Customer Reviews

ScanSoft PaperPort 11 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(44)

 

 

First, let me be specific, I am reviewing Paperport 11, not Paperport Pro. Why do I think Paperport 11 is a scam? Because it's like a demo version of Paperport Pro (which is the full product). The use of this non-pro version is super limited.

Problems:
1) I can't create a new scanner profiles (I am limited to the 4 they supplied initially) for scanning.
2) They claim to support most scanners, but unless yours is a popular scanner, it's treated just as a generic plain paperport scanner. Nothing special.
3) I bought the product hoping it can create searchable PDF files so I can use my desktop search engine (like google desktop) to search my scanned documents. No such thing! To do it, you have to: a) buy Paperport 11 Pro, b) buy OmniPage (I presume). Which totals more than 300 bucks!!!
4) Very very limited customer support. You have ONE free technical support call (which I used up during installation because the installer crashed my system). After that, it's 20 bucks per phone call. There is no free email support. The first and every message you send them will cost 10 bucks each. What a scam: crash the user's computer upon installation, force them to call you so they burn up their "free" support. After that, any questions you have will cost you $$$!

I so want to return this product, but I already mailed in the UPC code for the rebate so I cannot return the product anymore. Another trap!!! Unbelievable!!!

Final words: STAY AWAY!!! I will never buy anything from Nuance, EVER!

My experience is atypical of the majority so I am unsure the value that my review will add, but here goes:

I purchased a Brother MFC-5840CN printer because it is network capable ... an absolute requirement for my home network that has linux, Mac OX, and Windows boxes. The software cd included PaperPort 9.0, which I had not used. I tried it and immediately liked it. I used the software to scan my receipts, manuals, and other documentation. I liked how your could easily drag the scanned images/documents into customized folders and that you would have a pdf of the document. The software allowed double-sided scanning, you simply flipped the stack of papers when the one side was done, which was a real bonus.

What I did not like about Version 9.0 was that you could not change the document's name when it was scanned and saved to the desktop. I also had to sometimes tweak the scanner settings to get a good scan of a color or lightly printed document.

I decided to upgrade to PaperPort 11, because I found a special for $39. Version 11 was a big improvement for me. The software increased the scan speed, improved the automatic scanning settings, and allows me to add comments, keywords, and the document name when the scan is finished. There is also an automatic straightening option for when the paper becomes skewed in the ADF.

Overall, I have been tremendously pleased with the Software. The only reason that I gave it a four star instead of a five is because I learned from the reviews here that you are only allowed one free email for technical support. That is simply not right. If you purchase the software, then you should be provided with free tech support.

I have used Paperport for the past 3 or 4 versions. Paperport 11 is improved but still the slowest application on my hard drive.

In particular displaying thumbnails of files in a folder seems to take from a minute to several minutes to accomplish.

Also scanning with my Epson 3170 scanner appears to be problematic; whenever I hit the scan button and do not wait until the scanner's light stops flashing, I will get an error. I then cancel out the scanning dialog and start over. Usually I will be granted a scan.

Overall, I like the program to help organize all my important documents, but I do not like the fact that almost every operation is slow.

By the way my computer should not be the problem; I'm running a new AMD 64 x 2 4400+ processor with 2 GB of RAM. Every other program I have is zippy except for Paperport 11.

I called tech support at Nuance and they provided me with a online version download that they said is tested with Vista. So I installed that and it screwed up my file system to the extent that I had to wipe my hard drive and re-install my laptop to factory condition. I tried that a few times and then ran out of "activation licenses" (because I didn't uninstall on account of my laptop crashing. Then they told me that they would give me one more activation license and afterwards I would have to purchase a new license!!

So therefore, if any of you have Vista 1) you don't really need this product (Vista is able to create thumbnails of Office 2007 files--and this "Vista tested" product cannot. 2) Vista Windows Explorer is so much better than this.

I will look into Adobe software for the scanner and form typer software.

Avoid this buggy software and arrogant company. May have been relevant in the pre-Vista era, but I can't see how they can compete now.

I like the increased speed and options vs my earlier version of PaperPort. I don't understand why I am not allowed to create new scanning profiles (a rather petty way to punish folks that don't buy the Professional version?). I couldn't get any meaningful presales support, and now I discover that product support costs $10.00 per event. The is a free knowledge base if you dig for it, but contents are minimal. There is not even a way to submit a topic or FAQ for consideration.
My HP scanner works OK with PaperPort, but after completing a scan, the process automatically starts all over again. I have to cancel the second scan to get the results of the first one. There's nothing useful in the PaperPort help features or on the Nuance web site, and no way to get help with a program BUG without paying for support.
I've used PaperPort for over 10 years and I generally like it. I am increasingly incensed at the way Nuance treats their customers, though. When will they get the message?????

Follow-up to my initial post: I finally found a way to get ONE free tech support "instance" via a toll call to 407-241-1823. After four hours of troubleshooting, the Nuance rep just told me not to use the problematic features! He then blamed everything on my HP scanner drivers, which the PaperPort database says are current. The default windows "WIA" driver has the same problems, but Nuance doesn't recommend using them either. During the troubleshooting process, all of the items in my PaperPort "Send To" bar disappeared. All attempted repairs failed. Athough my HP scanner worked perfectly with PaperPort 9, one bug after another appears in Version 11. Get version 9 -- don't upgrade to this version! (I was told a patch is available that allows creation of more than four profiles. If you have PaperPort 11, try to get them to send you that patch! I don't believe it exists.)

The idea of the product is great, only if it worked as it is supposed to?
It is extremely slow, it locks up my scanner most of the time and never remembers my settings; the worst problem is their Technical Support policy, you get one free one, that is usually used up during the installation, after that it is $10 per incident, regardless of if this is their products problem or something you're doing wrong. I don't think I'd ever by another product from these guys.

Buy this product and pray is works flawlessly because the support is the worst I've ever had to work with. Our upgrade from version 10 to 11 caused the scanner to perform twenty times slower making it un-usable. I can't imagine why the upgrade would do this and trust that support never will either.

Have been trying unsuccesfully for days to download the Windows VISTA compatability update for Paperport 11.0. I keep getting an error message from their website saying "server error". Called tech support to report the problem with their website, but they wouldn't even talk to me without charging my credit card. Attempted to email tech support to report the problem, but again they wanted to charge my credit card. This is totally unacceptable. I have owned the past 5 versions of Paperport, but never again.

I found this program more difficult to load and more cumbersome to use than previous editions. It was so restrictive and time consuming I sent it back and decided to reinstall the older edition I had purchased years ago. As seems to be more common, the upgraded editions are more difficult to use and in reality do nothing more than the older editions.

I have used PaperPort 6 and 9 and decided to try version 11. This version is slow as molasses! If you have more than 30-40 scans in a folder it takes a long time to open the folder and if you switch between folders with a large number of scans you just wait and wait for the thumbnails to reload! A huge waste of time. Switching from a file in desktop view to thumbnail view also very slow. The current image stays, then fades away as all the thumbnails RELOAD.

I am going back to version 9. I do not have time to sit and wait for version 11 to decide to respond.