ABBYY FineReader PDF

FineReader PDF is ABBYY's desktop application for working with PDFs and paper documents, and its reason to exist is the recognition engine underneath. ABBYY has been building OCR for more than three decades, and FineReader uses neural-network models at each stage — image clean-up, layout and object detection, then text recognition — to turn a scan or photo into a document you can edit, search and reuse.

OCR that keeps the layout. Scanned contracts, invoices and book pages convert to Word, Excel or searchable PDF with tables, columns and formatting preserved. The OCR Editor lets you verify uncertain characters against the original image before you export, and recognition covers 198 languages. Text and tables can also be pulled out of a single region of a PDF without converting the whole file.

A full PDF editor. Edit text and layout directly in a PDF, organise and merge pages, create fillable forms, comment and run approval reviews with colleagues, and protect documents with passwords, redaction and digital signatures.

Document comparison. Compare two versions of a document even when they are in different formats — a Word draft against a scanned printout, for example — and get a list of every text change, a feature reviewers often single out.

Automation. The Corporate edition adds Hot Folder, which watches folders and runs recurring OCR and conversion jobs on a schedule.

Platforms and pricing. Windows (FineReader PDF 16) and Mac, plus a separate iOS scanning app. FineReader PDF Standard for Windows is $99 a year or $16 a month; Corporate is $165 a year or $24 a month; FineReader PDF for Mac is $69 a year. Volume licensing (per seat, concurrent or remote user) is available for organisations, and a free trial is offered.