ABBYY FineReader Pro for Mac

Pros

Saves time and effort when it comes to translating data. When deadlines are critical I have been fortunate enough to utilize this software to streamline my production time, and get to my leisure sooner.

Cons

Has its flaws, script, handwritten or even italic text were issues at some point. I cannot trust the translation or conversion of the text data 100%, because I found I had to tweak much of the copy when unusual fonts or punctuations were involved.

Summary

Overall, this is worth its value, not perfect... but its better than re-typing data from scratch and toiling over piles of documents that need to be digitized into editable text. I highly recommend!

Pros

I gave FineReader two pages of what looks like a second-generation photocopy, with some of the text right at the edge of the page. It transcribed this with very errors.

Cons

FineReader doesn't interact perfectly with my system. (2012 iMac, OS 10.8.4, Konica Minolta magicolor 4690mf printer/scanner). Two problems:

1, FineReader can't access my scanner when Preview is running.
2. Sometimes my scanner driver doesn't work well with FineReader. FineReader offers a choice of TWAIN or ICA. When I choose TWAIN the scans fails, the scanner reports "PC scan cancel". When I choose ICA it works correctly.

Summary

For $99 this is great software. But you may nee to fiddle with it to make it work.

Pros

Is pretty much auto pilot, but can tweak conversion if desired
does a great job with B & W
Does a great job even with complex colour photos and text mixes
can convert PDF to text searchable PDF
reasonable speed compared to previous solutions

Cons

No preferences adjustment of any sort cant set jpeg compression level
Slightly overcompresses jpeg elements for my liking when creating searchable PDF's from pre-existent jpeg pdfs, some compression slider for this would make a big of difference, as sometimes need less compression, other than this gripe very good OCR.

Summary

best option on the mac at the moment, unless you want to convert on a pc in which case abby finereader pro is the more controllable option.

Pros

Straight text is easily converted to Word documents

Cons

There are some problems with columns that need manipulating to fix. Some minor problem with tables.

Summary

Excellent OCR software to convert scans, graphics & pdf. Straight text is easily converted to Word documents. There are some problems with columns that need manipulating to fix. Some minor problem with tables.

Pros

outstanding character recognition; few settings needed, it's basically automatic; works on a Mac

Cons

takes getting used to, for a previous OmniPage user; not as many adjustments possible

Summary

I used OmniPage Pro for many years on a Mac, then they abandoned the Mac platform. I read many reviews of alternative Optical Character Recognition software for the Mac, & there seemed to be little out there in terms of a viable replacement. Lots of people dislike this program, & I disliked it when first using it, as well.
My biggest need is to digitize faded typed captions on 50-60 year old photographs, & ABBYY actually does a better job of this than did OmniPage Pro. I used to have to scan the text, then darken it, then send it to OmniPage, but no more. ABBYY recognizes it straight off the page, no intermediate darkening is needed. And the actual percentage of characters correctly recognized by ABBYY is MUCH higher than it was for OmniPage.
This program costs a fraction of what OmniPage used to cost, so I consider it to be a great bargain, & it does what I need it to do. I can't vouch for its "bells & whistles", because I don't use complicated features, but for my simple needs, it's excellent.

Pros

OCR capabilities are fantastic

Cons

Mac implementation is terrible!

Summary

Having used Abbyy on our windows computers, I must say I was very disappointed with the poor user experience I've had attempting to use the Mac version.
Seems like the Abbyy company has taken a page from the play book of Quicken with reduced features etc for the Mac version - a huge disappointment as it appears the company seems to think that Mac users have diminished OCR requirements than Windows users, otherwise why have features and functions been deleted in the Mac version?

I downloaded the Abbyy Finereader Express version for Mac demo version. However, once I decided to buy it, there was no way to upgrade or buy a license from the application, as in most other programs. Instead I had to download the program again from the purchase page on the Abbyy website - waste of time!

Then the activation process is quite hard to understand and lacks logic. Activation key does not work on demo copy so had to erase/uninstall demo copy, then download/install again from purchase confirmation email link.

Then I had to restart my computer twice before the program would show the Activation window when starting up. Furthermore, the invoice email lists a "Licence Key" while the Activation asks for a "Serial Number" - took me many tries and curses to realize that these two terms were actually one and the same! Again wasting my time before I've even used the program...

So, finally got the program running, then I find out there are no preferences, they're all greyed out - don't think I've ever seen that in a Mac program!

Then I check for an update using the menu command. This takes me to a webpage which lists the latest version number in a strange format, different from what's listed in "About FR". So then I have to go back to FR application, go to "About FR" and find out what application version I have. However, "Get Info" shows no version number, only a "created date" .

Downloaded new version (2010) and restart, but "Get info" still shows 2009 date! So I delete the 2009 version and pref's and download the latest version (2010) again... This time the download "takes" and the created date is 2010 - still no version number though... Next it asks for "Serial number" again, so I enter the "License Key" number...

Now onto the using of the program:
Program works great, but a bit different from the Windows version I've used prior;

Abbyy automatically analyzes pages and starts recognizing text/numbers with no apparent problem. However, after "deleteing all areas" and only selecting certain text, it still analyzes the whole page, even areas/text not selected - is this a joke or something?

In a 4 page pdf analyzed document, if I delete "all areas" on all pages and "draw a table" of only a section of one page, it still process all 4 pages. Have to "delete pages" before analyzing which seems to do the trick...
In addition, the program does not have a fraction of the functionality of the Windows version.

Abbyy is a fantastic program that handles OCR excellently - however, for the Mac version they have really not paid any attention and are treating their customer in a very rude fashion! - A great dissapointment for an otherwise excellent program... Had I not previously used the Windows version I would have never bought this program based on my experience with the abysmal Mac implementation.

Pros

Very very high accuracy

Cons

No spell correction

Summary

I do a good deal of OCR work and have used every OCR program out there. Abbyy Fine Reader was, prior to System 10, a Mac product and was bundled with some scanners. At system 10 they did not upgrade and they soon became and also ran. They are back now with a slim trim fast OCR engine. I've compared this new version with ReadIris 12 Mac and Abbyy leaves it in the dust. I scanned a very poor very old newspaper column and had each OCR the scan. ReadIris 12 gave me gibberish, Abbyy FineReader Express gave excellent results. To be fair I scanned an old typewritten page and both gave excellent results. The GUI of ReadIris is very poor and always has been wherein the Abbyy FineReader is clean and lean. No manual necessary. In ReadIris if the scan is skewed you have to straighten by clicking deskew in Abbyy FineReader de-skewing is automatic. If you are in need of a reasonably priced OCR program I would go with Abbyy FineReader Express. It is a good deal lower priced than ReadIris as well. Just so you know I do not work for Abbyy.