Most people only ever encounter OCR software in the form of a stripped-down "Lite" package that comes with a scanner or all-in-one printer.

But as OmniPage Professional 17 and Readiris (above) demonstrate, there's a lot more to OCR than acquiring text and outputting it to Word. For companies that need to turn huge volumes of material into searchable documents, a well-tailored OCR package is essential.

OmniPage recognises text in more than 120 languages and outputs it to various document types. As well as Word, there's the option to export to searchable PDF and the PDF/A format.

You can save to eBook OPF files, WAV audio (it does text-to-speech), and even document management systems such as Microsoft SharePoint.

However, OmniPage's star features are its accuracy and batch-processing. Using the same original documents as Readiris 12, OmniPage was far more successful.

Reversed text blocks against black backgrounds were scanned more reliably, and it also picked up text next to graphics without a hitch. From plain text to table-based content sprinkled with images, it hardly put a foot wrong.

The powerful batch-processing tool can be fine-tuned to watch a folder and recognise text automatically as images are dropped in, for example, blacking out (or redacting) certain keywords as it goes, then emailing the results to a set address.

With OmniPage's workflow allowing you to completely customise the way this works, the possibilities are almost endless.

The interface isn't particularly well laid out or easy to use, but with a proper workflow set up, most users need never get involved with the ugly, frame-based front end.

At $847 it isn't cheap, but it's not as expensive as Readiris Corporate 12, and of the two we know which we'd buy. OmniPage Professional 17 does its job well, works accurately and is simpler to use. If you're in the market for accurate, batch-processing OCR software, this is your best bet.