Hi all!
I've just installed the latest version of Ventura on my mac. I have an old epson perfection 1660 scanner which is I believe about 25 years old or so. I found drivers and it seems to be working. I am looking for some ocr software that works well with mac and voiceover. Previously I used ABBYY finereader but they seem to have gone to a subscription software and I'd like to avoid that if I can. Any recommendations of what you all are using would be appreciated. And if the scanner goes out, does anyone have recommendations for a good flat bed scanner? I have some books I need to scan. Probably not photos as much as written material. Thanks in advance for any help.
Jim
By JimInTexas, 9 April, 2023
Forum
macOS and Mac Apps
Comments
Fine Reader
As I know, you can make a one time purchase for the Fine reader app from the App Store, which I did two years ago. Yes, there is a subscription plan but one time purchase is still an option.
But unfortunately, Fine Reader does not yet support Apple silicon Macs, if you have an M 1 or M 2 Mac, it will run on rosetta.
THANKS.
THANKS FOR THE RESPONSE. I DO HAVE AN M1 AND NOT SURE ABOUT ROSETTA. I THINK SOMETHING INSTALLED IT SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY. ANY COMMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE HELPFUL.
Just looked on the app store
I just looked on the App Store and didn't see any way to get anything but a 7 day trial and a subscription. Might have to look for another software.
Jim
Downloaded finereader free for 7 days
I just downloaded FineReader and I have 7 days to try it before the subscription kicks in. When I open the app I see no scanner even though when I go to image scanner the scanner shows up. Am I missing something? And sometimes I get this weird mouse click error from finereader. I guess I'll email tech support but thought somebody here might have a suggestion.
OCR and scanners
In my experience, the best OCR software on macOS right now is Prizmo. the basic package is $50 and does what most people need, the professional package for $100 lets you script scanning and automate it.
there is a program called VueScan that keeps scanner hardware drivers working even when the official drivers by the scanner company are no longer supported because 32 bit support was dropped in macOS. VueScan has 2 options. well, really 3 but the basic package for $25 doesn't do very much. For example, it won't allow you to batch scan, which is probably something many blind people would want.
The standard package is $50 and lets you batch scan and save to .pdf .tif. the Basic version only lets you save in .jpg
The professional package for $100 also includes OCR but since I already owned Prizmo when I bought Vuescan, I don't have any experience in how well or accessible the OCR features are.
I also have a Fujitsu SnapScan document scanner, which the official software has never been accessible. VueScan also works with those and makes the SnapScan line totally accessible, so that was a double win for me.
VueScan can be found at
https://www.hamrick.com/
Prizmo is on the macOS app store
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/prizmo-4-pro-scanning-ocr/id546392952?mt=12
Thanks for the info
I've looked at prismo and vue scan both. Can they both take images from a scanner? and do I need both of them or would just one of them work. I've looked at so much stuff I'm really confused right now. My scanner works with the image scanner program on the mac so don't know if I really need VueScan.
Thanks.
Jim
Did you ever get anywhere with FineReader?
I'm looking for this same thing and sadly, didn't notice your post before posting a similar request for help earlier this evening. :(. I'm not thrilled about a yearly subscription, but if FineReader works as well on the Mac as it dose on Windows, I might be very tempted. I haven't run the trial yet, but was curious if you were able to get the issues you were having resolved?
I also have Prizmo, but I'm struggling with it a bit. I can get it to recognize text, but it seems to want to display each paragraph as if it was a row in a table or something. If there's a setting to change this behavior, I definitely haven't found it yet. That said, the actual Prizmo app is very accessible, I just wish I could more easily read with it.
Anyway good luck, here's hoping we both get this somehow figured out. :)
OCR
Hello Steve. Haven't heard from you in years. So long ago that you might not remember!
I did the trial of ABBYY and it recognized well ehough but I find the interface to be really awkward. At least for me, it is not at all intuitive. And I can't really find any info on the best way to scan and import. There is some info from ABBYY but it basically says plug in your scanner and click the scan button.
I've heard the same complaint about Prismo about being in a table structure. That is one thing which has kept me from using the app.
If you download finereader you have 7 days to try it. I'm on my last day now and not sure if I want to do the subscription thing. I found a post from a year ago and it says that finereader won't do batch processing and that you still need rosetta until the software has been updated. When I pay subscription money I'd like to see regularly updated software. I don't understand why everything has gone to subscriptions.
As I said before the scan and recognition seems to be good quality as long as you can figure out how to do it. It calls the scans "projects" and you have to have one of them open to scan, or at least from what I can tell. I have an old epson 1660 perfection and it still seems to work fine. Let me know if I can help, although I probably don't know much more than you do about the software.
Good luck.
Sorry for the ramble but it is so frustrating. I have the same frustrations with finereader's interface that I do with pages. Maybe that's just me.
Jim
Wow, I do remember you and yes, it's a weird interface.
