B3NT  I agree with DTRUETT1 on Readiris customer experience. I have received barrages of emails hawking their products since I bought Readiris 11. Then they sent out a notice of a new version 12, but offered no upgrade discount. I contacted their support and got a response offering a satisfactory upgrade discount, but then when I placed my order I could not download the product. They 'dropped' my first request for support for a product I had just purchased. They never really responded to my followup. They did ask for my USPS address though I don't know why... no disc ever came in the mail. It took a full two weeks from order (9/23/09) to successful download (10/07). It also appears if I ever buy a new computer I will have to re-contact Readiris, assuming they're still in business, to get a new 'key' to install it on a new computer.

I do not recommend Readiris.  
(Version 12.0)

DTRUETT1  I have not used the product, for reasons below. I do feel the need to comment on the approach this company takes. If it's inappropriate here, I apologize, but think those of us who use MacUpdate regularly have opinions about how companies and individuals relate to their customer base.

My experience is getting an Email somehow promoting ReadIris Pro 12. I was interested in OCR software, and took a look. Watched their two Flash demos and used the link to download a trial, only to find that first I needed to provide an Email address. OK, that's a warning sign for me, but I did it anyway. Got back a link - to watch the videos again. I went to the contacts link and described the situation and asked for a response on how I could download their software for evaluation. I have done this now three times, probably out of stubbornness and curiosity. No reply in two weeks and the "deadline" for the offer keeps moving.

Makes me have a warm and fuzzy feeling to all of the smaller developers I support with my money, and the best of the larger ones, such as OmniGroup. I see no developer comments here, so I guess they don't monitor MacUpdate. It seems like the "brute force" strategy of marketing - push out a zillion Emails rather than focusing on their customer base. Roxio springs to mind, with the constant updating of small features and barrage of solicitations to upgrade at a discount.

Anyway, rant over. I'm going to give ExactScan and VueScan a whirl, as I can actually download a demo from them.   
(Version 12.0)

B3NT  You can get an upgrade discount... I asked and was given the promo code "free4" to enter to get the upgrade from RI Pro 11 to RI Pro 12 for only $60.

BUT... I have had major problems downloading the 230MB file from RI servers, and have had a significant 'go round' with RI Support. I think they are finally going to mail me a copy on CD because I can't download it.

Interestingly, the download stalls every time at exactly 137.4MB... on several Macs.  
(Version 12.0)

CHAWK  Have had problems with multiple versions of Readiris, so gave up a couple of versions ago. Got the upgrade email today, so checking out whether it would be worth the $100. Probably not given the reviews, since I do not need to do a lot of OCR. For my limited requirements, I have found the OCR function in VueScan works pretty well using a Canon LIDE (?1220??) scanner. It will handle multipage documents, though with my scanner, have to scan each page individually. To finish, I scrub the OCR results with TextSoap to get rid of all the line breaks.  
(Version 12.0)

TOMJWRIGHT  Has anyone been able to download the latest version and open it successfully? I downloaded it yesterday and it installed a folder in my Applications folder. But the Readiris 12 folder cannot be opened. The message says that I do not have permission to open the folder. I contacted the company and they suggested several things (repair disk permissions, try another administrator), all to no avail. They now have "opened a case" for my problem but, in the meantime, I have a useless folder. If they don't find a fix soon I'll give up on this product and avoid dealing with this company again.  
(Version 12.0)

JIMW  While this product has always seemed to me to be a bit flaky and its registration procedure procedure quite complex and medieval, it also, as far as I know is about the only game in town currently available for individual users that want to do OCR. Most if not all the rest are no longer in development for the Mac, in worse condition that Readiris (functionality and/or support), or are targeted for enterprise users. If I am incorrect about this would somebody please post a reply to enlighten me as I have been searching for a viable alternative for years but so far have not found one.

That said, at this time I note the following:

The upgrade has been announced on MacUpdate but as a registered user for many years I have so far received no notice from the company about this upgrade (09/10/09).

I have checked out the more info on MacUpdate and the corporate website but so far seen no mention of an upgrade price for previous users of Readiris 11. So far the only upgrade is to buy it again at full price (09/10/09).  
(Version 12.0)

NEALNT  I have version 11.6.6. It crashes anytime you try to do more than one scan. I have a Canon 8400F. I have the twain driver.

