OCR

Ratings and Reviews of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and Document Management Software

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and Document Management Software

You have a good scanner, but now you need software that will REALLY put that scanner to work (the package that came with the scanner just

doesn't DO enough!). Look no further, the software reviewed on this page will probably deliver the functionality that you need to convert your scanned documents to text, forms, spreadsheets and more - as well as manage those documents after you've converted them from paper to digital format. But before you buy, or even try, some things to remember.

Scanner compatibility - before you purchase that OCR software, remember to make sure that your scanner is supported by the software.
Forms- If you have an existing paper form and want to "digitize" it for use on a web page or in email, make sure that the software you purchase supports forms and retains the "look and feel" of those forms. If the software doesn't explicitly state that it does that - don't buy!
Color - if color retention is important, make sure that the software you purchase supports that as well. You'll be shocked and unhappy if your color documents were to turn into "black and white" after digitization.
Output file types - Acrobat (PDF), Word (DOC), image (TIFF, GIF), make sure that after you've digitized your document that the software can send it smoothly to the application(s) that you will use to send or edit them from.
Your system - as always, anything that takes lots of processing (like digitizing images) will make significant demands on your system. Make sure it is up to the task.

Web Home Office Reports

Ready scan in all those paper documents and move into the "e" world? Let's go.

Some vendors offer more than one package in this category. We'll review them in table format within that vendor's detailed review.

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and Document Management Software Review

Document Management and OCR Software*

(Rankings - best, 5 symbols, worst, 1 symbol)

Company	Best For*	Simple Start-Up	Cost	Time Savings	Ease of Use	Works With	Support	Features	Overall Rating
ABBYY	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	ppp1/2	iiii1/2	%%%%+
ArcSoft	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY	ppp	iii1/2	%%%1/2
Corex	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY1/2	ppp1/2	iii1/2+	%%%1/2+
DEVON-technologies	ARP	¹¹¹	$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@	YYY	pppp	iiii	%%%1/2
I.R.I.S.	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	ppp	iiii	%%%1/2+
NewSoft	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY1/2	ppp1/2	iiii	%%%1/2+
Nuance (fomerly ScanSoft)	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY1/2	ppp1/2	iiii	%%%%

* A = Amateur, R = Rookie, P = Pro

ABBYY

Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹

The ABBYY software installs easily and is simple to use. One click is usually all it takes to get the job done (after you've set up the "batch" document support).

Cost - $$$

ABBYY product pricing is detailed in the table below.

