cards selected must have the same size defined for the card, if they use different layouts, otherwise the results are unpredictable. Only the Front or Back of the layout may be used, by default the Front Only option is enabled. Any magnetic stipe objects on the layout are ignored. Care must be taken to ensure that the Print Template layout is correct to suit your requirements before printing large numbers of cards. The Page Size selected must be large enough to accommodate the template being used otherwise result are unpredictable. Some printers may even indicate a 'paper jam'. If the Preview option is enabled then the the number of pages to preview will be displayed next to the option. The default is 2 pages. Previewing large full colour pages can consume huge amounts of computer memory, causing slow response times or even complete computer lockup. It is not recommended that you preview too many pages. If the Preview option is not enabled the you may limit the number of pages printed, for test purposes, to the number entered. Setting this option to 0 will preview/print all pages. Printer To Use By default the printer to use is the printer defined in the Printer setup under the Tools menu. If you wish to use a different printer then you should select it from the list displayed when the Select button is clicked. You may change the printer properties, for the current print session, of the selected printer by clicking on the Properties button. It should be noted that changing the Orientation in the printer properties will have no effect when the cards are printed as the orientation set in the card layout for each card will override any changes you may make. Alternate Printers Starting With Above - This option is only available in the Photo Edition. If enabled it will cause IDNow to output the batch printing between the production printers defined in Printers one after the other. If this option is enabled be sure that all production printers are turned on, connected and ready to print.

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Print Front Only - This option if enabled will force IDNow to only print the front side of the card even if the layout used by that card has something to be printed on the back. If the card being printed does not have anything on the front side of the layout the card will not be printed. Print Back Only - This option if enabled will force IDNow to only print the back side of the card. If the card being printed does not have anything on the back side of the layout the card will not be printed. The details printed from the 'back' of the layout will be printed on the up side of the card. If you have a double sided printer the card will not be flipped before printing. Delay Between Cards There are fields to allow you to enter the amount of delay you would like between cards. This helps prevent the Windows printer spool file from growing too large too quickly due to the slow nature of card printers. How much delay should be entered is a matter of trial and error and will depend on the printer. Slightly less than the amount of time it takes to print one card is generally sufficient. If no time delay is entered then IDNow will spool the cards as fast as your computer system will allow and will consider the cards printed even if you cancel the print jobs in the printer driver. Spooling a large number of cards at once will consume a large amount of temporary disk space. Pause After Printing x Cards You may also choose to pause after printing x number of cards. Click on the Resume button to continue printing. If a card jams during the print run or has printing imperfections you may choose to later flag each one you wish to reprint and then use the Reprint option to print only those selected. If a delay has been entered then the number of seconds remaining before the next card will be printed will be shown. If the pause after printing x cards option is used then the number of cards printed since the last pause will be displayed. When printing is paused due to the delay between cards a Pause screen is displayed. This will show the number of seconds remaining before the next card is printed. You may change the delay between cards here. You may also click on the Resume button or Cancel the print job. This screen is also shown if Pause After Printing X cards is used and that number of cards has been printed. No more cards will be spooled to the printer until you click on the Resume button. It should be noted that using the pause function will not stop the printer from printing any cards that have already been spooled to the printer. There is a Preview option next to the Print button. If enabled then the cards will only be shown on the Print Preview screen and not printed, when the Preview button is clicked.

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Print Templates (Professional version only)


The Print Templates screen is used to define the layout of single/multiple cards that are to be printed using any sort of Windows Printer. The screen is used to enter/edit templates as well as select them for use. This screen is accessed from either Batch Print Cards or Print Membership/Loyalty Cards. To use the feature the Print Multiple Cards Per Sheet option must be enabled and the Template button clicked. To add a new template click the New button. A row will be added to the list. Enter the meaninful Template Name you wish to use for the template. Must be entered and limited to 20 characters. There is also the option to select from a series of predefined Avery ID labels. If one of these predefined labels are selected then the balance of the details required will be entered for you. Select the Orientation you wish the page/s to be printed in, Portrait or Landscape. Enter the Left Margin on the page if applicable, in millimeters. Enter the Right Margin to use on the page, if applicable, in millimetres. Enter the number of cards to print across the sheet. Must be entered. Enter the number of cards to print down the sheet. Must be entered. The Gap Across is the distance between each card across the page, if applicable, in millimeters. The Gap Down is the distance between each card down the page, if applicable, in millimeters. Note: The margin settings need to include any unprintable area of the page. Also the number across and down must allow for any unprintable area of the right and bottom margins. This will vary from printer to printer. Any entry may be modified by changing any of the values entered. To save the new entry or changed details click the Save button. To delete an entry just select it and click the Delete button. To select a template for printing use just select it and click the Select button. Templates are stored in the existing IDNow database. If you wish to import templates from an existing IDNow (Access database only) then click the Import Templates From Another IDNow Database button. Browse to the database which contains the templates you want and click on the OK button. The templates for that database will be imported, appending any existing templates in the current database. You can then modify the settings to suit the current database if necessary. There is no check done with regards to duplicate templates. Note: Some trial and error tests may need to be done to get the layout exactly the way you require. Refer to the Batch Print Cards or Print Membership/Loyalty Cards sections for more information on the use of templates.

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Contact Sheet (Professional version only)


This option can be accessed via the Production menu. The Contact Sheet option may be used to produce a printed copy of your images using a standard paper printer. Images will be printed in colour if your printer supports it. This option may be handy if you need to keep a copy of a photograph on an employee's file. The page orientation, number of images printed across the page is user definable as is the size of each image. The number of images down the page will be calculated by IDNow. Card Selection Options If required you may restrict which photographs will be selected for printing. You may use up to four IDNow fields in the selection process. Select the field(s) you want to use from the dropdown list. Next select the type of operator you want to use for the list. Option available are: = - The entries selected field must match exactly the criteria entered. This is not case sensitive. LIKE - The entries selected must begin with the criteria entered. This is not case sensitive. To select only those entries with the criteria in any part of the field you must place a % at the beginning of the criteria. >= - The entries selected must have a field value greater than or equal to the criteria entered. This is not case sensitive. <= - The entries selected must have a field value less than or equal to the criteria entered. This is not case sensitive. Not = - The entries selected must have a field value not equal to the criteria entered, including blank. This is not case sensitive. Note: If more than one IDNow field is selected then the records will be selected on an AND basis. That is the entry must match the selection criteria of all fields. If selecting which photographs to print using the field lists, and you want to include card details entries that have a field value of x or y then you should select the field, the operator (=, >= etc) and enter x;y in the criteria section. The semicolon tells IDNow to look for entries with either value. Eg. Department = Accounts;Marketing will print all cards where the Department field has either Marketing or Accounts. If you select Department = Accounts and Department = Marketing then you will not get any result. There is a limit of 10 'segments' separated by ; for each field. Other options available are: Layout = - Restrict the photographs to be printed to those entries assigned the selected Layout. Include Inactive Entries - By default Inactive entries are excluded from the selection. If you enable this option Inactive entries will be included in the selection. Inactive Entries Only - This option may be used to restrict the contact sheet to Inactive entries only. If enabled the New Entries Between date range will become Inactive Entries Between. This may be used to further restrict the inactive entries to a date range based on the Inactive Date on the Card Details screen. The Include Inactive Entries and Inactive Entries Only options are NOT available with External Databases. Flagged For Batch Printing Only - Restricts the photographs printed to those entries which are flagged for batch printing only.

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Last Printed Between - Restricts the photographs printed to those which have were last printed between the dates selected. To enable this option you must 'tick' the checkbox on the From Date field. New Entries Between - Restricts the photographs printed to those which were first created between the dates selected. To enable this option you must 'tick' the checkbox on the From Date field. Note: The Include Inactive Entries and Flagged For Batch Printing Only options are mutually exclusive with the Inactive Entries Only option. If printing using the Batch Print flags then you will be asked if you want these flags cleared as each photograph is printed, when the Print button is clicked. Flags will not be cleared if using the Preview option. If you want to exclude certain photographs from being included because they are missing a photograph, signature or any database, barcode or mag stripe field which would normally be printed based on the layout assigned to the card detail entry then you should tick the 'Exclude those entries missing photograph, signature or field data that should be printed on the card' option. By default it is NOT ticked. If all selections options are left blank then all cards in the database will be printed. Other options available: Group By - The Group By option may be used to optionally group photos together, Eg. group by department. You may select any database field from the list to group the entries by. If a field is selected from the list then a heading will be printed on each page showing the Organisation Name followed by the Group value. On change of Group a new page is started. Sort Order - Up to two IDNow fields may be used to sort the photographs printed. They will be sorted by the first field then the second field. Eg. Last Name, First Name. If no sort fields are selected then the photographs will be printed in order that they are found. Photo Size - This must be entered. The size is in millimeters. The default size is 25 x 29.5mm. This is based on the standard 320 x 378 pixel image size. You can make it large or smaller to suit your needs and photograph size. Regardless of what size is entered the aspect ratio of the photograph will be preserved. If the photograph ends up being smaller than that the size defined the it will be centered within the rectangle defined with white space around it. If you have nominated to have a border around the photograph it will be drawn to the photo size nominated regardless of the actual photograph size. # Photos Across Page - This is the number of photographs that will be placed across the page. The default is 5. How many will actually fit across the page depends on the page orientation and photograph size specified. The minimum number is 1. When specifying the number across the page you should keep in mind what text is being printed under the photographs and the length of that text. Photo Border - Tick this option if you want a border drawn around the photographs. This is enabled By default. Width - Is the border with in printer pixels. Default is 6. Border Colour - This allows you to select the colour of the border. The default is black. You may change it to any colour you like by clicking on the colour panel and selecting the colour to use from the Windows Colour list. Text Printed Under Photos - This allows you to select up to 3 IDNow fields that will be printed under each photograph. Special Use fields may also be selected if they have been defined in User Defined Fields. The default font size used to print the text is Arial 10. The text is printed may use up to 50% of the gap either side of the photograph. If the text is too large to fit within the space the font will be reduced for that field in an effort to have it

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fit. Text Colour - This allows you to select the colour of the printed text. The default is black. You may change it to any colour you like by clicking on the colour panel and selecting the colour to use from the Windows Colour list. Include Barcode Under Photo - This option if enabled will print a barcode under the text fields selected to be printed. Click on the Barcode Properties button to change the properties for the barcode. Note: The barcode will be printed with the same width as the photograph. How readable the barcode will be depends on the length of the barcode and the width of the photograph. Note: All of the above options are saved so that you can easily print contact sheets with the same properties each time. The Printer to use will default to the Paper Printer defined in the Printers Setup. You may select another printer if you desire and also change its properties prior to printing. Once you have made your selection you can either Print them directly or Preview the pages. You may print the pages from the preview screen or change the printer to use as well as the printer properties. Printing the Contact Sheet from the Preview screen is not recommended as some printers may sometimes leave out some photographs due to the large size of the file. Use the Print option on the Contact Sheet screen instead for best results. If selecting the preview option there is a default to only show the first 5 pages. This is done to help conserve Windows resources, particularly with Windows 98/ME, as each page can be quite large and consume a large amount of disk space if there are a large number of pages to be previewed. Note: The photographs used by IDNow as a rule are quite small and are designed to give good results when printed on a card. Using this option to produce very large photographs may yield less than acceptable results. If the Rotate Photograph X Degrees On Display option, in Setup Options, is enabled then photographs will be rotated by this amount before being placed on the Contact Sheet.

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Contact Sheet Barcode Properties


The Contact Sheet Barcode Properties allows for the setup of a barcode that is to be printed for each photograph printed. This option is available if Include Barcode Under Photo is enabled on the Contact Sheet setup. DB Field - Indicates the database field linked to this barcode. To select a different field to use for this barcode select it from the dropdown list. The Default is IDNow ID. Style - Used to select the barcode type required. Select the type used for the dropdown list. The default is Code 3 of 9. Barcode Height - This is the height of the bars within the barcode in millimeters. The default is 8mm. Characters In Barcode - This is the number of characters that will be in the resultant barcode. If the length of the data used to construct the barcode at print time is less than the number of defined characters then the data will be padded with leading zeros to bring it up to the length defined. Entering 0 will disable this option. Full ASCII On Code 39 - If you are using a code 39 barcode and the data that will be used to construct the barcode contains characters not normally supported by the Code 39 barcode then you should enable this option. Use this option if you get an error when printing or previewing cards that reads "Error Code 39 (Non Full Ascii Mode) - Unknown character in given text". Calculate Check Digit - If the barcode you have selected requires a standard check digit for the barcode type selected and it is not included in the data that will be used to construct the barcode you should enable this option. Note: Many scanners expect a check digit with Code 128 barcodes. If you find your Code 128 barcodes will not scan it is recommended that you enable this option to see if they scan. To save the settings click on the OK button.

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Clear Print Flags


The Clear Print Flag and Clear Reprint Flag options of the Production menu may be used to clear any of these flags that have been set on any of the Card Details records.

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Reports
There a number of reports available in the IDNow system. Audit Log (Professional version only) This report is only available if Security is enabled in IDNow and the Audit log option has also been enabled. Refer to the Audit Log section for more details on this option. Database Report. The Database report will print out a list of all entries in the database based on the selection criteria entered. If the selection criteria is left blank all entries will be printed with the exception of Inactive entries. You can restricted the selection to a particular card layout and have the option to restrict the report to a field with a particular value. You also have the option to select up to 10 fields you would like to have printed on the report. The resultant report will be sorted in the order of the fields selected. IDNow will remember the fields you have selected to be printed on the report the next time you use this function. There is also the option to Group the report by Card Layout. If selected this will cause the report to start a new page for each card layout group. Sort By IDNow ID Rather Than Display Fields is an option to override the default sort order based on the display fields selected. If enabled the report will be sorted by the IDNow ID Number. If you enable the Include Inactive Entries option then inactive entries will be included. If you also have the Group By Card Layout option enabled the Inactive entries will be printed as a group on their own. If not they will be printed in red and sorted with the other entries. Separate Entries With A Line Between - This option if enabled will draw a line between each entry that is printed in the report. It may be useful to make the information easier to read. Cards Printed and Cards Not Printed. The Cards Printed report has the option to select those cards of a particular layout or data/time printed range. You can also select which print types to include. Both reports have the option to restrict the report to a field with a particular value. You also have the option to select which fields you would like to have printed on the report. The first field selected will be the one used to sort the resultant report. IDNow will remember the fields you have selected to be printed on the report the next time you use this function. In the Cards Printed Report, Copies/Prints on the report is the number of Copies done at the time of printing and Prints is the number of layout sides printed. If Packages are used in Photo Edition then Prints is the number of layout sides printed in the package. If the Cards Printed Report has more than 3 IDNow fields selected to print then the report will be printed in Landscape orientation. Photo Edition only - The Cards Printed report will included the charge rates, if the option is enabled, associated with any cards printed, if these have been setup in Charge Rates. If security is enabled in IDNow, the user that printed the card will also be shown on the report (Professional version only). Payments Report (Photo Edition only) This report is available in the Photo Edition if the Payments Module is enabled in Setup Options.

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The payments report will list all of the payments made for the given date range. The report shows the date/time of the payment, the IDNow ID, Layout/Package, number of Copies, the unit rate, the Total Paid, Payment Method, any Discount given, Receipt Number and if Security is enabled the user who made the payment entry. The report may be limited to a particular Layout/Package if desired. The IDNow Field To Print option allows for the inclusion of one IDNow field on the report. There is also an Accumulate option for this field. If enabled this will tell IDNow to accumulate this field and show it as a sub total, if group by enabled, and total on the report. The contents of the field must be numeric for this to occur. There is also the option to start a new page on change of either Layout/Package, Payment Type or Payment Type. There is a Receipt Summary Only option which will produce only one line per receipt and accumulate the Total Paid, and number of Prints. If multiple layouts were used in the printing then these will be listed under the main entry. Copies/Prints on the report is the number of Copies done at the time of printing and Prints is the number of layout sides printed. If Packages are used in Photo Edition then Prints is the number of layout sides printed in the package. Missing Photographs Report This report will display a list of all Card Detail records that do not have a matching photograph. You also have the option to select which fields you would like to have printed on the report. The first field selected will be the one used to sort the resultant report. IDNow will remember the fields you have selected to be printed on the report the next time you use this function. Missing Signatures Report This report will display a list of all Card Detail records that do not have a matching signature. You also have the option to select which fields you would like to have printed on the report. The first field selected will be the one used to sort the resultant report. IDNow will remember the fields you have selected to be printed on the report the next time you use this function. Missing Data Report This report may be used to show which Card Detail records are missing information. You also have the option to select which fields you would like to have printed on the report. The first field selected will be the one used to sort the resultant report. IDNow will remember the fields you have selected to be printed on the report the next time you use this function. Cards About To Expire Report This report may be used to show those cards whose expiry date is near or past. Refer to the Find Cards About To Expire topic for more information. All report results are previewed on the screen and can be printed from there if desired by clicking on the Print icon. Changes to the printer setup may be made by clicking on the Printer Setup icon. The zoom level may also be set by selecting the option desired from the dropdown list. The previewed reports may be scrolled up down by using the scroll bar on the right or by dragging the report body up/down while the left mouse button is depressed. The preview can be closed by clicking on the Close icon. Note: All reports may be saved to a PDF file by pressing the F5 key while viewing a report in the preview screen. You will be asked which pages to include, All or a Page Range. Click the OK button and you will be asked the path and file name to save the PDF file to. Click on the Save button and the PDF file will be created.

