What types of OCR Software are there?

In examining Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, you need to examine your needs and determine what type you require.

Desktop OCR Software

For day to day use, most users will utilize Desktop OCR software.  It is appropriate for converting scanned documents to Word format, copying and pasting sections from documents, etc.  Apps that fall into this category are OmniPage, PaperPort, etc.

Batch OCR and Capture Software

If you are processing large volumes of documents, and need to enable a process or workflow with scanners in your company, typically you will utilize document capture software with enhanced OCR capabilities.  This type of OCR Software takes processing to the next level and uses automation to extract information from the documents, as well as make them searchable PDF documents.  An example of this type of software is inForm's iCapture.

OCR and PC Architecture

So just how important is your PC hardware when looking to use OCR Software?  Many of the desktop products do not take advantage of multi-core CPUs, and can have laggard performance numbers when it comes to Optical Character Recognition, Intelligent Character Recognition and Optical Mark Recognition.  Currently, playing with PSI:Capture, which offers a number of OCR options, and they have single, dual and quad core enablement in their licensing.  Dual core runs about 1.7 times the speed, and quad core gives a 2.7x improvement.