Caere Corporation Introduces OmniForm for Macintosh; Powerful New Offering Makes Paper Forms Electronic; Industry-First Cross Platform Capability Increases Productivity In Mixed Computing Environments.

LOS GATOS, Calif--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 1, 1996--A powerful new Macintosh software offering from Caere(R) Corporation (NASDAQ:CAER) can greatly increase productivity while streamlining the transition of paper-intensive environments to the digital age with minimal disruption in business process or costly retraining. Caere's OmniForm(R) for Macintosh is the easiest and most robust method ever for Mac users to turn any paper form into an electronic version or rapidly create dynamic, new electronic forms.

OmniForm for Macintosh is the third member of Caere's three-prong strategy of enabling forms-intensive businesses to eliminate time-consuming and costly steps in the forms creation and utilization process. Last year, Caere debuted its industry-first Windows 95 version of OmniForm. Earlier this month, the company announced an innovative version of OmniForm for Internet use. With the cross-platform design of OmniForm for Macintosh, users in "mixed" computing environments will now be able to share form files between Macs and PCs, thereby making the processing of paperwork easier, neater, faster and more accurate.

Just Scan It

OmniForm for Macintosh turns any paper form into an electronic version without cumbersome redrawing or formatting simply by scanning the paper form into a Macintosh. The product is a potential boon for the Macintosh world where many forms are created by graphic designers using the Mac platform. Additionally, OmniForm for Macintosh has the potential to greatly facilitate the paperwork process in several forms intensive marketplaces including education, insurance, government, health care and transportation.

"Businesses are used to paper and paper is the basis for many business processes," said Dean Hovey, Caere's vice president and general manager. "Our original OmniForm offering has been widely embraced by numerous business environments which were bogged down by the sheer volume of administrative paper forms used on a daily basis. At the same time, many of the applications for the initial version of the product were also highly unique, such as a school which automated coursework by scanning in tests and having students complete them electronically.

"The Mac market, long known for its creative approach to computing, will be able to quickly take advantage of the latest example of our commitment to bridge the gap between the paper and digital worlds. We designed OmniForm from scratch to be a world-class cross platform product. Any organization -- large or small -- which utilizes administrative forms, can greatly improve their business process with OmniForm for Macintosh."

Electronic Forms Made Simple

Through OmniForm for Macintosh's easy-to-use interface, users can take the automated electronic form reproduction and make edits or modifications on a live document. The program automatically recognizes all of the design elements of the form and converts them into text and live form objects such as lines and rectangles along with data entry fields, comb fields, check boxes and tables. Once converted, users can attach graphics and fill out the form directly on screen.

A wide range of forms, even those with complex graphics, can be converted to electronic format and modified through a broad range of scanners, including models from Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Visioneer. Users without a scanner can use a fax machine to import a paper form to a Macintosh by faxing the form into the Mac via a fax modem and converting the resulting PICT or TIFF files.

Forms created with OmniForm can be filled, spell checked, printed (on a laser printer or a pre-printed form) and faxed. Data contained in those forms can be saved, imported to and exported from various popular databases including Claris' FileMaker, Claris Works, Microsoft Excel and Acius 4th Dimension. Additionally, forms created with OmniForm can be sent via e-mail as an attachment.

Caere's OCR + Logical Form Recognition Facilitates Process

In addition to Caere's world-renowned OmniPage(R) OCR technology, OmniForm for Macintosh takes advantage of Logical Form Recognition(TM) to simplify the creation of electronic forms. Caere's OCR technology recognizes text and words while Logical Form Recognition identifies form elements automatically. Together, they are a dynamic combination which facilitates the scanning and conversion of paper forms to electronic format. Word recognition in OmniForm for Macintosh has been further bolstered with Language Analyst(, an innovative feature which uses dictionaries, linguistic rules and contextual data to further increase the accuracy of OCR.

Powerful Design Features Provided

A set of powerful design features make OmniForm for Macintosh ideal for use by corporations or small businesses seeking new profit opportunities. For example, many franchised "quick print" locations provide customers with form design services and on-site Macintosh rental usage. With OmniForm for Macintosh, businesses of this type can now significantly reduce the time necessary to create or convert a customer's form or offer the customer the option of using a rental Mac to undertake the same process.