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Audit Log (Professional version only)


The Audit Log is a report option available to Admin Users when Security is enabled in IDNow and the Audit Log option is also enabled. By default the log shows all audit log entries contained in the database. These are - New Card Detail entry - Change of Card Detail entry (recorded at a field level) - Delete Card Detail entry - Print an entry - Add/Change a photo - Delete a photo - Add/Change a signature - Delete a signature - Add/Change a fingerprint - Delete a fingerprint - Add/Change a fingerprint template - Delete a fingerprint template - Delete all Card Data Entries - User Log In - User Log Out - Delete the Audit Log - Login Fail - Invalid User - Login Fail - Invalid Password - User Add/Change - User Deleted - User Password Cleared - User Changed Password - IDNow Admin Login - Audit Log enabled - Audit Log disabled - Audit Log viewed - Audit Log printed - Add/Change a Layout - Delete a Layout - Database Search - Import Data - Export Data - Clear Print History - Import Layout Some items are highlighted in red. These items are considered to be possible security breech attempts. These include Login Fail - Invalid User

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Login Fail - Invalid Password IDNow Admin Login Audit Log Enabled Audit Log Disabled There are options to filter the entries displayed. Start/End Date - These may be used to limit the date range displayed. By default the range is the date range of all entries in the Audit Log. To select a different date for either just click on the dropdown list button and a calendar will be displayed. Click on the date required. User Name - This dropdown list contains a list of all users with activity logged in the Audit Log. The log may be restricted to a single user if required. IDNow ID - This dropdown list contains a list of Card Detail IDNow ID entries currently contained in the Audit Log. The log may be restricted to a single entry if required. Exclude Log In/Out Entries - If enabled the Audit Log will not contain any normal log in/out entries. Delete All Log Entries - To delete all entries in the Audit Log just click on this button. It is strongly recommended that you Print the log before using this function. Print - This option will print all log entries currently displayed. To close the Audit Log click the Close button. The log is initially sorted by Date/Time in Descending order. The sort order may be changed to any column by clicking on the column header required. Clicking on the same column header again will reverse the sort order for that column. The Old Data/Entry Changed column is also used to display: The User Name supplied in a failed login. User Name of Security entries changed. Finger description of changed/deleted fingerprints and templates. Layout used to print a card. The New Data column is also used to display: New fingerprint and template finger description. The IDNow ID column will contain the IDNow ID of the affected entry if applicable. The field column will contain the Card Details field name if applicable. It may also contain the fingerprint number (1 - 4) where fingerprints are involved. Computer is the network name of the computer used to make the transaction in IDNow.

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Find Cards About To Expire


This option may be used to display/print a list of entries that have an expiry date listed in one of the IDNow database fields. To use this option you must have entered an expiry date in one of the IDNow database fields. The date format may be anything you like, Eg. 04/2006, April 2006 ect, but the format must be consistent across all entries. It is important that the full 4 digit year be used otherwise IDNow may assume that the year component is in fact the day component. If the month and year are present but not the day in the expiry date then the 1st of the month is assumed, NOT the last day of the month. You also have the option to select up to four Display Fields of each matching entry that will be displayed in the result list. IDNow will remember which fields you have selected for the next time you use this function. Select the Expiry Date Field and enter the Start and End date range. Click on the Search button and if any matching entries are found a list of these will be displayed. If there are a large number of entries then a scroll bar will appear next to the list of entries and you may scroll up and down the list. To print the displayed list just click the Print button Note: This report is for a user defined IDNow field that contains a date. It has nothing to do with the IDNow expiry date option available on card layouts. This option is also used to display Contractor/Temp About To Expire in the IDNow Visitor System. The Date Range will default to the current date to one month from that date, in the format 'yyyy-mm-dd'. The default display fields are also First Name, Last Name, Company and Expiry Date.

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Missing/Invalid Date
This report shows a list of entries that have either a date field with no date or what could be considered an invalid date, ie. the date may have the day/month around the wrong way. If you have not previously done so you must first select which IDNow field is the Date Field from the Card Details screen. Once selected the list will be populated with all of the Active entries in the database that have a missing or invalid date. You also have the option to select up to three additional Display Fields of each entry that will be displayed in the list. IDNow will remember which fields you have selected for the next time you use this function. If there are a large number of entries then a scroll bar will appear next to the list of entries and you may scroll up and down the list to locate the entry you want. To go to an entry just select the entry you require and click on the Select button. You can also select an entry by double-clicking on it or pressing the Enter key on the keyboard. Once you have selected an entry the program will then move the Card Details screen to that entry. The Missing/Invalid Date screen will still be shown on the Windows Task Bar and can be clicked on to return to it. Note: Whether a date is considered valid or not is based on the Short Date format defined in Regional Setting in Windows Control Panel. If your Short Date format is dd/mm/yyyy a date of 06/30/2006 would be considered invalid. A date entered as Oct 2006 or 10 Oct 2006 would also be considered invalid for the purposes of this report as they are not the correct format as defined in Short Date. Inactive entries are not included in the search.

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Setup Options
The Setup option screen can be accessed from the Tools menu. Database Name allows you to enter a meaningful name for the database. It may be a company name. Photograph Size is the size that IDNow will save you photographs. The default size is 320 x 378 pixels. Altering this size should be done with some care. The maximum size of the photographs is 800 x 800 pixels. The aspect ratio of photographs will always be maintained regardless of the size you specify. Note: If your printed photograph on the card must be a certain size then it is important that the image captured be of the correct size. The default size in IDNow is 320 x 378 pixels. This will by default produce a printed image size of 28mm x 33mm (ratio of 0.8 to 1). You can have the image smaller or larger but the ratio of width to height will always be maintained so you may not be able to produce a card with the size photograph you require with this size image. For example, if you require a printed photograph size of 32mm x 43mm (ratio 0.744 to 1). The standard 320 x 378 pixel capture size will not be suitable. First you must calculate the width height ratio. In this case 32 divided by 43 = 0.744. The capture size should be 400 times the ratio. 400 x 0.744 = 298. The capture size would be 298 x 400 pixels. If using large format photographs and the Fit option has been specified then it is important that the defined photograph size be of the same ratio, width/height, as the photographs being used. Even though IDNow has a maximum defined photograph size of 800 x 800 pixels the ratio of width to height should be the same as the photographs being used. For example. If your photographs are 2272 pixels wide and 1704 pixels high then the ratio is 1.33 times wider than high or 0.75 times as high as the width. The Photo Width and Height should be set to 800 Wide and 600 High. Store Photographs In IDNow Database, Store Signatures In IDNow Database & Store Fingerprints In IDNow Database (Professional version only) - By default IDNow stores its photographs, signatures and/or fingerprints separately in single image files and not with the information that is stored in the database. These options, if enabled, allows you to store your photographs, signatures and/or fingerprints directly in the IDNow database. This option offers some advantages over storing the images separately but also has some disadvantages. Advantages Images usually load faster. Convenience of being able to easily move/backup the whole database and images as one file. Generally consumes less disk space that storing them separately. More secure storage of photographs and/or signatures. Backup times may be less. Windows will generally slow down significantly when loading or browsing for folders if there are many 1000's of separate image files in a folder. Disadvantages The database may be much slower to initially load. Image quality is slightly less, by default, if using this method. Refer ChromFactor and LumFactor below. Images will not be available for use with other applications. Database size will be significantly larger. Regular backups would be essential.

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If the database corrupts not only do you risk losing your data but the images also. The images are stored in an MS Access database and this has an inbuilt file size limitation of 2GB. At the default image quality (10/8) a very rough number of photographs/signatures/fingerprints that could be stored would be around 50,000 - 60,000. Actual numbers will vary depending on both image compression and colour ranges in the photographs. If using the standard IDNow Access database then the database would require regular compacting which may take some time to perform if large. Microsoft Access databases have an inbuilt size limitation of 2GB. No warning will be given if this size limit is reached other than IDNow producing errors when accessing or trying to save information. There is also the risk of data corruption should this occur. IDNow will display a warning when you open a database that is more than 1.5GB in size. You may choose to store photographs, signatures and/or fingerprints as individual image files or within the IDNow database. Any combination of storage options is allowable (Professional version only) It is possible to switch been the two storage methods using the Import Images Into IDNow Database and Export Images From IDNow Database functions If you enable this option for photographs and you are using an external database and have nominated that the photograph will be sourced from the external database, the option will have no affect. The same applies for signatures and fingerprints. Enabling these options and not importing any existing images for card details will result in those images no longer being displayed for those existing card details. Note If you intend to store many thousands of images in the database then it is strongly recommended that you consider using Microsoft SQL Server 2000 for the IDNow database. SQL Server does not have low database size limitations, is fault tolerant and generally faster when used across a LAN or WAN. The purchase, setup and configuration of SQL Server is your responsibility.

The Photo Path is the location where the photograph images are stored. This can be any location on either your computer or network. The Photo Link Field is used to determine which field on the Card Details form is used to link both photograph and signatures to that card. The default is the system generated ID field. You can nominate another field if you wish by selecting it from the list but you must ensure that that field will exist in all records and has been entered at the time of saving the photograph/signature. The data that is used as an alternative link MUST be unique to each card details entry. If you decide to change the photo link field after you have already taken photos linked to another field you can use the Rename Photo/Signature function to rename the images to the new field. Photo Format is used to determine the format that photographs stored outside the IDNow database will be stored in. The available options are JPG, BMP, TIF, GIF. The default is JPG. If you have been using a particular format for existing photographs and then change the format to something else the existing photographs will not be displayed or printed. Photographs stored in the IDNow database do not use this setting. These are always stored in the JPG format. Important note If you select a format other than JPG you must not have the same storage folder for your photographs,

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signatures and fingerprints otherwise they will be overwritten. Rename Photos, Signatures & Fingerprints On Change Of Photo Link Field Data is an option available if you use a photo link field other than the default of ID. This option will rename, at the time of saving the entry, an existing photograph, signature or fingerprint if you manually change the value in the nominated field in Card Detail. If there is another photograph, signature or fingerprint with the proposed new name you will be warned and given the option to cancel the save before it is overwritten. This function is NOT active during the import of data. Validate Photo Link Field Data On Save To Ensure Unique is an option available if you use a photo link field other than the default of ID. This option will check, at the time of saving the entry, to see if there are any other Card Detail entries with the same photo link value as you have just entered. If there is you will be warned and given the option to cancel the save operation. This function is NOT active during the import of data. Automatically Adjust Photo Levels (Photo Edition Only). This option if enabled will automatically adjust the photo colour levels to produce a better quality image. Best results are achieved with photographs that have a significant amount of blue in them. This option is in addition to any manually made changes to the image colours. Automatically Adjust Photo Contrast (Photo Edition Only). This option if enabled will automatically adjust the constrast of photographs to produce a better quality image. This option is in addition to any manually made changes to the image contrast. Maintain Original Photo Size On Save (Professional version only) This option may be helpful if you have photographs that have been sourced, taken or scanned at a high resolution and you do not wish to convert them to the IDNow size standard. This option has a number of sub options described below. All settings defined will be used for both display and printing of the photographs. The photographs will be converted to the Photo Format defined and saved in the location defined in Photo Path. Default Zoom If enabled then IDNow will automatically adjust the zoom of the photograph to the zoom level specified and then center the photograph. The default is 100%. Valid range is 1 to 400%. Fit. If enabled this option will disable the user defined zoom level, X and Y Pixel Offset and Save Zoom Settings option. IDNow will adjust the zoom of the entire photograph to fit within the defined photograph size while maintaining the aspect ratio. X and Y Pixel Offset. This option is not available if you have enabled the Fit option. This option allows you to specify a default X and/or Y pixel offset based on the defined zoom of the centered photograph. Valid ranges are 32,000 to 32,000 pixels. You must ensure that these values are no greater than 50% of the photograph width/height or the photograph will not be centered or the offset applied. Save Individual Manual Zoom And Offset Changes. This option is not available if you have enabled the Fit option. If enabled this option will cause IDNow to save any manual zoom and offset changes that you make to a photograph on the Card Details screen and they will be used next time the photograph is displayed or printed. The Rotate Photograph X Degrees On Display option may be used to rotate large photographs 90, 180, 270 degrees. This may be useful if all the photographs were taken with a high megapixel camera and all of the photographs were rotated. Default is 0 degrees (no rotation). If a negative value is entered the photographs will be rotated clockwise. If a positive value is entered the photographs will be rotated anti-clockwise. This option applies to all photographs in the database. It may be necessary to use the Rotate option in the Photograph Properties of a Card Layout to have the photograph print as desired. The Rotate Photograph X Degrees On Display option is also used when creating Contact Sheets.

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If using large photographs you will find that IDNow will take slightly longer to load and/or print them. Also using the zoom function may be slow or jerky if you do not have a reasonably fast computer. The above options may also be used if using photographs that are part of an External database (Professional Version only) The Signature Path is the location where the signature images are stored. This can be any location on either your computer or network. The Convert Signature Scan/Capture To Black & White is useful if the source of the signature is on a coloured background, is a colour other than black or you find there are other factors interfering with the quality of the signature. It is recommended that this option be enabled if you are capturing signatures. This option is on a per computer basis. The Fingerprint Path is the location where the fingerprint images are stored. This can be any location on either your computer or network. Fingerprint Size is the size that IDNow will save your fingerprints. The default size is 192 x 192 pixels. Altering this size should be done with some care. The maximum size of the fingerprints is 400 x 400 pixels. The aspect ratio of fingerprints will always be maintained regardless of the size you specify. The ChromFactor and LumFactor fields should only be changed if you find you need to increase or decrease the image quality/disk size. The LumFactor adjusts the luminance or grey scale quality and the ChromFactor adjusts the chrominance or colour quality. Lower settings for these properties result in higher quality images with less compression. Higher settings for these properties result in lower quality images with more compression. If you find that any changes you make to these fields produces poor results you can always set these back to the defaults of 5 for ChromFactor and 2 for LumFactor. Image DPI is used to define the number of Dots Per Inch that the saved image should have. The default is 96 DPI. Making this number smaller will result in an image that requires less storage space but may result in a poorer image quality. Making this number higher will require much greater storage space but may result in a higher image quality, provided the original image had a higher DPI. If the original image has a DPI of 96 making the Image DPI higher than this will not result in a higher quality image. It will just take up more storage space. If the Maintain Original Photo Size On Save option is enabled then the image will be saved at the original image DPI regardless of this setting unless the Store Photographs In IDNow Database option is also enabled. Image DPI applies to Photographs, Signatures and Fingerprints. Delete All Password is used to help prevent accidental deletion of all database records by operators using the Delete All Card Details option. Setting this password will require the operator to enter the password prior to the entries being deleted. While there is nothing to prevent an operator from changing or removing the password under the Setup options, this would have to be a deliberate act on their part. The Required for Single Record Delete option can be enabled if you wish the delete password to also be required

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when deleting a single record from the Card Details form. Default Load From Disk Folder - This option may be used to specify a default location for images when importing photographs using the Load From Disk option on the Card Details screen. If not specified then the default may be any folder chosen by Windows. A different default may be specified for different computers. Use Image Toolbox - If enabled then a toolbox is displayed whenever you load or click on a photograph, Signature or Fingerprint. Refer to Photographs, Signatures and Fingerprints for more information on these tools. The default tool used can be selected below. If this option is not enabled then these tools are not available and the only tools you will have available are a zoom in/out slider next to the image and the ability to move/drag the image in its frame using the left mouse button. Default Image Tool When A New Image Captured - This is the default image tool selected when a new image is captured or loaded from disk. Options are None, Zoom In, Zoom Out, Zoom Rectangle, Drag/Move Image. The default is Drag/Move Image. Default Image Tool When Click On An Image - This is the default image tool selected when an existing image is clicked on. Options are None, Zoom In, Zoom Out, Zoom Rectangle, Drag/Move Image. The default is None. Note: The above 2 options are on a per computer basis and apply to all databases opened on that system. Do Not Show Signature Panel On Card Details can be used to hide the signature on the Card Details screen. Do Not Show Fingerprint Panel On Card Details can be used to hide the fingerprint on the Card Details screen. Do Not Show Print History On Card Details can be used to hide the print history grid on the Card Details screen. Do Not Show Card Preview On Card Details can be used to hide the card preview on the Card Details screen. Displaying the card preview can slow down the loading of any card details. If you have a slow computer you may want to suppress the card preview. Do Not Show Fingerprint Template On Card Details can be used to hide the fingerprint template message on the Card Details screen. Digital Video Vertical Adjustment can be used to adjust the aspect ratio of images captured from digital video cameras. The default is 65. You may find that the captured image looks too squashed or long. If this is the case try increasing the value if the image looks too long and reducing it if it looks too squashed. Alter the figure 5 at a time till the captured image looks close to natural and then alter it in steps of 1 till it is correct. The following options apply to all databases, not just the current one. Auto Save When F9 or F12 Pressed - This option is used in conjunction with the Quick Search and Quick Print options. If enabled then IDNow will automatically save any changes made to a Card Detail record before using doing a Quick Search or printing the current card using Quick Print. Auto Crop Images On Save - This option may be used to automatically crop images (photographs, signatures, fingerprints) that are larger than the nominated size. If enabled you will not be prompted as to whether or not you

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want to crop the image when the card details entry is saved. You must ensure that you have centered the image as you want it before saving. Auto Save All Changes - This option will cause IDNow to automatically save all Card Detail changes when moving to a different entry, creating a new entry, before printing an entry or closing IDNow. If this option is enabled the Auto Save When F9 or F12 Pressed option is disabled. Default Capture Zoom Level can be used to set the zoom level when capturing/scanning/pasting or loading from disk photographs, signatures and fingerprints. The Default is 100% but may be set to any level between 1 and 400%. These options may be useful is you constantly source photographs, signatures or fingerprints that are the same size and you have to adjust the zoom level every time. This option is on a per computer basis. Zoom Increments is the percentage each Zoom In or Zoom Out click results in on the images on the Card Details screen. You may have different settings for Photographs, Signatures and Fingerprints. The default is 5%. Note: The percentage of zoom applied is a percentage of the current zoom level. For example if the current zoom level is 150% and you have a zoom increment of 5% then the percent increase/decrease will be 5% of 150%, resulting in a percentage change of 7.5%. The displayed zoom level is rounded to the nearest whole number so may not display the exact zoom level of the image. The Single Record Lookup Only option can be used to force IDNow to only load a single record at a time from the database. This option may be useful if you have many thousands of records and the initial database connection is slow because a large proportion of the database is being cached locally. If enabled IDNow will initially only display the first record in the database. The database navigation buttons will not be operational. You must use either F12 or the Find function to locate a particular record. This option is not available if using an External Database but is an option on the External Database Setup. Colour Selection Button On Card Details (Professional version only) is used to display a colour button the Card Details form next to the active database field. This button may be used to select a colour to print a particular field on a layout. Refer to Text and Database Field Properties for more information on this option. Enabling this option with External databases will have no affect. on

