Orpalis PDF OCR Desktop Edition

Transform Docs and Images into Searchable PDF Files

$199

Buy Now

I Want This

v1 for PC Download Trial

Platforms: all Windows desktop OS starting with Vista

Website Virus Scan

Orpalis PDF OCR Desktop Edition Screenshot

The PDF file format is extremely popular for its ability to preserve formatting across all browsers and computer systems, but you’ve avoided it because of your constant need to search within your documents. Today is the day you become a convert, though, because of today’s discount software promotion, Orpalis PDF OCR Desktop Edition!

Orpalis PDF OCR Desktop Edition transforms all of your documents into searchable PDF files. With Orpalis PDF OCR Desktop Edition, you’ll be able to turn scanned documents and images into fully searchable research resources, as well as over 100 file formats. What’s more, Orpalis PDF OCR Desktop Edition offers support over 60 languages, and command line support means you can automate the conversion process to meet your needs.

Need power and flexibility in your PDF conversion? Orpalis PDF OCR Desktop Edition takes advantage of multithreaded processing to convert hundreds of pages of documents at once. Best of all, you can choose to select individual files, entire folders, or Drag & Drop selected files right into Orpalis PDF OCR Desktop Edition to convert them.

This promotion includes the following:

PDF OCR Pro v1 ($199)

PDF OCR Pro Server ($999)

Review Written by Derek Lee

Frequently Bought Together

If you love this, you might also like...

for PC

PaperScan

Universal Scanning Software Pro and Home Edition

See The Deal

Mac & PC

ORPALIS PDF Reducer Professional Edition

Reduce the File Size of PDF Documents

See The Deal

The Conversation

Features

The Fine Print

Expand All Email Updates

Coralie Carlier Hello

If you are interested in getting yourself our PDF OCR software and you are not sure whether this is the product for you, feel free to contact us so we can help you.
For further assistance or information, please head to our website at http://www.orpalis.com/
You can ask and get in touch with us about our products in our forum section at http://forums.orpalis.com/

Thank you for your interest in our software.
The ORPALIS Team.

ORPALIS - Jun 11 2018 at 5:36am Copy Link

Ricky Rick @ Lisa HERMELINE

Fine Print says:

"Upgrades to future versions of the software will be free for minor versions only. For versions after that, upgrades will require additional payment, which WILL NOT be discounted."

Is that a mistake? "Upgrades will require additional payment, which WILL NOT be discounted."

After trying the Trial Version and even if I like it - not discounting a future upgrade would be a deal brake to me.

Ricky

Jun 16 2018 at 6:07am Copy Link

Coralie Carlier Hi Ricky,

Sorry for the mistake. Legally purchased ORPALIS PDF OCR licenses are for lifetime and entitles license owner to free updates for medium/minor sub-versions of the purchased major version. Major version upgrades are not free.

ORPALIS - Jun 16 2018 at 6:16am Copy Link

Joe M I was going to try your trial version. But I will not because when I tried to install the program, it would only allow for an install on my "C" drive. I did not see a way to install it on my "D" drive. Did I miss something in the install setup?

Jun 16 2018 at 10:00am Copy Link

Ricky Rick @ Lisa HERMELINE

Lisa you misunderstood my question.

I know Major Version "Upgrades" would not be free.

My problem is - if a person already bought the program and then a Major Upgrade comes along in a year or so - the Fine Print section says there will be "no DISCOUNT" for the "Major Upgrade" - say V1.0 to V2.0

So ... the minor "Updates" from V1.1 up to V1.9.99 would be free Updates - but once version 2.0 came out (a Major Upgrade) there would be a charge which is understandable - however - I believe 99.9% of the software I use and Update and Upgrade on a normal basis ALWAYS gives at least a 50% or more discount when it comes to all Major Upgrades for the life of the software.

Seeing you do not offer a Major "Upgrade" discount - I for one - will not be interested in buying your software no matter how good it is.

Thanks for your time.

