From ScanSoft: "OmniPage 15, the latest version of the world's best selling OCR software, is the most precise way to convert paper and PDF files into your favorite PC applications quickly and cost-effectively. Powerful new OCR technology, advanced layout analysis and intuitive editing tools allow you to quickly turn paper and PDF files into more than 30 different editable electronic file formats that look just like the original - complete with text, tables and graphics. What's more, improved speed and efficient workflow capabilities combine to make document conversion faster and easier than you could imagine. Save time and money like never before with the world's most powerful document conversion application."
OCR software (what is OCR? optical character recognition!) has been around for more than 15 years now, and as mainly a software algorithm for recognizing and matching color and tonal patterns, it continues to improve each year. At the most basic level, OCR software looks at an image (whether it is the scanned image of a letter or sales receipt, or a PDF document which is essentially an image of a text document) and attempts to convert that image into a text document, like MS Word, Excel, PPT, or a .txt file. OmniPage, now in version 15, is generally regarded as the top software in the OCR and scanning marketplace. Accuracy is key, since the better the software correctly matches the text and layout of the scanned input, the less editing and correction is needed to be done by a human. The latest version of OmniPage is 25% more accurate that the prior, and up to 50% more accurate than competing solutions.
OmniPage Features
Another improved feature is Scanner Enhancement Technology tools: "Only ScanSoft gives you the power to correct and enhance scanned images, PDF files and faxes using SET - Scanner Enhancement Technology tools. Now you can use point-and-click SET tools to improve the quality of scanned documents, faxes and poor quality copies. De-skew, de-speckle, adjust color and more - all helping to increase the accuracy of your OCR processing and PDF indexing. Straightening, de-speckling and accurate color conversions ensure you get the results you demand and that you will never need to re-scan a document again!" They also updated legal and medical dictionaries to better match phrases and technical terms. With the proliferation of PDF (Adobe Acrobat files) files, has come the need to access the text inside these documents, which normally are not editable or copyable (you cannot select a section of text inside a PDF and copy it into another document, for example). Using OmniPage, you can dump the PDF file into it, and the output is a text file which is fully editable, copyable, etc. From their site: "PDF files have become the de-facto imaging file standard. Ideal for both archiving and file sharing, PDFs are image perfect representations of the original document. OmniPage 15 supports the creation of searchable PDF files from any paper or electronic document. OmniPage also allows you to turn PDF files (even image-only files) directly into your favorite editable document format. These collective PDF capabilities enable easy document editing, archiving and sharing to save valuable time and money."
What's the best OCR scanning software for converting PDF files?
Omnipage 15 is priced at $149, while OmniPage Pro is priced at $499 ($199 upgrade). Scansoft OmniPage continues to win awards in all the leading computer publications - PC Magazine, PC World, CNet. Fairly priced, this high-powered software is the only solution you need for your scanning, converting, and document archiving needs - highly recommended.
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