ScanSoft Ships PaperPort Pro 9 Office; Brings the Power of PDF Creation, Network Scanning and Document Management to All Office Workers

Business Wire, March 4, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

PEABODY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 4, 2003

New Professional Office Version of PaperPort Transforms the

Way Organizations of all Sizes Organize, Find and Share Documents -

from Paper, on the PC and over the Network

ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), a leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions, today announced the immediate availability of PaperPort(R) Pro 9 Office, a new Microsoft Windows application that transforms the way office workers can organize, find and share all of their paper and digital documents. PaperPort Pro Office is the first desktop product to combine the power of creating PDF files, the convenience of network scanning and the efficiency of document management, into a single, easy-to-use office productivity application.

PaperPort Pro 9 Office is a new, professional business version of PaperPort Deluxe, which is the world's most popular desktop paper and document management application for the PC. In the same way that PaperPort Deluxe has become an essential tool for millions of home and small office users for turning piles of paper into organized digital documents, PaperPort Pro Office provides organizations of all sizes a more efficient way to work with all of their scanned paper, PDF and digital documents. PaperPort Pro Office replaces copying with automatic scan-to-desktop capabilities; streamlines business processes with document annotation and assembly features; and enables paperless document flows by connecting the PC desktop with existing backend enterprise systems, including Oracle(R) 9i and Microsoft SharePoint(R).

"Prior to PaperPort, my office was overflowed and over worked with paper document handling and filing," said Duke Nguyen for State Farm Insurance. "With PaperPort Pro Office, paper copies are now replaced with digital PDF files that can easily be combined with other files, emailed through the Internet, faxed directly to a recipient, or stored on a local network. Coupled with our multi-function printers, PaperPort has significantly enhanced our productivity and efficiency."

A key capability within PaperPort Pro Office is its built-in support for creating PDF files from any Microsoft Windows application, without the need for additional PDF creation, editing or viewing software. Like other PDF creation applications, PaperPort supports popular PDF capabilities such as annotations, notes and highlights, sending PDF files as email attachments, and converting static PDF files into electronic forms that can be filled and printed. However, PaperPort offers a unique range of additional PDF capabilities, including automatically converting mixed document sets into PDF email attachments, allowing users to assemble custom PDF files using drag & drop stacking controls, and enabling automatic scan-to-PDF capabilities using networked multifunction printers (MFPs) and digital copier devices.

Gartner, a leading independent technology research and advisory firm recently noted, "Where word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications let you work on your documents, there's a need for an additional class of products that can enhance productivity by allowing you to efficiently work with documents - from paper, on the PC or over the network. With the deployments of networked multifunction and digital copier devices increasing, and with a growing interest in PDF capabilities, solutions that provide a document bridge between the office worker and centralized content management systems are well positioned."

PaperPort's intuitive thumbnail-based presentation allows pages within documents of all kinds - including scanned paper, PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint(R) and more - to be instantly viewed and found without launching the associated application. Its sophisticated full-page optical character recognition (OCR) engine automatically creates search keywords for scanned paper and PDF files, allowing its SimpleSearch(TM) feature to find all matching documents - from standard Microsoft Office and other digital document types, to scanned paper and business cards, as well as PDF files received on email or downloaded from the Web.

PaperPort's DesktopDelivery(TM) feature reduces the costs associated with manually copying and storing paper documents by automatically delivering scanned pages to the user's PC from local or network scanning devices, including MFPs and digital copiers. DesktopDelivery instantly converts scanned images into PDF files and launches PaperPort, whose drag & drop tools users can use to send the files as email attachments, store the files on the PC or on the network, or print the files in color or black & white.

PaperPort also adds unique document management capabilities to networked PC's and Tablet PC's, simplifying the movement of local documents to network drives and Web-based content management systems, including Microsoft SharePoint and Oracle-9i.

"We have been focused on expanding the productivity value that ScanSoft can bring to enterprise organizations, which resulted in a growing number of multi-seat purchases of our solutions over the past year," said Paul Ricci, chairman and CEO of ScanSoft. "PaperPort Pro Office demonstrates the continuation of our enterprise focus this year, and its robust capabilities make it a significant addition to our imaging product line."