Enable SQL Server 2000 Support (Professional version only) option is used to turn on the SQL Server 2000 database options. This will add new entries to the file menu to enable you either Open or create a New SQL Server 2000 database for use with IDNow. There will also be an option under the Tools menu to allow you to upsize and existing Access IDNow database to SQL Server. If enabled and you are using an SQL Server 2000 database then all IDNow functions should be transparent and work as if using the standard Access database. Backup Password - This option allows you enter a password that will be used to encrypt any backups made of this database. If security is of major importance then it is recommended that you use a password consisting of both upper and lower case characters as well as numbers. It is also recommended that the password be more than 15 characters in length. The password, if entered, will be required to restore the backup. Do not forget the password used as there is no admin function to override the password used. Prompt to backup database when closing - This option, if enabled, will cause IDNow to prompt you to do a

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backup when closing the database. Check For New Entries and Auto Print Every x Minutes (Professional version only) - This option may be used to automatically print any new entries that have been entered, imported or placed in the IDNow database by another application. The criteria for selection of these entries is that they have never been printed (no Print History). The number of minutes that the check is done can be between 1 and 60 minutes. The default is 5 minutes. If a card detail entry does not have a Card Layout assigned to it then the Default Layout will be used. If there is no default layout then a message will be displayed indicating that the card/s can not be printed. No data validation is done (as is the case with Batch Printing). If you have more than one database open then this option is only be functional if the database that it applies to is the ACTIVE database. This function is not operational if Batch Printing or Print Membership/Loyalty card printing is in progress. It is not recommended that you use this option if using IDNow as a visitor system. If this option is enabled and you clear the print history using the option under the Tools menu then all existing entries will be printed the next time the Auto print function is executed. Tick 'Exclude From Batch Print' Flag For Single Card Print - This option, if enabled, will tick the 'Exclude From Batch Print' flag on the Card Details screen when an entry is printed using the F9 Quick Print or Print Current Card option. Prevent Single Card Print If 'Exclude From Batch Print' Flag Ticked - This option, if enabled, will prevent a Card Detail entry from being printed using F9 Quick Print or Print Current Card, if the 'Exclude From Batch Print' flag is ticked. To print the entry using F9 Quick Print or Print Current Card you would need to un-tick the flag. Neither of the above two options have any effect when using the Print Current Card function. Enable Payment Module (Photo Edition Only) This option if enabled will display a Payments button on the Card Details screen. This option allows payments to be made agianst costs associated with card/photo printing. Refer to the Payments section for more information. Next Receipt Number (Photo Edition Only) This option requires the Enable Payment Module option to be enabled. It allows you enter the next receipt number that will be printed by the payments module. Prefix allows you to enter a prefix for the receipt number for any receipts printed. It may be anything meaningful to the user. It could be a name of the computer for example. Each computer may have a different Receipt Number starting point and Prefix assigned to it. Round Amounts To The Nearest is an option that allows IDNow to round payment amounts to the nearest value indicated. For example in Australia you would enter 0.05, meaning amounts are rounted up or down to the nearest 5 cents.

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User Defined Fields


The user defined field labels option can be accessed from the Tools menu. The user define field labels screen allows you to change the caption for each field and also whether it should be visible on the Card Details screen or not. Changing a field so it is no longer visible will not affect any data in that field but will make it impossible to modify or add data to the field. There is also an option for each field to have IDNow convert any entered data to Proper Case. That is, if the field is entered in all lower or upper case it will be converted to proper case when you exit the field. Eg. smith is entered into a name field. When you move to the next or another field this will be converted to Smith. For this to work the fields where you want this happen must have the Proper Case option ticked. The Proper Case conversion will also optionally occur during the import of a text file or Access database for those fields where Proper Case has been nominated. The Upper Case option may be ticked if you wish all data entered into the field to be converted to Upper Case. The Special Use column is used to indicate to the system which fields are used for Title, First Name, Last Name and Preferred Name. This allows the system to be able to concatenate the title/first/last, first/last, title/first and preferred/first/last when creating a card layout. You may also use either Preferred/First name on its own. If these options are not set then the option to use the concatenate fields in the layout will not be available. If you do not use some or any of these fields then you should set Special Use to either blank or N/A. Note When concatenating the Preferred/First/Last or using Preferred/First, preferred name will be used if present otherwise the first name will be used. If first name is also not present then the field will be left blank when printed. There is also an option in the Layout Designer to concatenate up to 10 database fields into a single field (Professional version Only). The Restricted column, if enabled, may be used to restrict who can see the data in this field if you choose to enable the Security option otherwise it has no effect. A restricted column must also have its Visible property also enabled in order for anyone to see it. Dropdown List (Professional version only) - This option allows you to have a fixed list of user defined items for any field instead of the default free text entry. The list of entries for each field are entered using the Dropdown List Entries option under the Tools menu. Note: Dropdown lists allow you to control the content of critical fields by limiting what can be entered into them, but have the limitation of not allowing the user to enter alternative text if necessary. If you have nominated field/s as dropdown lists, NO validation is done at the time of importing data to ensure that the data being imported is a valid entry in the dropdown list. Mandatory (Professional version only) - This option, if enabled, will enable IDNow to ensure that something has been entered into the nominated field. If the field is blank then the entry will not be saved until all of the mandatory fields have information entered into them. IDNow does not validate the content of the field. If this option is enabled and the field has been nominated as having a dropdown list then a selection must be made from the list. If this option is NOT enabled for a dropdown list then a blank entry will be added to the beginning of

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the list entries allowing the field to be changed to blank if an entry has previously been selected for that field. No validation is done at the time of importing entries to ensure that fields nominated as being Mandatory do in fact has information in them. Unique (Professional version only) - This option, if enabled, causes IDNow to ensure that the information entered is unique for that field (if anything has been entered). During the process of saving the information a check is made to ensure that no other entry contains the same information in this field. If there is an existing entry then the entry is not saved. No validation is done at the time of importing entries to ensure that fields nominated as being Unique are in fact unique. Only those fields that are ticked as being visible will show up on the Card Details form, Layout Designer database fields and any selection lists. The Default For All New Databases button can be used to tell IDNow to use the current User Defined Field settings for all new databases created. The default can be changed at any time by altering the settings on any database and clicking on the Default button. Any database created using the defaults can be altered at any time. Please note that the default settings are on a per computer basis so if you have IDNow on multiple computers you will need to set the default on all of them and each can have different defaults. Note: This option will have no affect if using SQL Server 2000 as your IDNow database. IMPORTANT If you intend to have many thousands of entries an IDNow database then it is important that any fields you will use to search on such as Surname or Employee Number etc. be within the first four fields of IDNow. The first four fields are indexed in the database and can be searched on much faster than non-indexed fields. Indexing does not apply to External Databases as IDNow relies on the External Database to have appropriate indexes established. If you are using the IDNow Visitor System then some user fields are preset and locked in order for the visitor system to operate correctly. Refer to IDNow Visitor System for more information.

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Dropdown List Entries (Professional version only)


Dropdown lists are an option that can be used for any Card Details field in place of the standard free text entry. Dropdown lists can contain any number of fixed entries. To enable the this option you must first 'tick' the Dropdown List option for the fields you wish to use them in User Defined Fields. Once you have enabled a dropdown list you must then add the entries that will appear in that list. The Dropdown List Entries option is used to enter the items that will appear in each dropdown list defined. You must first select the Field from the list that you wish to add/delete/change entries for. Once you have done that you will see a list of entries already in that dropdown list. You can use the Add button to add a new entry to the list. You can delete an entry from a list by highlighting the entry to be deleted and clicking the Delete button. To change an existing entry just click on the entry in question and start typing or double click on it and you can add text to the end of what is already there. Note: Dropdown list entries are limited to 60 characters. Any entry longer than that will be truncated to 60 characters.

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External Card Details Database Setup (Professional version only)


IDNow has the option to use an external or corporate database as a source of the Card Details data. If you are not intending to use an external data source then you do not need to do anything with this option. It should be noted that any data accessed from an external database is READ ONLY and can not be updated by IDNow. None of the external data is stored in IDNow's database. An External Database can not be used with the IDNow Visitor System. To use an external database you must first create a new database and enter the setup details. Then setup the fields you wish to display on the screen in the User Defined Field Labels setup. Next select the External Card Details Database Setup from the Tools menu. Tick the Use External Database For Card Details option. You should then choose the type of database you which to use as the source of the data. IDNow currently supports SQL Server 2000 (vers. 7 may also work), any version of Microsoft Access, Oracle version 8, DBase 5 and any predefined ODBC database (see note below with regards to using and Oracle database). You should then enter the following details dependant on the type of database. SQL Server: Server Name - This is the network name of the SQL Server machine. Database - This is the name of the SQL Server database you wish to use. Access: Database Path - This is the full path name to the Access database. You can use UNC paths here. You may also use the Browse button to locate the database. Oracle: Database - This is the name of the Oracle database you wish to use. DBase 5: DBase Directory - This is the name of the DBase directory for the DBase files you wish to use. You can use UNC paths here. You may also use the Browse button to locate the directory. ODBC: DSN - This is the name of the predefined ODBC database. This can be either a User, System or File DSN. If it is a File DSN ODBC source then you must tick the File DSN box under the ODBC option. If you use a DSN or FileDSN, it must be defined through the ODBC Data Source Administrator in the Windows Control Panel. In Microsoft Windows 2000, the ODBC Administrator is located under Administrative Tools. In previous versions of Windows, the ODBC Administrator icon is named 32-bit ODBC or simply ODBC. FoxPro - This option should be enabled if the ODBC database you are using is a FoxPro database. ID Online Database - This option should only be selected if you are opening an ID Online database. This option is handled differently to the other database options. The database field definitions will automatically be filled in and the User Defined Fields will be changed to suit the database being opened. To connect to the database you should use the Browse button to locate the ID Online Access database and click on

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the Connect button. If you require to see more fields from the database you can make more User Defined Fields visible and link further fields after the initial setup of the database. When using Batch Print Cards option, by default, the first filter will be set to Print Card = 1. You can use the Clear button to clear this if required. When cards are printed the PrintCard field in the ID Online database will be set to 0. After updating your database from ID Online you can open IDNow and each entry will have the Card Layout set to that defined within the ID Online database. It is important that your layout names match those previously defined with ID Online. Note: If any changes are made to the ID Online database structure you will need to manually relink the fields in the External Card Details Database Setup screen. Any new fields will require making changes to the User Defined Fields screen first. If your database requires a user name and/or password to gain access to it then you should enter these in the appropriate fields. If you would like IDNow to request the database password each time you log into this database using IDNow you should tick the Require Password At Login option, otherwise IDNow will just login to the database using the password supplied. This may not be desirable for a corporate database. If the Require Password At Login option is enabled then IDNow does NOT store the password anywhere. If you later choose to not require the password at the time of opening the database in IDNow you will be required to enter the database password in order to turn off this option. This is to prevent a user from altering the security so others may gain unauthorised access to the data. At this stage you should now click on the Connect button to have IDNow attempt to open the database you have entered. If successful then the word Connected will be displayed next to the Connect button. If an error occurs trying to connect to the database a message will be displayed along with the reason for the failure. Use [] On Field Names - This option may help with some databases where an error is generated when connecting to external database. This is generally because the field names used maybe be reserved words or consist of two or more words separated by a space. If this option is enabled IDNow will automatically use the brackets when referencing the database, the user need do nothing more. Some databases do not support the use of the [] and this may generate a different error. If you are having a problem try both enabling and disabling this option.

The Single Record Lookup Only option can be used to force IDNow to only load a single record at a time from the database. This option may be useful if you have many thousands of records and the initial database connection is slow because a large proportion of the database is being cached locally. This may be the case when using an Oracle database. If enabled IDNow will initially only display the first record in the database. The database navigation buttons will not be operational. You must use either F12 or the Find function to locate a particular record. The Allow Any Operator Data Changes To Be Saved To The IDNow Database option allows any changes made the data by the operator to be saved to the local IDNow database. These changes are not saved to the external database. The new values, if present, are used in preference to the original data. If any values are changed they may be undone by backspacing over the changed data and saving the changes. The original values will then return. Extra SQL String. This optional field may be used to restrict the entries that IDNow will try to obtain from the

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external database. It may be used to exclude inactive, entries that may not be relevant or for any other reason necessary. You must have some knowledge of the data structure of the database and what values are stored in the fields in order to use this feature otherwise you may find IDNow will produce errors and/or unpredictable results. An example of this would be ACTIVE = 1 This will cause IDNow to only select entries where the ACTIVE field has a value of 1. If you need to select entries where the same field may have 2 or more values then you must use the word OR and include brackets( ) around the string. Eg. (ACTIVE = 1 OR ACTIVE = 2) If the field being used is a string field (text) then you must place an apostrophe ' at the beginning and end of the text. Eg. COMPANY = 'Main' You may include more than one field if need be. Eg. (ACTIVE = 1 OR ACTIVE = 2) AND COMPANY = 'Main' Operators that may be used in the Extra SQL String are =, <>, >, >=, <. <=

You should now select the Table from the dropdown list that contains the data you wish to use for the Card Details. If the data is being made available to IDNow via a database 'view' then you should tick the Views option. If no table entries are listed or the table required is not listed then you may not be logged into the correct database or may be using a User/Password that does not have sufficient access rights to see the table required. Once you have selected the Table required you should then select the fields within that table that contain the data relevant to the IDNow field labels you have setup. The second and third last fields, Photo BLOB and Signature BLOB Fields, in the list allow you to optionally select a database field that may be used as a source of the photograph and signature for the Card Details. If selected then these field will be used as the source of the photograph and/or signature, otherwise the normal IDNow photograph/signature options will apply. The last field in the list, Unique ID Field, is mandatory and is the field that IDNow will use to link the external data to IDNow's database. This field MUST be unique to each record and must be selected even if it has already been selected for a previous field above. Note: If you choose not to select a field for one or more IDNow fields that fields data will remain blank on the Card Details form. Once you have selected all the fields necessary click on the Save button. At this point the form will close and the Card Details form will also close and reopen with the data now linked to the database fields you have just setup. If not already done you should select the database field that will be used to link your Photographs/Signatures to the Card Details. Special Notes When using an external data source the IDNow ID field on the Card Details form will be initially blank. When you print cards, search for an entry, assign layouts etc. the IDNow system will create a link between the external data

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and IDNow's data requirements and a reference number will appear in the IDNow ID field. You may find the initial startup of IDNow when linked to an external database is a little slower. Most other functions will be just as fast, if not faster, after that, but this is dependant on the speed of the computer hosting the external database and network congestion. When using an external data source any function of IDNow that would normally be used to update the card details such as import, export, case conversion or update the Card Details data will NOT be available. If using an external database photograph source you will NOT be able to use IDNow's photograph capture functions but you will be able to use the colour adjustment functions. Any of the external database options or fields may be changed at any time. If any structural changes are made to the source database you will need to re-link the database fields to the IDNow fields or results may be unpredictable. You may setup any number of IDNow databases that use either an external data source or use IDNow's database. When opening an existing IDNow database that is linked to an external database you only need open the IDNow database and IDNow will automatically establish the external connection. In order to use an Oracle database you must have previously installed the Oracle Client software along with the Oracle OLEDB Provider that is supplied with Oracle on each workstation requiring access via IDNow. The client software must be configured so that a connection can be made to the database using the database name alone. If you are using the external database as a source for your photographs and/or signatures, using the Photo BLOB and Signature BLOB fields, the images can be in any compatible image format but must be stored as a BLOB (Binary Large Object). When IDNow loads the image it will resize the image to be as close as possible to the size specified in Setup while maintaining the aspect ratio. This resizing will not affect the original image. When printed, these images will be re-sized and centered to best match the size specified in the card layout. If you find that IDNow is slow in initially loading the database details you may want to look at the indexing of the external database to ensure that the field you are trying to sort the entries on is indexed. There are many other factors that may contribute to the database being slow to load. IMPORTANT If you have specified fields in the User Defined Fields section you should link all of those fields to your external database or unpredictable results may occur. Fields not linked will be displayed on the Card Details screen but will not appear in most other sections of IDNow. If you have used a linked field in a layout and then un-link the field errors will be generated when printing cards. No support will be offered in the setup and configuration of the actual external database.

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Default Layout Setup


This option may be used to setup the automatic assignment of layouts based on a set of defined field values when either a new card details entry is created or imported. To setup the Default Layouts you select Default Layouts from the Tools menu. You can setup the assignment of an unlimited number of 3 part conditions to assign layouts dependent on the data contained in up to 3 IDNow fields for any one set of conditions. Sort (optional, but recommended) may be used to set the order in which the conditions are evaluated. You must select the layout to use, from the dropdown list, and select at least one IDNow field from the dropdown list and enter one conditional value. If you set conditions on 2 or 3 IDNow fields then these are on an 'AND' basis meaning that the layout is assigned when the record fields exactly match all of the values specified in the conditional fields. Setting a field to 'blank' will delete that condition and move any further conditions to the right back one group. If you want to assign the layout to entries that may have different values for a particular field then you can enter the multiple conditional entries (segments) separated by a semi-colon (;). This would be on an 'OR' basis. Eg. Department = Marketing;Needs would mean that where the Department is either Marketing or Needs. To assign the layout to a field that is bank either leave the condition blank or enter the word Null, NULL or null. An example of this would be where you have 4 different layouts assigned to the employees based on the position, classification and department they work for. Layout 1 is assigned to those with Position = Staff, Classification = Management, Department = Marketing or Needs Layout 2 is assigned to those with Position = Staff, Classification = Office, Department = Marketing or Needs Layout 3 is assigned to those with Position = Staff, Classification = Management, Department = Accounts or IT Layout 4 is assigned to those with Position = Staff, Classification = Office, Department = Accounts or IT The above would be entered as Layout 1 Position Staff Layout 2 Position Staff Layout 3 Position Staff Layout 3 Position Staff

Classification Classification Classification Classification

Management Office Management Office

Department Department Department Department

Marketing;Needs Marketing;Needs Accounts;IT Accounts;IT

The Default Card Layout option allows you select a layout that will become the default for any new card details created or imported if none of the conditional layouts are assigned. You should also set this field even if you do not want or have any conditional layout assignments set. If you wish to import the default layout settings from another database then you can use the Import From Another Database button. Browse to the database which contains the setting you want and click on the OK button. The default layout settings for that database will be imported, appending any existing settings in the current database. You can then modify the settings to suit the current database if necessary. There is no check done with regards to duplicate settings, the existence of the layouts or the fields involved.

