Document Scanning Software

On Mar 6, 2008, at 12:18 PM, Adrien Verlee wrote:

> Op 6-mrt-08, om 13:52 heeft Randy B. Singer het volgende geschreven:
>
>> There is an upgrade version of OmniPage Pro X available for about
>> $130 (you are apparently entitled to purchase the upgrade version if
>> you own *any* other OCR software, even the worthless garbage that
>> came with an old scanner) The upgrade version is a full version of
>> the product.
>
>
> Please, can you tell where you *exactly* read this? Didn't find it on
> the website (I'm still using windows because I'm a windows-omnipage
> user... And 500$ is to much!).

I didn't read it anywhere. Rather I've communicated with users who
have purchased the product at the upgrade price.

I recommend that you find who is selling the upgrade version of
OmniPage Pro X, and contact them and see what you have to do to
qualify to purchase it.

For instance:
http://www.keenzo.com/showproduct.asp?M=NUANCE&ID=990164

http://www.buybargaindeals.com/viewdetails.php?pid=9635

http://shopping.redorbit.com/product.php?productid=8032856


Randy B. Singer • Mac OS X Routine Maintenance • http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html

--On March 5, 2008 3:18:50 AM -0800 Jeffrey Pearson
<jeffreywpearsongmail.com> wrote:

> I can also recommend DSpace (which is open source and free).

I gotta say that any software where in the How-To guide they say "Many
tasks that are cumbersome to manage through the DSpace web interface can be
easily managed in the database with a little SQL" is not going to get a
rave review from me.

<http://wiki.dspace.org/index.php/DSpace_How-To_Guide_Introduction>

Some of the online libraries look pretty good, but the administration of
just the back-end looks like a full time job.

<http://digilib.bu.edu/dspace/>

Thanks for the great information about scanning. I've been reading
here -- and looking elsewhere -- but haven't found anything that fits
our particular situation.

I want to find a scanning "solution" that I can use with Filemaker
Pro. We are a magazine publisher and would like to scan a copy of
each subscription order form at the same time we enter the order. (We
don't want OCR for this.) We want to use one of those small, desktop,
sheetfed scanners. We want to activate the scanner in Filemaker and
we want the resulting file automatically stored externally to the
database, but with a "link" so we can view that image (in, say,
Preview) quickly.

Any advice is much obliged.

Sincerely,
David Garrison
YES Mag: The Science Magazine For Adventurous Minds &
KNOW: The Science Magazine For Curious Kids

Read Iris Asian edition is available if you look in the right
places; it has a pen scanner option; I believe it was developed in
Asia, so includes a wide range of languages. NOT cheap. You would,
perhaps, best check that menus are available in your own language as
well as in the Asian languages if you are in a multi-lingual home or
office. As they have made it in the market place by being
international: it is probably "Localised for the World ?"

For European languages OmniPage or competitors. I don't see any
reference to the rest of the world, but that may just be a trick of
marketing ?

George

> I want to find a scanning "solution" that I can use with Filemaker
> Pro. <snip>
> We want to activate the scanner in Filemaker and
> we want the resulting file automatically stored externally to the
> database, but with a "link" so we can view that image (in, say,
> Preview) quickly.

David,

Sounds like what you're looking for is a TWAIN or ISIS plug-in that will
run inside of Filemaker.

Have a look at InsideScan, currently at v1.8 for Filemaker Pro 7 on both Mac
and Windows:

http://www.powersolutions.it/en/insidescan_download.html

v2.0 is due soon (anticipated Q2 2008) and will be built for Filemaker Pro
8.

Since Filemaker Pro 9 is the current release, I'm not sure how much actual
mileage this gets you.

James Atkinson
Asheville, NC

At 2008-03-07 12:51 -0800 David Garrison wrote:

>I want to find a scanning "solution" that I can use with Filemaker
>Pro

David - have you thought of posting this query on any of the FileMaker lists?

Here are addresses for joining the 2 lists that I have found most
useful in my FileMaker travels.

<FMPRO-L-subscribe-requestLISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU>

<http://www.ListSearch.com/FileMaker/>

I've also seen the following FMP fora recommended recently, but have
not yet investigated any of them myself:

<http://www.nabble.com/Filemaker-f734.html>

<http://www.ironclad.net.au/lists/FMPexperts/index.html>

<http://www.fmforums.com>

Hope this helps.

regards

Rowland
--
| Rowland Carson ... that's Rowland with a 'w' ...
| <rowlandcarsongooglemail.com> http://home.clara.net/rowil/

Some TidBits readers might think of HyperCard's great grandchild, the
astronaught: Revolution (with Twain or something ?) <www.runrev.com/>

I would just suggest sticking to PDF as the final format, and organizing the scanned files as you might a physical filing cabinet. This way, you don't have to worry about having the right software in the future to handle meta-data, and there is very little training required for someone new to run with the system.

I've adopted this approach after years of experimenting with various "paperless office" solutions, beginning with the original Paperport product of the mid-1990s.