Software	Price	O/S Supported	Overview	Features	Compatibility
FineReader Pro 8.0	$399.99 $179.99 upgrade	Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003	Document Management and OCR Software	Layout retention to retain "look and feel" of original - wrap-around text, vertical text, columns, tables, non-rectangular pictures and varying fonts Wizards and included tutorial Batch document support Spell-check system Multilingual document recognition - 177 languages, spell checking in 34 Wide range of image import formats supported English and German legal and medical dictionaries One button OCR from Microsoft Word Morphology search Duplex scanning Bar code recognition Digital camera OCR PDF security settings and encryption support (40-bit, 128-bit, AES) Captures PDF document properties defined by author - title, subject, author, keywords PDF output in tagged PDF format Links in PDF files Automation Manager - perform multiple steps of document or PDF conversion with single mouse click Fast mode recognition Recognition and re-creation of hyperlinks Screenshot reader application Crop, straighten text lines options Select color depth for pictures	TWAIN compliant scanner PDF input and output, HTML support Integration with Microsoft Office and Word Perfect XML output Microsoft Reader e-book .LIT
FineReader Corporate 8.0	$599.99 $499.99 upgrade, 3 licenses $1,799.97	Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003	Document Management and OCR Software	Layout retention to retain "look and feel" of original - wrap-around text, vertical text, columns, tables, non-rectangular pictures and varying fonts Wizards and included tutorial Batch document support Spell-check system Multilingual document recognition - 177 languages Wide range of image import formats supported Network installation Supports networked peripherals Distributed document processing Full text search and indexing Image splitting tools Barcode recognition and export Form Filling application English and German legal and medical dictionaries One button OCR from Microsoft Word Morphology search Duplex scanning support Digital camera OCR PDF security settings and encryption support (40-bit, 128-bit, AES) Captures PDF document properties defined by author - title, subject, author, keywords PDF output in tagged PDF format Links in PDF files Automation Manager - perform multiple steps of document or PDF conversion with single mouse click Fast mode recognition Recognition and re-creation of hyperlinks Screenshot reader application Crop, straighten text lines options Select color depth for pictures	TWAIN compliant scanner PDF input and output (6 options), HTML support Integration with Microsoft Office and Word Perfect ODMA (Open Document Management Access) support XML output Microsoft Reader e-book .LIT
Recognition Server	$10,000.00	Windows Server 2003, XP, 2000	OCR and Workflow Software	Input - document input folders - shared or FTP, workflow scheduling and watch folders, workflow priority, image input format including BMP, PCX, TIF, PDF, support for subfolders Output - pre-defined processing scenarios including full page document conversion, full-text indexing, invoice archiving, extract barcodes only, includes recognition of normal text, typewriter, dot-matrix, OCR-A, OCR-B and MICR, reads 189 languages, includes FineReader XIX, PDF conversion, barcode recognition, multiple document input/output formats including PDF, XML, RTF in single pass, speed control processing and image pre-processing, load balancing Error Handling - set threshold of quality, job cancellation processing recovery, exception folder Administration Features - Microsoft Management Console-based administration module, define processing profiles, job priorities, quality control threshold, processing statistics, logs and notifications, queue management, data transmission ability, compatibility of versions Application Integration - COM-based API, XML ticket support, metadata transferring OCR main languages - Armenian (Eastern, Grabar, Western), Bashkir, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Dutch (Belgian), English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, German (new spelling), Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian (Bokmal), Norwegian Nynorsk), Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tatar, Turkish, Ukrainian Languages with Latin, Cyrillic or Greek characters - Abkhaz, Adyghe, Afrikaans, Agui, Albanian, Altai, Avar, Aymara, Azerbaijani (Cyrillic), Azerbaijani (Latin), Basque, Belarusian, Bemba, Blackfoot, Breton, Bugotu, Buryat, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chechen, Chuckchee, Chuvash, Corsican, Crimean Tatar, Crow, Dargwa, Dungan, Eskimo (Cyrillic), Eskimo (Latin), Even, Evenki, Faroese, Fijian, Frisian, Fruilian, Gagauz, Galician, Ganda, German (Luxembourg), Guarani, Hani, Hausa, Hawaiian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Ingush, Irish, Jingpo, Kabardian,Kalmyk, Karachay-balkar, Karakalpak, Kasub, Kawa, Kazakh, Khakass, Khanty, Kikuyu, Kirghiz, Kongo, Koryak, Kpelle, Kumyk, Kurdish, Lak, Latin, Lezgi, Luba, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay (Malaysian), Malinke, Maltese, Mansi, Maori, Mari, Maya, Miao, Minangkabau, Mohawk, Moldavian, Mongol, Mordvin, Nahuati, Nenets, Nivkh, Nogay, Nyanja, Ojibway, Ossetian, Papiamento, Provencal, Quechua, Rhaeto-Romanic, Romany, Rundi, Russian (Old Spelling), Rwandia, Sami (Lappish), Samoan, Scottish Gaelic, Selkup, Serbian (Cyrillic), Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sioux (Dakota), Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Sunda, Swahili, Swazi, Tabasran, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tajik, Tok Pisin, Tongan, Tswana, Tun, Turkmen, Tuvinian, Udmurt, Uigur (Cyrillic), Uigur (Latin), Uzbek (Cyrillic), Uzbek (Latin), Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yakut, Zapotec, Zulu 5 languages for recognition of old European document and books - English, French, German, Italian, Spanish 4 artificial languages - Esperanto, Interlingua, Ido, Occidental 6 programming languages - Basic, C/C++, COBOL Fortran, JAVA, Pascal Chemical formulas Digits	Barcode Types - 1: Check Code 39, Check Interleaved 25, Code 128, Code 39, EAN 13, EAN 8, Interleaved 25, CODABAR (without checksum), UCC Code 128, Code 2 of 5 (industrial, IATA, Matrix), Code 93, UPC-A, UPC-E, Postnet; 2d: PDF 417 Input: BMP, PCX, DCX, JPEG, JPEG 2000, PNG, TIFF, PDF Saving: DOC, RTF, XML, PDF, HTML, PPT, CSV, TXT, XLS, DBF
PDF Transformer	$49.99	Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP	Transform PDF Documents to Word or Excel	Open PDF files form Word and Excel One-click transformation from PDF to Microsoft Word, Excel, HTML and TXT Integration with Microsoft Outlook Preserves document formats PDF security compliant Convert entire PDF file or relevant pages
ScanTo Office	$49.99	Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP	Convert Scanned Documents to Word, Excel, Outlook or Explorer	One click document conversion Scan and send as email attachment Wizard Retains look and feel of original documents Support for 37 languages Automatic book scanning	Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Explorer
FormReader 6.5 Desktop Edition, Corporate and Developer Editions available as well	Contact Vendor - licensing based on pages per month of page count	Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000	Form Reading Software	Auto document feed and manual input Page orientation detection Image pre-processing, de-skewing and "noise" cleaning Compensation of linear distortions using "cornerstones" Built-in template designer Template auto-identification Reference elements - black squares, text, lines, images Hand-print, machine print and mixed text support Mark sense (OMR) - check boxes, radio groups, any type of mark Bar code recognition - EAN13, EAN8, Check Code 3, Check Interleaved 25, Code 39, Code 128 18 languages for hand-print recognition - English, German, French, Italian, Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Czech, Slovak, Lithuanian, Spanish, Dutch, Finnish, Romanian, Turkish, Croatian and Hungarian, Latvian Bordered text - framed, text over comb, underlined Multi-line text Field position detection Hand writing style support - European, American, Russian, Japanese, Thai Scan and read/open and read modes Background recognition Interpretation of checkboxes marked by mistake Standard validation and automation rules Spell check Contextual checking Pre-defined data types - names, addresses, etc. User-defined data types Checks against database Context and group verification and in-form data validation Multi-page documents support One-page VB script rules	TWAIN, ODBC, XML, TXT, CSV, DBF, XLS, JPG, TIFF, PCX, DCX, PNG, BMP, PDF
FlexiCapture Studio 1.5	Contact Vendor	Windows NT 4.0, 2000, XP	Captures Forms that are Semi-Structured and/or Flexible	Visualization environment for creation editing and testing of form capture Blocks and elements are highlighted in different colors depending up type and status, can be shown/hidden Tree view for viewing and editing hypotheses, blocks, elements and their properties Customizable program windows Pre-recognition detects text, separators, barcodes, pictures Supports 177 languages and 8 bar code types - EAN13, EAN8, Check Code 3, Check Interleaved 25, Code 39, Code 128, IATA-25, Code 39 FlexiLayouts describe form structure in a formal language at two levels - element and block Data from blocks can be exported into Form Reader or Fine Reader - text, barcodes, checkmarks, pictures