Readiris Pro 7.0

by I.R.I.S.

Product Details

Product Manual [3.44mb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005YTQT
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 21, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,055 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

With the Readiris Pro series, I.R.I.S. has taken a quick, accurate OCR program and given it the ability to detect page layout and reproduce images. Readiris Pro 7.0 does a decent job at what it's supposed to do, but it's not without a fair number of flaws and flukes.

The problems for us started with installation. Readiris Pro didn't recognize our Microtek flatbed scanner when we went through the otherwise handy setup wizard. It did, however, when we asked it to check out our TWAIN drivers through the File menu. When we were further plagued, this time by error dialogs, we were told by I.R.I.S. tech support that XP users need a patch, which is available through the cluttered I.R.I.S. Web site.

Readiris Pro, like any OCR program, scans a document and then imports it into a word processing program such as Microsoft Word. The program scans text-only documents with alarming accuracy, and its error count is reduced by an interactive learning feature that verifies letters it doesn't understand. It faithfully recreates double-column text, and even text scattered in little blocks, newspaper style.

Readiris Pro is supposed to be able to grab pages with images and recreate them with similar ease, but it had trouble with some of the pages we scanned. Sometimes it saw parts of logos--which should come through as graphics--as letters. Stylized lettering gave the program recognition trouble. In one case, it saw a table as a graphic, making it impossible to edit in Word.

Through its problems, Readiris Pro is a workable OCR program, but it's worth your time to check out reviews of its competition. --Joel Durham, Jr.

Amazon.com Product Description

Readiris Pro 7 is OCR software that converts your everyday printed documents, such as letters, faxes, magazine articles, and columns in a newspaper, into editable text files with a high rate of recognition accuracy. Readiris Pro 7 features a number of easy-to-use tools to convert documents into electronic files, including PDF files. The new OCR engine in version 7 increases the OCR accuracy by 40 percent above Readiris Pro 6.

It features automatic detection of font mode, improved recognition of light text with broken characters, improved recognition of dark text with touching characters, improved recognition of text with speckles, and improved recognition of underlined text. Readiris Pro 7 recognizes documents captured with digital cameras, documents scanned in color, including text on color backgrounds, and saves pictures in color. It detects the orientation of the scanned document and automatically rotates the page for the best OCR accuracy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars disappointed - both in product and their support., August 26, 2005

By 

DISenchanted (NM USA -Land of DISenchantment) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Readiris Pro 7.0 (CD-ROM)

Waited almost a year to get this product at a sale price.

When I got it, the joy of finally acquiring it very quickly passed.
The first problem occured during setup.
You are asked to choose your scanner "brand" from a drop-down menu list.
They had tons of choices for:
- HP
- Agfa
- Black widow ?

As for the rest of the scanner world:
1 choice for umax
1 for microtek
1 for Niscan
1 for Canon
1 for Silitek

As for VISIONEER; NOTHING! Zilch! Zip! Nada !

Unbelievable!

One of the most marketed scanners in office stores or online, and readiris can't see fit to include even ONE driver choice;
not even a "generic visioneer" choice.

I figured they had at least added a "patch" or such at their website. NOPE!
Nothing over at their website [support section] either.

I have owned like 4 visioneers over the past 6-8 years.
And 1 canon and 1 umax.
The point being, Visioneer is EVERYWHERE !

They might not be the world's BEST scanners, but they are a large part of the "middle-of-the-road" consumer marketplace.

Perhaps IF readiris was some sort of "worldclass" product,
then maybe [a BIG maybe], they could get away with such a "primadonna" sort of attitude.

But common-sense business practice says to "market to the masses". [Anyone that doesn't better have such a whiz-bang product that they are backlogged with orders and customers are beating down their doors. I doubt Readiris has either such situation].

Anyway, the evaluation :

1. driver choices - poor.
After choosing a "twain-generic" type of scanner choice, I was able to scan my test page.

2. OCR ability - The OCR capabilities was one of the lamest I have ever used.

I even chose a different scanner "type" or driver, but no improvement.


As for OCR, I have done better with the "bundled" software that came with any of my scanners. Meaning, those "Limited editions" that the scanner companies include. [not full versions, normally].

3. rating of packages I've personally tested:

I have used a lot of different packages and here is my list of grades, from worst to best:
1. worst - readiris 7 pro

2. middle of the road -
"bundled softwares" - that come with scanners

3. Above average - omnipage, Textbridge, Pagemanager

4. Very good - the Adobe Elements 2.0 bundle that came with my Canon Lide scanner.

5. 5-star favorite.

ABBYY Finereader Pro Version 5
I used only the older version 5 pro, so far.

WOW ! I was blown away by the accuracy of OCR.
It even beat out omnipage 8 and 9.
Co-workers/friends that saw my finereader pro vs their omnipage were equally impressed. They immediately asked their supervisors to get it for them. Luckily ABBYY offers "competitive upgrades", from ANY brand OCR software to finereader pro. [ABBYY finereader is VERY liberal in competitive upgrades. ANY OCR product qualifies. Now THAT is A+ customer service and marketing].

Maybe Readiris will improve, but version 7 was a dismal showing.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Value for Home User, July 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Readiris Pro 7.0 (CD-ROM)

Readiris Pro 7 installed smoothly into Windows XP Home Edition on a Clean Boot, as recommended in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 310353. It interfaces with many, possibly most, common word-processing software. The scanning and interpretation process is quick at the recommended 300 dpi level (my Epson scanner is on a USB 2.0 port.) Initial, out-of-box, accuracy seems to improve by tweaking the contrast and brightness options and hopefully will continue to improve by using the "learn" option of interpreting data which it questions. At Amazon's current price it's a good value for a home user!