Nuance Cloud Connector is a new feature that allows you to save and retrieve documents via many assorted cloud-storage services, including Box.net, EverNote, Google Docs, Windows SkyDrive, and 20 others. I set it up with my Google Docs account, and it created a lettered drive on my computer with my Google documents in it for easy access (and not just from Omnipage). Within Omnipage, you can open a document in the cloud, perform OCR on it, and save it back to the cloud; because of the lettered-drive structure, the procedure is just like using a folder on your own hard drive--as long as you have a persistent Internet connection.

Another new feature, called eDiscovery Assistant, can batch-process PDFs to make them searchable, without destroying annotations. I found that it works well, and speedily, if you're careful about which options you choose. For instance, you can elect to open the PDFs after the application is done processing them, but I made a bad move in choosing this option on a folder of 160 PDFs. Once the application began, I could not stop it, and I couldn't do anything else until it was done processing all 160 documents--even when I tried invoking Windows Task Manager. I now think that the option to open the PDFs should probably not be present in this feature.

While Omnipage Professional 18 has many powerful features that mostly work as advertised, the program needs some major streamlining and cleanup. Considering its intended purpose, I don't expect it to be immediately accessible to beginners--but it shouldn't require the assistance of an IT staff to use, either. If you do decide to check out the application, be aware that the company sells a $150 version that lacks some functions; for more, see the on Nuance's site. The company does not offer a trial version of Omnipage Professional 18.