Adobe Unveils 'Adobe Scan' Optical Character Recognition App

[JorgTheElder]

Office Lens is also free with no watermarks or limits and it does not require you to create an account anywhere.

It will save to Microsoft's cloud if you _want_ to log in, but logging in is never required.

 

[AlliFlowers]

Just tried it. Meh. I'll also stick to Scanner Pro.

 

[mbnt]

It's free but you need and Adobe Account ....

…and Adobe account. LOL, wow… How do you people graduate anything is beyond me.

 

[Thunderhawks]

in-app purchase for $10 per month subscription!?! Holy crap - $120/year for an OCR scanner app is pretty ridiculous, even if it can export to PDF.

A life saver for years:

pdfpenpro by Smile software $ 124.95, after that upgrade pricing, if there is a complete overhaul of the program.
(Doesn't happen often)

Support very fast to respond and help with issues. I think there is a 30 day trial.

Also helpful for locked pdfs to decrypt and edit:

Gua.pdf (google it), FREE version requires upload to decrypt or pay some small fee and put into application folder, so it all stays on your computer. Developer responds fast, despite being in Europe.

 

[ignatius345]

Meh. I'm a Creative Cloud subscriber, but I'm still not sold. I don't want to use Adobe's weird cloud service. I'm just gonna keep using Genius Scan, which has served me quite well and syncs using Dropbox where most of my other stuff is.

 

[CrystalQuest76]

Downloaded and tried it. I did not like that it requires an Adobe account or that it saves the files to Adobe's cloud services. I am disappointed by the lack of ability to edit the scan (alter contrast boarder or type of image (gray-scale, black and white, color).

All of these features are part of Readdle Scanner Pro that I have had for a couple of years now. I have been able to save the Scanner Pro scanned documents to my iCloud account and view the document on my other connected Mac devices (I can also access the documents on a windows computer logged into iCloud through a browser). There just seems to be much more flexibility with the Scanner Pro. By the way I got it when it was a free App of the Week.

 

[Mac 128]

Yeah. It would be difficult to store the files in your Adobe Document Cloud account without actually having an account.
[doublepost=1496319315][/doublepost]
See my comment above.

Is that the only way to get the documents out? Can you access the app via iTunes I wonder?

 

[entropi]

Thanks for the info about the r e a l requirements for using the app. Sneaky.

 

[coolfactor]

lol... I did NOT try it yet... but I use Scanner Pro by Readdle at the moment (for the last few years actually) and it is totally awesome. Worth every penny. I actually scanned entire books with it in a matter of minutes...


Adobe though... well... I just read this... which is a major turn off:

"IN-APP PURCHASE DETAILS
If you want to do more with your scans, you have the option of purchasing a PDF Pack subscription for US$9.99/month (includes Export PDF)."

So you need to pay $9.99 USD per month to get the Export PDF function? I knew there had to be a catch to a "free" product!
[doublepost=1496362683][/doublepost]

Everyone these days wants you locked into their ecosystem.

The other problem is that Apple does not allow applications to easily share data in the closed garden that is iOS. Apple's iCloud sucks for sharing outside of the family. So Adobe cloud is their only reasonable choice.

This is exactly why iOS is a damaged sharing platform. Each app vendor has to have their own sharing portal. Wonder when we will have an app to help us select and managed all of the cloud accounts we will need for sharing world wide.

You speak false truths. Any app can integrate sharing and exporting. If the apps that you use don't support that, that doesn't make it a fault of iOS. Apple has provided developers with ways to provide sharing and exporting. Many apps do that already today.

 

[M2M]

…and Adobe account. LOL, wow… How do you people graduate anything is beyond me.

Who said I graduated ? Thanks for assuming...
[doublepost=1496369909][/doublepost]

Yeah. It would be difficult to store the files in your Adobe Document Cloud account without actually having an account.
[doublepost=1496319315][/doublepost]
See my comment above.

Why would I like to store it in the adobe cloud ? Should be optional as the phone has plenty of space to store scanned docs.

 

[canadianreader]

I just tried it and you cannot copy paste from a scan it just recognizes text but cant modify it so another app that sucks big time maybe Apple could come up with a viable solution to recognize text efficiently without headaches

 

[dragje]

lol... I did NOT try it yet... but I use Scanner Pro by Readdle at the moment (for the last few years actually) and it is totally awesome. Worth every penny. I actually scanned entire books with it in a matter of minutes...


Adobe though... well... I just read this... which is a major turn off:

"IN-APP PURCHASE DETAILS
If you want to do more with your scans, you have the option of purchasing a PDF Pack subscription for US$9.99/month (includes Export PDF)."

But does Scanner Pro supports the Dutch language?

 

[nt5672]

.....You speak false truths. Any app can integrate sharing and exporting. If the apps that you use don't support that, that doesn't make it a fault of iOS. Apple has provided developers with ways to provide sharing and exporting. Many apps do that already today.

The problem is exactly this. Which one of the 102 could platforms should the app support? Wikipedia lists 102 cloud platforms. Even if say 25 are the most popular, which ones of the top 25? Sure developers can do this, but why, when they just do their own cloud best and try to force everyone there. Then what if the users I want to share with does not use the sharing platforms in the App? What if I want to share with an Android user?

The whole sharing technology is a mess right now simply because everyone can and does do whatever they want.

 

[TheralSadurns]

But does Scanner Pro supports the Dutch language?

I actually wasn't sure. But I checked for you. Dutch IS indeed supported as an OCR language. That's what you meant, right?!

 

[dragje]

I actually wasn't sure. But I checked for you. Dutch IS indeed supported as an OCR language. That's what you meant, right?!

Yes, thank you, very much appreciated!


However, being curious myself I downloaded the app and took some pictures of bookpages, all written in Dutch and the results where not very good and that is even an understatement. It does a much better job when using OCR for the English language.

