Abbyy Finereader New Version 14 OCR Released

[brahman]

Hi everybody,

I was on the lookout for the last year for a new version of Abbyy Finereader.

Judging by their usual release cycle I would have expected it about a year ago, but I guess they got too busy on their mobile apps, which are also quite good.

Well finally it's out, and they jumped from version 12 to 14 due to some countries superstitions .

What is new seems to be mainly PDF editing.

There is also now on top of the corporate an enterprise version. The new "standard" version seems equivalent in functions to the old <= "v12 pro" edition.

Corporate has a "Hot Folder" automation, like for automatic mail scanners, and compare document function. Enterprise ups the corporate Hot Folder limit from 5000 to 10000 docs per month and adds 4 (corporate 2) cpu core ability. Also both have volume licensing agreements.

They don't talk up any big breakthrough in recognition accuracy, but claim even better format retention in this version.

Official asking price for v14 standard is $169 full, $129 upgrade. Usually they allow free upgrades for a few weeks, if you just recently bought version 12.

I like Abbyy Finereader - in my book it's the best available OCR recognition.

Let's wait for some user comments on this new version.

[brahman]

They are still updating their web site, but i have found a bit more of what is new:

Introducing ABBYY FineReader > What's New in ABBYY FineReader

Improved OCR speed and quality
The documents are now processed faster and text is recognized even more accurately.
More of the original formatting is retained as the program now detects graphs and diagrams with greater precision.
New OCR languages added: mathematical symbols (used for recognizing simple one-line formulas) and English transcription symbols.
Creating and converting PDF documents
Improved conversion of PDF documents with a text layer: the program will use the original text layer if available.
ABBYY FineReader can now create PDF documents from office documents such as *.docx, *.xlsx, *.rtf, etc., and combine multiple files into one PDF.
Working with PDF documents
The program now includes a powerful tool for working with PDF documents, which allows you to:
Edit different types of PDF documents (including those that only contain scans) without the need to recognize or convert the entire document.
View PDF documents, search inside PDF documents, and highlight text fragments.
Add comments and notes to PDF documents and reply to other peoples' comments.
Fill out and save PDF forms.
View and edit metadata.
Find and remove sensitive information both in the body text and in the comments, bookmarks, and metadata of a document.
Add Bates numbers to your documents.
Sign your documents with a digital signature.
Comparing documents
You can now compare two versions of the same document, which need not be in the same format. For example, you can compare a text version and an image, a PDF document and a scan, etc.
Batch processing of PDF documents
Create PDF documents from files in various formats.
Batch-process PDF documents: create PDF/A compliant PDF documents, reduce the size of your documents, improve the quality of document images, protect PDF documents with passwords, and permanently delete sensitive information.
We wish to extend our sincere thanks to all users who have contributed their feedback and helped us improve the program. We hope the new combination of powerful OCR and PDF functionality will make ABBYY FineReader even more useful to you.

[Curt]

7117

ABBYY FineReader®ONLINE https://finereaderonline.com/en-us
"Convert now, pay later. For only what you truly use."

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or: "Register and confirm your e-mail address to receive 10 page credits. Each month FineReader Online will grant you up to 5 page credits free of charge. If you need to recognize more pages, please purchase one of the available packs."

[brahman]

Yes that is a good option if you recognize just a few pages a year.

But if you OCR whole books and need fine grained control about the whole process from recognizing to the final output, then the Finereader Software is the best option. Abbyy writes here about some of the differences.

But for the user who does a good deal of OCR but the fine grained control in layout and correction is not needed, there is an even better solution from Abbyy:

The App Abbyy Finescanner *PRO* for Android as well as Iphone (the latter being longer in development is more advanced, the former catching up).

Normal price in play store is $39.95 one time. There IS a Premium *subscription* fee if you just get the separate FREE app. This subscription is *not* needed for unlimited OCR with the Pro version, so better get the Pro app and not the free one. The app description text on play is confusing in this regard, so please take this advice from a *real* user .

Abbyy runs frequent promos when the Pro version can be had for under $10.- with no additional packs or subscriptions to buy.

There is a limit of 100 pages per batch document, but one can easily join the output later, f.e. divide a 250 page book into three batches of less than 100 pages each and upload them and later f.e. join the PDF outputs into one book again.

The app also allows output to epub format for mobile ebooks. I recommend the superb App Moon+ (Rating 4.7, 500,000+ downloads) as by far the best reader for epub as well as PDF with the additional free PDF plug-in IMHO.

[brahman]

I have downloaded the trial version of FR 14 and gave it a spin (400 MB download - Abbyy made the trial version easier to use with no more registration and trial license required - also it is a full featured corporate 4 week trial version now).

Here are my impressions of this test in a short review:

The GUI design is *much* more beautiful, but maybe also slightly less utilitarian, since the new design takes up more space.

Recognition of one particularly difficult test page was a mixed bag: FR 14 had a little bit better layout retention for epub files, but twice as many "Low Confidence Characters" than FR 12 (remember Abbyy skipped version 13).

The main new feature is a complete built-in PDF editor, though this feature can be had relatively inexpensively from a separate program. Main new feature for corporate edition is a unique compare documents function, which could be indeed useful when needed.

I have also OCRed the same test page through their website and my Android Abbyy Finescanner App. Both results were satisfactory for the Doc export, but for epubs Abbyy still has some way to go for complex layouts, even though version 14 seems to be a small improvement in that regard.

Would I upgrade after these tests? I don't think so. But that is quite normal for me, since I rarely upgrade for every version but rather skip one or two of them, unless there really is a killer feature that I need to have.

Nevertheless Abbyy has done a good job and made a good product even better and definitely prettier. If I would have had an earlier version that cannot do epub export (a killer feature that works very well for books with simple layouts like f.e. [science-] fiction) or not own a version of Finereader yet, I would definitely be buying Finereader 14.

[brahman]

Double post deleted 

[Scott_Y]

Abbyy runs frequent promos when the Pro version can be had for under $10.- with no additional packs or subscriptions to buy.

Wow, that would be wonderful! Please post a notice here the next time you spot such an offer. Thanks!

[Curt]

-yes, Scott_Y, that really would be wonderful... 
The $10 offers were of course not for FineReader Pro, but for Screenshot Reader. But you already knew that.

[brahman]

The $10 offers were of course not for FineReader Pro, but for Screenshot Reader.

Actually the below $10 offers are for the Android app Abbyy FineSCANNER PRO, regular price $39.95.

The App Abbyy Finescanner *PRO* for Android as well as Iphone (the latter being longer in development is more advanced, the former catching up).

Normal price in play store is $39.95 one time. There IS a Premium *subscription* fee if you just get the separate FREE app. This subscription is *not* needed for unlimited OCR with the Pro version, so better get the Pro app and not the free one. The app description text on play is confusing in this regard, so please take this advice from a *real* user .

Abbyy runs frequent promos when the Pro version can be had for under $10.- with no additional packs or subscriptions to buy.