ABBYY FineReader Express8.5.676060

I agree with the other reviews that this product has a minimalist interface but a robust OCR engine. The issue I had with it is, using the demo, the accuracy was very impressive. Okay, trial period over, time to buy; I paid online, downloaded the paid version (Aug. 28), and upon installing it, got a warning "the disk you chose contains a newer version of the software you are installing. Installing this software will replace a newer version with an older version." Since the trial version would no longer work, I went ahead with the installation (I should have hesitated as in the Installer, a page entitled Important Information only listed up to OS X 10.5, no mention of 10.6). I then launched the application, and proceeded to do a test scan on a book that had worked fine on the trial version. As with the trial, the scan proceeded and put up a window "Document Conversion" showing a progress bar that ended with the notation "Finished. 1 of 1 pages processed" But, the button "Finished" was greyed out so the process essentially ended there; All other menus were greyed out, so I had to quit the program via the Mac utility Activity Monitor. I didn't think to make a note of the trial version, but the (broken) paid version was 8.0.0.3578 Part: 718/4 (from the app's About menu, as a Finder Get Info does not include version information). On the next launch I thought to see if there was an entry for checking for updates, and there was. I downloaded the update, it indicated it was compatible with OS X 10.6 and indeed it did not hang at the "Document Conversion" window; it was now version 8.0.0.3891 Part 718/5. I was then able to compare scanning/ocr'ing the same page, same book as I had done with the trial version, and noted that there were a few more errors with the full version. It seems that the trial version was better at automatically de-skewing the page. The full version also felt slower than the trial one. I wrote ABBYY about this, they did respond and admit the following "FineReader Express for Mac trial was created after the full version of the software was, because there was a high demand from users requesting a trial version, therefore, when you install the full version it shows that is a [sic] older version of the software, but you are running the latest full version of the software." Conclusion: the full version that one pays for, even after using the Update feature, is older and slightly less accurate than the more impressive trial version. I'll continue to check the Update feature (can't set it to auto check, and the Preferences menu entry for all versions [trial, old full and updated full] were greyed out and in fact when reading the manual no mention of Preferences at all. Today, Sept. 6th, I did the manual update check and was advised that "There are no updates currently available for ABBYY FineReader Express Edition for Mac Build 3891." In sum, if you're impressed by the trial version, you may run into some install/use problems with the initial paid download and even a working update is less robust than the trial. Still, after trying 3 other OCR packages, ABBYY FineReader Express for Mac still has a strong edge for accuracy.

ABBYY has chosen to cripple the mac version. It is far from being feature parity with the Windows version. The key feature to preview/edit a page before exporting it is not there; which any OCR tool worth its cost has. They are cynical towards the mac market: Over charging for the upgrade, slow for updates and bug fixes, and poor tech support. Good luck getting them to do a demo version. Like Nuance, they seem to dislike the mac market. They will milk the upgrade cost as long and as much as they can. I wasted my money on the upgrade. As for the ocr engine, oh, its very good, just the Gui driving it sucks.

I just downloaded and installed this hoping to try it out as a TRIAL version. It asked for a KEY Code which I don't have. SO how am I supposed to try it to see if I want to purchase it?

Icon seems to be missing in this particular version, neither shows in the Finder or Show Info... window. ???

@Abbyy The Download Link: http://www.abbyydownloads.com/FRMACLion/ABBYY_FineReader_Express.dmg Shows this: 404 - File or directory not found. The resource you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. Can you please fix this?

I tried the demo and it didn't do Hebrew text like Prizmo 2 I also tried old english Gothic View Online: tinyurl.com/KJV1611Scripture It couldn't handle it, so for basic OCR Vuescan or Prizmo does the job. I also want a scanner to have salt n pepper removal like Corel PhotoPaint, or digital ice scanning technology, this appears to be more of an OCR only app, so it didn't really handle my needs

I switched from IRIS to Abbyy and I am very satiefied with it. The results are great. I use a Epson 4870 Photo Scanner. Much better could the service, esp. the upgrades are to complex to get and to install

I'm sure it's a great program, but how do I enter my license code to unlock it? The prefernces are grayed out and there is no choice that does not launch a website???

I got terrible results from this app trying to convert a picture to text. The result was not remotely usable. I had much better results from ABBYY screenshot reader (Windows) or by importing the same photo into MS OneNote (Windows) then converting it to text.

Can someone tell me what's the difference between ABBYY FineReader Express and ABBYY FineReader for ScanSnap (the one the comes with the Fuijitsu scanner)? Is it only that the one that comes with the scanner is tied to what you scanned with that Fuijitsu, or are there other feature differences?

I currently use the version of FineReader that came with my Fujitsu scanner. It works great, however, it does not allow me to process any images that were not created by the scanner and I would like to process documents I create with my iPhone camera. Does FineReader Express have AppleScript/Automator support that would allow me to process any files that are dropped in a folder by enabling folder actions?

Does ABBYY FineReader Express support Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion?

Purchased the software and registered on the web site. I'm still being told that I'm using the demo version and asked to purchase it....

