Penpower WorldCard Ultra Business Card Scanner (Windows) Review

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(More customer reviews)OK, I have several Intel Macs, and an iPhone. When my job suddenly changed to a strong marketing role, I had to manage the huge stack of business cards I'd collected over the years, it was no longer sufficient to say "that number is here somewhere" as I flip through a stack of cards.
The hardware is good. Small, lightweight, I can throw it in my laptop case and go. A short USB cable is integrated, and it comes with a extension cable which I've yet to need. The little flip-down cover is fine, I suppose it keeps dirt out when carrying it around. I'd almost prefer a pouch to carry it in.
OCR sucks everywhere, it's as good here as it is anywhere. That means you will do a lot of editing. Don't think you won't. More on this in a moment.
The drivers went on easily, and the device was instantly recognized. I was scanning in under 5 minutes.
Here's the rub. The bundled software, WorldCard, looks like it would be incredible. But that's Windows only application, no touchy for us Mac users. WorldCard Express is bundled for Mac users, and it is nothing to write home about.
I think that most of the functionality the WorldCard promises is provided by a combination of WorldCard Express and the Mac Address Book. If the conversion between the two was seamless, I would have no complaints, but it isn't. You will basically perform two levels of edit on every card you input.
When you scan, you'll click on 'Edit', and a fairly accurate representation of the card will appear in editable fields. You have an opportunity to fix OCR issues here. It's cool that items that weren't recognized go into a separate area you can cut and paste from to put them where they need to be. Get comfortable with your "Apple X" and "Apple V" keyboard shortcuts, the mouse will drive you crazy here. When you're done, you click a button and off to your address book the card goes.
Now comes the problem. WorldCard Express has no concept of "First Name" and "Last Name", nor does it understand "City, ST, ZIP." So all your names will go into the "Last Name" field of your address book, and that is unsatisfactory for most users. The entire address goes into the address field, and City State and Zip are left blank. Not functional at all. This means that you really have to perform two levels of editing on each card for it to be useful.
So, having said all that, it's still considerably faster then typing in every card, and if you have a sharp eye to catch the expected OCR errors, it is certainly more accurate then typing in each card. Over several days, in my spare time and with the part-time help of an assistant, I've caught up on 5 years of cards. Keeping up will be a breeze. I like it, I will use it, I do not regret purchasing it (of course, the company paid for it). I will be watching for improvements to WorldCard Express, or a full version of WorldCard for Mac.
By the way, for you Mac Thunderbird users, google Mac Address book with Thunderbird and you'll find instructions for a slick way to link your Mac Address book to Thunderbird that takes about 15 minutes to install and configure and works well. Supposedly this will be included in Thunderbird 3.0, but it's a unofficial download add-on with configuration for now.

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Streamline your business card collection with the palm-sized Penpower WorldCard Ultra Business Card Scanner, which allows you to digitally preserve and sort your professional and personal contacts to suit your needs. An instinctive slot-in design with dust cover makes this business card scanner easy to use and smaller than ever, making it the perfect addition to your next business trip or conference.
Once your business cards have been scanned, this sophisticated business card scanner enables you to import, export, and synchronize your personal and professional data with all major personal organization software and smart phones. You'll be able to easily scan double-sided business cards and images into a single business card entry, while a full text advanced search feature quickly locates or sorts the contacts you need.
A unique multiple language recognition feature allows you to keep your international contacts organized, while the Unicode design easily displays multi-lingual business cards without error. Up to 65,535 sub-categories provide you with the flexibility to organize contacts according to your personal preferences.
This compact 4-by-3.5-by-1-inch WorldCard business card scanner lets you directly scan contact information into Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Contacts and ACT! without launching Worldcard software. Once your contact information is digital, simply drag and drop it into documents or email. This product comes with a variety of print templates and formats for printing, or helps you design your own templates. It comes backed by a one-year limited manufacturer's warranty.
What's in the Box WorldCard A8 color business card scanner, USB cable, WorldCard software CD, user's manual, calibration card, and registration card.

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