Ricky

Jun 16 2018 at 10:36am Copy Link

Constantin Florea The license policy on upgrades is as follows:
- Upgrades to future versions of the software will be free for minor versions only. This means if you purchase version 1.0 or 1.1 or 1.2, then all versions up to 1.9 are free.
- For versions after that (so for version 2.0, 2.1), upgrades will require additional payment, which will be discounted by 30%.

BitsDuJour Admin - Jun 16 2018 at 10:42am Copy Link

Ricky Rick @ Constantin Florea

I see you just added the 30% Discount for future upgrades to the Fine Print area. 30% just doesn't do it for me.

Thanks anyway, though.
Ricky

Jun 16 2018 at 11:54am Copy Link

Retired Engineer Re:
Today's promotion includes the following:
PDF OCR Pro v1 ($99.50)
PDF OCR Pro Server ($499.50)

Is the Pro Server required for the desktop Pro v1 OCR to function properly?

Jun 16 2018 at 1:34pm Copy Link

Coralie Carlier Hi Harold,

Thank you for your purchase, according to our records your order has been done, if you encounter a problem to receive your license key or anything else please send us an email on the following link: https://support.orpalis.c...ts/Submit/
Thank you

ORPALIS - Jun 17 2018 at 12:50am Copy Link

Gary Smith I visited this page minutes after it went live. I noticed right off that future upgrades would not be discounted. I returned today to see how others viewed the upgrade policy. I see now that has been changed to 30% off for future upgrades, which still is not significant to honor past purchasers of a product. Another OCR software program (VueScan) has a lifetime upgrades policy for $89 ($99 normally).

From the description of the PDF OCR program, there are two functions the software provides. One is to convert existing documents into a PDF. This function is no more than a text export or "printing to a PDF driver" type of software. The output is a PDF file, and since the original document contained text, the PDF file will be searchable. The output will look like what the original input would look like if it were printed on paper (the intent of Export to PDF/print to PDF).

The second function is to take images that contain text as part of that image, and process it using OCR software so that the letters/words can be converted to the original text, than create a PDF file that contains that same text in the same location as it was in the original. Since OCR generally is less than 100% accurate, the output should be reviewed before presuming it is the same exact words as was on the original.

Unlike most OCR software programs that scan images and produce a text file output, this product converts the source/input into a PDF file, with the attribute of "searchable" describing what type of PDF file. I am sure there has to be a demand from some specialized users of converting image text into a PDF file, but the concern is that you do not end up with a text file you can then edit and refine when letter recognition fails. If this software ALWAYS scans with a 100% accuracy rate, then it truly has reached the pinnacle that no other OCR software has reached yet. I still wonder what percentage of users want it in a PDF file that they can search but have to leave it at that.

The "source" or "input" for this program is any of your documents, which could include other PDF files. PDF files can contain images that are made up of written text, or PDF files can also contain the actual individual words of a text article. Does this program know to skip the already editable text? It seems a function was added to do exactly that, so hopefully if you have PDF files that already contains searchable text, this program will not slow down by processing something it does not need to.

As far as the technology surrounding OCR is concerned, the ability to convert text in an image to editable text leveled out after the initial hurdles were made. That happened in the late 80s and into the 90s. OCR software has been a major part of my work experience. I got to beta test the first version of Caere OCR software back in the 80s. The initial version performed so poorly, but the idea sounded so great. I chalked it up to the difficulty of recognizing all types of letter shapes that represented the same ASCII character. It was and still is a difficult task, but much easier today than back then. The developers had the idea of packaging a "lite" edition of their OCR software with Flatbed Scanners, also a relatively new piece of hardware that was gaining popularity. That idea was a new concept, but I saw one problem. The software had to work. I gave my report on the test results, and actually felt sorry for the developers because they seemed to be such nice folks. Within a very short time, they sent me another "updated" version to test. I was very busy and really didn't want to have to go through the same experience again for some minor refinements on a product that had produced at times only 5% accuracy, but since the developers were such nice folks, I did them the favor. To my surprise, the software was now producing 70 to 95% accuracy rates. It was the most I got excited by a new product type for that year I think, and I often think of those early days in OCR even today. I continued to test their new versions and enjoyed having a piece of software that many others did not. That lasted until they were purchased by Nuance. For a while I missed having the top of the line OCR software, but thankfully, computer shows became so popular that I could acquire just about anything at a decent price.

