Kofax PaperPort 14 Standard [PC Download]

This review of Paperport 14 covers two areas: editing PDFs and compressing PDFs. I don't use the software for scanning or organizing, so cannot comment on those functions. Have used it from Windows 8.1 through Windows 11 with no problems. This software deserves five stars despite its issues because of its amazing compression function, and because it does certain editing tasks very well for large multi-page PDFs (even 100MB). Some of these features can be found in free software to do one page at a time, but this is the only software I could find which does this for all pages of large PDFs. Sometimes it works exceptionally well, sometimes at least better than it was. (My current project is to convert several hundred large PDFs to black and white.) One weakness: sometimes it does not process images well if you are converting to black and white (may lose detail). This only happens sometimes, dunno why. But if you are using the software for other functions (clean borders, auto-enhance, auto-straighten, etc), you can indicate "color" or "grayscale" for the output, and the images will usually stay intact.Favorite features:Convert grayscale PDF to black and white - even remove "stains"Convert color PDF to black and whiteErase whatever you choose (current page)Despeckle (not completely successful, but helps)Remove black marks on bordersAuto-straighten pagesRotateResizeCompress automatically. For example a 70MB PDF will usually compress to 7MB or less.And more featuresThe user guide is excellent in listing all the features, but does not always make clear how you get there. A quick google search will find the answer.Here are a few tips:Before buying, download the basic version's user guide (Getting Started Guide) to see if it has what you need. Compare basic version features with the premium - the basic probably has everything you need. And shop for a good price - at time of purchase the Amazon price was cheapest.After you run updates, version 14 will upgrade to version 14.5.Create a working folder just for Paperport, and copy one item there temporarily for processing. (Copy, don't use the original, as sometimes it gets modified.)Click on the item to be edited, and then click on "Item" to process all pages or "Open with Image View" to process individual pages.When prompted, change the resolution to 300. Also check "make a copy" if you want to keep your input file intact - otherwise it will be replaced. The output copy will be compressed without affecting quality. (There is no option to compress - it happens automatically.)There are several options to convert color or grayscale to black and white. Usually the "convert color" option works best, even for grayscale, but "black border cleaning" usually works too and guarantees cleaner borders.In theory you can adjust the "white point" and "black point" used to convert to black and white, but usually the defaults work best.Double-check the size of the new PDF - it should be much smaller, but occasionally Paperport has a hiccup and you need to start fresh or use a different option.After processing, move the converted PDF elsewhere. Then delete everything in the folder including the little "junk" files, so that the folder is empty before processing the next item. Otherwise Paperport may process your new item based on rules it set up for the prior item.After doing a heavy processing task, before starting the next task close Paperport entirely and reopen. This refreshes the software's workspace. As mentioned above, it is critical to delete the junk files in the temporary folder before reopening Paperport.The software is very slow on large PDFs, and if you try to hurry it, it will lock up. Note: when the screen seems locked and you see "Not Responding", don't quit. Just leave it awhile and it will finish what it is doing. As an example, a 70MB item might take 15-60 minutes to process.I recently processed a 300-page PDF containing a large number of crooked pages. This software did a wonderful job of automatically straightening all the crooked pages.It also does cropping, but I have not tested this as I already use Briss (on CNET).Also another software product very useful for working with PDFs is free PDFsam Basic. It easily extracts portions of a PDF, creating a new PDF, and will also build a new PDF easily by piecing together multiple PDFs. For my current project I use three products: Paperport 14, Briss, and PDFsam Basic.Just fyi, I updated this review in Feb 2014 to add PDFsam Basic instead of a previous product which was not free.

I have just upgraded from PaperPort 12 to PaperPort 14. I have used this product (since Version 8) constantly both on a professional and personal level. I have to admit that I miss the simplicity of Version 8 and its' easy-to-use FormTyper program. I was first introduced to PaperPort when I moved the accounting division of where I worked from a paper-mill into a very organized paperless office. PaperPort worked very well with the office software that was necessary for the business, and complimented the built-in filing capabilities of that same software. We saw early on that professional market PDF would soon become the standard, so we welcomed moving up to PaperPort 12, but the simpler FormTyper program of Version 8 was missed.In working for many years with PaperPort, I have learned that you have to be very versatile in your thinking to get the program to function as you want. While PDF may be the standard and default, all other file formats previously offered are still available in this version with just a bit of tweaking.Now that I am no longer working, I am using my non-professional version of PaperPort to turn my home office into paperless. Again, with a bit of flexibility I am achieving the filing setup I want. All of it is within the PaperPort program boundaries. CAUTION: PaperPort works best with a scanner that uses a Twain Driver. I'd strongly suggest to get that type of scanner, because I have used the program with both Twain and non-Twain. You will be happier with the program by having the integration between scanner and PaperPort, that a twain driver supplies.NEGATIVE THOUGHTS: Nuance does not have its' pulse on the users' needs as much as I would like. They also build in a totally annoying update reminder into their software, that mostly has nothing to do with software updates and by that I mean to fix a software glitch. They usually just come out with a newer version and hound you to death via mail, email, and pop-up messages about buying the newer version. The FormTyper program is not as user friendly as it was prior to Version 9. Also their PDF Viewer program is molasses slow in loading and a pain to use. A plus to counter that negative, though, is that they do allow you to select the VIEWER you want to use for specific file types.POSITIVE THOUGHTS: It is a very good skeleton program that allows the user a lot of leeway to create and implement a filing system that fulfills the user's needs. It also integrates with the more popular Microsoft Office type programs almost seamlessly. I have not tested the Cloud feature or the interface with mobile devices. Maybe later. Right now it is not relevant to my needs.RECOMMENDATION: I would recommend buying it if you are needing a very flexible filing program, one that you can create from the bottom up, complete with Main Folders (like a drawer), Sub-Folders, Sub-Sub Folders, and so on. You can color coordinate, edit, annotate, stack and unstack groups of papers, share folders/documents of just about any file type you can imagine, including photos. If you are a novice to the paperless, filing cabinet type world, then they do have a very credible Help Section with How-TO Guides to get one up and running rather quickly. At this point I will keep with Nuance's PaperPort, and continue to upgrade as necessary.