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Security settings can not be imported from an IDNow SQL Server database. To Insert a new conditional layout just click on any field on the line where you want to insert and click on the Insert button. To Delete an entry just click on any field in that entry and click the Delete button. Once you have setup the default layouts as you like just click on the Save button. To Cancel and changes you have made just click on the Cancel button. Note You may assign the same layout with a different set of conditions defined if you like. You should keep in mind that layout conditional assignments are read in the order set by the Sort field (if used). Once a match has been found no further searching is done. If your card details entry is not assigned a layout based the conditions defined then the Default Card Layout will be assigned if one has been set. You can use the Assign Layouts function to change existing layout assignments. Setting up or changing any of the layouts or conditions will not affect existing entries whether they have an existing layout assigned or not. If printing or previewing a single card and it does not have a layout assigned then IDNow will assigned the layout based on the above criteria. The condition comparison is not case sensitive. There is a limit of 10 'segments' separated by ; for each field. Changing your User defined fields may have an effect on the assignment of layouts. It is advisable to check the Default Layout Setup after making changes to the User Defined Fields.

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Printers
The printers option can be accessed from the Tools menu. The printers option is used to tell the program which default printer to use for printing Cards, Reports and Template Printer (Professional version only) . Just click on the Select button next to each printer option and select the printer to use from the list. The list should include all printers for which you have a Windows driver installed. You must select a Card Printer before you can use the Layout Designer. In the Photo Edition of IDNow you also have the option to setup a Default Production Printer 2 and Default Production Printer 3. There is also an option to Alternate Between Production Printers If More Than 1. If enabled this option will cause IDNow to alternate each print job between the production printers selected. This option is available in batch printing. Refer to the Card Details and Batch Print sections for more information on this option. Default Template Printer (Professional version only) IDNow has the option to print cards based on templates. Templates are setup and comprise margins and number of cards across/down each page. The Professional version is limited to 1 card across/down the page. This allows for printing on ID labels. The Photo Edition of IDNow has no limitations and can print multiple cards per sheet. Refer to the Templates section for more details. Template Printer Alignment Offset This option may be used to enter any offset necessary to ensure that you template printer prints exactly where you expect it to. Not all printers print exactly where they are expected to. There is a Test Print Button which you can click to print out a test page. On this page will be printed a black rectangle that should be 20mm from the left and 20mm from the top of the page. If it is not then you can enter the offset necessary to bring the rectangle to those measurements. Both negative and positive numbers may be entered. Receipt Printer (Photo Edition only) The Receipt Printer is the printer used to produce receipts if the Payments Module option has been enabled in Setup Options. Manual Duplex For Card Printer (not for batch printing). This option should be enabled if you have layouts that will print on both sides of the card but your card printer does not automatically print on both sides. When printing a card with a layout that will print on the back of the card IDNow will pop up a message and pause after printing the front of the card. This will allow you to reinsert the card into the printer. When ready click on the OK button and the back side of the card will be printed. If you do not wish to print the back side just click on the cancel button. This option will have no affect if printing cards in batch made. New Page Rather Than New Document for side 2 (back of card) When doing a manual duplex print some printers do not eject the card if a 'new page' is done to print the back of the card. If this is the case with your printer then you should try enabling this option. Associate Default Card Details Printer With Database This option, if enabled, will associate the printer displayed at the top of the Card Details screen with that database regardless of the default card printer set in Printers.

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Note These are the default printers that will be used within IDNow. They may be changed at the time of printing with the exception of F9 Quick Print. The Card Printer selected will be the one displayed as the Default Card Printer in each Card Details database open. If required you can change this default to a different printer for the session of that database only by right-clicking on the printer name and selecting Change Default Printer For This Session. If the default printer is changed then that is the printer that will be used by default for all card print jobs for this database for this session. This printer information is not saved by IDNow unless the printer is the same as the above Card Printer or the Associate Default Card Details Printer With Database option is enabled. If more that one database is open then each may have a different default card printer.

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Print Types (Professional version only)


This option allows for the editing of the print types displayed in the IDNow Print History on the Card Details screen. The list will display the existing Print Types in the database. You can Add/Change/Delete any print type. To Add a new entry, click on the Add button. A new row will be added to the bottom of the list. Enter the Description (up to 20 characters). Description must be entered. The Reportable flag is used by the IDNow system to determine if the Print Type is to be considered a 'valid' print type. Valid means it is a print type by which the system should consider the card printed. This is used in the Cards Printed Report, Cards Not Printed Report and when printing cards in Batch Print where you are printing Cards Not Yet Printed. If a card has been printed one or more times using a Print Type not flagged as Reportable and not with a Print Type flagged as reportable then IDNow will consider the card as not yet printed. Default - One print type must be defined as the default print type. To do so just click on the default box for that entry. The default entry is the one that will be used when using the Quick Print (F9) function. It will also be the default used when the Print Current Card function is selected. The Default entry can not be deleted until another entry is defined as the default. To Delete and entry just select it in the list and click on the Delete button. To change an existing entry just enter the changes required. To Save all changes just click on the Save button. To discard any changes made just click the Cancel button. The maximum number of Print Type entries allowed is 21.

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Charge Rates (Photo Edition only)


The Charge Rates function allows for the entry of a charge rate for each Print Type for each Card Layout in the database. The option is available under the Tools menu. These rates are used in the Cards Printed Report to print the Total Amount billable for a given period. This functionality may be particularly useful for card printing bureaus. The screen will display a list of Layouts on the left and a list of Print Types on the right. Selecting a Layout will refresh the charge rates entered for the selected layout. The Rate may be changed to anything you like. Entries with 0 in the rate will show the Rate as blank when the information is re-displayed. Charge rates should normally include any tax amount applicable. For Layout XYZ you may have a Rate of 8.50 for New Cards and a Rate of 6.00 for Replacement Cards. If you have a Print Type of Reprint then you may want to leave that as zero to account for cards that have to be reprinted because of incorrect information of some other error requiring the card to be reprinted. Changes made must be saved before selecting a different Layout. When a card is printed an entry is placed in the Print History and the applicable rate, if any, is also added at that time. Changing/deleting a charge rate will NOT change any existing print history entries. Note: If a new Layout and/or a new Print Type created then these will be displayed in the lists but will not have any rate associated with them. If a Print Type or Layout is deleted then the Charge Rates associated with them are also deleted. Charge Rates may also be associated with Membership/Loyalty card layouts. Packages may also have charge rates associated with them in the Photo Edition.

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Receipt Setup (Photo Edition Only)


Receipt Setup is an option available if the Payments Module option is enabled in Setup Options. Receipt setup allows for the entry of the details you would like to print on receipts that are printed as a result of payments being made. Receipt Header Text This section allows you to enter what will be printed at the top of the receipt. For example you would normally enter your company name, address and any other information required. IDNow Field To Print On Receipt This option allows you select an IDNow field that will be printed on the receipt as Ref. Print Tax Amount If this option is enabled it allows IDNow to calculate the amount of tax amount of the receipt based on the Tax Rate entered and print it on the receipt. The tax name should be entered in the As field. For example in Australia you would enter GST in the As field and 10% in the Tax Rate. Receipt Footer Text This section allows you to enter any text you would like printed at the bottom of the receipt. Note: Receipts must be setup before you can print receipts from the Payments screen.

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Data Import
This option may be used to import data from other applications that can export standard tab or comma delimited text files. To import a text file you select the Import Text File from the Tools menu. You need to select the type of delimiter used in the file. Either Tab, Comma or Other. If other is selected you must enter the delimiter the text file uses in the box next to the option. If the file has the field names on the first line you should tick the Field Names In First Row option. Entries May Be Over Multiple Lines - If your text file has the information for each entry spread over multiple lines then you should enable this option The Field Names In First Row option will also be ticked if not already. Your text file MUST have the field names in the first row so that IDNow will know how many fields make up each entry. If this is not done then the import will not work correctly. Each entry must have the same number of fields as the first row otherwise the results of the import will be unpredictable. The standard text file is created with a carriage return + line feed (CR+LF) at the end of each record. IDNow uses this to tell where one record ends and another begins. If you find that IDNow imports only one record when you know there are more then you may want to try enabling the LF Only for Record Delimiter option. This tells IDNow to only look for a line feed character (LF) at the end of each record. You must select which fields are to imported and the order in which they appear in the text file. It may be necessary to open the text file in Windows Notepad in order to see the order of the fields. The first field in the text file will be 1 and so on. Not all fields in the text file need be imported. The field names displayed in the list will reflect those setup in the User Defined Fields section. There is also an option to Convert Nominated Fields To Proper Case. If ticked, this will convert the case of the imported data for those fields that have been nominated as having Proper Case in the User Defined Fields, to Proper Case. That is, if the data being imported is all upper case then it will all be converted to proper case for those fields. The import function does not have the ability to import photographs. The Update Existing Entries Where option may be used to cause the import routine to first see if there is already a card detail record with the selected field value equal to the data being imported. If there is a single matching record then that record will be updated rather than a new record being created. Update Card Layout Based On Imported Data Changes option is available if updating existing entries. If ticked this option enables IDNow to update the existing card layout assigned to an entry, if there is one, based on the data that has just been imported. This option will only work is you have setup default layouts. Please read the note at the end of this section regarding the update option. Ignore Entries That Already Exist Based On allows the import to IGNORE entries being imported where an existing entry has the same value in the selected field. Ignored entries are NOT added to the database.

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Update Card Layout Based On Imported Data Changes and Ignore Entries That Already Exist Based On are mutually exclusive. Text File To Import - This is the full path of the text file to be imported. You may use the Browse button to locate the file. To begin the import just click on the Import button and you will be asked for the name and location of the text file using the standard Windows search box. If you import data from the same format text file on a regular basis then you can save the import settings by clicking on the Save Import Settings button. The next time you go to import data the settings last saved will be automatically input for you. The settings are saved on a per computer basis so each can save different settings if necessary. If you have enabled the Automatically generate barcodes for this field for new Card Detail entries in the Generate Barcodes module then new barcodes will be generated for the entries being imported. If the barcode core, Prefix or Suffix is based on another field being imported and any of those fields are blank then the barcode will not be generated. Note This option is not available if IDNow is connected to an external read only database. If using the Update Existing Entries Where option you must select the field you wish IDNow to compare. If not selected then the option will be ignored. The field selected MUST be unique to each record. If more than one existing record is found then the import function will create a new record for the data being imported. The use of a field such as Surname will not result in what you want. If a matching record is not found then a new record will be created. If updating an existing entry and an existing field contains data but you are not importing that field this time then the existing field data will NOT be removed. Eg. Importing just Employee Number and Department, to update departments, will not remove the data in the other fields. When importing and you have defined default layouts, these will automatically be assigned if you are not importing the layout field. If updating existing entries and a layout is not already assigned then IDNow will attempt to assign a default layout for you. If you have nominated field/s as dropdown lists, NO validation is done at the time of import to ensure that the data being imported is a valid entry in the dropdown list. Save Import Settings allows you to save the settings you have made so that you do not have to re-enter the information each time you do an import, provided the import format is always the same. This also includes the location/name of the import file. Display This Screen Each Time IDNow Is Started. If enabled the import screen will be displayed each time you start IDNow and load this database. This option is handy if you must import new/updated information on a regular basis. IMPORTANT

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If you import new or updated entries on a regular basis it is recommended that you compact the database at regular intervals using the Compact Current Database function. This will remove any 'dead' space in the database and generally improve performance.

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Data Export
The Export option can be used to export card details to a delimited text file. You have the option to use either Tab or Comma delimiters and whether or not to Include Field Names In The First Line of the file. Field names will reflect those defined in the User Defined Fields section. You may restrict to the records exported by selecting the Only For Cards Where option. You must select the field the field to base the restriction on from the list and also enter the value that that field must be for that record to be exported. If left blank only records with that field blank will be exported. You may also restrict the entries exported by selecting the Where The Date Printed Between option. Only those records printed between the selected dates and with a Print Type of 'New Card' or 'Replacement' will be exported. If a card has only been printed with the Bad Print/Waste print type it will not be included in the export. You may also restrict the entries exported to those entries which have not been printed. If a card has only been printed with the Bad Print/Waste print type it will be included in the export. Fields To Be Exported - This button allows you to select which fields will be exported and in which order. You must select at least one field to be exported. The field list will include the IDNow ID, database fields, special use fields, photograph and signature dates as well as card layout associated with the entry, last printed date and date created. Any number of fields may be included by ticking the box in the Include next to the required entries. All may be selected by clicking the Select All button. All may be deselected by clicking the Deselect All button. By default all entries have an order of 0. This means that the fields will be output in the order displayed on the screen. If you require a different order then you may enter a number between 0 and 50 that signifies the order that fields should be output. The fields will be output in the order 0 - 50. If two or more fields have the same order number then those will be output in the order they appear on the screen. Photograph and signature dates are the actual files dates on the computer hard drive. Append Existing Entries in File - This option, if enabled, will add the entries being out to an existing text file specified in Export File Path, provided it already exists. No check is done to see if duplicate entries will exist in the file as a result of subsequent exports with this option enabled. If not enabled any existing file will be overwritten. Export File Path - This is where you enter the full path and file name where the details will be exported. To begin the export just click on the Export button. Note This option is not available if IDNow is connected to an external read only database. The Where The Date Printed Between and Not Yet printed options are mutually exclusive. Using the Where The Date Printed Between or Not Yet printed options will cause the export to be somewhat slower than if they were not used. The exported entries are sorted as specified in the Sort option for Card Details. All settings will be remembered by the system to enable subsequent exports in the same format as specified previously.

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Access Database Import


The Access Database Import option can be used to import your card data from another Access database. You may also import any photographs, signatures, fingerprints and fingerprint templates. If the data you wish to import is spread over multiple tables then you will need to create a query in Access to combine the data. You should then select this query rather than a table. The import function should work with Access database versions 1, 2, 95, 97, 2000, XP (2002) and 2003. You must first locate the database which contains the data you wish to import. Use the Browse button to locate the database. If the database you are going to import from requires a password you should enter it in the Password field. Next click on the Connect button. If no errors occurred opening the database you should see a list of tables and queries available in the Table list. Next you must select which Table or Query within the selected database that contains the information you wish to import. You must then select which field in the selected table contains the data corresponding to the IDNow fields displayed on the left. There is also an option to Convert Nominated Fields To Proper Case. If ticked, this will convert the case of the imported data for those fields that have been nominated as having Proper Case in the User Defined Fields, to Proper Case. That is, if the data being imported is all upper case then it will all be converted to proper case for those fields. Once you have selected all of the fields you wish to Import you should click on the Import button. The Update Existing Entries Where option may be used to cause the import routine to first see if there is already a card detail record with the selected field value equal to the data being imported. If there is a single matching record then that record will be updated rather than a new record being created. Please read the note at the end of this section regarding the use of this option. If you have enabled the Automatically generate barcodes for this field for new Card Detail entries in the Generate Barcodes module then new barcodes will be generated for the entries being imported. If the barcode core, Prefix or Suffix is based on another field being imported and any of those fields are blank then the barcode will not be generated. When the import is complete a confirmation message will be displayed along with the total number of records imported. Note If using the Update Existing Entries Where option you must select the field you wish IDNow to compare. If not

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selected then the option will be ignored. The field selected MUST be unique to each record. If more than one existing record is found then the import function will create a new record for the data being imported. The use of a field such as Surname will not result in what you want. If a matching record is not found then a new record will be created. If updating and an existing field contains data but you are not importing that field this time then the existing field data will NOT be removed. Eg. Importing just Employee Number and Department, to update departments, will not remove the data in the other fields. When importing and you have defined default layouts, these will automatically be assigned if you are not importing the layout field. If updating existing entries and a layout is not already assigned then IDNow will attempt to assign a default layout for you. If importing images and they are not stored in the IDNow database then you must be either importing the field nominated as the Photo Link Field in Setup Options or it must already have a unique value if only updating existing entries. If this field is blank then the images can not be saved. Photographs, signatures, fingerprints and fingerprint templates must be stored as BLOB or Long Binary data in the Access database. Photographs, signatures and fingerprints will be resized to suit the settings in IDNow.

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Import Layouts From Another IDNow Database (Professional version only)


This option is accessed from the Tools menu. This option may be used to import card layouts from another IDNow database. You must enter the location of the Database you wish to import the layouts from using the standard Windows search box. Use the Browse button to locate the database. Once the database has been selected a list of all layouts in that database will be displayed. Just select the layout(s) you wish to import and click on the Import button. The layouts will be imported into the existing database.

NOTE This option will not work if the layouts you wish to import are stored in an IDNow SQL Server database. As layout names must be unique a check is made to see if a layout already exists in the database with the same name as the one being imported. If there is an existing one then a -1 will be appended to the layout name. If there is already a layout with the same name with the -1 appended to it then a -2 will be appended and so on.