I have been complaining to IRIS for months. They have not been responsive. I asked for my money back. Again no response.

I have a Mac pro Intel os 10.5.6  
(Version 11.6.3)

AIKOUSHA  Back again, since I'm still in search of the elusive working OCR package for the Mac. Don't know if this works well on Windows, but I'll probably learn that soon, as given a choice for a wireless laptop, I'm probably going with windows so I can use both a Mac and Windows (for those few things that still can't be done on a Mac).

Too bad the guy I met last time I tested this software no longer works at the store.

I actually tested version 11.6.3 , funny that it's not available on MacUpdate, yet...

Don't be dismayed, this program has ALL the problems it had the last time I reviewed it. The only thing it seems to have different is a bunch of links to SANE to attempt to get older scanners to work with the OCR.

It's too bad that when I finally jumped through the hoops to get SANE installed (took over two hours of installs, component searches, code compiles, and restarts, before that was going), SANE worked, but no matter what I did, Readiris recognized SANE, but still couldn't access my scanner. So, using this required that I scan through Photoshop or VueScan, and then read the files in Readiris. Painful and time-consuming, but at least I don't lose the "scans" when Readiris INEVITABLY crashes.

No matter what, I cannot recognize more than 3 pages at a time... Guaranteed crash.

It still doesn't recognize common type, consistently misinterpreting scratches, unable to understand baselines, periods, colons, semicolons, hyphens, em-dashes, etc., identical to the last time.

So, again, I can't recommend this, and unless you absolutely have to have it for work, I'd stay away from it, and the company.

For those looking for a kanji based OCR (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc.), DON'T EVEN BOTHER. According to their website, it doesn't exist for the Mac, hasn't for quite a while, and I'm guessing won't be available for years. (So, what were they selling before? Vaporware?).

A SUGGESTION FOR READIRIS: Save all the recognized material to a file that acts like a log, instead of waiting for the entire process to complete before writing to an output file, that way, when the program crashes, you only have to start where the log file ends!

Also, USE the splines from an actual typeface in order to learn the shapes that are scanned. Most people have the most commonly used typefaces, and businesses often purchase the typefaces they need for the documents they scan (in order to reproduce them exactly), so this should be an easy thing to implement and use... assuming you code in-house, and aren't just absconding with the work of others.  
(Version 11.6.2)

SURFSPIRIT  Readirirs Pro is Slow and outdated, it mostly find text as images not doing any ocr, so is very trouble to work with it. I have found Adobe Acrobat Pro that does OCR very well, so to every mac user that is searching for an OCR App, try Adobe Acrobat Pro, OCR is very accurate and fast! One big advantage from Adobe Acrobat Pro is that the original image is always shown, when you do a text selection it pastes the OCR copy, so even if the OCR has some mistakes you can see what´s the mistake when looking to the screen original image.  
(Version 11.6.2)

Q00P  To start with, buying this software gets you an email stating:

Your software key is XXXX

Please note that this software key will not work if you reinstall your software, you can ask a new software key when needed through our customer service:

- for North America: supportusa@irislink.com

- for other countries: support@irislink.com

Eh? What? We need to ask for a new key on reinstall? Okay, fine!

Stupid, but let's install the software since we paid for it...

I am sorry but, having used this software in a business setting for 7 months, we would like to let you know that this is NOT WORTH PAYING FOR. We have struggled all the time, and finally we saw the light. The computer crashed and we needed to reinstall OS X from scratch, plus all applications. Starting Readiris it asks for the software key. Hm, bugger! Mailing support@irislink.com for a key. 24 hours later, STILL NO KEY!

As a business we are stranded until we get another key. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!  
(Version 11.6.2)

K0GG  I click to download a demo, fill in my email and country and I am taken to some flash demos that say I get a special offer if I watch them. I then get an email saying, " You recently requested a flash demo about Readiris Pro 11 features." NO I DID NOT, I wanted to download a demo of the application. If you don't do one, don't offer one.

The offer is $59.99-US/Canada, EUR99.99-Rest of World = GBP76.60 or $155.51. What type of special offer is it that insultingly, over charges the Rest of the World?

