CardScan Executive V8

With computer-based PIMs and mobiles so common these days, the business card has become little more than a pile-forming formality. Using OCR to digitise them is a great idea in theory, but this latest version from CardScan doesn't realise its potential. Out of several hundred cards, most key information survived, but there were far too many basic errors to make it truly convenient. The software is cluttered and has no perceptible intelligence when it comes to the basics - the format of phone numbers or addresses, for example. Export options cover most bases (including CSV and text), but there's no direct support for Office 2007. At this price, and considering that each card needs scanning (and editing) individually, you'll be better off hiring a temp to manually type up cards.

Author: Ross Burridge