Knowledgebase

Question: Do I need a scanner to use ABBYY FineReader?
Answer: No, you do not need a scanner to run the program. You can use image files, for example, photos from your digital camera.

Question: How do I download the trial version of the program?
Answer: You can download the trial of the lates version of ABBYY FineReader Professional Edition by visiting our site.

Question: What limitations does the trial version have?
Answer: The trial version runs in full functionality mode for 15 days and lets you save up to 50 pages.
If you are recognizing a multi-page document, the trial version will let you save only 1 page.
When the 15-day trial period expires, or when you save 50 pages, the trial version will be locked. You will have to buy a license to continue using the program.

Question: Can I obtain a trial version of ABBYY FineReader Corporate Edition?
Answer:  The corporate edition can be provided to organizations after filing a request to our sales department. The following information must be provided to make a request:

• Name of the organization
• Industry
• Supposed purposes of using the program
• Number of computers in LAN
• Contact information (e-mail, website, address, telephone number).

Question: Does the program run under Windows Vista?
Answer: Yes, Windows Vista is supported. To learn more about program compatibility, visit the System requirements page on our site.

Question: Is ABBYY FineReader 9.0 compatible with Microsoft Office 2007?
Answer: Yes, ABBYY FineReader 9.0 can export recognition results to *.docx и *.xlsx formats used in Microsoft Office 2007. To learn more about the formats used for recognized documents, visit the Technical specifications page of our website.

Question: Does ABBYY FineReader 9.0 use the 64-bit capabilities of Windows Vista 64-bit?
Answer: No, ABBYY FineReader 9.0 runs as a 32-bit application under Windows Vista 64.

Question: I wasn’t prompted to enter the serial number during installation. Was the program installed correctly?
Answer: Yes. ABBYY FineReader 9.0 will prompt you to enter the serial number during activation, when you start the program for the first time.

Question: Why does the installation process stop and the following error message appear: Internal Program Error: .\src\MsiHelper.cpp, 215?
Answer: The name of the temporary folder has an ampersand character (&) in it. The error message appears if your username also has an & character in it, and if the temporary folder is in your user profile. To solve this problem, change the path to the temporary folder so that its name doesn’t have an & character in it. Note that you can choose from the following solutions:

• Change the username so that it doesn’t have an & character in it;
• Change the path to the temporary folder. To do it: 

1. Go to Control Panel>System
2. Select the Advanced tab.
3. Click Environment Variables
4. In the User variables for… section, change the path in TEMP and TMP variables so that it doesn’t have an & symbol in it. For example: C:\temp.
5. Restart the computer.
6. Reinstall the program.

Question: Do I have to activate ABBYY FineReader 9.0 each time I reinstall it?
Answer: ABBYY FineReader can be installed on the same computer an unlimited number of times without re-activation. However, if major changes are made to the system (i.e. reformatting the hard drive, re-installation of the operating system, etc.), an additional activation may be required.

Question: When I try to activate the program, the message following: “Activation failed. Your serial number cannot be activated automatically. You may be trying to activate more copies of the program than is provided for by the End User License Agreement”.
Answer: This message appears if all automatic activation attempts for your serial number have been used up. You need to contact your local support team. Note that you have to register your copy of the program before writing or calling. Please specify the serial number when contacting the service.

Question: What is Product ID? What information is used for this parameter?
Answer: Product ID is the second parameter required for software activation. Product ID is created automatically basing on the technical information about the computer that the software is installed on. No personal data that can be used to identify the user is stored in this parameter.

Question: How can I activate the program if I don’t have Internet access?
Answer: You can use on of the following methods to activate your software:

• Select ‘on the web-site’ method in the Activation Wizard and visit our web-site to receive the activation code (for Professional Edition only)
• Select ‘by e-mail’ method in the Activation Wizard, copy the contents of the e-mail activation request generated by the Activation Wizard, paste it in a new e-mail and send this e-mail from another computer to FineReader-activation@abbyy.com
• Select ‘by phone’ method in the Activation Wizard and call +7 495 783 37 00

Question: What are Automated Tasks?
Answer: An ABBYY FineReader automated task is a succession of steps, each representing a stage of document recognition. Quick Tasks are ready built-in scenarios that let you carry out a number of steps with one click. You can guess from the name of the task what stages the program will pass in this task. For example, the Scan to Microsoft Word automated task lets you, in one click, scan the image, recognize it and save a copy to MS Word.

Question: How can I create my own automated task?
Answer: You can create your own automated task with the necessary steps by using the Automation Manager.
To start the Automation manager, go to Tools>Automated Tasks>Automation Manager… Then click New on the Automation Manager toolbar and enter a name for your task. Then select the stages you want to be in the task.

Question: I can`t find my task in the Quick Tasks list. How do I start my task?
Answer: User scenarios are not added to the Quick Tasks list displayed at program start. You can start your scenario by going to Tools > Automated Tasks and selecting the desired task from the list. 

Question: The program automatically starts to recognize the images the moment I open or scan them. It there a way to turn this off?