You can keep your product and your 'special' offer insult.  
(Version 11.6.2)

JIMW  If it does not seem to work with your scanner and you are using Leopard or Tiger on an Intel Mac--

Try doing a ;'Get Info' on the app and checking the 'Rosetta' Box. It worked for me.   
(Version 11.6.2)

YRM  the price they charge for the non-us market is a rip-off: EUR 159.99 - which is something about USD 241,65 compared to the US/Canada price-tag of USD 129,99. converted to EUR 86,06. no. more. words.  
(Version 11.6.2)

JIMW  A user response to some of your questions:

The companies headquarters is in Belgium. They have a support and sales office in Florida. The U.S. head-count seems very limited and overworked. They seem to actually try hard and try to do the right thing but they work under a European Management Team that seems to be clueless about good customer service, and solid products. They do provide complete contact and location info on their website and have attended MacWorld for the last several years. In my opinion the hoops that one must go through to register or reregister the product is ridiculous. The product has been around now for quite a while, and has been somewhat improved over the years. It is cross-platform as as such the GUI tends to suffer. Unfortunately it seems to be the only scan-to-text option out there right now for OS X. The alternative is to type it in by hand or use a speech to text product, such as iListen which from an accuracy perspective is little better and sometimes worse. Recognition quality does improve a bit over time and with training but that takes a lot of additional time to initially perform as well.

The bottom line is that if you need to use a product like this it sort of works but I 'wouldn't write home about it' regarding its performance, GUI, or support. It is better than nothing when the alternative is nothing or next to nothing - i.e.retype it in or a speech to text product.   
(Version 11.6.2)

IMHO  I bought this software some years ago, after using Omnipage, that became too expensive for me to buy a new version for OSX. ReadIris turned out to be almost useless. I sent an e-mail to the developers and after some time and a new e-mail they sent me an update - that turned out te be as worthless as the version I bought. Even with a very clean text ReadIris gave as a result a text with many errors and in several font types and font measures.

Be warned!  
(Version 11.6.2)

WIZZARD1  THis is not an updater but a link to download not a demo version but four flash movies on the production.

In software update never works or crashes. They told me that this would be fixed.

Have to constantly send emails and waste my time to get updates which the program should provide.

The person at the other end of the support email is just one person with no power and no management to discuss with either as they seem to be in a different country. the support person does only what he is able or mandated to do. I have tried to escalate but it is no help as it seems to be only him.

While it is excellent software and it works for the most part, the support is neither timely or helpful especially when trying to get updates. The policy seems that even a minor revision can be chargable.

Sorry you should not have to fight for the updates and they also should not be chargable.

Does anyone actually know where the developers or main company live or a method to get ahold of them.

All I get is promises ...  
(Version 11.6.2)

DARREN GRANT  I would advise anyone to think hard before buying any software from these merchants. I purchased this software on the understanding that it was a Universal application but what was delivered was PowerPC only.

The "check for updates" feature did nothing, stating no updates. I had to contact them and ask for an update that they would not send unless I faxed them a copy of my receipt, What a way to treat customers, treat them like thieves while non paying users simply download a torrent.

Absolutely no concept of what customer service is, only interested in taking your money. Steer clear.  
(Version 11.0.3)

PRES!  It's awright...

ReadIris has done a journeyman (i.e. not spectacular) job for me except for a few issues.

First, the 50 page limit is a pain, and they send too many promotional emails. But given that...

Its ability to learn and improve seems to be poor. If I partially OCR a document and correct it as it goes, then abort it and start again, then it surely remembers the corrections I made -- basically I only have to continue my corrections from the point where I stopped. However, this learning appears to be so supremely specific to the particular OCR'ed glyphs that even if I save that dictionary and reload it after opening different pages from the same scanned PDF, it's as though ReadIris has had no training whatsoever. e.g. it again confirms with me what the numeral "3" is, and similar basic questions that I've definitely covered before.

It is apparently pathologically unsure of its recognition of punctuation. I have been asked to confirm quotation marks, dashes, periods, semicolons, colons, and parentheses more times than I can count. And even though it's correct 90% of the time, no matter how many times I say "Yup, you got that right," it still asks me 300 more times. I'd much rather correct the occasional mistake when I proofread the document after the fact, than waste my time having to go through this confirmation step endlessly.

