OCR software for Windows XP

[Mike Christie]

Any thoughts for good OCR software for Windows XP? I'm using Windows
XP Pro SP 2 with an HP Scanjet 4070.

I am a long-time Omnipage user, but that product seems to keep going
downhill. I was using v 12, but that version was very awkward when it
came to scanning and saving multiple pages. (I'm sure v 10 was
better.) So I upgraded to v 14 for that reason and because it's been
out for a while and I like to be on the latest version where possible.

Well, v 14 doesn't see my scanner, and when I run Scanner Wizard I get
the infamous "this program has encountered a problem and must close"
message. Tried multiple uninstall/reinstalls and attempted to install
v 14 service packs, but got an error message there as well.
Surprisingly, Scansoft support told me that they don't officially
support XP SP 2 (hard to believe! are they another struggling software
company short on development resources??), but were very nice in
trying to help me solve the problem, but to no avail.

So what other product might I try? Or should I just revert to OP 12?

Thanks much,


Mike Christie
mike [at] csquared [dot] com

 

[Hecate]

Any thoughts for good OCR software for Windows XP? I'm using Windows
XP Pro SP 2 with an HP Scanjet 4070.

I am a long-time Omnipage user, but that product seems to keep going
downhill. I was using v 12, but that version was very awkward when it
came to scanning and saving multiple pages. (I'm sure v 10 was
better.) So I upgraded to v 14 for that reason and because it's been
out for a while and I like to be on the latest version where possible.

Well, v 14 doesn't see my scanner, and when I run Scanner Wizard I get
the infamous "this program has encountered a problem and must close"
message. Tried multiple uninstall/reinstalls and attempted to install
v 14 service packs, but got an error message there as well.
Surprisingly, Scansoft support told me that they don't officially
support XP SP 2 (hard to believe! are they another struggling software
company short on development resources??), but were very nice in
trying to help me solve the problem, but to no avail.

So what other product might I try? Or should I just revert to OP 12?

We used OP from versions 8-11 but got really fed up with it, and, on
recommendation, tried out Abbyy FineReader instead (www.abbyy.com).
This software is, IMHO, more accurate, nicer to use and costs less
overall. Plus, we have currently found no bugs in the latest release.
All in all it makes for a good experience, and we can't say more as
satisfied users.

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...

 

[Martin K. R.]

So what other product might I try? Or should I just revert to OP 12?

I have used Abbyy FineReader with good results. Nothing more complicated
than multi-column, multi-lingual pages with pictures though, but for that
purpose it was easy to use and very accurate.

Martin

 

[Daniel]

If you have MS Office XP or later it has an excellent OCR facility.

Daniel

 

[SteveB]

Abbyy Fine Reader 7.0 is very good, it seems to cope well with layouts.
Older versions aren't so good at the layout accuracy though, ver 5.0 which
is included with some scanners is pretty useless. I've just read a glowing
review of Iris ReadIris Pro 10.

 

[Hecate]

Abbyy Fine Reader 7.0 is very good, it seems to cope well with layouts.
Older versions aren't so good at the layout accuracy though, ver 5.0 which
is included with some scanners is pretty useless. I've just read a glowing
review of Iris ReadIris Pro 10.

Abbyy 7 is really good. We also tried Iris and found it as much use as
a chocolate teapot.

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...