Hi Jim,
Yes, I definitely remember you, gosh it's been a long long time. :)
I went ahead and installed the trial and found a help article which set me on the right path for getting it working with my scanner: https://support.abbyy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409681735827-How-to-scan-in-FineReader-PDF-for-Mac-
Essentially, you have to go to advanced, then there's a scan option, then you can scan multiple pages. I really really love the output FineReader creates, it's absolutely incredible that it even replicates tables with fairly good accuracy. The only thing that I don't like is that I haven't figured out a way to actually read anything until after I export the entire document. Sometimes, it'd just be nice to make sure a page scanned correctly, for example to make sure there's text on the page in case I put it in the scanner upside down. I love the output, but not sure I'm going to go for the subscription either. Maybe Kevin will chime back in regarding Prizmo. I love that the developer of Prizmo seems very focused on accessibility, but everything showing up in that table, again, makes reading difficult.
Since your trial is ending and mine is just beginning, let me know if there's anything you didn't get a chance to try and I'll attempt it before mine is over. Maybe between the two of us, and anyone else who may be watching this thread, we can figure out something that works well, is relatively intuitive, and makes it possible to just focus on whatever is being scanned.
FineReader
Hi Steve. FineReader does do some nice output but I don't want software that will output to all these file types and multi languages. I just need something that will give me recognized text and do a good job. I find that with FineReader there is so much of the software that is not accessible, all the drawing areas and images and tables and that sort of thing. And, to pay $69 for most of the software that I can't use is something I'm just not willing to do.
I wish there was a trial of prismo but I might have to bite the bullet and buy it outright.
You said the text is in in a table format. Can you output it to just a plain text file or does it just stay there in the table? I wonder if you could copy and paste it to textedit? I've read that it has voice output. can it read the text once it is scanned or does it say all the table formatting?
That finereader article that you sent the link to was the same one I found but it didn't really tell me anything. I just think it is such a clunky interface. And, it is too bad because the recognition seems to be good. Might be able to do some automator stuff with it to not have to go through so many steps. Something to look into anyway.
Jim
Prizmo trial
According to the developer's website there is a trial version of Prizmo that can be downloaded from their online store at https://creaceed.com/store
It doesn't appear to be stated what the limitations of the trial version are.
thanks
thanks for the info. I will definitely check it out.
Jim
Prismo trial
Well, I did download the trial version and it leaves watermarks and puts bullets in the text till you pay for the full version but at least I was able to check out the interface which is much more straight forward than finereader. For anybody who. uses both which recognition do you think is better?
Steve you mentioned the table format which is a little weird but when I exported it to a text file it was fine in text edit. It had bullets and all that but am not sure how the recognition is.
Also, the confusion for me is that apple sells Prismo for $79, and the developer site has a regular version for $49 and the ProPack version for $99. So, I wonder which the $79 version is from apple. This is so odd. I'd love to find a good scanner app. I don't want to pay a subscription because I don't use it as often as I once did but it is nice to have it when the need arises.
Thanks to everybody who has contributed and to those who will continue to do so.
Jim
Preview and Live Text
Old thread, but a perennial question for us and I just discovered that Preview is an option.
The state of affairs for blind-friendly OCR has become wretched on both Mac and Windows: OneStep Reader is defunct on Windows and hasn't been updated in a year on IOS (their web site appears to be gone), the Windows-based Kurzweil 1000 hasn't had a new version in ten years, but still offers the most sophisticated ABBYY-based intelligent processing in an app tailored for our use case. I have an old one-time-purchase version of Fine Reader, but one can't interact with recognized text within the app. JAWS Convenient OCR has therefore been my go-to for reading mail when I need more precision than an iphone camera--I really don't need or want a JAWS subscription otherwise. But I just found an option good enough for casually reading mail (flatbeds iron out the folds that give the iphone camera fits).
Preview, of all things, has an import from scanner option under File, so long as you have a scanner installed (also imports from iphone camera). The result is an image, but interact with the image and the text is all there, courtesy of LiveText or VO, I guess. Import another or hit the "scan" button on the scanner, and the new page is added. Absolutely zero lag time to get the recognized text: it's just "there." This is the quickest way to get something like this done, IMO.
There's also an "extract text from image" action in the shortcuts app. The mac version of the shortcuts app is the most confusing thing I've ever tried to use, though, and I can't spend all day trying to figure it out. There's no shortcut action related to scanners, but something interesting might be cobbled together. For example, assemble the image-based pdf in preview and then use a shortcut to convert it to a text document.
If I really needed precision, like scanning a book for research, nothing less than ABBYY Fine Reader will do, and that needs to be paired with an application that has some smarts about interpreting the results: Fine Reader and K1000 have it, OneStep Reader and Prizmo do not. We've really back-slid on this one. Print books still exist!
DocuScan+
I used to use this software when I was in college, it has plenty of nice features to satisfy your needs, and iirc it only requires a one-time purchase. As for scanners, my advice would be to do a little research online and make an educated decision from there.
Source: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/docuscan-plus/id432595763?mt=12
Thanks for the info on preview
I had no ideaabout preview. I really like finereader but hate to pay a subscription on a yearly basis. That gives the developer room to not update as often but I still have to pay yearly. I'm also in the market for a new scanner because I just feel more comfortable with a flatbed versus an iPhone camera scan.
Jim