If you load a document, OCR it (theoretically training ReadIris), then load a second document, your previous correction dictionary apparently just disappears and it starts from scratch. Of course that's not much of a loss, given my comment above, but that's a pretty nasty user experience.

I won't even mention that it just crashed on me today on the final page of an OCR job (oh wait, I just did... Never mind!)

Basically if I hadn't already bought it (over a year ago), I'd spend the $70 to upgrade my DevonThink Pro to DevonThink Pro Office to get the same (IIRC) OCR engine with a less-painful interface, by a company that actually speaks to its users.  
(Version 11.0.3)

SGHUEBNER  The download link only leads to an updater which is just plain silly if one wants to try out this. Also the links on their site doesn't seem to guide one to a real demo-version. Not the best impression, to say the least. After all, given the commens above, it's probably better not to try this piece of software... :-)  
(Version 11.0.3)

AIKOUSHA  This is one of the few programs I didn't test drive from macupdate or versiontracker. I actually convinced a mac salesperson to let me try this on one of the G5s in-store. After all, they had a full setup with scanner, digital photography, and a HDTV -- everything. Installation was initially scary, as it looked more like i had accidentally installed a bootleg with virus. But after being assured they didn't care (the unit was protected), we installed and input the password. Seemed simple enough. Had a few basic issues, like reinstalling the TWAIN driver from the scanner's site.

The the problems came. Whoever designed the menu system and the language (words) used, seriously need to go back to school and to learn about precise terminology. It was very confusing, and took us both quite a lot of time to figure out what was meant by certain terms. And on top of that the "search" function in the "help" file doesn't search, it provides an "index." Which is pretty useless if you're tyring to find an explanation for some terms, or trying to find out why something isn't working the way it should be under a Mac interface.

After all that, I scanned 5 pages from a paperback I had on me... very simple document. It managed to outline the text, but in weird shapes, when a simple rectangle would definitely do (there is no option to force this, so it goes about making weird "polygons"). Attempting to "reshape" the polygons had the whole giant shape misaligning everywhere, it crawled about like some form of amoeba. Definitely bad. We eventually let it just do it's thing, and clicked analyze. (You can "redraw" the analysis boundaries, but it requires a lot of mouse-hopping to get to make a simple rectangle, which is contrary to the simplicity the automation is supposed to provide).

A very simple font was used (Goudy Old Style), with a few exceptions (like diagonal hyphens), the text should have been simplicity itself to recognize. Nope, the self-learning process couldn't seem to recognize double and single quotes properly, and even after being forced to learn several of them, it started turning them into uppercase "H"s. Not only that, it kept changing double lowercase "o"s into double zeroes. It couldn't recognize periods, colons and semicolons, and when there was noise between lines, instead of ignoring that, it dwelled on it making weird guesses. The worst was when it started splitting double quotes into singles before we finished the five pages (and it did this with a couple of other characters, like a "u". There's no way to tell the program it's totally screwed up, so you have to either "delete" the supposed character, or stick something in under "don't learn". Either way, you have to go back later and correct it in the output.... if you can get that far.

In the middle of the fourth page, the program crashed. It lost all the settings and the "learning."

We tried it twice more, once with TWAIN, and then with pre-scanned pages. Crashed each time, before we finished, but in different places.

Finally tried just a single page. It managed to get through that, but with a large number of errors, which meant we had to go back and "proofread" it. I could have hand typed the page three times by the time we got through the proofing.

On top of that, we found that there is no way to keep paragraph formatting (as opposed to single lines with a hard-CR at the end), and maintain things like line ending hyphens... it removes them whether or not they are used normally or as a line/word split.

I was kind of hoping this might be my answer to a program that could OCR Kanji, but with this performance, there's no way I would attempt it.

Besides, the version in the store was apparently from 2005 even though it was brand new there. An 11.5 version is out but I don't see it here. However, if you go to their site, you think you'll get a test download, but it does nothing but take your e-mail addy and then send you to more advertising. There's no tech specs on the asian upgrade, and attempts to find any, just send you back to the "test" version page, which only has "video" clips.

The salesman (cute guy, BTW, not a total waste of time) let me take the software home to test with a deposit. It performed even worse on my G4.