After being asked to pay yet another upgrade fee by Readiris, I decided to trial ABBYY. The most important feature for me, is the the accuracy, I can use the results without having to edit and double check. That is not something I could ever do with Readiris Pro. I have had several versions of Readiris, including the server version for watched folders - but if the accuracy is lacking - it defeats the purpose. The files need to be properly searchable. I have found interesting ways to incorporate ABBYY into our workflow using applescript and automator. ABBYY seems to be able to handle documents with multiple languages as well, so documents with foreign place names are handled correctly. Something Readiris never managed for me. I am happy that Readiris wanted an upgrade fee because it forced me to reconsider my options - it has been a big step forward.

Build 718/10 (from ABBYY's web site): The update includes the following enhancements: Support for ICA-compatible scanners and MFPs New scanning interface for ICA-compatible devices Some interface and usability improvements

Where is the 8.01.6996 update???

Just tried the trial hit it with some docs. It was almost perfect! Will buy. Simple and easy. Stable and fast. I did not even use 300dpi on it, it still was perfect just warned 300dpi may give better results but it worked great on 150dpi docs. A star off as it needs some more features and toolbar buttons etc but the OCR engine is 5 stars. I also like read iris but since I can't get a trial they can go spin. It also costs more for very little extras. ABBYY is the one for Mac users for sure. The software feels Mac the others feel they are trying to be Mac.

can this app. scan & ocr lating and greek texts? other languages/alphabets?

I agree with the other reviews that this product has a minimalist interface but a robust OCR engine. The issue I had with it is, using the demo, the accuracy was very impressive. Okay, trial period over, time to buy; I paid online, downloaded the paid version (Aug. 28), and upon installing it, got a warning "the disk you chose contains a newer version of the software you are installing. Installing this software will replace a newer version with an older version." Since the trial version would no longer work, I went ahead with the installation (I should have hesitated as in the Installer, a page entitled Important Information only listed up to OS X 10.5, no mention of 10.6). I then launched the application, and proceeded to do a test scan on a book that had worked fine on the trial version. As with the trial, the scan proceeded and put up a window "Document Conversion" showing a progress bar that ended with the notation "Finished. 1 of 1 pages processed" But, the button "Finished" was greyed out so the process essentially ended there; All other menus were greyed out, so I had to quit the program via the Mac utility Activity Monitor. I didn't think to make a note of the trial version, but the (broken) paid version was 8.0.0.3578 Part: 718/4 (from the app's About menu, as a Finder Get Info does not include version information). On the next launch I thought to see if there was an entry for checking for updates, and there was. I downloaded the update, it indicated it was compatible with OS X 10.6 and indeed it did not hang at the "Document Conversion" window; it was now version 8.0.0.3891 Part 718/5. I was then able to compare scanning/ocr'ing the same page, same book as I had done with the trial version, and noted that there were a few more errors with the full version. It seems that the trial version was better at automatically de-skewing the page. The full version also felt slower than the trial one. I wrote ABBYY about this, they did respond and admit the following "FineReader Express for Mac trial was created after the full version of the software was, because there was a high demand from users requesting a trial version, therefore, when you install the full version it shows that is a [sic] older version of the software, but you are running the latest full version of the software." Conclusion: the full version that one pays for, even after using the Update feature, is older and slightly less accurate than the more impressive trial version. I'll continue to check the Update feature (can't set it to auto check, and the Preferences menu entry for all versions [trial, old full and updated full] were greyed out and in fact when reading the manual no mention of Preferences at all. Today, Sept. 6th, I did the manual update check and was advised that "There are no updates currently available for ABBYY FineReader Express Edition for Mac Build 3891." In sum, if you're impressed by the trial version, you may run into some install/use problems with the initial paid download and even a working update is less robust than the trial. Still, after trying 3 other OCR packages, ABBYY FineReader Express for Mac still has a strong edge for accuracy.

I read about a trial version of ABBY FineReader, but on their site I found only a trial version for Windows. Sent an e-mail to ABBY to find out how to download a trial version for the Mac. After 25 days I'm still waiting for an answer ...

is this working on snow leopard?

a version of this package comes bundled with fujitsu scansnap printers. i have been using it for a while. this newer product is for twain printers and digital cameras.--it can convert png files to pdf. i cannot therefore use it with my scanner and there is no upgrade path anyway. when i bought my scanner 7 weeks ago i was promised a mail-in rebate upgrade to a full version of an additional scanning package from another company-- this hasn't happenned yet so i look forward to finding out the full capabilities of the fujitsu scanner. but consideringing that abyy is selling a software now that is fairly comparable to my bundled software, you ought consider buying a bundled scanner instead of paying abyy the hundred dollars they want for this program. there is nothing at the abyy site about version history or downloadable files so it is a bit hard to figure out. what most impresses me about abyy is all the languages the ocr engine can handle and that these can be managed in preferences. I do wish i could use it for chess desktop publishing but that doesn't seem to be a choice. more's the pity because this is a russian product and if the russians wont support chess fonts in an ocr engine then who will? i don't think i will ever need to import pdfs into excel spreadsheets in languages like zapotec and turkmeni but these stupid options are available to me.