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Update A Field (Professional version only)


This option may be used to change the current value of a database field to another value for the entire database. You must select the field you wish to update from the list. The Update To option may be used to update the field with a fixed value. If using a fixed value and it is left blank then the field will be made blank in all records. You also have the option to append any existing data in the field with the new data. The Auto Increment option will cause a different incremented number to be inserted into each record in the database depending on the Staring Number and Increment By values. The Starting number must be entered along with the number to increment it by after each record has been updated, the default is 1. You may also optionally enter an fixed alphanumeric prefix and suffix to be added before/after the incremented number, or you can nominate a database field to be used for the prefix/suffix by selecting the field to use in 'Or Based On'. The incremented length may be used to format the incremented number with leading 0s prior to the prefix and suffix being added. The Strip Off All Text After The First Space option may be used to do just that. It may be useful if you have imported data and have extra information in the field such as an unwanted middle initial in the First Name field. The Field Has a Numeric Value. Increment It By option may be used to increment the existing value of the field by the amount entered. If the existing value has leading zeros these will be stripped off. The Total Length field may be used to indicate the length you would like the resultant number to be. If it is shorter than the entered value leading zeros will be added. If left blank or 0 then the field will be updated with the number as it is generated. Eg. An existing number of 08 incremented by 1 would be updated to 9. If the existing field data is not numeric then the field will not be updated. The existing data will remain. If the existing field data has a leading numeric component but also has a trailing non-numeric component then only the leading numeric component up to the first non-numeric character will be incremented. If the existing field data has a leading non-numeric component and a trailing numeric component then the whole field will be treated as non-numeric and not updated. Numeric characters are 0 - 9 and decimal points. Commas and currency symbols ($) are treated as non-numeric data. The Convert To Upper Case option will convert all characters in the field to upper case. The Add Prefix option allows for a prefix to be added to existing data in the field. If the field is empty then the prefix will not be added to that field. You may optionally use the Where The Existing Data Is Equal To option to limit which records are updated to those with whatever value you choose to enter. If left blank only those records which currently have the selected field blank will be updated. You may optionally use the Where <Selected Field> Is Equal To option to limit which records are updated to those with whatever value you choose to enter. If left blank only those records which currently have the selected field blank will be updated.

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Where The Existing Data Is Equal To and Where <Selected Field> Is Equal To are mutually exclusive. You may optionally use the Where The Date Last Printed Between option to restrict the records to be updated to those where the date last printed is between the selected date range. Once you have decided on the options to use you can update the field by clicking on the Update button. Note: This option should be used with care as there is no undo function once you change the records. This option is not available if IDNow is connected to an external read only database. If IDNow's security option is enabled then this option is only available to Admin users.

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Copy A Field (Professional version only)


This option may be used to copy the current value of a database field to another field for the entire database. You must select the field you wish to copy from the list as well as the field to copy it to. You also have the option to append any existing data in the field the data is being copied to. Where <Field> Is Equal To - If enabled this option allows you to limit the entries involved to those with data, in the selected field, matching the criteria entered. If the criteria is left blank then only those entries with no information entered for the field selected will be included. Note This option should be used with care as there is no undo function once you change the records. This option is not available if IDNow is connected to an external read only database. If IDNow's security option is enabled then this option is only available to Admin users.

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Move A Field (Professional version only)


This option may be used to move the current value of a database field to another field for the entire database. You must select the field whose data you wish to move from the list as well as the field to move it to. You also have the option to Append Existing Data in the field the data is being moved to. Where <Field> Is Equal To - If enabled this option allows you to limit the entries involved to those with data, in the selected field, matching the criteria entered. If the criteria is left blank then only those entries with no information entered for the field selected will be included. Note This option should be used with care as there is no undo function once you change the records.

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Delete A Field (Professional version only)


This option may be used to delete the current value of a database field for the entire database. You must select the field from which you wish to delete the data from the list. Where <Field> Is Equal To - If enabled this option allows you to limit the entries involved to those with data, in the selected field, matching the criteria entered. If the criteria is left blank then only those entries with no information entered for the field selected will be included. Note This option should be used with care as there is no undo function once you change the records. This option is not available if IDNow is connected to an external read only database. If IDNow's security option is enabled then this option is only available to Admin users.

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Remove Trailing Spaces From Data (Professional version only)


This function can be accessed from the Tools menu. This function will remove all trailing spaces from all fields in the IDNow database. Trailing spaces can occur when the data has been imported from an Access database that had them. Leaving the trailing spaces in can have adverse affects on formatting when printing cards. This function will NOT destroy any existing data in your database. To begin the process of removing any trailing spaces just click on the Process button. Once the process has been started it can not be cancelled. Note This option is not available if IDNow is connected to an external read only database. If IDNow's security option is enabled then this option is only available to Admin users.

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Generate Barcodes (Professional version only)


This function may be used to generate barcodes numbers/data for a nominated field. The resultant barcodes need not be used to create barcodes. They may be used as membership numbers etc. and may be printed as barcodes, text or magnetic stripe tracks. The barcodes may be generated based on either an incrementing number or based on an existing core number which may already exist in the barcode field or any other database field, with or without a fixed or variable prefix/suffix based on another database field. To accommodate barcode numbers that require a special check digit for use with various library system software the option to append a check digit for the more common library systems in use is provided. You may also just calculate a library system check digit, assuming that the core number already exists in the nominated or any other IDNow field. To generate barcodes you must first select the IDNow Barcode Field that is to hold the barcode. If you wish IDNow to generate the core number then select the Auto Generate option and enter the Start Number and then number to Increment it by for each new barcode. If you want to use an existing core number that is in another IDNow field, including the nominated barcode field, then you should select the Barcode Core Based On option and select the field that contains the core number. Core Length is used to tell IDNow how long the core barcode number is. Whether the number is generated or based on another field, if it is shorter than the core length then it will be padded with leading zeros to bring it up to the length specified. The core length should not include any prefix/suffix or check digit in its length. The core length must be entered. If you wish to added either a Fixed Prefix to the number or one Based On another IDNow field you should enter either the fixed prefix or select the IDNow field from the list that contains the prefix. You can not have both a fixed and variable prefix. If you wish to add a suffix to the number it can be done in the same manner as the prefix. Both the prefix and suffix are optional. If some of your card entries already contain valid barcodes then you should tick the Only Those Entries Without A Barcode option. IDNow will calculate what the length of the barcode should be and any existing entries that have a value in the nominated barcode field that is equal to, or greater than the expected length will be ignored. If a check digit is specified and the barcode is the correct length, including the check digit, the check digit will be stripped off and recalculated. You should NOT use this option if any of the information used to generate the barcode has changed since it was last generated. The Generate A Check Digit For option may be used to generate a check digit suitable for common library software packages in use. Select the library system from the dropdown list. The Automatically generate barcodes for this field for new Card Detail entries option may be enabled if you wish IDNow to calculate a barcode automatically for any new entries as they are added. To do this just enter the parameters required and then click on the Close button. When the New button is clicked on the Card Details form the barcode will automatically be generated. If the barcode core, prefix or suffix is based on other fields then the barcode will not be generated until all of the required fields have been entered. This option, if enabled, also applies

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when importing New card details from a text file or Access database. Card Detail entries being updated manually or via the import function will NOT have a new barcode generated for them. If you only wish to enable this option and not generate barcodes for existing entries then set the barcode generation criteria and click on the Close button. This option can only be used with one automatically generated field. Note If you generate a barcode with a check digit you must NOT select the Generate A Check Digit option in the barcode properties on the layout. If calculating a check digit you should do a few test cards and ensure that they are correct and will work with the library system scanners/software. If you are working with an existing core number in the nominated barcode field it is recommended that you first copy this core number to a vacant database field using the Copy function in the event that you do not get the settings right for generating the barcodes. This will give you the option to regenerate the numbers should the need arise. If the core number, prefix or suffix are based on another IDNow field and any of those fields are blank for an entry then the barcode will not be generated. Any existing entry in the nominated barcode field will be left as is. IDNow will remember all of the settings you have used for the generation of barcodes and use those as the defaults for the next time you want to generate barcodes. The settings are saved on a per database basis.

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Create New Entries (Professional version only)


This option may be used to create x number of new card detail entries, where x is the number to be created. The number of entries to create must be one or more. All fields defined in IDNow will be blank with the exception of the IDNow ID. You may optionally create the new entries with an auto incrementing number in one of the fields. To use this function you must select the field into which the number will be placed from the drop down list. If blank no field will be updated. The Auto Increment option will cause a different incremented number to be inserted into each record in the database depending on the Staring Number and Increment By values. The Starting number must be entered along with the number to increment it by after each record has been updated, the default is 1. You may also optionally enter an fixed alphanumeric Prefix and Suffix to be added before/after the incremented number. The Increment Length may be used to format the incremented number with leading 0s prior to the prefix and suffix being added. If left blank no leading zeros will be added. To create the new entries click the Create button. Once the create operation is completed you will be shown how many entries have been created .

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Check For Duplicates (Professional version only)


The Check For Duplicates function is useful in determining if you have any duplicate card detail entries. You can select up to four IDNow fields to use as a basis for checking for duplicates. You must select at least the first field from the list. Once you have selected the fields you want to use just click on the Check Now button. If any duplicates are found then the Data Display screen will be shown, with the heading Duplicate Card Details, with the duplicates displayed in the order of the fields you used to select the entries. Unless the Show Inactive Entries option on the Card Details screen is enabled, Inactive entries will NOT be displayed. If Inactive entries are included then the first column in the list will show whether each entry is Inactive or not. All function normally available within the Data Display screen are available when checking for duplicates. You may go to one of the duplicate entries using the Go To button and either delete it or make some change that will no longer make the entry a duplicate. When you got back to the Duplicate Card Details screen it will refresh to reflect any changes you may have made on the Card Details. When you close the Duplicate Card Details the Check For Duplicates screen will again be shown. Note The fields you select for the duplicate checking will be remembered by IDNow. If IDNow's security option is enabled then this option is only available to users logged in with Admin rights. This function is not available with external databases.

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Clear Print History


This option can be accessed via the Tools menu. This option may be used to clear the print history from the card detail entries. You may restrict it to a particular Print Type and/or Date/Time range that the print history was created. To enable the date range you must 'tick' the box in the From date. Select the date range you want from the popup calendar by clicking on the down arrow. The default time range is 12AM to 12:59:59PM. Click the Proceed button to delete the print history. Note If the selection criteria is blank all print history will be deleted. If IDNow's security option is enabled then this option is only available to users logged in with Admin rights.

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Delete Card Details


This option is accessed from the Tools menu. The option can be used to delete existing Card Detail entries from the database. You have the option to either Delete All Card Detail entries or Only Those Entries Where a selectable field value is either =. >=, <= or Not= to a value you enter. The default operator is '=' but may be changed by selecting one from the dropdown list. If you wish to only delete those entries where a particular field is blank then leave the criteria blank. This option may only be used with the '=' operator. If the field selected is numeric then you should also select the Numeric option otherwise you may find that entries you did not intend to delete are deleted. Photographs and signatures associated with these details are deleted if the option to delete them is enabled (default). Photographs/signatures stored internally within the database are always deleted. If a password has been specified in Setup for Delete All then this password must be entered before the details can be deleted. Note This option is not available if IDNow is connected to an external read only database. If IDNow's security option is enabled then this option is only available to Admin users. IMPORTANT Use this option with care as there is no undo option. It is strongly recommended that you make a backup of your database before deleting any entries.

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Export Photographs (Professional version only)


This function may be used to export the photographs from your existing IDNow database to a new location. The existing photographs may be internal or external to the database. You may optionally change the size and file type. To export the photographs you must first enter or browse to the Folder To Save Photographs To. The folder must exist. If you wish to change the size of the photographs then you should enter the width and height you require the photographs to be. If the size is being changed from the original then IDNow may need to crop the photographs in order to maintain the aspect ratio. The cropping will be done from all edges of the photograph depending on the existing size. If you only want IDNow to crop from the bottom of the image then you should enable the Crop From Bottom Only option. If you are using large format photographs and have them cropped within IDNow then only that portion of the photograph will be used for the export. File Name Based On is the Windows file name that will be used when the photographs are exported. It may be based on any single IDNow field or if you select Concatenate then you may select the fields that will be used to create the file name. Refer to Concatenate Fields for more information on the use of this function. Prefix - This may be used to add a prefix to the photograph file name. Suffix - This may be used to add a suffix to the photograph file name. Convert Images To allows you to select the image type that will be used for the exported photographs. Options are JPG, BMP and TIF. 256 Colours. If enabled will convert the photos to 256 colour format. Grey Scale. If enabled will convert the images to 8 bit grey scale format. Test Only. This option allows you to view what the results will be without actually exporting the photographs. Clicking on the Export Photographs button will display the first photograph as it would be exported. A set of navigation buttons will appear which you can use to view the First, Previous, Next and Last photograph. This allows you to step through the images to see the results of the settings entered. The new size of the image and its proposed file name are displayed under the buttons. To make any changes to the settings you must first click the Cancel Test button. Once you are happy with your settings disable the Test Only option, if enabled, and click the Export Photographs button. The export will now begin. Each photograph being exported will be displayed along with its new size and file name. A progress bar will display the progress of the export.

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When the export is complete you will be informed of the number of photographs exported, number not exported because a valid file name could not be generated due to lack of data in the database field selected for the name and the number of entries that did not have a photograph associated with them. IDNow will remember the settings you have used in this function and use them as defaults the next time the function is used. Note: The field used for the file name for the exported photographs should enable enable IDNow to generate a unique name for each photograph. If a duplicate is generated, in order to avoid overwriting the existing image, a - will be added to the name and a number starting at 1 and increasing by 1 as more duplicates are found will be added.

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Image Conversion (Professional version only)


The image conversion option may be used to do a batch conversion of images in a folder. The conversion is to a size you nominate, either actual or a percentage of the original. If both a fixed and percentage size is entered IDNow will used the fixed size. The resultant image format may be either JPG, BMP or TIF, the default is JPG. You may also choose to convert the images to 256 or 2 colours if required. 2 Colour images would be best used for signatures. IDNow uses 24 bit colour photographs. The JPG standard only covers 24bit colour images so if you nominate to convert the image to 256 or 2 colours and save it as a JPG file the image will be converted to 256 or 2 colours but will still show as 24 bit colour if you look at the image properties. You must enter the location of the original images and also the location of the resultant images. Both locations must exist. These two locations must not be the same folder. You can use the Browse buttons to locate the folders. Once you have entered the locations and size to convert to you may load a sample image from the original images location by clicking on the Load Sample Image button. To see the results of the resizing you can click on the Test button. Fixed Size Conversion If you nominate a fixed size all images in that folder will be resized to the size nominated. By default the Maintain Aspect Ratio option is enabled. If not enabled IDNow will convert the images to the size nominated without regard for aspect ratio. When the Maintain Aspect Ratio option enabled but then Crop option is NOT enabled and the original image width/height ratio is not the same as the size you have nominated the conversion process will create a blank white image, resize the original image and overlay the resized image onto the white image. The image will be centered. This will result in their being either white space at the left/right or top/bottom depending on the orientation of the original image and orientation of the new image. An example would be:

Original image 320 x 378 pixels

Converted Image 320 x 320 pixels

If you want to avoid the 'white space' that is added to the converted image then you may try the crop option. The Crop option calculates the image width/height ratio and then calculates how much of the image must be cut out either left/right or top/bottom, depending on the orientation of the original image and orientation of the new image, to make the image width/height ratio the same as the nominated size. It is then resized to the desired size. The default is to take 50% for either side but you may change that to be any amount between 0 and 100 %. The opposite % is calculated automatically.

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An example would be:

Original image 320 x 378 pixels

Converted Image 320 x 320 pixels, Crop 25/75%

The original image has a width/height ratio of 0.846 (its 0.846 as wide as it is high). The converted image as a width/height ratio of 1.0. This means that the original image is 58 pixels too high for a ratio of 1.0 so those must be chopped off. 25% (14 pixels) of the excess has been removed from the top of the image and 75% (44 pixels) from the bottom. Care must be exercised using this option as what works for one image may not work for another depending on the subject placement in the photograph. Percentage Conversion If you nominate a percentage then the images will be resized by that percentage based on each original image individual size. Aspect ratio will be maintained in this mode. If you only want to change the file type of the images, Eg. JPG -> BMP then leave the fixed size blank and enter 100 into the percentage field and select BMP for the format. To begin the batch conversion click on the Convert Images button. Once you have begun the conversion process it may be cancelled by clicking on the Cancel Conversion button. The converted image names will be the same as the original and the save type and extension will depend on the setting selected. Note If you have entered both a fixed size and percentage then the fixed setting will be used.

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Change Photograph Zoom/Offset (Professional Version Only)


The Change Photograph Zoom/Offset function may be used to alter the existing zoom and/or X and Y offsets of all photographs associated with the current database. This will only have an effect if the Maintain Original Photo Size option is enabled in Setup along with the Save Individual Zoom and Offset Changes option. The Fit option must NOT be enabled. This function may be useful for adjusting the levels when a large number of photographs have been placed into the Photographs folder. It may also be useful if you have changed the photograph size in setup making any existing zoom/offsets invalid. The assumption is that the subjects have been placed in approximately the same position in all photographs. Zoom and/or the X and Y offsets may be set. The values entered into each will require a little experimentation to get them right. Manual changes may still be made to each photograph if required.

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Rename Photos/Signatures/Fingerprints (Professional version only)


This function can be used to rename the photos/signatures/fingerprints based on another field in the database. IDNow names the images based on the selected Photo Link field in Setup. The default field is ID. If you find it necessary to change the photo link field after you have already sourced a number of photos, signatures and/or fingerprints you will find that the photos/signatures/fingerprints are no longer linked the card data records. To correct this you can use this function. You must first select the field used for the photo link when the photos were first created. The default will be the current photo link field. You should then select the field that you wish to now use as the photo link field. If you think that the renaming of the photos/signatures will result in some files being overwritten then you should tick the Save To New Location option and then use the Browse button to locate the folder you wish to save the images to. Later you can copy those files to the old photo and signature locations or change the Photograph and Signatures paths in Setup. If using this option the original photographs/signatures will remain as they were. Click on the Rename button and the photos/signatures that used the old naming convention will be changed based on the data in the new photo link field. Note Any field that is used for the photo link field MUST be unique to each card detail record or photos and/or signatures may be overwritten. Any field that has a blank new photo link field will not have the photo/signature renamed. If using the Save to New Location option IDNow will place the photographs, signatures and fingerprints, if applicable, into the same folder. If you wish to separate them afterwards you will need to move the signatures, those with a .BMP extension and the fingerprints, those with a .TIF extension to other folders. This option is only applicable to IDNow databases where the photographs, signature and/or fingerprints are stored externally to the database.