Available elements include - simple elements (static text, separator, white gap, barcode, character string, text fragment, object collection, date), compound elements (simple elements joined by AND) Element properties specified by type of element Objects on form can be detected using coordinate constraints or using expressions that describe mutual location of elements FlexiLayout language can be used to set properties of elements and blocks and to control how objects corresponding to the elements are detected Relationships between elements can be described so that the program can detect the objects corresponding to the elements on the form Location blocks can be specified by linking blocks to their corresponding elements or by using FlexiLayout language Hypotheses based on aggregates of elements Hypotheses ranked by quality Concept of null hypotheses - some objects can be specified as optional - if not found, the program will assume null hypothesis (no object on form) Hypotheses arranged in tree structure Hypotheses grouped in clusters and displayed depending on types of elements and search results Can be tested to check that all form objects are detected on all forms Results obtained by matching a form and its FlexiLayout can be compared to a reference layout (manually created by specifying the locations of blocks and elements on an actual form) Results obtained by matching a form and its FlexiLayout can be saved and used as reference layout New forms can be added so that the FlexiLayout can be tested on variations of a form of a particular type Protected by hardware or software protection key Tables support Open pages in PDF format Pre-selection of mixed-language combinations Phone and currency elements	TIFF, JPEG, PCX, DCX, PNG, BMP Export to FormReader and FineReader Engine as *.afl files
FlexiCapture Custom Module for Ascent Capture	$9,500.00	Windows	OCR Software	Semi-structured forms processing ABBYY recognition technology Automated data validation Verification 177 OCR languages, 18 ICR languages Template editor for paper forms Enhanced OMR Form Designer for creation of machine-readable forms Capture of structure and semi-structural forms, multipage documents including documents with arbitrary page order Integration with Ascent Capture English and Russian interface languages Software or hardware protection key Recognition of checkmarks Recognition of barcodes - EAN 13, EAN 8, Check Code 3, Check Interleaved 25, Code 39, Code 128, IATA -25 Interpretation of characters on the base of the IPA principles In-build template designer FlexiCapture Studio for creating a FlexiLayout Automatic identification and matching standard templates or FlexiLayouts Support of reference blocks Recognition of text in boxes and frames underlined and text over a "comb" Recognition of multi-lined text Recognition of hand-print styles: European, American, Russian, Japanese, Thai Automatic validation of recognized data Validation by using regional dictionaries Three verification modes - group, context, in-form XML file export to Ascent Capture
FineReader OCR Module for Captiva InputAccel	Not Available	Windows	OCR Software	Image manipulation and pre-processing - despeckling and deskewing, image modification including rotating, inverting, automatic dual page splitting, coverting color and gray images into black and white, automatic page orientation detection Document analysis and recognition - automatic page layout analysis, full-text layout retention, vertical text recognition and recognition of pictures embedded in table cells, 177 languages, 34 with dictionary support, 6 programming languages, 4 artificial languages, multilingual document recognition, fast mode recognition, document analysis for invoices, fast extraction of 1D barcodes (15 types), 2D barcode (PDF 417), recognition of subscript characters and simple chemical formulas, full-text and background color retention PDF conversion options - 4 modes - text under the page image, text over the page image, text and pictures only, image only, retains text and background colors, replace uncertainly recognized characters with their images, offer option to reduce PDF size, multiple language support HTML conversion options - various levels of format retention, retains page layout to the extent permitted by HTML, text and background color detection and retention RTF conversion options - various levels of text format retention, retains picture, ability to reduce resolution and quality, retains line breaks, page breaks, text color, removes optional hyphens, sets the paper size XML conversion options - write image information, character position and detailed character information, supports Microsoft Word XML-scheme and Native FineReader XML-scheme	PDF, XML, HTML, RTF, Plain Text