Answer: To do so go to Tools > Options, open Scan/Open tab and select Do not read and analyze acquired page images automatically.

Question: The program automatically corrects the skew of the image after opening it. Can I disable this feature?
Answer: Yes. Go to Tools > Options and on the Scan/Open tab clear Correct image skew.
If you need to correct the image skew later, do the following:  

1. Choose an image;
2. Apply the Correct image skew option (Page > Edit Page Image, select Correct distortion and skew).

Question: When I start the program, the Quick Links window appears automatically. Can I disable this feature?
Answer: Yes. To do it, select Do not show this window again and click Hide.
To call up this window, click QuickTasks in the upper right corner of the main window of the program.

Question: How can I change the interface language?
Answer: To change the interface language do the following:

1. Go to Tools> Options.
2. Open Advanced tab;
3. Select the desired language in the Interface language dropdown list.
4. Click OK.
5. Restart ABBYY FineReader.

Question: Can I assign my own hotkey combination?
Answer: Yes. Do the following:

1. Go to Tools and select Customize Toolbars…;
2. Select the Keyboard Shortcuts tab;
3. On the list, select the desired command to which you want to assign a new hotkey combination (to see all possible commands, select All commands in the Categories dropdown menu);
4. In the Press new shortcut key field, enter the desired key combination.

Question: How can I expand the working space in the program? I use the Image and Text windows most of the time.
Answer: ABBYY FineReader 9.0 has special capabilities for this purpose. For example, to hide the Document window, you only need to move the cursor over the margin between the Document and Image windows and click once. To reopen the Document window, click the left margin of the Image window. You can do the same to close the Zoom window. Move the cursor over the margin of the Image/Text and Zoom windows and click once. For more detailed information on organizing your workspace go to Help > Advanced Features > Customizing the workspace.

Question: What scanning settings are preferable for recognition purposes?
Answer: Resolution: 300 dpi for standard texts (font size 10 and larger) and 400-600 dpi for texts with small font (font size 9 and less). Color: Gray. If you scan in gray mode, brightness will be adjusted automatically.

Question: Why does the following message appear during scanning: Cannot open TWAIN source?
Answer: If this message appears, your scanner driver must be installed incorrectly. To solve the problem, do the following:

1. Exit ABBYY FineReader 9.0.
2. Save the Twack_32.zip application to the hard drive of your computer.
3. Extract the archive and run Twack_32.exe.
4. n the main window of TWAIN_32 Twacker go to File>Acquire.
5. In the dialogue box that appeared, click Scan.

If the scanning was successfully completed in Twacker, start ABBYY FineReader 9.0 and try to scan the image once again. 
If the scanning was not completed in Twacker, go to File>Select Source, then, in the list, select the driver that corresponds to your scanner, then click Select and repeat step 4. If the scanning was successfully completed in Twacker after selecting a new driver, select this driver in ABBYY FineReader 9.0 by going to Tools>Options and then clicking the Scan/Open tab, and start the scanning process. 
If, in Twacker, there is no working driver in the list, reinstall the drivers supplied with your scanner.

If the error persists, contact the Technical Support Service. In your letter, specify the serial number, describe the situation in detail and attach a report file.   

Question: What does ABBYY Screenshot Reader do?
Answer: ABBYY Screenshot Reader is a bonus application to ABBYY FineReader. Screenshot Reader takes screenshots of any section of the screen, recognizes text and tables on this screenshot and saves the recognition results to clipboard or an external application.

Question: How do I obtain an ABBYY Screenshot Reader activation code?
Answer: In order to use ABBYY Screenshot Reader, you must register as an ABBYY FineReader user. You can register on our site, on the Registration page, or by going to Help>Register in the program.

If you didn’t find an answer to your question in this FAQ, you can contact our technical support service. To receive free technical support, do the following:

1. Register the product on the Registration page.
2. Formulate a detailed question.
3. Create a report file.
4. Take a screenshot of the error message or program window if it may help make your question more precise.
5. Send us an e-mail or make a call. For address and telephone number of the office in your region, see Support contacts.

How do I create a report file?
If the program is installed and runs correctly, do the following:

1. Start the program.
2. Go to Help > About…
3. In the dialogue box that opened click System Info…
4. In the Ainfo application that opened click Save...
5. You will be prompted to save the report file Ainfo.cab on your hard drive.

If the program is not installed or doesn’t start, do the following:

1. Open the Support folder on the installation disk or in the folder the distributive was downloaded into.
2. Run Ainfo.exe from this folder.
3. In the window that opened click Save...
4. You will be prompted to save the report file Ainfo.cab on your hard drive.

How do I take a screenshot?
To take a screenshot and save it, do the following:

1. When the image in question (for example, an error message) appears on screen, press the Print Screen key on your keyboard (it is located in the top row of the block of keys above the arrow buttons. An exact copy of the displayed image will be added to clipboard.
2. Start any image editor (for example, Microsoft Paint) or text editor (for example, Microsoft Word) and paste the image from the Clipboard (right-click anywhere and select Paste from the drop-down menu or press Ctrl+V).
3. Save the file.