Anyone using OCR software with success?

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Each week I need to be able to scan several pages from a book and convert it to either MS word, or Pages. Anyone using Abbyy Fine Reader, Readiris, or Prizmo, for doing this? Are you using some other OCR software with success? I'm considering upgrading from a PC to an iMac but I need to know I can purchase OCR software that will meet my needs.
 
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What scanner do you have? I've had good luck with the scanner included versions from HP and Canon. Those are only the two I remember using with my Macs, but this was at least 4 years ago.
 
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What scanner do you have? I've had good luck with the scanner included versions from HP and Canon. Those are only the two I remember using with my Macs, but this was at least 4 years ago.
Currently I have a 5-6 year old Brother MFC-7360n. I can print wireless with my Macbook pro but do not have scanning or OCR for the macbook. I am not against buying a new MFC printer/scanner as long as I know whatever software I buy will do the OCR for me.
 
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Each week I need to be able to scan several pages from a book and convert it to either MS word, or Pages. Anyone using Abbyy Fine Reader, Readiris, or Prizmo, for doing this? Are you using some other OCR software with success? I'm considering upgrading from a PC to an iMac but I need to know I can purchase OCR software that will meet my needs.

The very best OCR program on any platform is OmniPage Pro, which is no longer available for the Mac, it is now Windows only. (I keep a really old Mac running an old Mac OS mostly just to run the last Mac version of OmniPage Pro for the Mac.)

The full OmniPage Pro OCR engine is in Nuance's "PDF-Converter", a full-featured PDF editor for the Mac. The problem is that Nuance is such a horrible company that I couldn't in good conscience recommend purchasing any of their products.
https://shop.nuance.com/store?Actio...er-Mac&utm_source=Bing-SL&utm_term=nuance+pdf

ReadIRIS is garbage. You can Google the reviews.

AdobeAcrobat Pro for the Mac includes really good OCR, but the software is ridiculously expensive.

The best choice for the Macintosh is probably Abbyy FineReader, which I understand has developed into a very good product (I haven't tried it myself):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OL280LE/?tag=macforums0e4-20
 
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Thanks for the input Randy. I have a very old copy of of Nuance's PaperPort that I have run on several versions of Windows. It is not the best but does work for my purposes. When my PC goes belly-up or I get disgusted with another update from Windows that causes numerous problems, I will switch to an iMac, buy a new printer/scanner that will be friendly with the iMac, and purchase Abbyy.
 
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Thanks for the input Randy. I have a very old copy of of Nuance's PaperPort that I have run on several versions of Windows. It is not the best but does work for my purposes. When my PC goes belly-up or I get disgusted with another update from Windows that causes numerous problems, I will switch to an iMac, buy a new printer/scanner that will be friendly with the iMac, and purchase Abbyy.

When that time comes, let me know. It's likely that we can make your current printer and scanner work with your new Mac, and if we can't I can point you to an inexpensive but dynamite combo printer/scanner.
 
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CarrollB
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Thanks Randy. Looking at the Abbyy software yesterday it says it will work with a twain scanner and that is what I have.
 
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If I'm scanning a batch of looseleaf documents, I use a ScanSnap ix500 with the built-in proofing software (ScanSnap Searchable PDF Converter); it works very well for me, I seldom need to make corrections. I'll take 50 pages at a time, load the hopper, hit the scan button, and it's done. The draw for me was the speed. I scan 500+ documents twice a semester just for one class, it "eats" through them without a hiccup. If you need to export to Word, it comes with ABYYY which does OK but not perfect.

For one or two page things, sometimes I'll use the Epson printer/flatbed scanner, scanned at 600dpi or higher, and use Acrobat Pro for the OCR work. The Epson bundled software does an OK job.

My OCR stuff is almost always in PDF (archiving). Acrobat Pro does a pretty good job of exporting to .docx if/when I need it, though.

The ix500 comes with Acrobat Pro but for Windows. My retired 510M came with a Mac version. :sigh:
 

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Welcome to our forums

Sorry about the late response.... We do appreciate your input and experience. Acrobat Pro is a bit expensive for most of us, however. I sometimes use my Epson all in one to make copies but have never tried using it as a scanner. It loves to eat ink cartridges. :)
 
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After doing a lot of research I thought I would try Abbyy fine reader pro for my OCR application. I filled out a help form on their web site and actually received a call several days later from an engineer and we discussed what I needed the software to do. I had a difficult time downloading the trial version of ABBYY reader pro. I filled out all the requested info but could not get it to download. I finally found one location where I could download the trial version. The software worked for exactly what I needed it to do, allow me to scan several pages from a book and dump it into a Word document. After testing the trial version I bought Abbyy fine reader pro, and found it on sale for $89.99, normally $119. I was very pleased that Abbyy would scan from my 6-year old brother all in one printer through the network connection, so I didn't have to buy a new AIO printer. I figured if ABBYY would scan at all, I would have to connect my printer directly to the USB port on my computer rather than through my network. I'm a happy camper. I'm running Abbyy on an iMac with Mojave.
 
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Well, maybe it will be also very useful to me. If you don't mind can you share the link of aby software with me. Thanks.
 
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Burningflame it was not eBay. I just googled ABBYY fine reader pro. It was one of Abbyy's web sites. After downloading the software I received an email with the activation (product code) and the link allowed me to register the software.
 
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After downloading the software I received an email with the activation (product code) and the link allowed me to register the software.



Did you get and pay for the full commercial version or just get the Trial??





- Patrick
======
 
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CarrollB
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Did you get and pay for the full commercial version or just get the Trial??

- Patrick
======
I got the trial to see if it would meet my needs. The trial works for 30 days or 100 scans and has some functions blocked off. I paid for the full version, didn't delete the trial, loaded the full version. Received an email with the activation key. Started the software, was asked to register, plugged in the activation key, and everything worked and I could use all the functions.
 
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I've recently encountered the same issue with my old mac that I've tried to revive. I hope you found a solution.
 

IWT


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I've recently encountered the same issue with my old mac that I've tried to revive. I hope you found a solution.
A warm welcome to Mac-Forums. I sincerely hope the OP got a solution in the 4 to 5 years since that last post to this thread.;)

Your contribution is most welcome, but just look at the dates before you post:)

I hope that we will see more from you in the near future.

Ian
 
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I've recently encountered the same issue with my old mac that I've tried to revive. I hope you found a solution.

I hope you can find an older more compatible version of Fine Reader for doing OCR with your old Mac as their current version and trial says:
Operating system - macOS® 12 and later, ...

And welcome to mac-forums Forums.



- Patrick
=======
 

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