Question How to fix OCR black and white image processing in ABBYY FineReader 16?

[Asketa]

Hi!

First of all, I am sorry if this is the wrong thread forum. I didn't know where else to put it.

I have been using ABBYY FineReader 15 for a few years, converting scans from my scanner to PDFs. It worked quite well. Yesterday I tried ABBYY FineReader 16 version and copied all of my settings from 15 over. However, I have noticed that it does a bad job of processing images to black and white. Here is an example:

(This is an identical scan image put into ABBYY 15 and ABBYY 16 with the same settings)

https://imgur.com/25PSi0N

View: https://imgur.com/25PSi0N

https://imgur.com/xoHGgXC

View: https://imgur.com/xoHGgXC


Also, the processing speed in version 16 is x5 longer than in version 15.

As you can see, ABBYY 15 did an excellent job of converting to black and white, removing most trash from the margins and background, and keeping only the text.

Are there some hidden settings that I am missing?

 

[Ralston18]

ABBYY 16 trial copy by any chance? Or even a Beta version?

This:

"and copied all of my settings from 15 over."

My thought is that one of those ABBYY 15 settings is really not a "match" to ABBYY 16.

Or some issue between the scanner's driver and ABBYY 16.

Take a closer look at all the settings - something may need to be changed. (Should not be that way but not unusual for a software upgrade/revision to run afoul of end user settings.)

As for the longer processing time use Task Manager and Resource Monitor to observe what the system is doing or trying to do while processing a scan, Use both tools but only one tool at a time.

If possible go back to ABBYY 15 for comparison purposes.

 

[Asketa]

You are correct. When I restored it to default settings and just checked the "Convert to black and white", this was the result:

https://imgur.com/o09nKDR

View: https://imgur.com/o09nKDR


Far, far better, but nothing substantially different than ABBYY 15. Plus, I now have to find the setting that is problematic.

P.S. The processing speed has decreased, but it is still x2 longer than ABBYY 15.

 

[Ralston18]

I would not be surprised that ABBYY 16 is "slower".

The software may actually may be doing even more (or trying to do more) to clean up the scans and that processing simply requires more time.

Perhaps some default option that you do not need.

Not familar with the software (full disclosure). Very likely though that developer has published some list of improvements, fixes, new features., etc. that were included in the release of ABBYY 16.

Does more, requires more processing time. Or, maybe, something else got broke that now must be fixed.

Keep an eye on the developer's Forums and FAQs (f any).

And again, use Task Manager or Resource Monitor to observe what ABBYY 16 doing during those longer times.

Not sure if it is still possible but a comparison to ABBYY 15 scanning the same document might reveal something.