[blindLaw] ABYY FineReader Stability with Jaws?

Mon Aug 5 19:11:19 UTC 2019

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry for any confusion.  To be clear, I just want the answer to a
very simple question:

Does anyone use ABBYY FineReader to **read** not convert, pdfs.  Also,
as I mentioned in my subject line that I am a Jaws user, not an NVDA
user, I am only interested in that screenreader.

The volume of pdfs per day that I need to access and the need for
precision when referencing said files does not lend itself well to
relying on converting to a different file type as a work-around.
Besides which, I don't really have the time to sit around idly while
mass file conversions take place.  Again, why have we not collectively
stood up and demanded the ability to reliably and consistently access
PDF files?  Who doesn't need to do this as a lawyer in 2019?  I was
not a heavy PDF user until about a month ago because I was fortunate
enough to have access to K1000, but it seems that many of us have been
and have been experiencing these issues for quite some time.  At some
point, someone needs to take the lead and try to initiate change.

Thanks,
Laura

On 8/5/19, Gerard Sadlier via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Kelby
>
> Do you mind my asking why you convert files to a different type of
> pdf, rather than say to a text file, a word document etc.
>
> Is this so that you can refer accurately to page numbers or is there
> some other reason?
>
> Kind regards
>
> Ger
>
> On 8/5/19, Kelby Carlson via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Laura,
>>
>> Okay, here goes. i use NVDA, so some of the accessibility features
>> might be slightly different. So, for example, I do not read PDFs in
>> FineReader itself, but use Adobe after I have converted them. There
>> are pretty easy ways to bulk convert within FineReader; from the main
>> screen, just click on "convert to [whatever file format desired]" and
>> then add files as necessary.
>>
>> You will want to go into FineReader's settings and make sure that
>> tagging'bookmarking PDF files is checked, and that the OCR is set to
>> "text and pictures only"--that way you will not have the original
>> image embedded in the file, which will make it much larger.
>>
>> There is one important thing to be aware of, however. With some files,
>> I have found that because of the tagging that FineReader does, when
>> you open the converted file in Adobe, it will start you off on the
>> last page instead of the first. There are two ways around this: either
>> open the PDF file with FineReader's OCR editor, and when the OCR
>> process has finished, save the file as a text-based PDF;
>> alternatively, use "infer reading order from document" in Adobe's
>> settings rather than tagged reading order. This does make converting
>> PDFs in bulk trickier, unfortunately. I am trying to work with Abbyy
>> on a fix, but so far they have not been helpful.
>>
>> Let me know if there are other questions.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 8/5/19, Gerard Sadlier via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> Hello all
>>>
>>> I tend to use Nuance Omnipage to convert PDFS to text files and then
>>> to read those files. This fast, reliable and effective.
>>>
>>> The one draw back is that sometimes the page numbers can be lost, so
>>> that one is not always sure what page of a document one is reading.
>>> Any solution for that would be welcome. However, I am not sure that
>>> when say Fine Reader converts a pdf to word the word document has
>>> precisely the same page numbers as the pdf?
>>>
>>> Comments on this welcome. I am following this discussion with interest
>>> and would be really grateful if people would post solutions to the
>>> list.
>>>
>>> Kind regards
>>>
>>> Ger
>>>
>>> On 8/4/19, Amar Jain via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>> RB-just when I read your observation, I was reminded of a feature which
>>>> even
>>>> allowed reading within Fine Reader itself. It was an important
>>>> observation
>>>> from your end which lead to me remembering a good old missed feature.
>>>>
>>>> Let me try that out and let the group know tomorrow. Just ping me once
>>>> please around noon time just so that it doesn’t slip from my mind.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> AJ
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>>> On 04-Aug-2019, at 7:29 PM, Rahul Bajaj <rahul.bajaj1038 at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Laura,
>>>>>
>>>>> I use ABBYY as an instrument to convert PDFS into  word documents all
>>>>> the
>>>>> time. however, I suspect that you are envisaging its use to read PDF
>>>>> documents as such, as a substitute for adobe reader.  I have never done
>>>>> this yet. best,
>>>>> Rahul
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Aug 3, 2019, at 5:45 PM, Amar Jain via BlindLaw
>>>>>> <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I do it on day to day basis. It is the best solution. You can call me
>>>>>> on
>>>>>> +91-9892622230 or email me (there may be little delay in responses).
>>>>>> Or
>>>>>> Whats App is also fine.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>> Amar Jain
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 03-Aug-2019, at 4:49 PM, Laura Wolk via BlindLaw
>>>>>>> <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> All,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If anyone regularly uses ABYY FineReader instead of Adobe for
>>>>>>> handling
>>>>>>> PDFs, I would really appreciate being contacted offline.  Here's the
>>>>>>> skinny.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> My job is extremely PDF heavy,often with horribly tagged and un-ocr'd
>>>>>>> documents, which we have no way of controlling.  For years, I rely
>>>>>>> typically on K1000 as a work-around Adobe's finickiness with Jaws.
>>>>>>> Except that, for reasons we can't understand, K1000 will not launch
>>>>>>> on
>>>>>>> my system.  We've been working diligently on this for three weeks
>>>>>>> with
>>>>>>> no success.  In the meantime, I've had to rely on Adobe pro, which
>>>>>>> for
>>>>>>> reasons well rehashed, we all know is not a sustainable option.
>>>>>>> (Note,
>>>>>>> in my copious free time, ha! I have been trying to negotiate with
>>>>>>> Vispero and Adobe on this).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The potentially good news is that I do also have access to ABBYY
>>>>>>> FineReader.  I've heard people mention this in the past as a
>>>>>>> substitute for K1000 or OpenBook, but not as a PDF reader.
>>>>>>> Yesterday,
>>>>>>> I tried loading a PDF in it, got some notice like "loading scans,"
>>>>>>> nothing happened after about a minute, and I panicked, basically
>>>>>>> thinking "I don't have time to figure this out now, I need to get
>>>>>>> this
>>>>>>> done," and resorted back to Adobe.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So if anyone has success with this program and can charitably donate
>>>>>>> their time to me to give me a crash course instead of having me
>>>>>>> self-teach and figure out if there's some settings I need to tweak or
>>>>>>> whatever, I would be ever so grateful.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> thanks much,
>>>>>>> Laura
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
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>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Kelby Carlson
>>
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>
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