Time Savings - ¹¹¹¹

Turning paper into electronic documents can only make things go "faster" and make you more productive!

Ease of Use - @@@@

ABBY has done a fine job making their software "easy" to use with wizards and an "onboard" tutorial. Optical Character Recognition program

Works With - YYYY

FineReader Pro is designed for both Windows and Macintosh environments, FineReader Corporate for Windows only.

Support - ppp1/2

ABBYY is a Russian company (the first Microsoft "Gold" partner from that country). They offer a FAQ and U.S.-based email and telephone support (no "800" number, you'll pay long distance charges where they apply).

Features - iiii1/2

Big differentiator is language support. If you do international business and require that capability - this is definitely the software for you! Additionally, in the Corporate edition we love the form filling capability as well as text search and indexing. ABBYY also offers "high end" solutions for businesses that must capture data from paper forms in large quantities. FlexiCapture Studio provides a way to automate form capture - even when they are not always "the same" and supports 177 languages and 8 bar code schemes.

Overall Rating - %%%%+

ABBY's packages are very strong contenders. As noted above, their packages are especially effective for those of you who require OCR support in more than one language. Additionally, they've done a nice job integrating with Microsoft Office applications and have made their software as easy to use as any of the competition.

ArcSoft

Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹

ArcSoft's Scan n Stitch and Scan n Stitch Deluxe are simple to install and set up for use on your system.

Cost - $$$$

Scan n Stitch is priced at $19.99, Scan n Stitch Deluxe at $39.99.

Software	Price	O/S Supported	Overview	Features	Compatibility
*Scan n Stitch*	$19.99	Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP	OCR Stitching Software	Page size support - legal size document (8.5x14")m A3 size document (297x420mm), Magazine spread (11x17") Step-by-step illustrated scanning instructions Seamless stitch results Support for all flatbed scanners Pan and zoom preview tools Load pre-scanned files Scan directly into application Save as image file	JPG, BMP, TIF
*Scan n Stitch Deluxe Edition*	$39.99, upgrade to deluxe from Standard $19.99	Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP	OCR Stitching Software	Page size support - legal size document (8.5x14")m A3 size document (297x420mm), Magazine spread (11x17"), long brochure (8.5x22"), scrapbook page (12x12"), kids art (12x18"), newspaper page (12.5x22.5"), maps and posters (18x36"), other large format pages Step-by-step illustrated scanning instructions Auto enhance tool Crop tool Straighten page tool Seamless stitch results Support for all flatbed scanners Pan and zoom preview tools Load pre-scanned files Scan directly into application Save as image file	JPG, BMP, TIF

Time Savings - ¹¹¹¹

If you've ever wanted to scan a big document and keep it as a single document on your standard size flatbed scanner, you know how much time this software can save you.

Ease of Use - @@@@

Just 3 or 4 steps to scan in oversize documents - simple to use.

Works With - YYY

Scan n Stitch is designed for the Windows environment.

Support - ppp

ArcSoft has an extensive knowledge base available for support. You can also email them and get answers to your questions, however, you'll have to wait your turn for a reply.

Features - iii1/2

Simple programs that offer a very needed function. The Deluxe version includes crop, straighten page and auto enhance tools as well as more page format support.

Overall Rating - %%%1/2

If you need to scan larger size documents from time to time and don't want to "spring" for a larger flat bed scanner - worth the $19.99 or $39.99 for the Deluxe Edition.

Corex

Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹

The Corex CardScan products are easy to install and use.

Cost - $$$$

Pricing for Corex products is detailed in the table below.