Caere has added a useful form scrapbook feature to OmniForm for Macintosh which allows users to compile components of various previously designed electronic forms and build new versions. For example, a user could take electronic form components (pre-defined tables, address blocks, company logos, etc.) and store them in the form scrapbook. Then, when a new form is required, the user can simply "drag and drop" the pre-built segments into the new form model thus retaining the desired look and feel of the previous versions. Other helpful form design features, such as automatic rotation, are also provided. OmniForm for Macintosh's tool palettes give quick access to commonly used features such as print preview while Table AutoFormat is a quick and easy method to view a table and simultaneously name multiple fields inside of a table.

Users can also easily add field calculations and validations to forms with a spreadsheet-like interface with a simple the click of the mouse.

OmniForm Filler Enables Enterprise-Wide Use Of Forms

After OmniForm for Macintosh has converted a paper form to an electronic version, the form must be useable throughout the enterprise while keeping the form design safe from unauthorized modification. Caere has provided this capability through OmniForm Filler, the companion product to OmniForm for Macintosh. OmniForm Filler enables form users throughout the enterprise to gain all the functionality of the electronic form, instantly fill in data and gain the overall benefits of OmniForm for Macintosh.

Entered OmniForm Filler data is stored in a database automatically created by OmniForm for Macintosh to make retrieval of form records and importing and exporting of the data quick and convenient. The data compiled by OmniForm Filler can also be filled, spell checked, printed (on a laser printer or a pre-printed form), faxed, saved and imported to/exported from several popular databases.

"The combination of these dynamic technology building blocks truly makes the management and manipulation of paperwork a much easier proposition," said Hovey.

System Configuration

OmniForm for Macintosh is available for both the Power Macintosh and 68020-based Macintosh systems and higher running the System 7.1 operating system or later versions. The minimum system configuration for all Mac platforms is 12 MB of RAM and 10 MB of hard disk space.

Pricing and Availability

The manufacturer's suggested retail price for OmniForm for Macintosh is currently $349. For a limited time, Caere will offer OmniForm for Macintosh at the special introductory price which is currently $199.

The manufacturer's suggested retail price for single copies of OmniForm Filler is currently $99. OmniForm Filler multiuser packs and site licenses are also available.

Beta versions of both products are available in July with commercial shipments commencing in September.

The Imaging Products Division

In addition to the OmniForm family of electronic forms solutions, Caere's Imaging Products Division develops and markets the M/Series high-speed, high-volume OCR hardware and software for commercial document management, forms processing and imaging applications, a broad array of automated data entry products including OCR and bar code readers designed to accelerate transaction processing.

The Company

Caere Corporation, with US headquarters in Los Gatos, Calif., and European headquarters, Caere GmbH., in Munich, Germany, is the worldwide leader in OCR, page recognition, electronic forms conversion and document management software technology. Caere's products bridge the gap between the paper and digital worlds by improving the way people use documents. Through Caere technology, static paper information can be easily transformed into dynamic, electronic formats for use on the desktop, in work groups and on the Internet. Caere's products include the OmniPage and WordScan(R) lines of OCR software that convert printed and faxed documents into electronic text; the PageKeeper(R) line of Windows-based document management software that effortlessly retrieves a wide range of information from virtually any source; high volume OCR hardware and software for commercial applications; OmniForm forms conversion software, and a broad array of OCR and bar code products. -0-

Note to Editors: Trademark References: Caere, Language Analyst, Logical Form Recognition, OmniPage, OmniForm, Wordscan and PageKeeper, are trademarks of Caere Corporation. Other products named may be trademarks of their respective manufacturers and are hereby recognized.

Editorial contact is for editorial purposes only, not for publication. Please use this number for publication and/or end user purposes: 800/543-0334.

The Company notes that the above projected shipment date is a forward-looking statement that is subject to change based on numerous factors including, but not limited to, work stoppages, engineering delays, quality assurance testing delays, successful completion of beta site testing, the scheduling of orders, changes in operating systems, a significant change in the competitive environment, and timely delivery by component suppliers.

CONTACT: Caere Corporation

Ed MacBeth, 408/395-7000 ext. 2358

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McGrath/Power Public Relations 

Anne Marks or Jonathan Bloom, 408/727-0351

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