Infix, Nuance, Finereader- do they all do the same job?
Thread poster: Melina C.M.
Melina C.M.
Melina C.M.
Argentina
Local time: 08:46
English to Spanish
May 18, 2013

Hi,

Can anyone brief me on these products and how they differ from each other?

Thanks in advance!

M.


 
Sarah McDowell
Sarah McDowell  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 06:46
Russian to English
+ ...
Finereader May 18, 2013

I have heard from many professionals that Finereader is the best OCR software there is. I plan on buying it soon.

 
Rolf Keller
Rolf Keller
Germany
Local time: 12:46
English to German
There is no "best" software May 18, 2013

Sarah McDowell wrote:

I have heard from many professionals that Finereader is the best OCR software there is.


Actually there are 5 different aspects.

1 – Letter detection reliability. This depends on the language and on the source document (fax, scan, scan-PDF, text-PDF).

2 – Format conversion options & performance. This depends on your needs, on the the source document and – very important – on the user's competence.

4 – Ergonomics. Note that ergonomics should never be assessed at first glance.

5 – Speed. This should be no issue. Obtain a faster PC, if necessary.

Don't rely on translators who have never conducted a real comparative test. Read published test results (e. g. expert magazines) and pay attention to what they say about # 1 & 2 above regarding your specific needs.


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:46
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
Definitely not! May 18, 2013

InFix is a PDF editor. It only works on software-generated (aka 'distilled') PDFs, and gives you a full array of DTP tools and resources, so you can use it to work (assuming you are a translator, not a designer) on finished PDF files, instead of having to buy and learn to use a host of DTP apps, each one incompatible with all others, to serve a wide range of requests.

InFix Pro has a specific additional feature for translators: it will allow you to export all the text from a PDF, tr
... See more
InFix is a PDF editor. It only works on software-generated (aka 'distilled') PDFs, and gives you a full array of DTP tools and resources, so you can use it to work (assuming you are a translator, not a designer) on finished PDF files, instead of having to buy and learn to use a host of DTP apps, each one incompatible with all others, to serve a wide range of requests.

InFix Pro has a specific additional feature for translators: it will allow you to export all the text from a PDF, translate it using your favorite CAT tool, if any, and then automatically import all translated text back in its place, with the proper fonts and formatting. In case the text swells or shrinks during translation, you have all those DTP tools "IN" there to "FIX" the layout.

InFix is useless for scanned PDF files, unless it's just for reading or printing them.


Nuance is the name of a software company. Among their products there is Dragon Naturally Speaking, which allows you to read aloud (or merely say) whatever you want, and it will use voice recognition to type it out as a text file.

They also have OmniPage, which is an Optical Character Recognition app, which will "read" a scanned (or distilled) PDF, JPG, and a few other formats, and convert it into a file with editable text, such as DOC, RTF, XLS, etc. Formatting/layout may be preserved or not.


ABBYY Fine Reader is a competing OCR program, which supposedly performs the same work as OmniPage. Choice is a matter of personal preference and budget.
Collapse


 
Melina C.M.
Melina C.M.
Argentina
Local time: 08:46
English to Spanish
TOPIC STARTER
But, InFix has OCR functions as well? May 20, 2013

From what I understand, if you can export the text for translation (InFix), I assume it´s because the text has become editable.

I´m just trying to understand if Finereader and InFix comeplement each other, or if Infix has OCR as well.

Thanks!


 
Siegfried Armbruster
Siegfried Armbruster  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:46
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam
Infix - Finereader May 20, 2013

The 2 programs are completely different.

Finereader is a OCR program and I consider it actually the best OCR program,

BUT

it should not be used to convert PDF files that do contain text. There are other programs that handle this task much better.

Infix - has NO OCR features. It can only be used with "editable PDFs".


 
Marketing-Lang.
Marketing-Lang.  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:46
English to German
+ ...
Infix + CAT Tool? Feb 7, 2014

Dear all,
Anybody familiar with this? I've just downloaded the trial version of Infix, but the all-important CAT Tool seems to me missing.
- Is this feature only available with the paid/full version?
- Or am I just overlooking something?
Thanks in advance,
-Mike-


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:46
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
Infix Feb 7, 2014

Marketing-Lang. wrote:

Dear all,
Anybody familiar with this? I've just downloaded the trial version of Infix, but the all-important CAT Tool seems to me missing.
- Is this feature only available with the paid/full version?
- Or am I just overlooking something?
Thanks in advance,
-Mike-


Mike,

Infix doesn't include a CAT tool, it's a full-feature PDF editor.

I was one who suggested Iceni to develop their PDF editor into a translating tool. Their solution was Infix Pro, which exports all the text from a PDF file to a tagged XML or TXT (your choice) file, and tags the PDF as well. Then you translate that XML or TXT file, being very careful not to harm the tags.

For this translation phase, you may use your favorite CAT tool. They (Iceni) tested it with both Trados and DejaVu. I use it with WordFast Classic. The XML worked fine under Word 2003, but no longer with 2007, so I'm using TXT. First I highlight all tags with 25% gray, and set WF to treat them as non-translateables. Word 2003 used to skip all tags on XML.

After you are done with translation, Infix will import it into the tagged PDF, everything in the same place, color, and size as the original. It will guide you through all the partially-embedded-font issues (i.e. missing/unembedded chars), if any. You may replace them on-the-fly.

As translated text overflows, gets out of alignment, etc. Infix has all the DTP tools to fix that and the surrounding/overlaid elements very accurately.

Infix enables you to offer translation services on PDF files generated by all DTP apps, including MS Word, which many are fooled into believing to be a DTP app, however it is no more than a bloated word processor by concept.

As a seasoned PageMaker wizard, I strongly recomment Infix users to read the entire 250-page manual. Many features are different from the way things are done on PageMaker or InDesign (I am unfamiliar with the others).


ADDED LATER: The Infix demo is fully functional, however you get a stamp on all pages saying "done with the free Infix demo". The full (paid) version enables you to remove that, and saves new files without it. They also have a pay-per-save (without the stamp) option.

[Edited at 2014-02-07 12:22 GMT]


 


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Infix, Nuance, Finereader- do they all do the same job?






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