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Import Fox ID 3 Database (Professional version only)


The Fox ID 3 Database Import option can be used to import the card data from a Fox ID 3 database. You must first locate the Fox ID 3 database. Use the Browse button to locate the database. If the database is a valid Fox ID 3 database then IDNow will change the User Defined Fields to the field names used in Fox ID. It will also select the Table to use (foxdata) and the Fox ID fields that correspond to the IDNow fields. There is also an option to Convert Nominated Fields To Proper Case. If ticked, this will convert the case of the imported data for those fields that have been nominated as having Proper Case in the User Defined Fields, to Proper Case. That is, if the data being imported is all upper case then it will all be converted to proper case for those fields. Once you have selected all of the fields you wish to Import you should click on the Import button. The Update Existing Entries Where option may be used to cause the import routine to first see if there is already a card detail record with the selected field value equal to the data being imported. If there is a single matching record then that record will be updated rather than a new record being created. Please read the note at the end of this section regarding the use of this option. If you have enabled the Automatically generate barcodes for this field for new Card Detail entries in the Generate Barcodes module then new barcodes will be generated for the entries being imported. If the barcode core, Prefix or Suffix is based on another field being imported and any of those fields are blank then the barcode will not be generated. When the import is complete a confirmation message will be displayed along with the total number of records imported. You can import the Fox ID 3 photographs and/or signatures using the Import Fox ID 3 Photo/Signatures function. Note If using the Update Existing Entries Where option you must select the field you wish IDNow to compare. If not selected then the option will be ignored. The field selected MUST be unique to each record. If more than one existing record is found then the import function will create a new record for the data being imported. The use of a field such as Surname will not result in what you want. If a matching record is not found then a new record will be created. If updating and an existing field contains data but you are not importing that field this time then the existing field data will NOT be removed. Eg. Importing just Employee Number and Department, to update departments, will not remove the data in the other fields. When importing and you have defined default layouts, these will automatically be assigned if you are not importing the layout field. If updating existing entries and a layout is not already assigned then IDNow will attempt to assign a default layout for you.

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Import Fox ID 3 Photos/Signatures (Professional version only)


This option can be accessed via the Tools menu. This option may be used to copy and import the photographs and signatures that are stored in a Fox ID version 3 database for use with IDNow. If not already done you should use the Import Fox ID 3 Database before using this function. First you must use the Browse function to locate the Access database that is being used for Fox ID. If your photographs/signatures are to be stored outside the IDNow database then they will be saved in the locations specified in the Setup Options. If you have specified that the photographs and/or signatures are to be saved in the IDNow database they will be associated with the existing card details and saved in the database. This option may be slower to process than saving to disk as the associated card details entry for each photo/signature must be looked up. When ready just click on the Import button. As each photograph and signature is being converted it will be displayed on the screen. To Cancel the conversion just click on the Cancel button. Unless you have set the Maintain Original Photo Size option in Setup Options, IDNow will resize the photographs to be as close as possible to the size specified in IDNow while preserving the aspect ratio. Signatures will be resized as close as possible to the size used by IDNow. The filenames of the images will be the Fox Card Number field. This field is imported as part of the Import Fox ID 3 Database function. Photographs will have .JPG and signatures .BMP as the file extension. IDNow will set the Photo Link field in Setup to the Card Number field. If you want to change the Photo Link field to another field just use the Rename Photo/Signature function and change the photo link field to the new one.

Note You must ensure that have sufficient room of your hard disk drive to store the photographs and signatures that will be created.

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Import Images Into IDNow Database (Professional version only)


This option may be used to Import either your photographs, signatures and/or fingerprints into the IDNow database. Be sure to read the appropriate section in Setup Options before running this utility. You may choose to process photographs, signatures and/or fingerprints. IMPORTANT If you are using the standard IDNow Access database it is recommended that you change the ChromFactor and LumFactor in Setup to 10 and 8 respectively before running this utility if you intend to process many thousand of images. This will result in losing a barely noticeable amount of image quality but will save a large amount of space in the database. The begin the process just click on the Process Button. Once begun you must allow the process to complete. Note You will not be able to process photographs if they have been setup to be sourced from an External Database or they are already stored internally in the IDNow database. The same condition applies to both signatures and fingerprints. You will not be able to process photographs if they have been setup as being large and external to IDNow. If you have a large number of photographs/signatures/fingerprints this utility may take some time to complete. Importing a large number of images across a network may generate a significant amount of network traffic.

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Export Images From IDNow Database (Professional version only)


This option may be used to export either your photographs, signatures and/or fingerprints if stored in the IDNow database. Be sure to read the appropriate section in Setup Options before running this utility. You may choose to process photographs, signatures and/or fingerprints. There is an option to Delete Processed Images From The Database during the process. Photographs will be saved to the location specified for the Photo Path in Setup. Signatures will be saved to the location specified for the Signature Path in Setup. Fingerprints will be saved to the location specified for the Fingerprint Path in Setup. The files names of the images will be based on the field select in Setup as the photo link field. IMPORTANT It is recommended that you change the ChromFactor and LumFactor in Setup to 5 and 2 respectively before running this utility. This will result in the minimum loss of image quality. Ensure you have the Photo Link Field setup correctly and ALL entries in the database have a unique value in that field. If an entry is encountered with no valid value in the Photo Link field the images will not be saved for that entry. If there are duplicate entries in the field images resulting in the same file name will be overwritten. If the Delete option is active and the image is not saved it will NOT be deleted from the database. The begin the process just click on the Process Button. Once begun you must allow the process to complete. Note You will not be able to process photographs if they have been setup to be sourced from an External Database or if they are not stored internally in the IDNow database. The same condition applies to signatures. If you have a large number of photographs/signatures/fingerprints this utility may take some time to complete. Exporting a large number of images across a network may generate a significant amount of network traffic. WARNING Any existing images, in the locations specified for the images, with the same name as those being saved will be overwritten without warning.

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Export Database (Professional version only)


The Export Database function may be used to export the current database to either a new or existing IDNow database. The database may be exported to either an IDNow Access or SQL Server 2000 database. To export to SQL Server you must have SQL Server 2000 installed, running and visible to this computer. IMPORTANT If you have photos, signatures and/or fingerprints that are stored outside the IDNow database (as separate files) and use the IDNow ID as the Photo Link field then the link may be lost. This is because as the entries are moved to the new database they may be assigned a different IDNow ID to the existing one. To get around this problem it is recommended that one of the following be done PRIOR to exporting: I. Make another existing unique field in each entry the Photo Link field and use the Rename Photos/Signatures/Fingerprints function under the Tools menu to rename the images to the new photo link field. II. If there is no unique field available then add a new field in User Defined Fields and use the Tools/Generate Barcodes function to assign a new number to each entry in this field. Make the new field the Photo Link field and use the Rename Photos/Signatures/Fingerprints function under the Tools menu to rename the images to the new photo link field. Once the export is complete you may change back to the IDNow ID as the Photo Link field, if desired, and again use the Rename Photos/Signatures/Fingerprints function under the Tools menu to rename the images to the new photo link field. Export Options The export function allows you select which data will be exported. Card Details (including Internal Images & Print History) If this option is enabled Card Details entries along with all of the support information for these entries will be exported. If the database is using an External Database for its data source then the details contained in the External Database are NOT exported to the new database. Only Cards Where allows you limit the cards exported to those where the criteria matches in the selected field. The criteria field may be blank and if so only those entries where there is no value in that field will be exported. Export External Images To - This option, if enabled, will copy any photographs, signatures and fingerprints to the folder entered/selected. The folder must exist for this option to work. If your photographs, signatures and/or fingerprints are stored in the IDNow database then these will not be exported to the folder. NOTE: If you are exporting photographs and signatures/fingerprints then the photograph format must be JPG. The export will copy them all to a single folder. Signatures are in a BMP format and fingerprints are in a TIF format. If your photographs are either of these two format (not JPG) then images will be overwritten. The image export does not alter the original images in any way. Layouts (including Default Layouts) If this option is enabled the Layouts as well as the Default Layouts setup will be exported. All Settings (including Setup Options, User Defined Fields, User Settings, Security Settings & Audit Log)

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If this option is enabled then all of the database setup options including Security Settings and Audit Log, if enabled, will be exported. External Database Settings This option is only available if you are currently connected to an external data source. If enabled then the external data source connection details are exported to the new database. Export To Existing IDNow Database If enabled the details being exported will be exported to an existing IDNow database. No new database will be created. You will be asked at the time of export which database to export the details to. If the Export Card Details option is enabled then by default the Update Card Details Where option is also enabled. This option will help prevent duplicate entries from being created in the existing database. You must select the field that will be used to compare in the existing database to see if the entry already exists. It must be a field that contains a value that unique to each entry. If the entry does exist it will be updated with the details being exported, otherwise a new entry will be created. Export To SQL Server Database This option will only be available if SQL Server support has been enabled in Setup Options. To export to SQL Server you must have SQL Server 2000 installed, running and visible to this computer. To begin the Export just click on the Export button. If a new Access database is to be created you will be asked to browse to the location you want the database to reside and you must enter a name for the new database. If exporting to an existing IDNow Access database you will be asked to browse to the existing database. If exporting to an existing SQL Server database you will be asked the SQL Server instance name and name of the database to export to. If exporting to a new SQL Server database you will enter the following in order for IDNow to create the database. Server - The network name of the server hosting the instance of SQL Server 2000 you wish to use. Database - This is the name you wish to call the new database. The name MUST be unique within SQL Server and MUST NOT include any path or file name extension. Eg. IDNowData is a valid name. Path To Store Database - This is the location where the physical database will be created. The default is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Data\ but may be any physical location on the computer hosting SQL Server. THE PATH ENTERED MUST ALREADY EXIST. The path must be entered relative to the computer SQL Server is installed on. Not a network path. If you get a file name error when creating the database it is most likely because the path is incorrect or does not already exist. Initial Size - This the initial size that will be allocated for the database when it is created. You may increase or decrease this to suit. The minimum size is 1 MB. By default the Growth Increment for the database will be 100% of what the initial size is. The initial size of the transaction log file will be 50% of the database size and the Growth Increment for this file will be 50% of its initial size (25%) of the initial database size. The minimum for any size will be 1 MB.

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These defaults may be altered after the database has been created using the SQL Server Enterprise Manager. Once the new database has been created, if applicable the export operation will begin. A status window will be displayed to show you the progress of the export operation. Once the export operation is complete you may open the new database using the Open options under the File menu. NOTE When a connection is made to the SQL Server host it is assumed that the connecting computer is 'trusted'. If it is not then a User Name/Password screen will be displayed for the user to log into the SQL Server host. If you specify a very large size for the new database it may take a few minutes for the database to be created. The purchase, setup, configuration and backup of SQL Server is your responsibility. The export function makes no changes to your existing IDNow database. If Security is enabled in IDNow this function is only available to Admin users.

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Compact Current Database


This option can be accessed via the Tools menu. This option may be used to repair and compact the currently active database. With use the Access database used for IDNow can become quite large, especially if you import entries on a regular basis. This can impact on system performance. The compact option will attempt to remove unnecessary space in the database and reduce it size by a considerable amount in many cases. By clicking on the Compact button the current active database will be closed. In order to protect the database in the remote possibility that the database can not be compacted it is first renamed to the <current name>_old.mdb. The compact operation then creates a new database and moves all of the data into a new database which will have the original name. If the compact operation is successful then the old database is deleted. Should the operation fail for some reason the old database should still exist in the original location but with the file name <current name>_old.mdb. You can manually rename this file back to the original name and the database should be as it was prior to the compact option. If the operation is successful the database will be re-opened and it's card details form displayed. Should IDNow believe that your database has been compacted correctly and deletes <current name>_old.mdb and you then find that the new database can not be opened for some reason you will find the original database in the Windows Recycle Bin. Note It is always a good idea to have a backup of your data before doing any compact operations. No other users can be logged into the database or the compact operation will fail. If IDNow's security option is enabled then this option is only available to users logged in with Admin rights. Should you be unable to open a database because it requires repairing then you will need to try and repair it using Access 2000 or Access XP (2002). If this fails then you should contact us to see if we can recover the data.

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Using Digital and Analogue Cameras


When acquiring photographs using camera interface options you must first ensure than the software that came with the camera has fits been installed and an it is all working as expected. Ensure that the camera is turned on and operating in its connect mode. For Kodak DCxxx digital still cameras you must install the appropriate software supplied with the camera and you must also install the file DCGenAX.EXE which is in the Kodak folder on IDNow installation CD. To install the file just locate it, using Windows Explorer, on the CD and double click on it with the mouse. With the exception of Digital Video devices the program will check that it can first communicate with the camera before loading the appropriate capture form. With Digital Video devices you must first select the Device and then click on the Connect button. All capture screens, with the exception of the VideoVue analogue video camera capture offer a number of configuration options including resolution, image quality etc. VideoVue settings can be set via its setup program. The settings available for Video cameras are Resolution and Image Resampling. Any adjustments needed should be
done at the camera. It is best to use the higher resolution the camera offers rather than a lower one. You should select the Resample to 640x480 option only if the source image is quite small.

The capture screens will generally sit on top of any existing forms even if you click on the window behind it. This is to enable you to make changes to the database record without having to try and find the capture screen again. Clicking on the Settings button will minimise the capture screen size. Clicking on it again will open the settings section. The Kodak DCxxx Capture screen you may need to select your camera from the list. If this is the first time you have attempted to connect to the camera or an error occurs during the communication then the camera connection settings window will be displayed. You should select the connection type and speed, if applicable and click on the OK button. Some model cameras do not respond to the commands as documented by Kodak so if you find this to be case just tick the Use Current Camera Resolution option and the program will use whatever resolution the camera has been set to manually using its menu functions. You will generally find that taking images with the Kodak cameras can take quite some time between the time the image is taken to the time the image is downloaded and displayed on the screen even if using a USB connection. This is a Kodak camera issue, as the image must be compressed and save by the camera to its memory card before it is available for use by this software. It has been found that some recent Kodak DCxxx cameras do not work with the Kodak supplied interface routines used in IDNow. Unfortunately Kodak has now decided that it will no longer support this interface so there is little that can be done about this. You can still use the twain interface with these cameras. Alternatives are currently being investigated. Capture from video cameras and some Canon digital still cameras will show a live preview of what the camera is seeing. If using a video camera you need to select your camera from the Device list. It may be shown as Microsoft DV Camera and VCR. You then need to click on the Connect button. Once connected you should see a live preview from the camera. The resolution list should show the maximum resolution possible for you camera. You may change this if desired although you should generally use the highest setting. You may also want to do some test shots with the Resample To 640x480 option enabled and not enabled. Some video cameras seem to pass a

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slightly elongated photograph to IDNow even though the live preview does not show this.

To capture a photograph just click on the Capture button on the capture preview screen, Capture Photograph option on the main Toolbar or press the F8 capture shortcut. The image should be transferred to the photograph panel of the currently selected database record. You can then use the zoom slider to resize the image or move it around to center it up. If using a digital video camera you can use that to capture signatures if desired by using the Capture Signature option on the main Toolbar or press the F6 capture shortcut.

If you have a digital still camera that was not manufactured by Canon or Kodak or we currently do not offer a direct interface into it but you can usually use the twain interface that came with the camera in order to obtain the image. The is done by right-clicking on the photograph area and selecting the Source option from the Pop-up menu and then selecting the camera to use and again right-clicking on the photograph area and selecting the Acquire option. New camera models will be added to the interface list as interface software from the camera manufacturers becomes available. If you find that you have a camera that does not work with the IDNow software then please let us know and we will see if we can assist with getting it to work or offering some form of interface. Image quality from different sources will vary greatly depending on camera resolution, lighting, white balance and other factors. Some testing on the part of the user is required in order to obtain the results required. Lighting is very important when it comes to image quality as is the colour of the background. Tests have shown that a light blue or grey background produces best results. Analogue video cameras may offer a cheaper solution but generally offer a much poorer image quality than the modern digital still or video cameras and also require some form of capture device to be installed in the computer. These capture cards can be quite expensive. Digital video cameras on the other hand only require a relatively inexpensive firewire or i-Link card or USB2 connection to be installed in the computer. Taking a high resolution image may seem like a good idea at the time but as the IDNow software only uses a relatively small part of it you are best to use a lower resolution setting on the camera. A size of around 640 x 480 pixels is a good size. Sizing and placement of the subject so that only the part of the image you want saved is visible in the photograph area is also a matter of practice on the part of the user. If you wish to use a high resolution image and save it at that size you need to enable the Maintain Original Photo Size On Save (Professional version only) in Setup Options.
Note: The VideoVue analogue video capture option requires a VideoVue capture card be installed in the computer. Digital Video capture requires the camera be connected to an installed firewire or I-Link card or USB2 connection. This interface also works with some 'web video cameras' but image quality is generally less than with digital video cameras. To use the Video capture option you must first have Microsoft DirectX9 or better installed. This can be downloaded from www.microsoft.com/directx/ To check your current version of DirectX click Start/Run and enter DXDIAG and click OK. Digital video camera support via

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DirectX is not available for Windows NT4. Windows XP ships with DirectX 8.1 installed. DirectX 9 is available on the IDNow CD. Most Firewire or I-Link products are only supported on Windows98 Second Edition or better.