With Leopard's Cover Flow in the Finder, flipping through PDFs is fantastic, and if your file naming and folder system is done well, it is a superb (and free) method to achieve paperless status.

As for hardware, I just use the scanner in my aging HP LaserJet 3015. This entry-level all-in-one LaserJet has a sheet-feeder that allows me to scan a stack into a single PDF. Scanner software doesn't yet work with 10.5.x though, so you can either scan using a 10.4.x machine or run Windows via Parallels or Fusion.

Don't forget Spotlight can serve as your searching system, as long as file names are done properly. I actually scan as 600dpi PDF images, not OCR'ed. Disk storage is cheap enough nowadays to make this viable.

Angus

On 3/7/08 at 3:51 PM, dave_listyesmag.ca (David Garrison) wrote:

>I want to find a scanning "solution" that I can use with Filemaker
>Pro. We are a magazine publisher and would like to scan a copy of
>each subscription order form at the same time we enter the order. (We
>don't want OCR for this.) We want to use one of those small, desktop,
>sheetfed scanners. We want to activate the scanner in Filemaker and
>we want the resulting file automatically stored externally to the
>database, but with a "link" so we can view that image (in, say,
>Preview) quickly.

We needed to do something like that on the last project I worked
on. What I ended up with is a combination of AppleScript and the
standard OS X Image Capture application. Image Capture works
with a number of different scanners, including the one we were
using, and has an option to open the saved scan file with any
application... including an AppleScript droplet. What I did:

Set up a button in Filemaker to launch Image Capture

Set up an AppleScript droplet that:

* Moves the scan file to a folder on the company server,
organized by year/month/date, creating appropriate folders if necessary

* Renames the scan file

* Calls a Filemaker script using the new scan file name.

Filemaker script then fills in the appropriate link in a
container field.

This approach is somewhat clunky, since it depends on the user
to control the scanner with Image Capture. But it works, and
it's free if Image Capture works with your scanner. If your
standard scanner software is AppleScriptable and allows a
greater degree of control, that's even better. Unfortunately, I
don't have access to the script now (it's at the client's office
220 miles away), or I'd post it. :(


Travis Butler
tbutlermac.com

In reply to DocumentWallet no longer existing; the post was a bit pre-mature. ReceiptWallet 2.0 was released today and it incorporates functionality from both ReceiptWallet and DocumentWallet. Our website went live with the updated information. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Scott

ReceiptWallet - Scan, Store and Organize Receipts and Documents

http://www.receiptwallet.com

On Mar 12, 2008, at 7:46 AM, Scott Gruby wrote:

> In reply to DocumentWallet no longer existing; the post was a bit
> pre-mature. ReceiptWallet 2.0 was released today and it incorporates
> functionality from both ReceiptWallet and DocumentWallet. Our
> website went live with the updated information. If you have any
> questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

hi scott

i was having problems and was getting ready to give up on it. thanks.

nicky

I saw a platform agnostic product called BlinkEDM recently. It was just about ready to be released but looked pretty impressive. Try an email to infoblinkedm.com as there's no web site yet.

- For faster scanning I created this for Fuji document scanners:

<http://www.killerbytes.com/Products/fScanX/>

- It's easy to integrate with FileMaker.

- You really should consider OCR, because then the text will be searchable via Spotlight, which may well obviate the need for tedious manual entry of keywords.

- ImageCapture will work with many scanners, but can only scan 1 page at a time.

I looked at Omni Page X upgrade on Amazon.com. A seller had one used, and here's what he advised me on the 'Upgrade' version: "I'm not sure if it's fully functioning actually. I don't have a Mac, and the box and instruction book don't really indicate either way. According to the box, "You are eligible for this upgrade if you own any OCR softward, including OCR software included with your scanner." Under "system requirements," no mention is made of any previous version of Omnipage.

The CD makes no mention of an "upgrade" It just says Omipage Pro X on the label. If I had to guess I would say that it's fully functioning, but that is not a guarantee. As for its compatibility, the box says it works with all versions of Mac OS X 10.1 and higher."

Based on that, I decided to buy it for about $100. I had asked Nuance the same question and they were unresponsive (at best!) in answering the question.

On Mar 14, 2008, at 1:55 PM, kashinski wrote:

> Based on that, I decided to buy it for about $100. I had asked
> Nuance the same question and they were unresponsive (at best!) in
> answering the question.

I should point out that Nuance (formerly known as Digital River and
ScanSoft), at least until recently, specializes in purchasing
software that has been discontinued by its original developer. (That
is, discontinued for reasons other than that the software no longer
works or is outdated.) Nuance does not update this software, nor do
they offer much (if any) support for it. They just continue to
minimally market the software and sell it... at least until it breaks
under some future version of the Mac OS.

They have been doing this with OmniPage (originally developed by
Caere), and they also did this with Xerox's similar OCR program
TextBridge, now no longer available. They sell what used to be IBM's
voice recognition software, VIaVoice, also.