Regardless of the improvements OCR has made over the years, any OCR output should be reviewed by a good spellchecker as one level, and due to output that has words that are in the dictionary but was mis-guessed by the OCR software, it is important to run it through grammar and writing analysis, then have an automated voice read it back to you. I recall a piece after having been through spellcheck and grammar check, and even my own proofreading, then being read back to me, and to my surprise where the text was intended to say "the two cities" was read back as "the two sights." Due to having already proofread the document, I was sure I had discovered a mistake in the automated voice software, but instead, there it was "cities" was missing one of the letter "i"s (cites). The two words sounded the same (cites/sights), but cites got past my eyes and the grammar software, but stood out like a sore thumb with the audio rendition.

The point is OCR software is not 100% foolproof. You have to verify the output. That will be harder to do if the output is in a PDF file.

This software is at version 1.1.19 currently so it may seem rather young, and it is that as well, but it has been around since September 2015, and the company has had offers of other products on BdJ as far back as 2011. The small version number means it has been progressing with what I call respectful and responsible version numbering. It is more likely the software will have changes in the interface, or things such as additional language support. I have seen several programs advance to a new Major Version number just by adding a new language that I will never use. I am in turn asked to pay for an upgrade that will allow the product to appeal to a wider audience, but I gain nothing in return. That sort of Major version upgrades should be called out, publicized, and all efforts to encourage the software developer to re-consider their methods of Major version releases, and to warn potential users of their methods. I have no reason to think Orpalis will ever take this path. So far, they have not felt the urge to jump to the next Major version number. I hope the program will continue to progress this way into the future. Best of luck to them if they do.

These days, there are minor refinements in OCR capability occasionally, but certainly nothing so outstanding that it would require a major upgrade of any OCR software. Still, I can assure you, some of the OCR products will have Major upgrade version releases because it has become something that any company can get away with, and so could this software if the developer chooses. To me that makes this product hard to justify purchasing.

The problem with any "upgrade" policy over a lifetime upgrade policy is that users do not have any control or idea when the developer will decide a particular release will be a Major upgrade version number. Also, the customer does not get a vote on whether said "added features" that the developer has used to justify a Major upgrade are in fact worthy of a Major release number. The risk is all on the customer.

Developers often jump to the next major release number after very few minor releases. Just because a product is on version X.1.2 does not mean that there will many minor releases before the next Major release. Developers often claim a new feature was justification for the Major release. In this case, are we to believe that new feature is worth paying 70% of the original (un-discounted) price? Since this product's normal price is $199, within a very short time, you may find that a new Major release is available, but you will have to pay nearly $140 to have that version. Having been in this business longer than a lot of others have, I know that many new customers get burned on these Major upgrade methods.

Too many times developers use this method to attempt to squeeze some additional money from their customer base. The sad thing is that most of the time, the user is paying for more bugs. The changelog for the current release of this software includes "A battery of minor bug fixes."

Since most software changelogs seem to show some "big fixes" on nearly every release, the customer is caught between a rock and a hard place to have to pay to "see if" the next Major release fixes issues they desperately need resolved. Also, it is an industry fact that 50% of software updates are likely to introduce new bugs. In other words, the user is always paying for bugs, caught in an endless cycle of updates and upgrades, hoping the software issues will smooth out enough that the software will be usable for what they need.

Any time you have a problem with software, the standard company response is along the lines of "Check you are using the latest version of our product." What that translates to is, "even though you paid for a working program, you probably have a version that still has bugs we have fixed since we got your money, but we would still like to sell you the fixes as well."