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Security Options (Professional version only)


The Security option screen can be accessed from the Tools menu. This screen allows you to optionally setup user security for IDNow if you so desire. . To enable security you must tick the Use Security option. You must then click on New User to add each user. You must enter a User Name. When the user logs in they should enter a blank password. They will be requested to enter their desired password for future access the fist time they log in. At least one user must be nominated to be an Admin user otherwise you will not be able to save the security information. The user access options available are as follows. Password - Admin users can not see or edit a users password. There is a Clear Password button. Clicking this button will re-set (after confirmation) a users password to 'blank'. The user will then have to enter a blank password when they log into IDNow and will then have to enter their desired password. User passwords are stored in the IDNow database in an encrypted format. Under no circumstances will the encryption algorithm be released to any IDNow users. The user access rights that may be assigned to users are as follows: Admin user - Allows full access to all options within IDNow. Read Only Access - User may not save changes to Card Details, add a new entry, delete, import or create a new database. Layout designer - Allows user to access the Layout Designer. Production menu - Allows user to access the Production menu options. Reports menu - Allows user to access the Reports menu options. Photo menu - Allows user to access the Photo menu options. If not enabled then the user can not change, delete, replace or modify the photo, signature or fingerprints for any Card Detail entries. Tools menu - Allows user to access the Tools menu options except those which are restricted to Admin use only which are most of them. View restricted fields - Allows the user to see those fields which have been nominated in the User Defined Fields screen as being Restricted. If a field is marked as Restricted and the user does NOT have Restricted nominated then those fields will not be visible on the Card Details screen. Restricted details may be available from the Reports menu or printed on a card if the user has access to these options.

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Add/modify card details - Allows a user to add/modify existing Card Details but not delete existing ones unless Delete card detail entries also enabled. Delete card detail entries - Allows a user to delete existing Card Details on at a time. It does not allow access to the Delete option under the tools menu. If specified in Setup, the delete password is still required. Add/modify images on card detail entries - Allows for Photograph, signature, fingerprint and fingerprint templates to be added or changed. Delete images on card detail entries - Allows the user to delete photographs, signatures, fingerprint and fingerprint templates from the card detail entries. Add/modify card layout on card detail entries - Allows users to assign a layout at the time of adding or modifying a Card Detail entry. The User must have Add/Modify card details enabled in order to use this option. If this option is not enabled then a user adding a new entry will not be able to select the layout to use. The layout will be assigned by the system based on the default settings in Default Layouts when the entry is saved. Add/modify print history entries - Allows users to add/modify the individual Print History details on the Card Details screen. Delete print history entries - This option allows the user to delete individual print history entries. It does not allow access to the Delete Print History option under the Tools menu. Print cards - Allows a user to print cards using the Print button on the toolbar or by using the F9 key (Quick Print). The preview button (F7) may also be used. This option does not automatically give access to Batch Printing under the Production menu. Backup - Allows users to do a backup of the current database, including any photographs, signatures and/or fingerprints. Edit Disabled Fields - Allows users to edit fields that have been setup in User Defined Fields as being disabled. To delete a user just select that users line in the grid and click on the Delete button. Logout after x minutes of inactivity in IDNow - This option allows you to enter the number of minutes of inactivity before the user will be automatically logged out of IDNow. If 0 is entered then this option is be inactive. If activated, then when the number of minutes entered has been reached due to the user not having any activity in IDNow a 30 second countdown timer will be displayed. The user may cancel the timer at that point. If not cancelled the current database will be closed and unless the database has been set to Auto Update in Setup Options any information not saved will be lost. The IDNow login screen will then be displayed. It is recommended that the figure entered be no less than 5 minutes. Note: This option is disabled when IDNow is performing any time consuming tasks such as printing. If this option is enabled all currently open databases will be closed when the inactivity time has been reached. Fingerprint Template Password - This option may be used if you are storing fingerprint templates in IDNow. If a password is entered here then whenever a user tries to overwrite or delete a fingerprint template they will be

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required to enter this password before the operation can continue. Maintain Audit Log of User Activity in IDNow - This option will keep a record of user activity in IDNow in the following areas. - New Card Detail entry - Change of Card Detail entry (recorded at a field level) - Delete Card Detail entry - Print an entry - Add/Change a photo - Delete a photo - Add/Change a signature - Delete a signature - Add/Change a fingerprint - Delete a fingerprint - Add/Change a fingerprint template - Delete a fingerprint template - Delete all Card Data Entries - User Log In - User Log Out - Delete the Audit Log - Login Fail - Invalid User - Login Fail - Invalid Password - User Add/Change - User Deleted - User Password Cleared - User Changed Password - IDNow Admin Login - Audit Log enabled - Audit Log disabled - Audit Log viewed - Audit Log printed - Add/Change a Layout - Delete a Layout - Database Search - Import Data - Export Data - Clear Print History - Import Layout The Date/Time, User, Operation, IDNow ID (if applicable), Old Data (if applicable), New Data (if applicable) and Computer are stored in the Audit Log. Admin users of IDNow will be able to view/print/delete the Audit Log From the Audit Log option under the Reports menu. Note: Enabling the Audit Log option will generate a large amount of audit information that is stored in the IDNow database. It is strongly recommended that this log be viewed/printed and then deleted to help conserver disk space.

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Passwords Expire Every xxx Days - This option is enabled by entering the number of days after which all passwords will expire. Entering 0 will disable this function. When first enabled all passwords may expire the next time users log in to IDNow. When a user logs in and their password is found to have expired they will be informed that their password has expired and will be presented with the Change Password screen where they must enter their Old and New Passwords. To save the security settings just click on the Save button. Note If a user is nominated as being an Admin user then none of the other options may be changed. Some options are mutually exclusive. If security is enabled the security options can only be modified by a user logged in as an Admin user. If you forget your Admin password then contact us with regards to gaining access to the security settings. Security can be removed by simply un-ticking the Use Security option, all user details will remain. Security and all user related details are on a per database basis. You may have multiple databases, some with and some without security. If you wish to import the security settings from another database then you can use the Import From Another Database button. Browse to the database which contains the setting you want and click on the OK button. The security settings for that database will be imported, appending any existing settings in the current database. You can then modify the settings to suit the current database. There is no check done with regards to duplicate users. Security settings can not be imported from an IDNow SQL Server database. The Microsoft Access 2000 database that is used for IDNow is also password protected. If you attempt to directly open the database in MS Access you will be required to enter a password. If you have not been previously been given the password please contact us with regard to obtaining it. IMPORTANT IDNow's security option is not intended to produce a secure system. Its intention is to prevent casual user misuse of the software by unauthorised staff. Security of computer systems is ultimately your responsibility. If security is of prime importance then it is strongly recommended that you use SQL Server 2000 for your IDNow database (appropriate licences must be purchased from Microsoft).

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Serial Number
The serial number screen is used to enter your IDNow serial number. This is printed on the IDNow CD sleeve or case. If you have been provided with a Professional version upgrade serial number enter that number. This screen will be shown whenever you start IDNow and the serial number has not been previously entered or if you click on the Enter Serial Number button on the Help/About screen. You may either enter the serial number and click on the OK button or you may click the Evaluate button and IDNow will start in evaluation mode and any cards printed will have the word SAMPLE across the front of them. Note If the serial number entered is found to be invalid IDNow will start in evaluation mode. If you have lost your original IDNow CD or for some reason do not have a serial number you will have to contact us to obtain a new number. Unless you are already registered with us this process may take a little while as we will need to verify that you do indeed own the software. You must have a separate license for each installation of IDNow, unless you are evaluating the software, or you will be in breech of your End User License Agreement.

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Registering IDNow
To register your version of IDNow you need to send an e-mail to support@kbsoft.com.au. You should include your name, company name, e-mail address and your IDNow serial number. All registered owners are notified by e-mail of product updates.

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Support
KB Software PO Box 585 Boronia 3155 Australia Telephone: 61 3 9762-2428 Fax: 61 3 9762-4768 E-mail: support@kbsoft.com.au Web site: www.kbsoft.com.au Registered users are entitled to free 12 months telephone and e-mail support as well as all program updates. Generally all program updates will be via our web site http://www.kbsoft.com.au in the IDNow support section. If we have an e-mail address on record for you we will send you an e-mail to let you know of new updates. If you do not have access to the Internet please contact us so we can make alternate arrangement for updates. All problems or any new features or suggestions you may have should be sent via e-mail to the above address.

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Upgrade To Professional/Photo Edition Version Of IDNow


If you have the 'Standard/Lite' version of IDNow a number of functions are disabled, such as SQL Server support, connection to an external database, security and data manipulation. Some advanced formatting features are only available in the Photo Edition version. If you have created an SQL Server database, a database with security enabled or using an external database with the Professional/Photo Edition version you will not be able to access that database with the Standard/Lite version. Some options set using the Photo Edition are not available if accessed with the Professional or Lite versions of IDNow. Refer to IDNow Versions for more information. If you would like to upgrade you version of IDNow to the professional or Photo Edition version you should either contact the dealer from whom you purchased the software or send an e-mail to idnow_upgrade@kbsoft.com.au for current pricing and payment options. Alternatively you can contact us at the numbers listed on the Support page.

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Canon Compact Digital Camera


The Canon Digital Camera Interface allows certain Canon digital still cameras to be used directly with IDNow to capture photographs. Cameras currently supported are: PowerShot A10, PowerShot A20, PowerShot A30, PowerShot A40, PowerShot A60, PowerShot A70, PowerShot A75, PowerShot A80, PowerShot A85, PowerShot A95 PowerShot A100, PowerShot A200, PowerShot A300, PowerShot A310, PowerShot A400 PowerShot S10, PowerShot S20, PowerShot S30, PowerShot S40, PowerShot S45, PowerShot S50, PowerShot S60, PowerShot S70 PowerShot S100, IXY DIGITAL, DIGITAL IXUS, PowerShot S110, IXY DIGITAL 200, DIGITAL IXUS v, PowerShot S200, IXY DIGITAL 200a, DIGITAL IXUS v2, PowerShot S230, IXY DIGITAL 320, DIGITAL IXUS v3, PowerShot S300, IXY DIGITAL 300, DIGITAL IXUS 300, PowerShot S330, IXY DIGITAL 300a, DIGITAL IXUS 330, PowerShot S400, IXY DIGITAL 400, DIGITAL IXUS 400, PowerShot SD100, IXY DIGITAL 30, DIGITAL IXUS II, PowerShot SD110, IXY DIGITAL 30a, DIGITAL IXUS IIs, PowerShot S410, IXY DIGITAL 450, DIGITAL IXUS 430, PowerShot S500, IXY DIGITAL 500, DIGITAL IXUS 500, PowerShot G1, PowerShot G2, PowerShot G3, PowerShot G5, PowerShot G6, PowerShot Pro90 IS, PowerShot S1 IS, PowerShot Pro1 The following cameras do NOT support remote capture and can not be connected directly to IDNow. PowerShot SD10, IXY DIGITAL L, DIGITAL IXUS i PowerShot SD20, IXY DIGITAL L2, DIGITAL IXUS I5 PowerShot SD200, IXY DIGITAL 40, DIGITAL IXUS 30 PowerShot SD300, IXY DIGITAL 50, DIGITAL IXUS 40 PowerShot SD400 PowerShot SD500 PowerShot A410

To use the Canon camera interface you must have installed the software that came with your camera and also installed the Canon camera update available from the IDNow website at http://www.kbsoft.com.au/idnow_download.htm, if not already installed. You should connect the camera to the computer and then place the camera in play back mode and turn it on before selecting this option.

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If any of the Canon software loads automatically you must close it before trying to connect to the camera with IDNow. NOTE: If you intend to take photographs for more than a few minutes then it is strongly recommended that you disable the power saving feature of the camera. Click on the Connect button. A screen will pop up from which you select the camera to connect to. Select the camera if it is not already selected and click on the OK button. If a successful connection is made to the camera then the current camera setting will be displayed in the Camera Settings section and the Capture button will be enabled. You may make changes to the camera settings by selection the various options from the dropdown lists. There is an option to resample the captured images to 640x480 pixels. This option may be handy if your camera produces large images and you wish to reduce the amount of positioning and zooming of the resultant image in IDNow. If you want to save the photograph at its original size then you should enable the Maintain Original Photo Size On Save option in Setup Options. There is also a View Finder option. This option will display on the screen what the camera is seeing. To enable this just click on the Start button. By default this option will be enabled if the camera supports it. NOTE: Not all cameras will operate with this option. If the View Finder Start button is not enabled then your camera does not support this. Also some cameras require that the View Finder be stopped at the time of capturing the photograph. If this is the case then the preview will be stopped when capturing and then restarted when the capture is complete. To capture a photograph just click on the Capture button or press the F8 key. You may also use the Capture button on the toolbar. The image will be transferred from the camera to the photograph frame of the current Card Detail. How long it takes for the camera to process the image and transfer it to IDNow will vary greatly. Typical times may be 3 -15 seconds depending on the Image Size/Quality setting selected. During this time you can not take any further images. The smaller the image and lower the quality the faster the camera will be. Pictures taken using this interface should not normally be saved to the camera's memory card but if this does happen you will have to delete them using the camera delete function. Refer to you camera manual for instructions on how to do this. When you have finished taking pictures just click on the Disconnect button and close the interface window. The Canon documentation contains the following warnings. (1) Cautions relating to USB connection Please do not place your computer into standby mode while the Canon digital camera is connected to its USB port. If the computer is placed into standby mode while the camera is connected to the USB port, do NOT disconnect the USB cable from the camera or computer. Try to revive the computer. Instead, restore the computer to normal operation mode with the cable still connected. Unplugging the cable with the computer in standby mode may cause some computers to not recover correctly from standby mode. For details on standby mode, refer to your computer's manual. (2) Cautions relating to communication between the interface and a Canon digital camera 171

When the SDK is running and is connected to a camera, the driver makes communications with the camera periodically. Do not operate the camera controls, remove the memory card or battery, disconnect the communication cable, or otherwise interfere with the communications. Such actions may cause misoperation on some PCs. Wait until the driver has shut down before doing such actions. Important Testing has shown with some cameras that the Canon supplied support files can become unstable if you repeatedly Connect and Disconnect from the camera. This can cause Windows to terminate IDNow. We will monitor this issue but unfortunately it is outside our control.

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Topaz Signature Tablet Settings


IDNow uses a number of default settings with these devices but these may be overridden by making some changes to a Configuration Settings file in the IDNow installation directory. The .INI file will have a name of <computer name>.INI It will most likely be the only .INI file in the directory. To open the file just double click on it in Windows Explorer. The following settings can be changed. ImageSizeX (Default is 370) ImageSizeY (Default is 120) PenWidth (Default is 40) DisplayWidth (Default is 12)

To make any changes you need to find the heading [Topaz] There may be up to 3 entries under this heading ImageSizeX=370 ImageSizeY=120 PenWidth=75 DisplayWidth=12 Change the value of the entry you wish to change and save the file. If the [Topaz] entry does not exist you can add the entries to the end of the file and save it. Eg. [Topaz] ImageSizeX=370 ImageSizeY=120 PenWidth=45 DisplayWidth=20 NOTE If you increase the image size it is recommended that you increase in it in multiples of 370 for the width (X) and 120 for the height (Y). You may also find it necessary to change the Default Capture Zoom Level for signature capture (Tools/Setup). If you double the image size (X and Y) then you should set the zoom level to 50%.

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Topaz IDGem Fingerprint Scanner


The Topaz IDGem fingerprint scanner interface allows you scan fingerprints and fingerprint templates directly into IDNow using the IDGem scanner. To use the scanner you must first click on the Open Sensor button. If a connection is made with the scanner the Capture button will be enabled. Both the Fingerprint Image and Fingerprint Template must be captured. By default the template will be saved as binary data. If you enable the Template String option then the template will be saved as a text string. Note: A template text string is approximately twice the size of the binary template. To capture a fingerprint image and template just click on the Capture button. The fingerprint image will be placed into theselected fingerprint frame (1 - 4) on the current Card Details. The fingerprint template this will first be verified and if successful a red message Template Verified will be displayed for 2 seconds. The template will then be transferred to the current Card Details and a red message will be displayed on the Card Details screen to indicate that there is a fingerprint template stored for that record. Fingerprint Template On File Fingerprint templates may be deleted by right-clicking on the Fingerprint Template On File message and selecting Delete Template. If the security settings (Professional version only) require a password to delete or modify a fingerprint template you will be required to enter this password before deleting or replacing a fingerprint template The fingerprint template may only be output to a smartcard or 2D barcode. The actual template is not displayed anywhere in IDNow for security reasons.

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ACS AET60 Fingerprint Scanner


The ACS AET60 fingerprint scanner interface allows you scan fingerprints and fingerprint templates directly into IDNow using the AET60 scanner. To use the scanner you must first click on the Open Sensor button. If a connection is made with the scanner the Capture button will be enabled. You must scan both the Fingerprint Image and Fingerprint Template. The option to select either has been removed. The finger being scanned must be selected from the dropdown list. Which finger R1, R2 etc relates to is up to you. To capture a fingerprint image and template just click on the Capture button. The fingerprint image will be placed into the selected fingerprint frame (1 - 4) on the current Card Details. The fingerprint template will first be verified and if successful a red message Template Verified will be displayed for 2 seconds. The template will then be transferred to the current Card Details and a red message will be displayed on the Card Details screen to indicate that there is a fingerprint template stored for that record. Fingerprint Template On File Fingerprint templates may be deleted by right-clicking on the Fingerprint Template On File message and selecting Delete Template. If the security settings (Professional version only) require a password to delete or modify a fingerprint template you will be required to enter this password before deleting or replacing a fingerprint template. The fingerprint template may only be output to a smartcard or 2D barcode. The actual template is not displayed anywhere in IDNow for security reasons.