The company claims it is the best Mac OCR program... Of course it is, it's apparently the only one with a GUI frontend that I can find.

What really blows my mind is that since Omnipage on the Mac died a while back, pattern recognition has gotten much more sophisticated, but I don't see it here, at all. One would think that the program would be able to take a font file and read it's metrics and splines in order to train itself, making it a whiz to use, if you have the typeface. No, it's still working on making rough guesses (and bad ones at that).

This program also requires you to have a TWAIN interface... It doesn't have any real scanner interface of it's own, so if you have an old scanner (read OS9 or earlier) you can't use it, TWAIN doesn't work across the "Classic" barrier.

This program performed horribly, in all taking more than 5 times on average to do the work, than it would require me, or even an average secretary to type the work by hand. Kind of pointless and a waste of time and money. I'm hoping I can find a used copy of OmniPage Pro X... it worked better when I was using it on my old Mac IIfx. Though that won't solve my issue in trying to find a kanji OCR program.

I took the software back, and I hope the sales-guy tells the store to return the stock.

I am so glad I didn't buy this stuff on-line, I'd be out $400, and may not have even gotten actual software, based on my and other's experience with the company. (This is why I love MacUpdate)

Maybe by version 20, this might be working well enough to seriously use. Errrr. Maybe not, just checked the date on this "update", Oct 31 2005... Happy Halloween... guess I found the monster.  
(Version 11.0.3)

B2E  While visiting relatives in the USA, my brother took me to Fry's where I found ReadIris 11.0.3 for $130 and a $30 rebate. I decided to buy it and give him the rebate. Fry's has no Internet access so I could do nothing but ask 3 sales people questions and consider the purchase based upon what was written on the box. My brother had used a limited trial version and was generally encouraging about it. However, my experience with both the software and the company has been very unsatisfactory.

The first unfortunate development was when I got back to my home in Japan and installed the software. It didn't work. I've been using computers -- first Japanese UNIX boxes, then Windows, then Macs -- for over 15 years. I am not an amatur and took all precautions in the installation and troubleshoting. I scoured the ReadIris site for clues and found it all bluster and noise with no useful information or help. I tried the program menu online update checker and it mentioned an incompatability with some Epson scanner drivers and showed an update file to fix it. I have an Epson scanner. I downloaded the update file (4kb) and immidiately noticed it was a very minor update (11.0.3 -> 11.0.4 ) and the file was unusually small. I tried to extract the archive with the newest version of Stuffit which reported, "Unknown file format." I retried the download and extract sequence several times with the same results. I sent the file to friends who all had the same experience with it. This file is _not_ available on the ReadIris website. Dead end. At the website, I located their "Office product contact form" and notified the company about the problem. To date, there has been no response.

The spiel on the software box makes much of all the languages the OCR can read and turn into editable text, including this: "Recognized alphabets:

Readiris recognizes all American and European character sets, including the Baltic, Central-European, Greek and Cyrillic ("Russian") alphabets. Optionally, you can read Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Korean." I use Japanese in my business and would love to have the ability to scan kanji text for editing. When I asked the sales people at Fry's to read the box and tell me if this ability is included in the box or is an additional feature which must be purchased, they said they didn't know, but believed this was an optional install on the installer disc, in the box. It isn't. Later, while at the ReaIris site, I looked into it and found only repeats of this claim, but no information on how to activate this feature, or a patch I could buy at a reasonable price. Every attempt to follow relevant links led me to "Readiris Pro 11 Asian for MAC" available for a mere $200 (down from $240). Another dead end.

After about a week I discovered an independent software update site listing a significant update to this program, Version 11.5.6, released December 13, 2005. I bought version 11.0.3 new in the box right off the shelf at Fry's at the end of July, 2007. That means the newer version was on the market for a full year and 8 months when I bought the older version. Following the "Update now" link at this site simply sent me back to the ReadIris website, where I searched for some kind of reasonable solution to this new dilemma. Again: obscurity, bluster and noise; not even a clue as to what version of the software was now being sold onsite. The only option on offer is to buy the unidentified version 11 (point-something?) for -- yes, $130 (down from $180). No way. I sent another message to the company asking about this. I am still waiting for a reply. I wish I'd had the opportunity to check the internet before buying this software as I found a number of very negative reviews posted while poking around there.

