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Verify Module Guides
CORE MODULE

Enable OCR for Identity Verification

What you'll learn in this guide

‍How to switch on document scanning so the people you're verifying can capture their ID with a camera and have the details filled in for them, plus a plain-English rundown of what each setting in the OCR section controls.

Overview

Optical character recognition (OCR) lets someone photograph an identity document, like a driver licence or passport, and have Verify read the details straight off it. Instead of typing their name, document number, and dates by hand, those fields are captured from the image and pre-filled into the verification form.

It's a small change that makes a real difference. Capturing details from the document means fewer typos, fewer abandoned verifications, and a quicker, friendlier experience for the person on the other end, especially on a phone.

OCR is off until you turn it on, and it's managed in the Verify settings. Once it's enabled, the camera capture step appears as part of the verification flow without any further setup on your side.

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Most of the heavy lifting is already done
‍The connection details that point Verify at the scanning service, like the endpoint, the secure credential, and the storage account, are configured for you during onboarding. In day-to-day use you'll really only touch two settings: whether OCR is on, and whether document images are retained.

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Turn on OCR

  1. Click Verify in the primary navigation at the top of the screen.
  2. In the secondary navigation on the left, under Verify settings, click Edit settings.
  3. Scroll down to the OCR section.
  4. Find Enable OCR and click the edit icon (the pencil) beside its value.
  5. Set the value to true and save.

That's it. OCR is now active, and the camera capture step will appear for people working through a verification. To turn it off again, head back to the same setting and switch the value to false.

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What each OCR setting controls

The OCR section holds a handful of settings. Here's what each one does and whether it's something you'll touch.

Setting What it does
Enable OCR The master switch. Set it to true to turn OCR on, or false to turn it off. Everything else in this section only comes into play once this is on.
OCR Service Chooses which engine reads the documents. There are three options:
  • Azure – the live scanning service.
  • Mock – a stand-in for testing that doesn't perform real reads.
  • Disabled – switches the service off without changing your other settings.
OCR Endpoint The web address Verify sends document images to for processing. This is set up for you during onboarding, so you won't usually need to touch it.
OCR Credential keyvault key The secure key that lets Verify authenticate with the scanning service. Like the endpoint, it's configured behind the scenes and isn't something you'll change day to day.
Retain images Decides whether document images are kept after they've been processed. Set to true, images are stored for testing and audit purposes; set to false, they're not retained.
Storage container The named container where retained images are stored. Only relevant when Retain images is on.
Storage endpoint The storage account those retained images are saved to. Again, set up during onboarding and rarely changed.

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Think carefully before retaining images
‍Turning Retain images on means copies of people's identity documents are stored. That's useful for testing and audit, but identity documents are sensitive, so make sure retention is in line with your privacy obligations and only kept for as long as you actually need it.

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With OCR enabled, the people you verify get a faster, smoother experience, and the details that flow into each verification are more accurate from the start.

In this article

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