PSA: "Nuance PDF Converter for Mac" is EOL

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Level 1

73 points

PSA: "Nuance PDF Converter for Mac" is EOL

Continued from this older thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8180957

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TL;DR:

If you have "Nuance PDF Converter for Mac" it is EOL/discontinued, replaced with "Nuance Power PDF for Mac" or a sold version of "Kofax Power PDF for Mac".

Fujitsu Scansnap users can obtain the Nuance-branded version ("Nuance Power PDF for Mac") and a new license code for it, by contacting Fujitsu support.

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Issue:

I thought this might be of use to other users, somewhere in future...

After recently upgrading to the new Fujitsu Scansnap iX1500 document scanner, they include a license code and download link to "Nuance PDF Converter for Mac" in the box. The latest is version being v6.1.

But as I couldn't get the software to OCR around half my scanned items, I attempted to contact Nuance recently only to find out it was EOL/discontinued software, and had been replaced with one called "Nuance Power PDF for Mac" with latest version being v3.0.1.

HOWEVER, they said that it was not sold anymore directly under the Nuance brand name, since Nuance's scanning software business was sold months ago to company called Kofax. Hence I could buy it from Kofax sold under "Kofax Power PDF for Mac" (for ~$129!).

Given this machine was only a couple of months old, I therefore contacted Fujitsu support, and had to explain to them that the software download link & license code they're including in the box for a brand new scanner(!) was already dead for updates with the last version being buggy!

A bit of back and forth by email, then after a couple of days they supplied me with a new license code and a link to download the (older-branded) "Nuance Power PDF for Mac" (v3.0.1).

I then contacted Nuance sales online chat, they gave me a UK support tel. no. for their imaging support, who actually turned out to still be Nuance support! They explained that while the software has been branded as Kofax, Nuance are still currently handling much of the support. They also explained that both the Nuance and Kofax versions of "Power PDF for Mac" should be the same (currently v3.0.1), although you cannot use the Nuance license with the Kofax version, as you have to buy the Kofax version directly from Kofax's website (i.e. there's nowhere to download the product, and then enter a license).

So to finish, Fujitsu are supplying the Nuance branded version for some unknown reason. But the directly sold version is now from Kofax. They should work the same, but one has to wonder why Fujitsu are still supplying the older Nuance branded version vs. the newer Kofax branded version? And more importantly, is the older Nuance branded version going to be updated along with the newer Kofax branded version?

Such a pain the backside. Really, Fujitsu should just supply the Kofax branded version, and let their users not have to worry it's going to be unsupported by Kofax sometime in the future, no doubt just after we're out of warranty on our scanner. Annoying, but there we are. :-|

Posted on Sep 26, 2019 8:17 AM

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Answer 1

jimthing Author

Level 1

73 points

Sep 26, 2019 9:07 AM in response to VikingOSX

Great info, thanks for adding it here.

VueScan seems like a decent solution, although you have to pay for it ($100 option being the logical one).

But really, the reason for me posting is just as a useful notice to other users of said software (or owners of the iX1500 scanner) that the bundled software has issues they may need or want to address.

While bundled software can often not be very usable, this really should be as it's made by fairly large software companies (Nuance/Kofax) and as the software is bundled free, obviously many expect it to work as advertised, and save themselves the money of buying extra software to get the job done.

Having decent useable OCR software included-in-price, is one of the reasons I upgraded to a new machine from an older Fujitsu Scansnap S1500M I was previously using. So if Fujitsu can supply newer software (that's still supported, so hopefully going to have fixes), is worth giving a go first before chucking more money at the solution.

But yeah, that may be a 'future' purchase for some of us, so great to know, lol! And there's always the other well known full-on PDF-editing software names out there of course: PDF Expert, PDF Pen, and of course the (expensive) Adobe Acrobat. And as you say, presumably the Mac App Store has loads of these vanilla OCR apps too, of varying degrees of usefulness.

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,030 points

Sep 26, 2019 8:32 AM in response to jimthing

If you search in the Mac App Store for OCR, you will set alot of products, many which are either free, or low cost. I would start with those that have the highest star rating, and preferably, offer a trial version on the vendor site so you can test it against the Fujitsu.

The not-free, 64-bit VueScan has built-in OCR for English and has 32 additional, downloadable modules for additional languages. Here is VueScan's article on how to OCR text files. VueScan supports the Fujitsu iX1500 scanner without any other software or drivers required. That might be important from a future-proofing issue.

Disclaimer: I have owned VueScan Professional since 2012 and never paid an update fee. I receive no benefit from the vendor for mentioning VueScan here.

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Answer 3

jimthing Author

Level 1

73 points

Sep 26, 2019 9:22 AM in response to jimthing

Should add that of course there's the other big names out there in the full PDF-editing software marketplace: PDF Expert, PDF Pen, and the (expensive) Adobe Acrobat. And as you say likely loads of vanilla OCR-ing apps in the Mac App Store too.

Just annoys me that a discontinued buggy version of software is still being supplied with a new hardware machine, and as ever, us as users having to chase it up with Fujitsu who are completely matter-of-fact about it – and are basically seeing if they can get away with it, rather than offering the newer version of software directly to customers buying their equipment, without us having to ask first! But hey, what's new.

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PSA: "Nuance PDF Converter for Mac" is EOL

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