OmniPage 15 Questions

[Rl'Halsinor]

I bought a Canon scanner and it came with OmniPage 2.0SE software. It is not the full version as you can imagine but it has been a handy tool for scanning documents and editing as needed. There is more it can do but I just started learning how to use this software. I can puchase OmniPage 15 for $99 (the professional version is over $400 and way out of my league).

I was wondering if anyone uses OmniPage 15 (or 14) and what do you thinK of the product? What has been your experience? I have read some mixed reviews on both versions: either the person really liked it or the person really didn't like it; there was no centering on opinion, i.e., it was okay. Plus, the majority of the ones I've read gave more thumbs down then thumbs up.

Your opinions and experiences please. Thanks.

 

[Mycanid]

Well ... the company I work for owns OP Pro 15 - and I have never had any problems with it whatsoever. It is very straightforward. We have used it to scan material in different languages too (Brazillian). (We got the Pro for the multi-language support ... we sometimes do things in other languages too since we are involved in publication and translation.)

Very satisfactory on the whole.

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

Ah, Mycanid, my friend thanks for the reply. I can get the standard version for $99 and I can upgrade my current 2.0SE to the Pro version for $199.

The thing is I will be using this on a professional level but I am not a business and if I have researched correctly the Pro has many business applications that I just won't need. Your suggestion? Thanks again.

 

[Mycanid]

Hmm ... well to be honest I am not fully sure about the difference between the versions. I suggested we get the "Pro" version and then discovered its features coming in handy later on! Of course, that is whyI like to get "Pro" versions sometimes ... for the unexpected thing that might pop up. Doesn't always work ... but in this case it did! In general I would bet that you could get away with not using the Pro version, though this is only a guess on my part. Perhaps you could purchase the software somewhere that has a 30 day (or whatever) return guarantee if youare not satisfied with the product or whatnot?

Another thing you might look into. One of my friends whose sister works at Microsoft (he is a Front Page wiz ... pity they are getting rid of that program now) ... anyway, one of my friends says that the MS Office Suite comes with its own OCR program and he claims it is better than anything else out there. We already had OP Pro, and were quite satisfied with it, so I never bothered to look into it, but you might take a look see if you have the Office Suite. Maybe you already have a stupendous OCR program and you don't know it?

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

Mycanid, 30 minutes before I read your latest reply someone told me about the OCR program for Office. So I went and followed the online instructions of Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Office Tools and then Microsoft Office Document Imaging. I was also told that to see the OCR options, I needed to click the Tools menu and choose Options. Click the OCR tab. Click OK.

Well I got to my Office 2003 Word and clicked tools and then options but there is no OCR tab. Nada. None. Now I do have Windows XP SP2 Pro OS and my Office version is the 2003 Teachers/Students version which is a full package standard office suite. It is fully legit because my wife is a full time teacher and I have two children in school. Microsoft fully recognizes my version so this is not an illegal copy.

Is it because it is the Teacher/Student version that it doesn't have an OCR program or am I big time missing something?

 

[GakToid]

Rl'Halsinor -
I can't add to the OCR conversation, but I can say that I followed your instructions to access MS Office Document Imaging and everything was as you described.

The Document Imaging application is separate from MS Office Word.

Example:
Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Office Word
Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Office Tools > Microsoft Office Document Imaging

If you don't see Document Imaging under the Office Tools menu, perhaps it wasn't installed? (or not included in your version of Office)

-Gak Toid

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

Thanks, GakToid (interesting name by the way) and I found what you mentioned. Another thing is you actually have to manually load it, i.e., it doesn't automatically load when you install XP.

 

[Mycanid]

Excellent ... shoulda mentioned that when I posted I guess.

Anyway ... whaddaya think?

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

Excellent ... shoulda mentioned that when I posted I guess.

Anyway ... whaddaya think?

Well I just used it tonight for a simple document and it copied just fine. The thing is I got to figure out how to edit, etc. And it is a very simple OCR from what I can see -- so far. Though my Cannoscan software isn't of the higest order it is simpler to use in that it doesn't take many clicks to get where you want to go. The Office Scanning/OCR takes more steps to get where you need to go. The Canon software also is able to access Word without having to go through Word first. Does that make sense?

As you know much better than I do, Mycanid, OmniPage offers alot of options and it does have a fairly sophisticated text editor. From what I can gather, Office 2003's OCR/Scanning has not and will not be upgraded and it seems to be based off of Omnipage's version 10 which is 5 versions behind the current offeriing. There is so much to learn, plus I am still leary of the too numerous horror stories I read on the net; and I find, like many, the interface far from being user friendly.

 

[Mycanid]

Well ... based solely on your description, and IF you have the funds to spend I would go ahead with OmniPage ... but DO try and make sure you can return the product if it does not meet your needs!