In the beginning days of PC software (1970s/1980s), it was customary to offer two editions of the software for each new release. One was the previous version with bug fixes only, and the other was with any new features added. The bug fix version was available free to existing customers. To honor past customers, the full upgrade version was offered at a great discount, or in many cases, it also was free due to a lifetime upgrades policy. The user decided if they wanted to install the edition with fixes, or the one with new features. Only new customers paid full price, although there were many promotions available that encouraged new sales.

It is certainly ironic that with such sophisticated software control and versioning systems that we have today compared to those early days, that developers cite the difficulty of maintaining two releases has forced them to drop offering fixes of their software to their customer base. The whole idea of versioning systems such as Subversion, Github, and others IS to allow multiple forks of any software so that things like bug fixes can be made on any previous version of a software product.

Great greed has taken over the industry, all at the expense of the customer. Thankfully, competition brings about alternatives to not only solving the issue this product serves but also pricing alternatives, including totally free.

There are several other OCR products on the market. In addition to VueScan, there are several well established and prominent OCR packages available. A Google search will come up with quite an array of choices, including several totally free OCR choices from sources like Sourceforge.net and Github.

Unless you are in a business needing OCR scanning capabilities all day long, you are probably like a lot of other users. Having a good OCR processing capability would be nice on those occasions where you could use it, but for most of the time, it never gets started. Most any document you want to have converted to text, you are going to read the document at least once. Thankfully, voice recognition software has advanced faster than OCR software, so when you read the document, it would be handy to read it out-loud, into a microphone that software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking will convert to text. If you use a Smart Phone, there are several apps that incorporate Google's voice recognition capabilities, so that you can take notes or dictate entire documents. If you prefer the OCR method, and you need reliable OCR capabilities, I can tell you that the difference between the "lite" editions that came with scanners and the Pro editions you could upgrade to is significant. You should test as many as you possibly can because while the difference between accuracy of the OCR functions are becoming similar for all of the OCR products, The interface and ease of use can vary quite a bit. If you can test on a Virtual Machine, all the better to try without the hassles of doing major cleanups afterwards.

As for the capability of this software compared to the alternatives, that should be in an encompassing comparative review. You can search the BitsDuJour product listing to see which ones have offered the best discounts and also have a respectful upgrade policy.

The same company also has a standard scan product called PaperScan, with Home and Pro editions. These have been offered on BitsDuJour in the past. Their upgrade policy has always stated that minor updates were free, but major upgrades will not be free, but will be discounted. This Orpalis PDF OCR product is the first time the company has stated what the discount for upgrades will be. Is the initial price the right one, and is 30% enough for upgrades compared to the alternatives? Time will tell.

Jun 17 2018 at 7:36pm Copy Link

Coralie Carlier Hello Gary Smith,

Thanks for addressing your concerns and how you feel about the product.
You mention that the purchase of our product is hard to justify since major updates are "lightly" discounted for those who have bought a previous version of the software. I'd like to point out that in no way major updates heavily improve what the software is meant to do. In this case, converting existing documents into pdf and using Optical Character Recognition to convert letters to readable text by a device will only slightly be impacted and as promised, the core features in previous versions are improved via minor updates which are completely free. Major releases will impact ease of use functions and a better fit for the program in order to stay up to date with the current standards for files. We highly encourage you to upgrade to newer versions to get the best out of what you paid for however the upgrade is not mandatory. The cost for the program is reflected on its efficiency and effectivness at doing what its meant to do which cannot be said for programs offered by other companies as you mentioned. The program being kept up to date and providing very fast assistance when needed also contributes to the "low" upgrade reduction price.

To address the issue you have with versioning, we keep users up to date on new releases and with a list of new features it brings with it. Depending on your situation, if you buy the product right before it gets a major update, we are open to negotiations concerning the price of the upgraded product since we cannot give much notice before new major updates get released. For negotiations, please contact us via our website and not on bitdujour.

We value your opinion and what you have stated but our main focus is offering what is best suited for those who have purchased or who are interested in purchasing our products. If you have suggestions or features you would like to implement, we are open to handle them if they are appealing and can provide useful change to other people using the software as well.

With appreciation,
Hugo Cudd

ORPALIS - Jun 25 2018 at 6:11am Copy Link