I'm using PDF OCR X Enterprise Edition for good OCR results when dealing with the Dutch language. It's of course a desktop application for use with OSX, but still, scanning a text file and processing that scan with Acrobat PDF Pro turning an image into a smaller sized PDF document and then trowing these pdf documents on the PDF OCR X Enterprise Edition will do the trick. Less errors (hardly any) and fast as well.

 

[TheralSadurns]

Yes, thank you, very much appreciated!


However, being curious myself I downloaded the app and took some pictures of bookpages, all written in Dutch and the results where not very good and that is even an understatement. It does a much better job when using OCR for the English language.

I'm using PDF OCR X Enterprise Edition for good OCR results when dealing with the Dutch language. It's of course a desktop application for use with OSX, but still, scanning a text file and processing that scan with Acrobat PDF Pro turning an image into a smaller sized PDF document and then trowing these pdf documents on the PDF OCR X Enterprise Edition will do the trick. Less errors (hardly any) and fast as well.

I OCR with Acrobat Pro generally. Also much faster than an iPhone 6 Plus.

BUT... and this is why I think it is still useful:
If you are on the go... you can create a PDF with selectable text, so that you can actually underline, highlight, and generally annotate things.
Even if the OCR'D text is not accurate. Better than having a PDF that is essentially just a photo.

 

[junkmail509]

I OCR with Acrobat Pro generally.

This is the only reason that I keep Acrobat Pro on my computer (also, I get it for free from my University). If I could find an equally simple to use replacement for OCR then I would finally be free of all Adobe software. Before the subscription nonsense, I used Creative Suite (up through v5) extensively. It was a tough and almost unimaginable transition at the time, but I have now found equal or better replacements for all of those apps on an upgrade cycle that works for my budget.

 

[TheralSadurns]

This is the only reason that I keep Acrobat Pro on my computer (also, I get it for free from my University). If I could find an equally simple to use replacement for OCR then I would finally be free of all Adobe software. Before the subscription nonsense, I used Creative Suite (up through v5) extensively. It was a tough and almost unimaginable transition at the time, but I have now found equal or better replacements for all of those apps on an upgrade cycle that works for my budget.

True. For reading and annotating PDFs Preview > Acrobat.

Let me guess. Affinity Designer and Photo, and Final Cut Pro X.

 

[junkmail509]

True. For reading and annotating PDFs Preview > Acrobat.

Let me guess. Affinity Designer and Photo, and Final Cut Pro X.

Exactly those three apps. I didn't replace Dreamweaver--I just decided not to do web design any more. It wasn't ever my full-time occupation anyway, so I transitioned my few clients to Wordpress and now just use Sublime Text when I need to edit the odd HTML page.

I do miss Fireworks sometimes for the simplicity of certain workflows, but I was using that long before Adobe acquired it from Macromedia.

 

[jerwin]

I think Abbyy should add in the final three languages and add proofreading. There's nothing so useless as a PDF with consistent typos.

 

[ignatius345]

The problem is exactly this. Which one of the 102 could platforms should the app support? Wikipedia lists 102 cloud platforms. Even if say 25 are the most popular, which ones of the top 25?

I think you just answered your own question: they should probably pick the most popular of those "top 25", and that's what most developers do at this point. Between iCloud, Dropbox and Google Drive, that probably (I'm guessing) covers upward of 90% of users right there. I'd bet that adding Microsoft and a couple others brings it pretty close to 99%.

I'm sure we all have our preferences, but if you're on some niche other platform that's way down that list of "102 cloud platforms", well, you're probably used to inconvenience by now anyway.

It would be great if we lived in a world where everything plugged into some common protocol and you could sync files between any service and any app, but that isn't the reality.

 

[MacGizmo]

Why would I like to store it in the adobe cloud ? Should be optional as the phone has plenty of space to store scanned docs.

Well, given that the app is free and functions pretty well, I would say Adobe has every right and reason to want you to use Adobe Cloud, and do everything in its power to make it easy.

That being said, just because YOUR phone has plenty of space doesn't mean everyone else's phone does. Adobe can't make that assumption, and neither should you.

If you don't like signing up for an account with Adobe to use a free app, go ahead and buy a $10-$30 scanning/ocr app where you don't have to sign up for an account... if you can find one.

 

[M2M]

Well, given that the app is free and functions pretty well, I would say Adobe has every right and reason to want you to use Adobe Cloud, and do everything in its power to make it easy.

That being said, just because YOUR phone has plenty of space doesn't mean everyone else's phone does. Adobe can't make that assumption, and neither should you.

If you don't like signing up for an account with Adobe to use a free app, go ahead and buy a $10-$30 scanning/ocr app where you don't have to sign up for an account... if you can find one.

I am using Genius Scan (free) wich let's me store on the device and optionally in the cloud. I rather think its redicoulous to assume EVERY phone is full and has to store in the cloud. Anyway I wanted to try Adobes scanner out (maybe it's better then Genius Scan?), but I find it annoying to setup a cloud account.

 

[dragje]

This is the only reason that I keep Acrobat Pro on my computer (also, I get it for free from my University). If I could find an equally simple to use replacement for OCR then I would finally be free of all Adobe software.

For desktop usage, try PDF OCR X Enterprise Edition, works like a charm. Using it myself for archive purposes.

Before the subscription nonsense, I used Creative Suite (up through v5) extensively. It was a tough and almost unimaginable transition at the time, but I have now found equal or better replacements for all of those apps on an upgrade cycle that works for my budget.

To be honest, I love the subscription of Adobe, I'm always up to date and the cost are not that high, it's only frustrating when you would like to make use of Adobe products as a artist and not a commercial company, for that they (Adobe) have lower prizes but still....