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Windows Tablet Devices


Any Windows Tablet devices that are compliant with the 'Wintab' standard may be used to directly capture signatures into IDNow. An example of a compliant device is the Wacom Graphire tablets. To use a Windows Tablet device you must first select it as the form of capture for signatures on the Photo menu. A tick should appear next to Capture Signature From Windows Tablet Device. Selecting it again should remove the tick. IDNow will remember this setting for future use.

button on the Toolbar. To begin capturing signatures you should either press the F6 key or click on the The signature capture window should appear. It will remain on top until you close it. You will still have access to all IDNow functions and can navigate entries to insert signatures. At the top of the window is a dropdown list of installed Windows Tablet Devices. The first one should already be selected. If the list only contains [No devices available] then you tablet may not be connected or installed correctly. Windows will normally only allow one tablet device to be connected at a time. Click on the Connect button. If the Tablet connection is successful the button will change to Disconnect. There are 3 options available. Max Line Width - Sets the maximum width of a line drawn with the tablet. Default is 2. Granularity - Sets the granularity of the drawn lines. Default is 1. Antialias - If enabled may produce a slightly better quality line. This option may not be available on all versions of Windows. IDNow will remember the settings made here for future use. Most Tablet devices are pressure sensitive. The harder you press with the Stylus the heavier the line, up to the maximum set in Max Line Width. Tests should be done to see what settings best suit your device. When the Stylus is moved into proximity of the tablet a small circle should appear in the capture window. As the stylus is used to create the signature it should appear in the capture window. As the pressure on the stylus increases the circle will increase in diameter. If a mistake is made you can use the Clear button to clear the capture window. If your tablet has eraser ability this should also work although it is easier to use the Clear button. Once the signature is complete just click the Save button to place the signature in the current Card Detail signature panel. The capture window will be cleared ready for the next signature. Normal zoom/move functions may then use used if required. To close the Capture window just click on the Close button. Note: It is usually best if the signature is drawn on the tablet from center left to center right. Using the full width of the tablet should produce the best results. If the capture window has lost the focus (Title Bar dimmed and no longer the current active window) then you may need to click on it in order to capture more signatures. Most Tablets can also function as a mouse. Care should be taken, if the capture window does not have the input focus, to ensure that the use of the Stylus does not interfere with what you are doing in IDNow. DO NOT LAY THE STYLUS ON THE TABLET or you may find that the mouse pointer will jump all over the screen.

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If your Stylus has buttons on it these will have no effect when using the capture window.

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Student Slips (Photo Edition Only)


This option can be accessed from the Production menu. Student slips are primarily intended for school photographers and card bureaus when taking large numbers of photographs in a single session. The slips are a way of helping ensure that the correct photograph is allocated to each entry. It also helps ensure that no fraud takes place on the part of the students. It is assumed that all relevant details have already been entered/imported into an IDNow database and the photographs are yet to be taken. The student slips may be printed and given to the school for distribution to each student. It then becomes the schools responsibility to ensure each student has their correct slip. If a student does not have a slip at the time of taking the photograph then it can be brought to the schools attention for a remedy. Before each student's photograph is taken they present their slip and a barcode scanner, attached to the computer, is used to scan the barcode (IDNow ID) on the slip using the F12 Quick Search function. The relevant entry is displayed. The details can be checked and photograph taken. The following options are available for printing the slips. Slip Header Text - This optional text may be used to print your company name or some other text on the top of each slip. All (excluding 'Blanks') - This option will create slips for all entries in the database with the exception of any 'Blank' entries. Year and Home Group - This option may be used to restrict the entries printed to a particular year/home group. All Existing Blanks - This option may be used to print slips for any existing 'blanks' in the database. Create Blanks - This option may be used to create the entered number of 'blank' entries in the database. There is also the option to Print Blanks which will print slips for the 'blanks' just created. Note: Blank entries are primarily intended to make allowance for anyone whose details had not been previously entered into the database. Eg. New student. The blank is scanned and the details entered and a photograph taken. The flag that denotes it as a blank record is removed when the new entry is saved. Note: Blank records may be deleted using the Delete Blank Records option under the Production menu. No Existing Photograph - This option may be used to create slips for any entries that do not have a photograph associated with them. This may be useful if a follow photo session is organised to capture the photos of those students absent at the initial session. Only New Records Created After - This option may be used to only print slips for entries created after the entered date. Barcode Wide Bar Ratio - This is the ratio of the wide bar to the width of the narrow bar. The default is 2.2. Valid range is 2.0 to 3.0. The default value should be correct for most barcode scanners but may be varied if necessary. Dim X - Nominal dimension of the narrow bars. The default is 0.254. Valid range is 0.13 to 12.7. The

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default value should be correct for most barcode scanners but may be varied if necessary. Barcode Character Length - This field may be used to ensure that all barcodes are the same length if required. If the IDNow ID numbers range from 1 to 1000 then a 4 can be entered in this field which will place leading zeros in front of any number of less than 4 digits. Eg. 1 would have a barcode number of 0001. The F12 Quick Search function will strip off any leading zeros when the number is scanned. Note: The barcode output on each slip is a standard 3 of 9 barcode. First Name - This is the field that is used in the IDNow database to hold the first name of the student. This field is mandatory. Last Name - This is the field that is used in the IDNow database to hold the last or surname name of the student. This field is mandatory. Year - This is the field that used in the IDNow database to hold the year level of the student. This field is mandatory. Home Group - This is the field that used in the IDNow database to hold the Home Group/Class etc. of the student. This field is optional. D.O.B. - This is the field that used in the IDNow database to hold the Date of Birth of the student. This field is optional. Admin # - This is the field that used in the IDNow database to hold the schools administration number of the student. This field is optional. Library # - This is the field that used in the IDNow database to hold the Library of the student. This field is optional. Note: Optional fields will be printed on the slips if entered. Sort By Year/Last Name/First Name Only - By default the slips will be printed in Year/Homegroup/Last Name, First Name order. The sort may be done based only on Year/Last Name/First Name if this option is enabled. If the Home Group field has not been selected then this option is enabled by default. Format 1 & Format 2 - The slips may be produced in one of 2 formats currently available. Format 1 produces the slips with each slip taking up the full width of the page. 7 slips are output per page. Format 2 produces the slips 2 across and 3 down per page (6 slips). Do Not Collate - By default IDNow collates the slips in the following manner. The first slip is at position 1 on the page. The second slip in the sort order is at position 1 on page 2 and so on. This is so that when the slips are guillotined they are already in the correct order. If the Do Not Collate option is enabled then the slips will be positioned on the page one after the other based on the sort order and will not be in order when guillotined. Do Not Draw Slip Cut Lines - By default IDNow will draw the cut lines on the pages to facilitate cutting with a guillotine. If this option is enabled then no lines will be drawn. This may be useful if the pages used are pre perforated. Package names To Print On Slip - This option is only available for Format 2. The package names allows you to enter up to 8 short package names that will be printed on the slip. This allows the operator to circle the packages that will be produced for that student. The slips can then be later used to scan up the entry add the packages to be printed.

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To preview the slips as they will be printed just click on the Preview button. Note: All settings are saved for this form and recalled when next loaded.

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Backup Current IDNow Database


This option will backup the currently active IDNow database, along with any photographs, signatures and fingerprints, to your hard disk drive or to a removable disk drive. The archive will be in the zip format. The database will be closed for this operation. The database will first be compacted and then backed up to the location you select. When complete the database will be re-opened unless this function is being used as a result of the 'backup prompt' when closing the database. This function can not backup an SQL Server database if you are using that for your IDNow database. If you are linked to an external database this function can only backup the IDNow Access database that contains the linking information and any photographs, signatures and fingerprints not linked to the external database. The actual external database will not be backed up. All other users must have logged out of the database for this function to work correctly. The location to store the backup must be entered. The browse button may be used for this. The location entered will be the default for all future backups. The backup will contain the IDNow database and any photographs, signatures and/or fingerprints. All files found in the Photograph Path, Signature Path and Fingerprint Path are included. If these paths are blank then these will not be included. The backup file created is in the zip file format and will be given the file name IDNow_date/time.zip If a backup password has been entered in Setup Options the zip file will be encrypted based on the password entered. All files are backed up with the full path name so that they can be restored back to their original location if required. The backup may be viewed or extracted using utilities such as WinZip. If a password was used to encrypt the backup then it will be required to extract the files. Backups should be saved to suitable media, such as CD-R, and stored in a safe location. This ensures that the database may be restored to its original state should a system failure occur.

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Restore an IDNow Backup


This option may be used to restore an IDNow created backup. The backup will NOT be restored to its original location. There are a number of reasons for this including the possibility that the files may have originally been sourced from different drives or servers. The files are extracted from the archive to a nominated location and once restored the files need to copied manually to their original locations or to new locations. If the locations are different to the original ones you may need to change the image locations if they are not internal to the IDNow database. You must enter the full path of the backup that is to be restored in IDNow Backup to Restore. You can use the browse button to locate the backup. Restore files to separate folders - This option is enabled by default. When enabled this option places the backed up database into the folder nominated in Restore To. If there are any photographs they are restored to a Photos folder in the Restore To folder. Signatures are restored to a Sig folder and Fingerprints to a FP folder. If this option is not enabled all files will be placed in the Restore To folder. Restore To - This is the location to where the files will be restored. It should NOT be a folder that currently contains an IDNow database. The browse button may be used to locate the folder. If the folder does not exist it will be created when the files are restored. Backup Password - If the backup was created with a password then this password is required to restore the backup. If not entered you will be prompted for it should the backup archive be encrypted. To begin the Restore process just click on the Restore button. If any errors occur during the restore you will be informed.

NOTE: The restore function will overwrite files in the destination folder with the same names, if there are any.

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IDNow Visitor System (Professional version only)


The IDNow Visitor System option allows you to use the powerful IDNow card printing features to produce visitor badges on a label printer as well as track the which visitors have signed out. There are also options that allow you to view and print out a log of the people that have visited. The Visitor system will not work correctly with a 'standard' IDNow database. To create a new IDNow Visitor database just use the New IDNow Visitor Database option under the File menu. If you have enabled the SQL Server option in Setup you also have the option to create a New IDNow Visitor SQL Server Database. The Visitor System has a number of changes from the standard IDNow system. The fields displayed on the screen by default are 'locked' and can not be changed. This allows the system to know which fields are being used and allows the system to insert some default values to make entering new visitors as quick and easy as possible. You may add new fields to suit your requirements if needed. The normal Print History is used to display the Visitor History. 'In' entries are shown in red. 'Out' entries are shown in black. All setup options of the normal IDNow system apply to the Visitor System. There is a field in Setup which allows you to enter your location (Visitor System Location). Eg. RECEPTION. This field is used to tell the system where you are located, if you have multiple sign in/out locations. This field is mandatory, even if there is only one location, and may be different for various locations. The supplied layouts are formatted for a Dymo 330 LabelWriter Turbo label printer using the 30323 Shipping Labels which are 54 x 101mm in size. You may use any label printer that has a Windows driver. You will have to either modify or create new layouts if you use a different printer and/or label size. Whichever label size you decide to use you MUST make that the default label in the label printer driver setup. Refer to the printer user manual for instructions on how to do this. The label printer must also be selected as the Card/Label Printer in Printers (tools menu) By default the system has 3 visitor types. Visitor, Contractor and Temporary. You can change or add more types to the dropdown list options if you wish. The type 'Visitor' is the default for new entries. This type can not be changed or deleted from the dropdown list options. The system will automatically assign the type of layout to use based on the Default Layouts setup. The default system has 6 layout types. Visitor With Photo, Visitor No Photo, Contractor With Photo, Contractor No Photo, Temporary With Photo and Temporary No Photo. By default the system uses the Photo layouts but this may be changed if you do not intend taking the visitors photo. Any of these layouts may be modified to suit your requirements or you may create new layouts to suit your needs. Note: If your label printer is not capable of printing in grey scale or colour any photographs, coloured text or colour logos may not print correctly or at all. The Area dropdown list has 5 entries by default. All Areas, Area 1, Area 2, Area 3 and Area 4. The All Areas is the default and may not be changed or deleted from the dropdown list options. You may change or delete the other

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options as needed. If you do not wish to use the Area option it must remain on the Details screen but may be removed from the layout/s. Entering a new visitor is very simple. Just click the New button on the details screen. Enter the visitors First Name, Last Name and Company. The default Area is 'All Areas'. Select a different option if needed. The default Visitor Type is 'Visitor'. Select a different type if needed. If the Visitor Type is 'Visitor' the Expiry Date will be the current date, based on the computer clock. It is in the format yyyy-mm-dd. This is so it is easy to search based on expiry dates. If the Visitor Type is 'Visitor' then Whom Visiting should be entered. With the exception of Company, Whom Visiting and Expiry Date all fields are mandatory. The Layout used will automatically be assigned based on the Default Layouts setup when the entry is saved or printed. To Save and Print the entry just press the F9 key. The Time In is not set until the entry is printed. This allows for the entries to be entered in advance if you have a pre-defined number of visitors attending a conference etc. If you wish to have visitors Sign Out when they leave then all you need do when they return the badge is press the F12 key, Quick Search, and enter the ID number printed on the badge into the Criteria field and click the Search Button (the Quick Search field must be set to ID). Once the visitor entry is displayed on the screen just click on the blue Sign Out button. An 'Out' entry will be added to the Visitor History. Visitor entries may be re-used on subsequent visits so that a particular visitor's details need not be entered every time. Use the Find (F3) button on the details screen to find entries. If the Visitor Type Is 'Visitor' then changing the Whom Visiting field will put in a new expiry date of the current date. If you have printed a visitors badge and wish to print it again then the last "In" entry in the Visitor History will be replaced with the new entry. Other visitor options (Reports menu) are: Visitors Not Signed Out Visitor Log Contractor/Temp About To Expire

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Visitors Not Signed Out (Professional version only)


IDNow Visitor System Only The Visitors Not Signed Out option may be accessed from the reports menu. This option may be used to show those visitors which have not yet signed out. The default date is the current date. The displayed entries are displayed in Time In order but may be sorted in any order you wish by clicking on the column header. Clicking on the same header again will change the sort order from Ascending to Descending or vice versa. To Sign Out an entry just select the entry required and click on the Sign Out button. To Print the list just click on the Print button. The Go To button may be used to display the select entry details. The Refresh button may be used to refresh the displayed details if you are in a multi-user environment.

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Visitor Log (Professional version only)


IDNow Visitor System Only The Visitor Log option may be accessed from the reports menu. This option may be used to show visitor history for any date range. The default date range is the current date. The history may be restricted to a particular Visitor ID. The Find Button may be used to locate a particular visitor ID. The displayed entries are displayed in Time In/Out order but may be sorted in any order you wish by clicking on the column header. Clicking on the same header again will change the sort order from Ascending to Descending or vice versa. To sort entries in Visitor/Date/Time order just click on the ID header. To Print the list just click on the Print button. The Go To button may be used to display the select entry details. The Refresh button may be used to refresh the displayed details if you are in a multi-user environment.

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IDNow Version Features


Feature Database Support Multiple database support Network support Microsoft SQL Server 2000 as IDNow database Use an external database as a data source for IDNow Visitor system option Export database to new or existing IDNow database Compact database Backup database/images Security Setup individual user login and access options Auto logout after X minutes of inactivity Audit log option Password expiry option Card Details User defined field labels Proper case conversion at time of data entry Upper case conversion at time of data entry Special use fields Hide fields based on security settings Disable fields based on security settings Use drop down lists instead of data entry Validate fields as being mandatory Validate fields as being unique Print history Photograph can be associated with each entry Signature can be associated with each entry Fingerprints can be associated with each entry (4 max) Fingerprint templates can be saved (4 max) Any IDNow field may be used to associate images with entry Store images in IDNow database Disk images can be moved into IDNow database Images stored in IDNow database can be exported to disk Disk image batch conversion to suit IDNow sizing/format Disk image rename function Support for large format photographs including auto cropping without saving cropped image. Manual override of image zoom and cropping Image toolbox (zoom, crop, move etc). May be turned off. Lite X X Professional X X X X X X X X Photo Edition X X X X X X X X

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Manual adjustment of photograph colours Automatic adjustment of photograph colour levels Automatic adjustment of photograph contrast level Automatic rotation of photographs on load Auto save options Capture photographs from Canon compact digital cameras Automatic scan of photographs folder for new photographs and automatically insert into current IDNow entry Capture photographs & signatures from digital video cameras. Capture signatures from Topaz tablets and Windows tablets Capture fingerprints from Topaz & AET60 scanners Source photographs, signatures & fingerprints from disk files. Batch & automatic barcode/number generation options Data manipulation functions Text file import Text file export Access database import Photo Lineup display Tabular database display Sort on up to 3 IDNow fields Detailed search option Quick search option Card preview on card details screen (may be turned off) Export photographs in a new size and format with file names based on any IDNow fields. Card Layouts WYSIWYG Layout Designer Support for Text, Database, Counter, Barcode, Magnetic Stripe, Photograph, Signature, Fingerprint, Shape, Pictures, Issue & Expiry Date, PDF417 & Data Matrix 2D barcode objects. Support for background images Support for background colours Text & Database objects can use any available Windows font. Text & Database objects can have font colour and background colour set. Borders may be placed on all objects except pictures. Rounded corners optional. Border width & colour definable. Rotation of all objects Images, signatures & fingerprints (not photographs) may have a transparent background. Foreground colour of signatures may be altered at time of

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print. Colour photographs may be printed in grey scale Superimpose options for photographs, signature and fingerprints. Photographs may be cropped to size of frame defined Large photographs may be printed either cropped or full size Support for group photographs based on card details data Support for individual photographs based on group details Colour layout backgrounds Object alignment and placement options Select multiple objects 5 undo levels Layout assignment to card details Layout copy function Import layouts from other IDNow databases Layout assignment based on card details data Production/Printing Batch printing based on selection criteria Sort options for batch printing Report option for batch printing User definable delay between batch print jobs Membership/Loyalty cards Batch and single card printing to Avery ID Badge labels Batch printing with multiple cards/labels per sheet based on user defined templates. Single card printing based on user defined template. Used for printing to single labels. Multiple production printers with alternate option Print charge rates Payments option Receipt printer option Print to JPG file Edit print types Package options (multiple layouts per print) Print Preview option Support for high quality photograph printers Composite (thumbnail photographs) Multiple Layout/Packages printing setup Reports Database report Cards Printed report Cards Not Printed report Missing Data report Missing Photograph report

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Missing Signature report Missing Fingerprint report Cards About To Expire report Visitors Not Signed Out report (visitor version) Visitor Log (visitor version) Audit report (if enabled in security settings) Payments Report

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