bit-tech Shopping: Nuance Paperport 11.0 (Full Product)

• Microsoft Windows 2000
• Microsoft Windows XP

Rating: 10

Time with product:

Strengths: Easy to use and at a great price. Easy to install and picks up program links.

Weaknesses: I haven't found any.

Summary: Have been using Paperport for over 10 years upgrading from Paperport 5 to 6 to 7 to 10. Paperport 10 was very good but does not work with Vista. I scan in all important docs or download and with Paperport, have a great filing system and can always find/retrieve docs. Paperport 11 continues to be easy to use.

Rating: 6

Time with product: 1 Day

Strengths: Easy to use

Weaknesses: It was slow to install.

Summary: I plan on using Paperport to get more use out of my pdf files. I like the fact that it can edit existing files and keep my documents organized better. Anything that can make my life simpler is great for me.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 2 Days

Strengths: easy to use, simple printing, saves as PDF

Weaknesses: none

Summary: Loved earlier version paperport 7.0 but got new computer with Vista and paperport 7.0 not compatible. New version paperport 11 worked well with Vista. It was easy to install and use with HP scanner and printer. Very powerful editing capability of scanned images.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 2 Days

Strengths: Easy to produce PDF files.Seems to handle large numbers of items in one folder better than previous version(s).I find it, like pevious versions, great for keeping track of rebate submittals.

Weaknesses: Replaces earlier version so you can't use both during a transition period.It does require some "getting used to" after having used an earlier version for so long.Minimal paper manual.

Summary: I've used PaperPort for many years. I got the first version along with a scanner bought many years ago. I had updated through purchasing newer scanners with later versions of PaperPort included and purchased PaperPort 9 several years ago. In spite of negative reviews elsewhere but knowing that those with complaints are much more apt to review software I purchased version 11. I figured it was time to check out PaperPort 11 for myself. The installation went fine on XP Pro and the program came up fine with a familiar but a bit more colorful PaperPort desktop. However none of my previous items were in the folders that appeared as default. Browsing, I was able to find my previous folders buried in the Program Files under ScanSoft, PaperPort (ScanSoft is the previous name for what is now called Nuance) and I added them to the folders selectable from the desktop. The folders had to be re-indexed since the search is different and quite a bit faster. I had to refer to the HELP that worked very well to find out how to only index the folders that I wanted. (Right Click that folder.) It seems that the new version attempts to find images files over the entire hard drive(s) and indexing them all would take a long, long time in my case as things are automatically converted to text for indexing and with my many years accumulation of files there are a lot of files to deal with. Supposedly this new version is faster but my sense is that it's about the same speed. Maybe my expectations were too high. Searching though does seem MUCH faster. I saved the same item in one of my folders to a jpeg file and to a pdf file and they were almost exactly the same size file and looked the same when I viewed them by clicking on them on the desktop. So far I'm pleased with the program and suggest that you consider an upgrade if you're using an older version as I was with PaperPort 9.

Rating: 4

Time with product: 4 Months

Strengths: great features

Weaknesses: buggy, can't handle large files

Summary: I'd like to punish Nuance with fewer stars, but there is still the remains of a fine program in PP11, so I have to give it 2 stars even though it infuriates me.I've used PP since version 6 and it's become indispensible to me. The new version has a few feature improvements, but it is terribly buggy and simply cannot handle large files (although it can create them just fine!).If you scan color or make large pdf files, forget trying to view and edit them in the PP Viewer: the hourglass icon will rotate till you fall asleep, and when you press C-A-D you'll get "Not Responding." The workaround is a true PITA: unstack all the pages, work on them, then restack them... and drag the final pdf file out of PP so you can use your regular pdf viewer program.Of course, the workaround won't work for .max files (PP's native format).As for support, Nuance wants $10 to say hello, the Knowledgebase is quite poor, and they don't reply if you use one of the other email address (I've even tried snailmail!).Bad company. They are ruining a truly great product. A little like what Novell did to the old WordPerfect.