ABBYY FineReader PDF

I've tried a wide range of OCR packages over the years in different contexts but Abbyy FineReader Pro (currently version 12) remains my favourite. The critical features of OCR software are accuracy, speed/workflow and ease of use. One may add to that the ability to export the recognised data in variety of formats, with different amounts of information (e.g. text only, text with font and alignment information, full layout). For some people (such as myself), the ability to recognise other writing systems is also important.

On all those fronts, Abbyy FineReader is at least a contender for top position. The other possible is Nuance OmniPage which is also very good, but in my opinion FineReader beats it in a number of importrant areas:

• Accuracy: in my experience (and these things do boil down to individual experience since people scan different documents), FineReader is more accurate. Not only is it a little more accurate in general, but its accuracy can be enhanced by training, the use of special character sets etc.
• Support for other languages: I've scanned in FineReader in various European languages as well as in Hebrew and Yiddish. It does not specifically support Yiddish, but it's possible to add the few additional characters to the set and scan them. Abbyy is a Russian company, so I'm sure their support for Cyrillic-based writing is, if anything, even better, and other writing systems from the former Soviet Union are also supported (er. Armenian, Georgian).
• Layout recognition: admittedly, I've not used the most recent versions of OmniPage, but last time I did a comparison, Abbyy's software was superior, and to this date it's layout recognition is excellent.
• Ease of use and workflow: It's difficult to judge this one, but FineReader is very logical, and generally guides you through the task. It's also possible to save templates of various parts of the OCR process (training information, character sets, dictionaries, layouts etc) and invoke them as needed, so it definitely gets the thumbs up from me.
• Price: There are a few versions of the software. The light version "Sprint" is bundled with some scanners, and is not bad at all for an effectively-free product. The "Pro" version which I use is usually listed at around £100 (~$130) but I've always been able to wait and buy it for £50-65. At this price, it's considerably cheaper than OmniPage. True the cost is significant, but if the free alternatives fall short on accuracy, language support or any of the other features, this is probably the most cost effective solution, and better than the competition at any price!