After about another week (I do have a business to tend to so this is a weekend thing), I began searching the web more widely and seriously for information about this program and the company. Google turned up a lot of information, mostly negative, about the software. Even professional reviewers who clearly were trying hard to say nice things ended up giving the software a lukewarm review and the company support a very negative review. I began to worry that I had thrown my money down a rabbit hole, but persevered over yet another week, compiling a fairly large amount of information on this company and the software. I cannot give this to you here, but can simply recommend you look around the net for reports yourself. There is a lot out there, particularly if you read between the lines.

Finally, I checked the Epson site for an update to their scanner driver and found one. After applying this update I was able to launch the ReadIris program for the very first time. In about one launch out of 4 it says it is incompatible with the scanner driver. I simply relaunch it. OCR of simple page layouts seems good so far. It's fast and the accuracy of words is good in English. But, when the layout gets a bit complicated, a lot of layout editing is required. The ability to freely select text fields, which might solve the layout problem, is not included. It crashes a lot. The crashes seem to happen when it is under its heaviest load crunching scanned pages. Yesterday I lost five pages that were in the program memory and which had to be rescanned. With a 2 GHz PowerPC G5 Mac and a full gigabyte of memory installed, I have not yet been successful at processing more than 5 pages at a time. I have yet to look more deeply into the crashing problem with other software to check memory usage and so on.

To date (September 21, 2007) the ReadIris company has not replied to 3 messages sent by me via their website cordially informing them of the various problems and questions outlined above. In addition, my brother, feeling a bit responsible for saying good things about the trial version he had used, sent a few messages to the company and has been trying to get them on the phone. He has yet to talk to anyone. Finally, the website seems designed more to promote and sell product than to inform and serve customers; it seems actually intended to _obscure_ vital information behind a loud wall of promotion and bluster. I advise everyone to steer well clear of this company and its products.  
(Version 11.0.3)

HOLYPOLY  Readiris 11.5.16 (not .5.6) has been released.

I had to contact the company by email to get the update, as the built-in updater doesn't work properly beyond 11.0.3 itself in my own experience.

After I mailed in the receipt for the original purchase, I was sent a download link for the newest version for FREE within 1 hour. Good service!

No clue of what exactly is new in 11.5.16, though.  
(Version 11.0.3)

MEETOO  After filtering out the obligatory hype that all software companies make about their own products (best Mac program ever written etc. etc.), ReadIris HAS received a lot of very favourable independent Mac magazine reviews.

And given the unbelievable asking price of alternatives like 'Omnipage Pro'(AU$1,079) - which apparently doesn't do anything that ReadIris can't do just as well - it may be the only realistic OCR solution for "the rest of us".

However, one thing puzzles me about this company... Why spend so much time and effort developing a product (with the presumed end-goal of selling to make money), then totally stonewall your potential customers when they come calling? Who knows, perhaps it's a traditional Belgian custom and actually an honourable compliment, like being offered sheeps eyeballs for lunch by Beduin tribesmen.

After filling in the obligatory request form at their site, I was told that a download link for their demo had now been sent to my email address. No it hadn't! So I tried again... and again... Still nothing. I then fired off an email to their support address politely requesting the missing download link, but (yup, you guessed it)... Total silence!!

I'd love to test drive this app, send 'em my money if it lives up to their claims, and perhaps indirectly even help their sales by posting a favourable review, but at this rate I'll be long dead before that day ever dawns.

From other comments I've come across in the meantime, they seem to be NOTORIOUS for stonewalling, so I also worry about any after-sales support I might need in future.

IRIS needs to get its act together, and perhaps even employ someone specifically to answer customer correspondence, instead of leaving it to the janitor or anyone else who just happens to take a coffee break in front of a computer terminal and stumble upon your desperate requests for help by pure chance.  
(Version 11.0.3)

ART KHACHATRIAN  The application might seem somewhat obscure (as are, in lesser or greater degree, all of the OCR programs or PDF Editors I have come across so far), but nevertheless rather user-friendly. Has better interface than the Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader. Most importantly, in contrast to many a PDF Editor, this one does work as expected. See the Help file for more information.

I am very pleased, indeed. Thanks to the IrisReader team!

