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Top 5 OCR Software for Windows

From Jacci Howard Bear,
Your Guide to Desktop Publishing.
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OCR (Optical Charactor Recognition) is the process of turning a picture of words (such as a scan of a typed letter) into an editable document that you can open and use in your desktop publishing software, word processor, or other text editor. Today's OCR software packages contain sophisticated support for multiple languages, PDF and HTML output, and format retention.

1. ScanSoft OmniPage

Comes in Office and Standard editions. Turn scanned documents into editable word processing docs and spreadsheets. Also turns PDF files into editable documents, with formatting in place. Convert documents to PDF. http://www.scansoft.com/omnipage/
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2. ScanSoft TextBridge Pro

It retains page layout, allows output as Web pages, retains color in photos or graphics, has spreadsheet and table recognition, integrates with Microsoft Office, and is Windows XP-certified. This is a low-cost OCR option. http://www.scansoft.com/textbridge/
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3. ABBYY FineReader OCR

Choose from Home edition, Pro, and Corporate editions. Supports over 100 languages, has built-in spell-checker, handles PDF and HTML and retains document formatting. http://www.abbyy.com/finereader7/?param=1605
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4. NewSoft Presto! OCR Pro 4.0

A powerful, but surprisingly inexpensive alternative to some of the better known (and expensive) OCR packages. It reads 52 languages, preserves the page formatting, can scan color and dark backgrounds, has batch processing, and has expert tools for analyzing complicated layouts.

5. TypeReader

This ExperVision software comes in versions suitable for basic and high end use. Compare the features of each version to find the one that suits your needs including grayscale and color images, duplex scanning, multiple languages, and PDF support.
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