PEABODY, Mass., September 4, 2002 - ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), a leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions, today announced that OmniPage Pro, its award-winning document and PDF conversion solution, has won the prestigious Windows.NET Readers' Choice Award for "Best Document Management Application."

OmniPage® Pro 12 Office, the latest release of OmniPage Pro, is a powerful productivity application that delivers highly accurate document and PDF conversion, replacing the need to manually re-create paper and image-based documents with an automated, electronic process. The award-winning application helps businesses save time and money by using highly accurate optical character recognition (OCR) capabilities to instantly turn paper and PDF files - letters, contracts, spreadsheets, magazine articles, manuals and more - into editable word processing and spreadsheet documents.

OmniPage Pro 12 Office also provides organizations with an affordable way to store and share documents electronically. The new release automatically creates searchable PDF files, a format that is automatically indexed by popular content management systems, including the Oracle® Collaboration Suite and FileNET® Panagon®. The product also automatically converts paper and PDF into XML, a native format for Microsoft® SQL Server and SharePoint®.

"We are honored to be recognized by the readers of Windows.NET, as they are the thought-leaders within the organizations looking to apply technology to eliminate barriers to productivity," said Robert Weideman, chief marketing officer at ScanSoft. "The Readers Choice Award underscores our continuing success in delivering value to organizations worldwide, and provides a strong endorsement of OmniPage Pro from those that matter most - actual users. We thank them for this honor."

OmniPage Pro 12 Office is a single, affordable solution that is used to convert, edit, process and share paper and PDF documents. In the latest release ScanSoft has enhanced the features that matter most to users of OCR applications - increasing overall accuracy up to 35% and improving PDF conversion accuracy by more than 80%. As a result, OmniPage Pro 12 Office is the most accurate and powerful document conversion tool available. Other important capabilities include:

Breakthrough PDF Conversion - OmniPage Pro 12 Office helps businesses re-purpose information trapped in PDF files by instantly converting them into editable word processing and spreadsheet documents. The new release includes PDF Overlay Matching technology, which delivers more than 80% improved accuracy for PDF normal and image/text conversion when compared to other solutions.

Indexed and Searchable PDF - OmniPage Pro 12 Office creates searchable PDF files, the format of choice for many document retrieval and content management systems. When combined with its accurate OCR capabilities, the product insures that stored PDF documents will be found when needed.

Automatic and Continuous Batch Processing - OmniPage Pro 12 Office can now automatically and continuously convert volumes of paper documents and PDF files into editable and searchable documents from anywhere on a network.

RealSpeak Proofing - OmniPage Pro 12 Office includes RealSpeak™ proofing, human-sounding synthesized speech that reads converted document text aloud - making it easier than ever to catch and correct potential errors.

Enterprise Sharing and Connectivity - With its new support for the Open Document Management API (ODMA) and XML, OmniPage Pro 12 Office delivers unmatched document sharing capabilities and leverages industry standards for connectivity with enterprise content management and workflow applications.

Enterprise Deployment - The new release includes features that increase the return-on-investment and lower the cost of ownership for workgroup and enterprise organizations. These include support for network scanning, network install and volume licensing.

ScanSoft OmniPage Pro 12 Office is available immediately through ScanSoft's direct sales organization and its global network of authorized resellers. For additional information on features, pricing and volume licensing programs, please visit www.ScanSoft.com or call 800.443.7077.

About ScanSoft, Inc.

ScanSoft, Inc. is the leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions that are used to automate a wide range of manual processes -- saving time, increasing worker productivity and improving customer service.

Trademark reference: ScanSoft and OmniPage are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other company names and product names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with market trends, competitive factors, and other risks identified in ScanSoft's SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof.

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