I just point this out so that you know that if the product has minor
quarks, or if it breaks due to an update to OS X, you are highly
unlikely to see an update. You also should not expect much in the
way of support for the product. However, it is still, by far, the
best OCR product available for the Mac. And at least for now, it
still works.

Randy B. Singer • Mac OS X Routine Maintenance • http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html

At 5:50 AM -0700 3/15/08, Randy B. Singer wrote:
>I just point this out so that you know that if the product has minor
>quarks, or if it breaks due to an update to OS X, you are highly
>unlikely to see an update. You also should not expect much in the
>way of support for the product. However, it is still, by far, the
>best OCR product available for the Mac. And at least for now, it
>still works.

Actually, I've been using Acrobat Professional, having switched from
ReadIris, though I've used OmniPage is the distant past and greatly
appreciate it's reputation.

As most of my OCR use involves PDFs that I download, it's quite
convenient for my to simply tell my PDF readings to OCR it when I
find that to be necessary. I've been positively impressed with the
accuracy, though I doubt that it is as good as OmniPages - simply
because of my long-standing respect for the product and the
assumption that its improved over the years. I certainly have found
it to be more accurate than ReadIris was. In fact, I regret ever
spending any money on ReadIris at all.

Obviously, omnipage is more bit more flexible when it comes to OCR,
supporting more export formats, but that is not a concern to me.

Just found a feature comparison matrix that's might be useful.
<http://www.ocrreview.com/ocr-comparison-matrix/>

If OmniPage Mac is an orphaned product, that's another reason to
consider Acrobat. Though Adobe might abuse the product in any number
of ways, it is not going to give up on it.

(Of course, this is about OCR software, and not the original more
enterprise-y question of scanning and and applying keywords to a
large number of documents.)

--
=Alex Hoffman
Leadership, Policy & Politics
Teachers College, Columbia University

> Actually, I've been using Acrobat Professional, having switched from
> ReadIris, though I've used OmniPage is the distant past and greatly
> appreciate it's reputation......

> I certainly have found
> it to be more accurate than ReadIris was. In fact, I regret ever
> spending any money on ReadIris at all.

Which version of ReadIris did you use? I'm interested because of the
range of languages it reads. C & J. out of C/J/K.

George

On Mar 15, 2008, at 3:54 PM, Alexander Hoffman wrote:

> As most of my OCR use involves PDFs that I download, it's quite
> convenient for my to simply tell my PDF readings to OCR it when I
> find that to be necessary. I've been positively impressed with the
> accuracy, though I doubt that it is as good as OmniPages

I think that where you will find OmniPage to be quite a bit superior
to Adobe Acrobat for OCR is how it deals with complex formatting,
like tables, multiple columns, and pictures placed on the page within
text, etc.

>
> Just found a feature comparison matrix that's might be useful.
> <http://www.ocrreview.com/ocr-comparison-matrix/>

That's a nice pickup, thanks, but I'm afraid that it is just about
irrelevant to Mac users. As with many other products, the features
of the Windows versions differ from those of the Mac versions.

>
> If OmniPage Mac is an orphaned product,..

It's not exactly orphaned. The product may work perfectly with the
next ten major releases of the Mac OS. There is no way to know ahead
of time. In fact, it is impressive that the product hasn't broken
before now. The current version of OmniPage was released
contemporaneously with OS X 10.0 or 10.1.

Randy B. Singer • Mac OS X Routine Maintenance • http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html

On Mar 15, 2008, at 8:50 AM, Randy B. Singer wrote:

> I should point out that Nuance (formerly known as Digital River and
> ScanSoft), at least until recently, specializes in purchasing
> software that has been discontinued by its original developer. (That
> is, discontinued for reasons other than that the software no longer
> works or is outdated.) Nuance does not update this software, nor do
> they offer much (if any) support for it. They just continue to
> minimally market the software and sell it... at least until it breaks
> under some future version of the Mac OS.

This seems to be their approach only to Mac software. OmniPage,
PaperPort, Dragon NaturallySpeaking and others are all actively
developed for Windows.

> I just point this out so that you know that if the product has minor
> quarks, or if it breaks due to an update to OS X, you are highly
> unlikely to see an update. You also should not expect much in the
> way of support for the product. However, it is still, by far, the
> best OCR product available for the Mac. And at least for now, it
> still works.


And their knowledge base seems to say that OmniPage Pro X was
released before OS X 10.2 so if it works on OS X 10.5 that's rather
refreshing.

Yesterday on macworld.com there was a notice that Fujitsu just announced a portable Mac scanner that can simultaneously scan both sides of documents and output them as .pdfs. It’s called the ScanSnap S300M.

http://www.macworld.com/article/132551/2008/03/scansnap.html

http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/peripherals/scanners/scansnap/s300m.html

Also (and this may not exactly apply to the original question) NeatReceipts is releasing a Mac version of their product in May.

http://neatreceipts.com/forum/forums/thread/2606.aspx

~Richard Kane