Why 4 hier and there, rather than absolute 5 (in ranking)? - Because I haven't yet had the opportunity to extensively test the software, but to merely correct a .pdf or two (in the process sending it to a word processor for revisions); with the results hereof I am most delighted . It might take a bit longer for me to completely dismiss the benefit of a doubt, but to the extent of my knowledge at the moment I highly recommend it.   
(Version 11.0.3)

HOLYPOLY  A minor update (11.0.3 -> 11.0.4) has been released, which enhances compatibility with certain scanner models (namely, Epson). It seems to be accessible only from inside the app itself, nothing to be found at I.R.I.S.' website.  
(Version 11.0.3)

MILANE  No problem with this updater.

It asks you again your serial number at the first launch.  
(Version 11.0.3)

JACK W  I purchased Readiris Pro 9 in May 2004. there have been no updates in the interim period. I found the OCR capabilities to be quite poor.

Is there going to be an update for current owners? It sure would be nice to see improvements in OCR capabilities.

I don't even use it now. I get excellent results from Textbridge Pro, but I have to run it in Classic mode.

It would be nice to have a good OCR program that runs in OS X.  
(Version 9.0r17)

PAUL  Well, it is better than a stick in the eye, but it lacks some important features like printing!!!

One of the main things I used Omnipage for was scanning a bunch of documents and then printing them to PDF. While ReadIris is user friendly, it is a little strange.  
(Version 9.0r17)

GWINT  I was pretty impressed. It did a good job of differentiating images and noise from text, the OCR quality wasn't quite as good as I remember OmniPage being, but it was close. UI is decent although not great. Nice feature set. Definitely a good buy for the price.  
(Version 9.0)

NOT YET  I wanted to like this software, but it has waaaay too many quirks about it. To start with it does not hold a candle to OmniPage, that is until OmniPage got stupid on the Mac world and imploded. The character recognition is fair as best. We need an excellent solution for OCR in the Mac world, but his is not it--at least not yet.  
(Version 9.0)

GORDON T. WELCH  I don't know what the case is with other reviewers. I bought a Canon scanner and didn't like OmniPage, so I downloaded the demo of ReadIris and it works perfectly. So much easier, more accurate - and it saves straight to PDF, eliminating a few steps in the process.

I'm very impressed and will be purchasing ReadIris.

(The only trick was placing the scanner driver in the Root Application Support folder - it was detected and works perfectly!)  
(Version 9.0)

YAZARIM  I am a registered user and must say that this is not an easy software to use. BTW, do not try to open it from DragThing or something similar: it wont. You must open it from the finder. What is really ridicolously complicated is how to scan a multi-page document when you do not have a document feeder on your scanner (who has it?) And what if the multipage document is a book? Where do I feed it?

Why have I to create and recreate and recreate again a document, with the risk of forgetting to select the option "append" and of destroying all the work already done? Why the single pages do not simply stay there until I decide to save them merging them in one single document? This would be really useful. For the rest, after more than one year I am beginning to learn how to use this very complicated thing. (Must admit that I do not use it much, though.)  
(Version 9.0)

IS THIS FOR REAL?  WOW! What a mess of hooey! I couldn't even get it to start-up as it kept asking for four fonts choices and would not let me choose them. It this made for the Mac of another planet? Even though I dread OmniPage Page Pro and it's now a relic...it still works.  
(Version 9.0)

ANONYMOUS  Hmm. I wanted to make sure that I could use this with my scanner after seeing some of the other comments here, so went to the I.R.I.S. website and tried to access their .PDF's (which I'll assume were created with their own software) for FAQs, brochures, etc. Safari won't open any of them. Not a good sign.  
(Version 9.0)

ANONYMOUS  Readiris Pro 9 not work with ScanWizard or VueScan!!

When emailed, the Readiris Pro 9 folks took weeks to get back with the advice that I should speak to ScanWizard and VueScan, this was not there problem !?! A simple posting of scanners they do work with instead of a, "most" would be more honest. I am out almost £100 and who cares , not

Readiris Pro 9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   
(Version 9.0)

SIG   Excellent accuracy and no problems with the Icelandic alphabet  
(Version 9.0)

SIG  Strangely, this demo says it has expired. My clock IS set accurately.  
(Version 9.0)