Generally, the latest version of Omnipage Pro -- the full version, rather than the cut-down version bundled with some scanners -- wins the most plaudits for OCR software. With that said, the bundled software often works well enough, as long as you make sure the input is "clean" -- straight, and without visual defects. the type of scanner shouldn't matter, as long as it can make clean images of the original at a sufficient resolution (300+ dpi) to allow the OCR software a fighting chance.  In general, though, I've found short documents and highly-formatted documents (think signature lines) are often easier to retype than to clean up. Longer documents scale up in the time to clean up, but the initial scanning and preparation time is 'amortized' over the longer document and results in some savings of time and effort.

I use a Brother MFC-7020.  It has a 20-page sheet feeder (which works quite fast) and comes with OCR software that is as good as any I've seen.  It costs about $199 and doubles as a copier and laser printer.

Wayne Pierce - wpierce@adventurelaw.com

Regarding Scanning: you should check the archives; I remember this question being posed around May or June of last year because I responded to it at that time.  Since that time, we bought the new Nuance scanning product and love it.  This software both creates PDF documents, as well as converts PDF documents into Word format (plus a third function that we have not bothered with), which is more service for less than one-third of the price for a comparable Adobe product.  Converting PDF into Word is not flawless, but I have an excellent legal assistant and she is quite convinced that it is far better than re-typing from scratch.  It is almost perfect when converting a pure-text PDF.

I use the Xerox 252 scanner and Paperport 10 for scanning and document conversion.  The Xerox has an automatic document feeder and excellent accuracy.  For everyday scanning, I use the Xerox and Time Matters.  Mail comes in and it’s scanned into the clients file.  This creates a pdf that can be referred to, emailed or faxed from any desk.  If I need to manipulate the document I use Paperport to convert it to WordPerfect or Word.  This process makes exhibit and document creation simple.  Bob McNeill is an excellent source of info on this process.

I have HP Scanjet 5300C.  Altho it is a flat-bed the software works from the computer and it has buttons for faxing, email, etc.  Apart from the lack of multipaper feed it is excellent.

Mandy Kallal - mandykallal@msn.com

I have a lot of luck with Adobe Professional, using the built-in OCR technology to word-recognize.  Then cutting and pasting (or saving as) a Word document, whichever works better.