If you’re seeking for a means to digitize all of your documents, you’ve come to the right spot, since today’s post will help you uncover the greatest scanner software in the universe. Okay, maybe we’re exaggerating a little for dramatic effect, but since we’re all children of the digital revolution and the classic photocopying machine, also known as the “Xerox Machine,” is pretty much extinct, we all need the best scanning software for our multifunctional printers (or whatever gadget), whether at home or at work.
We know what you’re thinking: but wait, my printer/scanner comes with its own software package; why would I need scanner software? The issue with “stock software” is that it isn’t the finest in the world; for example, there are superior choices for optical character recognition (OCR), image processing, and batch scanning.
Because everyone is striving to reduce the quantity of paperwork in their company in order to enhance efficiency and all that, custom scanner software has become king; developers are working harder than ever before, and the good news is that there are numerous solutions to pick from. Whether you’re seeking for the greatest screen capture software for your business or enterprise-grade photo editing software, the “free market” has you covered.
Best free Scanning Software
Abbyy FineReader
If you’re already familiar with the market, you’re definitely aware with Abbyy FineReader, which features one of the top OCR (optical character reading) software in the industry. ABBYY FineReader 14 is the most recent version with all the bells and whistles. When compared to the previous generation, the “final OCR boss” includes a slew of new functions, including document comparison and PDF editing that are perhaps superior to what Adobe Acrobat DC has to offer.
And that’s saying a lot, given that Adobe essentially invented the PDF format. Pound for pound, Abbyy FineReader punches far above its “weight,” making for excellent document-comparison software, possibly the best available, which allows you to compare docs in two different formats (unlike others), i.e. you can compare a PDF to a Word version of the same document, and see which of the two is the most recent, and so on and so forth.
Because cellphones are now nearly as capable as old-school scanners, all you need to do is snap a high-resolution photo, which can subsequently be converted into editable PDFs/docs by Abbyy FineReader’s OCR software. The current version is impressive in terms of its capacity to clean up poor-quality photos.
You’ll also get all the features you could want, including the ability to view/edit/perform advanced tasks in PDF files, convert standard docs to Word, PDF, PowerPoint, Excel, DjVu, ePub, and so on, the ability to convert/combine multiple files into a single one (Word, Excel, or PDF), the ability to scan to FineReader’s OCR Editor or, if you prefer, directly to Excel, PDF, or Word, Excel, and Unfortunately, because Abbyy FineReader lacks a version-control capability, you cannot review the history-changes on a given document.
Adobe Acrobat DC
Adobe is a free scanner softwaret, and their Adobe Acrobat DC is a formidable tool if you’re seeking for top-notch scanner software The DC particle, by the way, stands for Document Cloud, and this Adobe product is excellent if you want a no-nonsense PDF solution that allows you to compare documents side by side, update data from scanned paper printouts, and leave comments via an easy and ergonomically built interface.
The scanner software package is incredibly simple to install and use, and it has a plethora of advanced capabilities. Furthermore, Adobe is one of the greatest names in the industry, so if you’re searching for a “seasoned” and trustworthy brand, this is the droid for you. The Document Cloud feature combines all of your documents with Adobe’s cloud storage system, allowing you to access your data from anywhere, at any time. Furthermore, Acrobat DC integrates neatly into the company’s software ecosystem, so if you’re already an Adobe customer, such as if you use Photoshop, you should strongly consider having Acrobat DC as your OCR partner. Furthermore, this scanner software supports PDF creation from nearly any source, including MS Office, smartphone cameras, HTML pages, emails, and docs/spreadsheets that may be merged and arranged into a PDF file.
Readiris
Readiris 17 is our next option for the finest scanner software available, since it serves as a comprehensive “jack of all trades,” or all-in-one solution that is very simple to learn and use. The scanner software interface is nicely designed and straightforward, making Readiris pretty simple to use; also, you’ll gain all the important features and capabilities required to do whatever, from digitizing your old documentation to running a small business more efficiently than ever before.
Readiris 17 enables you to quickly and easily capture and convert all of your documents into editable PDF format.
Obviously, you may add comments/annotations or hyperlinks to your PDF documents using a properly built set of tools, or sign and then safeguard them before distributing them electronically to your partners or whomever. Furthermore, you can convert PDFs, texts, and photos in a scanned document or image, then modify the document in the format of your choice, such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word, or indexed PDF.
Furthermore, there is the ability to convert a doc to audio format, MP3 or WAV, allowing you to listen instead of reading. You can even record voice remarks, which is as fantastic as editing gets.