Software	Price	O/S Supported	Overview	Features	Compatibility
CardScan Team Software	$149.99	Windows 2000, XP	Business Card Scanning Software	Scan and synchronize business card text and images with Microsoft Outlook, ACT!, GoldMine, Lotus Notes Reads and sorts business card information from other countries including Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Germany, France, Mexico, Sweden and the United Kingdom Scans both sides of cards Organize contacts by category Email directly from CardScan address book Date and time stamp Search and sort by custom criteria Email multiple contacts at once Identifies exact, compatible and conflicting duplicates Export to iPod Detect and display an icon for DYMO LabelWriter Mapping options - MapQuest.com, Google Maps, Ask.com maps, Expedia.com, MultiMap.com Designate a CardScan file as an Outlook Address book List view Auto-detect duplicates Scan a new card into an existing record	TWAIN Microsoft Outlook, ACT!, GoldMine, Lotus Notes
CardScan Executive	$259.99, 2 user license $329.99, 5 user license $579.99, two scanners plus 5 user license $679.99	Windows 2000, XP	Business Card Scanner and Software	3-4 second color scan speed, 1.5 second monochrome scan speed USB Export to iPod Detect and display an icon for DYMO LabelWriter Mapping options - MapQuest.com, Google Maps, Ask.com maps, Expedia.com, MultiMap.com Designate a CardScan file as an Outlook Address book List view Auto-detect duplicates Scan a new card into an existing record	Outlook Outlook Express, ACT!, Notes, GoldMine, Palm Desktop, Palm handhelds, smart phones, Pocket PCs
CardScan Personal	$159.99	Windows 2000, XP	Business Card Scanner and Software	4-5 second monochrome scan speed USB Export to iPod Detect and display an icon for DYMO LabelWriter Mapping options - MapQuest.com, Google Maps, Ask.com maps, Expedia.com, MultiMap.com Designate a CardScan file as an Outlook Address book List view Auto-detect duplicates Scan a new card into an existing record	Outlook, Outlook Express, Palm Desktop, Palm handhelds, smart phones, Pocket PCs
CardScan Team	$399.99	Windows 2000, XP	Business Card Scanner and Software	4-5 second monochrome scan speed USB Export to iPod Detect and display an icon for DYMO LabelWriter Mapping options - MapQuest.com, Google Maps, Ask.com maps, Expedia.com, MultiMap.com Designate a CardScan file as an Outlook Address book List view Auto-detect duplicates Scan a new card into an existing record Includes CardScan At Your Service - onlinebackup	Outlook, Outlook Express, Palm Desktop, Palm handhelds, smart phones, Pocket PCs ACT!, Lotus Notes, GoldMine
CardScan Lead Qualifier	$549.00	Windows	Business Card Scanner and Lead Database	Captures business card data Converts information to functional database Preprinted forms track key data Sort and prioritize leads One click email, one click MapQuest access Backup and access data from a browser anytime and anywhere using CardScan private web site Includes CardScan Executive scanner, Lead Qualifier software, carrying case, four 50 packs of lead qualifying forms, three scanner cleaner cards
CardScan for Microsoft CRM	Single User $499.00, Workgroup Pack $749.00, Productivity Pack (10 card scanners, 10 licenses) $2,890.00	Windows	Business Card Scanner and Software Interface to Microsoft CRM	Capture business card information directly into Microsoft CRM Automatically parses and assigns the data to its proper fields and transfers that information into Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 system
CardScan for SalesLogix	Single User $499.00, Workgroup Pack $749.00, Productivity Pack $2,890.00	Windows	Business Card Scanner and Software Interface to SalesLogix	Capture business card information directly into SalesLogix Automatically parses and assigns the data to its proper fields and transfers that information into SalesLogix system
CardScan for Salesforce.com	Single User $499.00, Workgroup Pack $749.00, Productivity Pack $2,890.00	Windows	Business Card Scanner and Software Interface to Salesforce .com	Capture business card information directly into salesforce.com Automatically parses and assigns the data to its proper fields and transfers that information into salesforce.com system
CardScan for ACT! Premium	Software only $24.900, Single User $499.00, Workgroup Pack $749.00, Productivity Pack $2,890.00	Windows	Business Card Scanner and Software Interface to ACT! Premium	Capture business card information directly into ACT! Premium Automatically parses and assigns the data to its proper fields and transfers that information into ACT! Premium system
CardScan for GoldMine Corporate Edition	Software only $24.900, Single User $499.00, Workgroup Pack $749.00, Productivity Pack $2,890.00	Windows	Business Card Scanner and Software Interface to GoldMine Corporate Edition	Capture business card information directly into GoldMine Corporate Edition Automatically parses and assigns the data to its proper fields and transfers that information into GoldMine Corporate Edition

Time Savings - ¹¹¹¹

We use the CardScan system (their small business card scanner and the CardScan software), and after a trade show where we've collected tens of cards, scanning is a HUGE improvement over typing!

Ease of Use - @@@@

The CardScan software is very simple to use.

Works With - YYY1/2

CardScan software is designed for the Windows environment only but can "synch" with Pocket PC, Palm and Smartphone OS devices.

