Word Scan Plus requires a 386 PC or above, 4 megabytes of RAM (8 recommended), and 13 MB of hard disk space. DOS 6.0 and above and Windows 3.1 and above are required. If you are running Windows 95, you will need to obtain v.4.01. The list of scanners that it supports is extensive. It is TWAIN compliant and supports HP AccuPage technology.
Installation, using 5 disks, was uneventful. On line registration is available for those with a modem. I was running the program within ten minutes of starting the installation. A well organized, informative, 139 page manual came with the package.
One on the nice features of this package is that it allows the user to run the scan program from just about any application. My scanner came with a lower version of Word Scan and during the installation, added a line to my FILE menu in MS Word 6.0 which allowed me to acquire the image directly from Word, a real convenience. It will also allow you to add this feature to other application. Unfortunately, I am using MS Word 7.0 and this version of Word Scan does not support 32 bit applications. An e-mail to the company concerning this problem was answered within two days. No 32 bit applications are yet available but one is slated for release early next year. This is not a serious problem for users of 32 bit apps, as it is easy to copy and paste using the Clipboard to move the scanned image to your word processor. Another nice feature allows the user to send the acquired image as either a fax or as e-mail.
I have used this product on a number of different types of documents and the results were pretty good. One of the first documents I scanned was an article that appeared in the P.C.Alamode because I wanted to see how well it handled columns. I followed the instruction in the manual but was disappointed with the results, as some of the column layouts were not acquired properly. I was able to solve this problem by using the decolumnization feature, pasting to MS Word, and then resetting the columns. Using this technique, I was able to accurately reproduce a page from the P.C.Alamode.
I had different levels of success with other documents I scanned. A letter from the company that was included with the product came out almost perfect. Only one error occurred and that was were the paper was folded. I have a few documents that are nth generation photo copies and these scans produced more errors.
Recognizing and correcting errors in an acquired image is one of the really strong points of this product. When the acquisition of the document is complete, the program takes the user to the user to the Proofing Editor. Here, any words that the program identifies as problem words are identified. Moving from one problem word to another is done by using the TAB key. Correcting the errors is an easy procedure. The Pop-Up Proofing editor displays the actual scanned image, so you don't have to refer back to your original document in order to make corrections. I was unable to find any errors that the Proofing Editor did not find. Two dictionaries are included and it is possible to either add words to these dictionaries or to create your own dictionary.
Other nice features of this product include the ability to scan two sided documents and if your scanner is equipped with a feeder tray, to scan multiple documents. Over one hundred zones can be defined for each document. If you are scanning a large number of documents that all have the same format, you can save your zone definitions as a template. This is a nice, time saving feature of the program.
Overall, this is a nice piece of software. OCR is not a perfect process and I have yet to see an application that will return 100% accurate results. If you are in the market for an OCR product, Word Scan Plus v 4.0 is one that your should consider.
The full version is available locally for about $485.00. If your
scanner came bundled with any of the Caere products, you can upgrade for
about $145.00. This product is published by Caere Corporation, 100 Cooper
Court, Los Gatos, CA 95030. The company can be reached by phone at 1 408
395 8319, CompuServe GO CAERE, AOL keyword CAERE, and the Internet at support@caere.com.