VueScan
We’re here to help if you’re having difficulties finding free scanner software. Actually, we’re talking about VueScan, which is widely regarded as some of the best scanner software available. VueScan was intended to assist individuals in continuing to use their outdated scanners, thereby saving money and the environment.
More than 5600 older scanners were reverse engineered to achieve this laudable purpose, and the end result is a free-trial program for scanning documents, photos, slides, and film on all major operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. VueScan supports over 5600 models from 42 manufacturers and can assist you even if your scanner lacks a proprietary driver.
OmniPage Standard
If you’re seeking for an alternative to Adobe, OmniPage Standard may be the solution, as it features excellent page reconstruction and cutting-edge OCR. The Standard edition of the world’s best-selling scanner software allows you to scan and/or convert numerous types of documents, such as paper, pictures, or PDF files, into searchable/editable files with ease. In addition to excellent OCR, OmniPage Standard excels at extracting pure text.
In terms of features, OmniPage Standard ($149,99 MSRP on the official website) includes a capability that Acrobat XI currently lacks, the side-by-side comparison editing feature, and it also has a better UI (as in more versatile) than Abbyy FineReader. OmniPage also shines when it comes to automating many jobs, as it provides a type of batch manager, which makes life lot easier. Finally, this excellent scanner software can convert PDFs, scanned images, and photos into searchable Word, PDFs, Excel, Word Perfect, HTML, Outlook, and SharePoint documents, to mention a few. It also allows you to export scanned documents to your Kindle device.
PaperScan
There is an old adage that the finest things in life are freebies, and in this sense, PaperScan is a simple (and free) program that helps you to clean up your scanned documents, i.e. this baby is a free scanning application that is ideal for folks on a tight budget. PaperScan free edition supports TWAIN and WIA devices, thus it should work well with digital cameras, traditional scanners, video capture cards, and so on.
PaperScan also allows you to import files/images from your computer, such as ordinary graphic files or PDFs.
Regardless of its origin, the image is swiftly optimized, allowing punch holes and borders to be easily erased.
There’s also an autodeskew option, which automatically detects and corrects crooked pages, as well as many other options for smoothing an image, adjusting colors, removing noise, tweaking contrast, resizing, and so on.
After that, the document can be saved in JPEG, TIFF, JBIG2, PNG, or PDF format. If you want more features, there’s always the Professional version, which costs $149.99, but for now, be content with what you’ve got, okay?
NAPS2
NAPS2 is an abbreviation for “not another PDF scanner 2,” and here’s the irony: that’s exactly what NAPS2 is: simply another PDF scanner. Aside from the joke, what distinguishes NAPS2 from the crowd is the idea behind its development: its beauty is in its simplicity, much like a Swiss watch. The objective is, with NAPS2, you’ll be able to scan with a single click, including PDFs and other doc-types, as easily as feasible.
Speaking of boomer-tech-level, it doesn’t get any easier than NAPS2, so if you find the modern world overly complicated and annoying, this free scanner software will make you cry, as its bare-bones interface will allow you to set up multiple and distinct scanning profiles, each with their own name, doc-size, resolution, scan source, and so on, and it doesn’t even require you to have a scanner.
ScanSpeeder
ScanSpeeder is best defined as free scanner software for the people, which is one of the reasons it reached our “best of” list. If you need to scan/edit/archive a lot of photos, ScanSpeeder is the way to go, as it can scan/crop/straighten many photos/docs at once if you’re using a conventional flatbed scanner.
And that’s a significant plus if you’re dealing with a lot of data, right?
Furthermore, ScanSpeeder considerably streamlines the entire scanning procedure, which is ideal for non technical users of old-school scanning equipment. The free scanner software allows you to scan numerous photos at once, then automatically separates them into different files and straightens the docs/photos, which is a great time-saving function because you won’t have to worry about how you place the docs/photos on the flatbed.
CamScanner
If portability and mobility are important to you, CamScanner has a superb free scanner software app with plenty of fascinating features, such as lightning-fast OCR (converts image to text), document sharing choices, and document sync capabilities. The paid version starts at $4.99 a month, which is quite reasonable. What do you get for that kind of money, though?
First and foremost, a mobile scanner using your smartphone’s camera, which means you’ll be saying goodbye to boomer-era technology for good. CamScanner allows you to capture photos/documents with your phone, then eliminate the distracting backdrop, and lastly generate a high-resolution PDF or JPEG file; obviously, at any time and from any location. The OCR device recognizes 16 languages, including English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.