Next Generation Product Line Sets New Standards With 25 % OCR Accuracy Improvements, PDF Recognition, Microsoft Office Word 2003 Support
ABBYY, a leading provider of document recognition and linguistic technologies, today announced the global availability of the new FineReader® 7.0 optical character recognition (OCR) software product line. This new version of ABBYY's award-winning document recognition application improves the process of converting paper documents and PDF files into manageable electronic data by adding an average of 25 percent increased overall recognition accuracy.
ABBYY FineReader 7.0 comes in two editions - FineReader 7.0 Professional Edition, designed for home users and small businesses, and FineReader 7.0 Corporate Edition, developed specifically for network environments.
Based on a complete enhancement to ABBYY's core recognition platform, FineReader 7.0 is designed to make the process of transforming "static" or uneditable files, into information that can be edited, sent, searched, or tabulated. According to Sergey Andreyev, CEO of ABBYY, "Paper documents come back to life, or are 'revived,' when a user can once again work with them - either by making changes to the text, searching for key words and information, sorting them electronically, or storing them in accessible files. With FineReader 7.0 we enhance a user's ability to efficiently share and communicate information with a focus on three core areas: increased accuracy, PDF handling, and integration with the most recent Microsoft Word tools to make the editing process simple."
ABBYY FineReader 7.0 helps users achieve greater productivity through the following new enhancements:
FineReader 7.0 delivers a 25 percent average accuracy improvement over the previous version, further saving users time and energy spent retyping or checking documents. Accuracy improvements are achieved through: the addition of new structural models for comparing and analyzing characters, and improvements in image-preprocessing, and the addition of new legal and medical dictionaries for the English and German languages. Significant areas of improvement include recognition of text on colored or textured backgrounds.
Because recreating an original document's layout can be even more time consuming than retyping, ABBYY also develops technologies for layout retention. FineReader 7.0 is supported with new algorithms added to its Multilevel Document Analysis (MDA) process. Examples of improvements include recognition of documents with complex spreadsheets and tables (such as those without printed grid lines and tables with color cells) and documents with bullets of different types.
ABBYY FineReader 7.0 also delivers significant improvements in PDF handling that include:
FineReader supports output in any of the four standard PDF file formats (text and pictures only, text over image, text under image, and image only) with additional controls such as whether or not to replace suspect words with images. This gives users six PDF saving options - more PDF formats than any other OCR software. FineReader 7.0 is also the only OCR program that is able to create text over image PDF files, essentially eliminating the pixilated text outcome that often results without this capability. To preserve text and font characteristics, FineReader 7.0 first "paints" the original image, and then carefully layers the recognized text over the image, requiring flawless layout retention in the OCR program. The resulting document will have impeccable layout retention and crisp text, making it ideal for printing, Web publishing and archiving.
ABBYY FineReader 7.0 allows users to export recognized document as XML using native Microsoft Word 2003 defined schema, widely anticipated to be an emerging standard for file use. This allows users to take advantage of the XML file format which can be manipulated and searched using any program that can process industry standard XML. In addition, it provides the basis for data reporting, publishing and submitting data to business processes.
ABBYY FineReader 7.0 Professional Edition now includes a set of professional tools that were previously only available for corporate users. These specialized tools are powerful utilities that can increase productivity and provide support for certain office applications. They include:
Building upon the functionality of FineReader 7.0 Professional Edition, ABBYY is announcing a version designed for corporate networks. FineReader 7.0 Corporate Edition includes all of the functionality of FineReader 7.0 Professional Edition with functionality just for offices on a local area network (LAN). Specialized functions include support for networked scanners and Multifunction Peripherals (MFPs), automated network installation, concurrent licence management, and distributed document processing. For further information, see today's press release entitled "ABBYY Ships FineReader 7.0 Corporate Edition."
FineReader 7.0 Professional Edition supports Intel® Pentium®, Celeron®, and Xeon™, and AMD K6, Athlon™, Duron™, or compatible 200MHz or higher processor. Microsoft® Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT® 4.0 with Service Pack 6 or later, Windows Me/98; it requires 64 MB of RAM for Windows XP/2000/NT 4.0, 32 МB of RAM for Windows Me/98, 220 MB of hard-disk space for typical installation and program operation, TWAIN-compliant scanner, digital camera, fax-modem (optional). Super VGA (800x600) or higher-resolution video adapter and a monitor.
ABBYY FineReader 7.0 Corporate Edition is available now from select retail stores, resellers, and online outlets. A free 15-day Try&Buy software version of ABBYY FineReader 7.0 Professional Edition will be available for download at the http://www.abbyy.com/ Web site. For additional information on resellers carrying FineReader 7.0 Corporate Edition, visit the http://www.abbyy.com/.