by Hyman L. LaVere, LACS

Having just recently reviewed OmniPage 10 before edition 11 was available, I was anxious to review this product when it became available. Generally, when an upgrade becomes available soon after the last issue, I am somewhat skeptical. Is this upgrade really worthwhile or is it just a cosmetic improvement? Hopefully, this review will answer that question.

The maker Scansoft claims, in Ver. 11, the most accurate engine OCR technology with new functionality such as user friendly PDF input/output capability. Also claimed is "IntelliTrain" Proofing, which uses previous corrections to improve OCR results and lessen correction errors. I intend to fully test these claims and others that are touted in this version and give you my best effort in evaluating them.

My main interest in this program was the fact that I am involved in desktop publishing. I edit and publish an 8-page newsletter for a retiree organization. The inputs that are sent to me are usually typewritten text. I scan and insert these into my word processor for editing and other formatting and corrections. I then put these text files into my desktop publishing program. OCR or optical character recognition is therefore an integral tool that I use extensively.

The program comes on a single CD. The reason that I mention this fact is because OmniPage Pro 10 came with 2 CD’s, the other CD being a WEB publishing program. I find this rather odd, since the price now is somewhat higher than version 10, and, in view of this, Scansoft should have included this additional program. It would be most helpful for users with an interest in web publishing and the distribution of documents on the web.

Installation was very conventional. The installation program easily recognized my brand of scanner, (MAG Model 3050) even though it was not listed on the supported scanner list. It also recognized my word processor and activated the automatic OCR from within my word processor, namely Word 97. Just to make sure, I ran the scanner setup wizard to verify that all of the pertinent data was there, and it was. I then ran the scanner tests, and it passed all of the tests and informed me that the program was ready to go.

The interface is slightly different from version 10 in that it has been somewhat simplified and made more intuitive. Once installed and running, the main window offers the choice of setting various program options. There are three modes of operation: Auto OCR, Manual OCR and OCR Wizard. The first two methods can be customized for your personal requirements and the complexity of the scanned material through a series of settings. The OCR Wizard on the other hand, asks a series of questions and depending on your choices, sets the various parameters automatically. For the majority of users, this would be the user-friendliest method of operation and it works very well. You can also schedule OCR jobs to be performed automatically with the "Schedule" wizard, which allows you to specify settings and starting time for unattended operation. For complex documents with text and graphics, the program has zoning tools and templates, which allow you to customize properties and the output of the job. One oddity of the installation is that it does not ask to install an icon on the desktop, which necessitates running the program from the Start\Run\Programs method. This can easily be fixed by creating a shortcut and dragging it to the Desktop

The Scansoft.com web site is very helpful in curing installation problems. (There were very few). The on-line FAQ section has 165 typical problems that can occur within this product. The manual is a concise 92 pages of which 66 pages tell you all there is to know about running the program in each of the modules.

The main desktop displays your scanned document in a thumbnail view, an image view and a text view, identical to Ver. 10. After proofing and editing in the image view, the questionable words and items not recognized by the OCR are highlighted. The scanned document is then placed into your word processor in an editable form. The formatting, images and other objects are maintained, depending on the preferences set before the scan.

The main reason for programs of this sort is to turn images (read text) into computer editable text and turn paperwork and images into manageable and storable megabytes of memory, taking the place of a bulky file cabinet. Is this upgrade necessary? It depends on your requirements. The reasons given in the advertising literature are as follows.
1. Better OCR recognition? I would say yes in a minimal sense. The literature claims a 40% decrease in word recognition errors. This is hard to measure exactly, although I did see a small improvement in word recognition.
2. PDF input and output? Since PDF format is the standard of the industry with regards to Web printing and reading operations, this upgrade or program would be a welcome addition to people in the industry. It can convert between PDF and Microsoft Office and 20 other formats. However,you would still need the regular Adobe Acrobat program, version 3.0 or later to do many of the web operations connected with the PDF format. The program also saves the output in 30 additional formats covering most of the major programs used in today’s computing environment, including HTML. It recognizes images (read text), in all of the major languages in the world. The voice read back feature has been improved, incorporating the Microsoft voice engine used in the new XP operating system, which was released in October 2001. It can read back in all of the major covered languages. This feature was also in version 10, but without the extensive language coverage.

All of the other reasons given are, in my opinion, cosmetic improvements and most of these features, although improved, are available in version 10. One example of cosmetic change, touted in their literature is the so-called "Despeckle Module", . After spending much time looking for this module to test it and evaluate it, I could not find it. Tech support advised me of the following: "The despeckle module is actually built into the program. It is not a setting that you can select. There is not a way to turn it on, because it is always working." You have to take it on faith because honestly, I did not see any evidence of this feature working.

The program does a good job in the WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) category, somewhat improved over ver. 10 in maintaining the look and feel of the original document.

For these reasons, I would say that if you are a professional user with a heavy volume of OCR and Web requirements, then this upgrade is highly recommended and has all of the "bells and whistles" you would need. If you are a new user, this OCR program is probably the best available today for the price. For the hobbyist or home user with Version 10 and with infrequent need of OCR capabilities, I would not upgrade since the version that you have does 95% of what Ver. 11 does.

If you have basic computer skills and the required hardware you should have no problem learning and using the program. The OCR accuracy factor as stated previously was much better than Textbridge Ver. 8.0 and somewhat better than OmniPage version 10 program. The claim of 99% plus accuracy is borne out generally on a good original copy, which is true in both versions 10 and 11. Graphical representations such as tables and graphics, the so-called "true page" representations were much better in Version 11 over the other versions that I have mentioned. The integration with word processors, spreadsheets and other Microsoft Office programs is very good. When all is said and done, this is a good OCR program. Did the time you spent fixing recognition and typographical errors take less time than you would have spent retyping? Price: On various web sites the price ranged from $103 to $129. CompUSA had it for $130, Fry’s $100 for Upgrade to Ver. 11. Scansoft upgrade price is $90 from Ver. 10

Scansoft Inc., 9 Centennial Drive, Peabody, MA 01960 www.scansoft.com.

IBM or compatible Pentium with 32 MB of memory (RAM), 64 MB recommended, 75 MB of free hard disk space plus 10 MB of working space during installation, 9 MB for Microsoft installer, (MSI) if not present and 44 MB for Internet Explorer if not present. (These are present as part of the operating system in W98, ME and 2000.)