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RJ Emery · 11-02-2006, 07:12 AM

I am running W98 on old but reliable hardware. I have a multifunction Brother 8840D printer/scanner/fax machine, whose scanner and accompanying OCR software (PaperPort SE by ScanSoft) is adequate for the occasional project.

However, I find myself scanning more and more professional papers for which the OCR program makes too many errors [misses punctuation, interprets pairs of characters as a single character (e.g., rn as m), one's as ell's or vice-versa, misinterprets footnotes, super and subscripts, fractions, etc.].

I would like to know if there is better OCR software available, one that might be able to handle technical documents with equations and formulae. An Adobe Acrobat interface would also be advantageous. The OCR output is presently exported to WordPerfect 8, which is a must.

I hope one day soon to acquire a new computer running either XP or Vista, with a higher resolution flat-bed scanner, but that is not possible at present.

terrie · 11-02-2006, 12:07 PM

Did a google search ("ocr software") since I couldn't remember the name of the ocr software I had read about and found the following:

TextBridge which isn't too pricey at $79.99 and runs on win98

Presto OCR 4 which is $99.95 and also runs on win98

I've not used either--been eons since I did any OCR'ing...

Hope that helps...

Terrie

bmann · 11-02-2006, 05:05 PM

I've used PaperPort's OCR and thought it was horrible. I assumed quality OCR was something that would never be really achievable. But my company bought Abbyy Fine Reader 8.0 and I was quite impressed (better be, for the money). If you want to send me a test document I can give it a try for you.

dthomsen8 · 11-03-2006, 04:04 AM

I have TextBridge, and it works very well for me.

I would also say that flatbed scanners have come down in price greatly. My HP ScanJet gives me good service, as a scanner to images, with the TextBridge OCR, and as a copier to my HP 4 Plus laser printer or my HP color printer. If you get a better scanner, you can use it with new hardware when you get it.

Molly/CA · 11-04-2006, 04:48 PM

I've used Presto! for a long time, tried a couple other OCR programs briefly. My version of Presto has a small footprint and isn't cluttered up with glitz --just sits there and does its job. The presets work pretty well, and if you are scanning a large document it will repay you for spending time 'teaching' it the idiosyncracies of that typeface, printer and paper by producing almost error-free text. If there aren't a lot of numbers (the most troublesome elements) and the scans are for archiving, not publication, you can get by with uncorrected scans for a 'learned' style.

Presto requires 300 dpi or better input and the newer HP scanners (all I've ever had) default to 200 dpi and don't work well with any external program. It's hard to scan directly into Presto with my current scanner (HP 8200) --I think you have to set it again for each new page. Not a problem since I've started using VueScan, if I remember.

11-02-2006, 07:12 AM	#1
RJ Emery Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 239	OCR Software for the PC I am running W98 on old but reliable hardware. I have a multifunction Brother 8840D printer/scanner/fax machine, whose scanner and accompanying OCR software (PaperPort SE by ScanSoft) is adequate for the occasional project. However, I find myself scanning more and more professional papers for which the OCR program makes too many errors [misses punctuation, interprets pairs of characters as a single character (e.g., rn as m), one's as ell's or vice-versa, misinterprets footnotes, super and subscripts, fractions, etc.]. I would like to know if there is better OCR software available, one that might be able to handle technical documents with equations and formulae. An Adobe Acrobat interface would also be advantageous. The OCR output is presently exported to WordPerfect 8, which is a must. I hope one day soon to acquire a new computer running either XP or Vista, with a higher resolution flat-bed scanner, but that is not possible at present. __________________ RJ Emery, Eastern USA WordPerfect 8 User on XP Pro SP3 System OCR ScanSoft PaperPort SE v9 on Brother MFC-8840DN Printer/Scanner/Fax

11-03-2006, 04:04 AM	#4
dthomsen8 Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Philadelphia, PA 19130 Posts: 2,148	Textbridge is good I have TextBridge, and it works very well for me. I would also say that flatbed scanners have come down in price greatly. My HP ScanJet gives me good service, as a scanner to images, with the TextBridge OCR, and as a copier to my HP 4 Plus laser printer or my HP color printer. If you get a better scanner, you can use it with new hardware when you get it.

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11-02-2006, 12:07 PM	#2
terrie Staff Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 6,570	Did a google search ("ocr software") since I couldn't remember the name of the ocr software I had read about and found the following: TextBridge which isn't too pricey at $79.99 and runs on win98 Presto OCR 4 which is $99.95 and also runs on win98 I've not used either--been eons since I did any OCR'ing... Hope that helps... Terrie

11-02-2006, 05:05 PM	#3
bmann Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Posts: 192	I've used PaperPort's OCR and thought it was horrible. I assumed quality OCR was something that would never be really achievable. But my company bought Abbyy Fine Reader 8.0 and I was quite impressed (better be, for the money). If you want to send me a test document I can give it a try for you.

11-04-2006, 04:48 PM	#5
Molly/CA Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Central California Posts: 230	I've used Presto! for a long time, tried a couple other OCR programs briefly. My version of Presto has a small footprint and isn't cluttered up with glitz --just sits there and does its job. The presets work pretty well, and if you are scanning a large document it will repay you for spending time 'teaching' it the idiosyncracies of that typeface, printer and paper by producing almost error-free text. If there aren't a lot of numbers (the most troublesome elements) and the scans are for archiving, not publication, you can get by with uncorrected scans for a 'learned' style. Presto requires 300 dpi or better input and the newer HP scanners (all I've ever had) default to 200 dpi and don't work well with any external program. It's hard to scan directly into Presto with my current scanner (HP 8200) --I think you have to set it again for each new page. Not a problem since I've started using VueScan, if I remember.