Support - ppp1/2

The tech support area on the Corex web site includes a searchable knowledge base. If you need more help, they have both email and phone support (no "800" number, you'll pay long distance charges where they apply) that is available Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 6 PM Eastern time.

Features - iii1/2+

CardScan does what it does, scans business cards and pops them into your address book (and that is a GREAT thing by the way). CardScan also makes "plug-ins" for a number of CRM, contact management and sales force automation software systems as well.

Overall Rating - %%%1/2+

This is very good software for what it does. If you get tons of business cards and just HATE typing in all the information all the time, CardScan software, services and business card scanners (complete scanner/software solutions are available from Corex at $159.99 to $399.99) are great products for you.

DEVONtechnologies

DEVONtechnologies DEVONthink Professional and Personal are very straight forward to download and install on your Macintosh.

Cost - $$$$

DEVONtechnologies product pricing is outlined in the table below.

Software	Price	O/S Supported	Overview	Features	Compatibility
*DEVONthink Personal*	$39.95	Macintosh OS X 10.3.9 or later	Document Management Software	Views - list, icons, columns, horizontal split, vertical split, separate document windows, full screen mode Advanced search Automatic classification File indexing History Groups Panel Keywords Log Plug-in architecture for import export (export to iPod, export as web site) Summarize text	Plain and simple text, RTF RTFD, text clippings, HTML and XML, up to 10,000 images, up to 10,000 PDF and PostScript files, multimedia files, CSV TSV files as plain text, vCards as plain text, links, AppleScripts, BibTeX files as plain text, iChat Yahoo Messenger logs, Microsoft Word
*DEVONthink Professional*	$79.95	Macintosh OS X 10.3.9 or later	Document Management Software	Views - list, icons, columns, horizontal split, vertical split, three panes, separate document windows, full screen mode Advanced search AppleScript support (script menu with more than 80 useful scripts, triggered scripts) Automatic classification Automatic grouping Automator actions Concordance Download manager site sucker File indexing History Groups Panel Keywords Log Multiple databases Offline archiving Plug-in architecture for import export (, import address book, export to iPod, export as web site) RSS RDF Atom news feed display Summarize text Support for read-only volumes	Plain and simple text, RTF RTFD, text clippings, HTML and XML, unlimited images, unlimited PDF and PostScript files, multimedia files, CSV TSV files, OPML, vCards, links, AppleScripts, BibTeX files, iChat Yahoo Messenger logs, iData 2 Import, Microsoft Word, Omni Outliner Export

Time Savings - ¹¹¹¹1/2

DEVONthink products can help you organize all the information on your Macintosh - and make it much easier to locate when compared to using Finder.

Ease of Use - @@@@

DEVONtechnologies' DEVONthink products are straight forward to use.

Works With - YYY

DEVONtechnologies software is designed for the Macintosh environment.

Support - ppp1/2

The DEVONtechnologies web site includes documentation downloads, FAQ's and a user forum where you can ask other uses for help or find new ways to use your software. If you need more help, you can contact DEVONtechnologies support personnel via email or phone (Germany - hope you have a VoIP service!) 9:00 to 18:00 Central European Time. If you don't have VoIP you can try to contact their U.S. office in Idaho.

Features - iiii+

If you're always wondering where that web page you downloaded to save for later use disappeared to on your Macintosh, DEVONtechnologies' DEVONthink software will be a real life saver. Depending on the version you choose, DEVONthink stores your documents in one or more databases to allow you to view, edit and manage large numbers of documents quickly and easily. You can also automate repetitive file tasks using AppleScript or mix live web content with stored documents in a flash.

Overall Rating - %%%%+

Very slick software for Macintosh users who consistently need fast and easy access to documents. We also like the "site sucker" capability in the "professional" version.

I.R.I.S.

Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹

I.R.I.S. software is easy to install and begin using.

Cost - $$$1/2

I.R.I.S. product pricing is detailed in the table below.

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OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and Document Management Software

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and Document Management Software Review