The Return Of PaperMaster Pro

I’m a huge fan of software that scans and stores stuff for you, but the Holy Grail has always been out of reach in my view. No one program does it all. Right now I’m settling for ScanSoft’s PaperPort, which is about the only game in town, or was, until  j2 Global Communications, Inc relaunched their acquisition of a few years back, PaperMaster. Today I got an email from them touting their new PaperMaster Pro version 7 (I wasn’t counting too closely, but I must have missed 2 through 6). Anyway PaperMaster Pro looks like you can

• Create PDFs from any office application or scan
• Organize fast and easy
• Find anything in seconds
• Get powerful OCR - Never re-type any document
• Fax easier via the internet with built-in eFax

which might make it worth a look. I certainly will, and I’ll get back to you, either in the blog or the column, or both. For now, I’m told the new features include being able to

• Scan & staple pages to already filed paperwork
• Scan to any folder with one click, for fast easy filing when you have piles of paperwork to file.
• Auto-crop & page straighten improve the look and clarity of your scanned paperwork.
• Batch file all your paperwork on your computer into PaperMaster in one easy step.

Oh, and loyal users get a $100 discount on the $199 price. Or is it Euros? The download purchase site isn’t clear.

Comments

[hedger48]

I use Papermaster 6, it is great and am anxious to try 7. I wish there was a TBYB so I could see if it is worth upgrading.

[Atilla Mukan]

Well I am happy that somebody has the same thoughts as me. I was a Papermaster 1 user as I liked the organizing capabilities and the .EFX format was very smooth. WHat I did not like was that I could not preview PDF documnets (had to open them) and the way Papermaster stores its files (D1 to D100000) so it was very hard to find back files when not using Papermaster. As I saw only a very small user base I was afraid that I would hook myself into a proprietary sytem that would dissapear. In addition the syupport was non-existing and frustrating. SO when paperport 10 came out, I switched. Paperport 10 is very bugy and slows my machine down significantly. The biggest advantage is that I can browse my My docs easy, but I have to shut down the app. on a very regular base. So I just have installed 7 as the interface looks clean. PDF are now "previewable" but they still have that funny filing system. However I have more and more statements (credit card, banks, tax) all digital so a good search tool would be helpful. nI have tried to index a few banking statements (PDF's) but when I search on words in it I get no results. Anybody experience with that.

So Jeremy we have 10 days until the upgrade promo ends and I am curious after your findings in comparison with Paperport.

[john sakiewicz]

I bought the pro 7, installed it, and it keeps asking for a password to open a cabinet i didn't create.. i bought the product in feb 2005 and today 18 mar 2005 still don't have a working version..i have saved several e-mails asking for a fix but still don't have one. i even made a copy of a file (MDB) on cd and sent it regestered mail which j2 signed for and still got nothing back. today 18 march 2005, i called the tech line, was told to call back in a half hour and when i did, i got cut off twice. now when i send an e-mail asking for status for fixing the problem, i don't even get the auto reply e-mail back. can someone give me a good number to call an executive there to talk to???

i have never had a problem before with other products, evidently i made a bad mistake buying this one..

jnsak@earthlink.net

[John Sakiewicz]

What would you do???

After purchasing the program and installing it, it creates a My Cabinets folder in the My Directory folder like it is supposed to according to the instructions. But it also assigns a password to the cabinet it creates and j2Global is not helping to fix the problem so the program does not work. I dont know what the password is, and I cant create new cabinets to use the program.
Below is a sequence of efforts I have made to resolve the problem.
19 Feb 2005 purchased the program and down loaded it themn installed it and it didnt work.
19 Feb 2005 sent first e-mail to j2 Global explaining the problem
19 Feb 2005 auto reply from j2 Global received my e-mail and will prosess as soon as possible.
21 Feb 2005 sent another e-mail explaining the problem again.
22 Feb 2005 auto reply from j2, received e-mail
22 Feb 2005 reply from j2 sales, I shouls contact j2 support.
26 Feb 2005 sent e-mail explaining problem to j2 support.
26 Feb 2005 auto reply from j2, received my e-mail and assigned a case #.
28 Feb 2005 received e-mail from j2, requesting which ver PM I have.
28 Feb 2005 sent reply with ver# and explained problem again, and provided information about my system (computer type, operating sys, etc..).
28 Feb 2005 auto reply from j2 received my e-mail.
28 Feb 2005 received e-mail from j2 for me to forward a file (MDB) from the My Cabinets folder.
28 Feb 2005 forwarded the requested file as an attachment.
4 Mar 2005 sent e-mail to j2, asking if they may have a fix for the problem.
4 Mar 2005 auto reply from j2, received my request
4 Mar 2005 j2 support said the file (MDB) did not get to them, try again.
4 Mar 2005 sent e-mail with (MDB) file attached.
5 Mar 2005 sent e-mail asking if they (j2) received the file.
5 Mar 2005 auto reply from j2, they received my e-mail.
7 Mar 2005 j2 did not receive the attachment and that I may have to change the extension in order for the file to get through, so I tryed it again.
7 Mar 2005 sent attachment again.
7 Mar 2005 autoreply from j2, received my e-mail.
8 Mar 2005, received the cd, un-installed the downloaded ver and installed the program from the cd, and still have the same problem. e-mailed j2 again.
8 Mar 2005 autoreply from j2, received my e-mail.
8 Mar 2005 e-mailed j2 with the (MDB) file attached again.
8 Mar 2005 autoreply, j2 received the e-mail
8 Mar 2005 asked if they (j2 ) received the file and reply was no, it did not make it.
9 Mar 2005 e-mailed j2 with the (MDB) file attached again.
9 Mar 2005 autoreply from j2, received my e-mail
9 Mar 2005 the file did not make it again.
10 Mar 2005 e-mailed the (MDB) file as an attachment again.
10 Mar 2005 No autoreply from j2.
11 Mar 2005, I applied and received Thawte Personal Certification, in hopes this would help get the file to j2
11 Mar 2005 e-mailed j2 with the (MDB) file attached using the digital signature.
11 Mar 2005 sent another e-mail with the file attached using the digital signature just in case the first one failed.
11 Mar 2005 autoreply from j2, received my e-mail and assigned a case number again.
14 Mar 2005 e-mailed j2 support asking if they received the file attachment (sent it about 4 times on 11 Mar).
14 Mar 2005 autoreply from j2, they received my e-mail and assigned a case# to it again.
15 Mar 2005 e-mailed j2 and the file did not make it through at all, all those times.
15 Mar 2005 asked for j2 address so I mailed a copy of the (MDB) file on cd, registered mail and notified them (j2).
29 Mar 2005 e-mailed j2 asking if they received the cd, I had received the signed return receipt.
29 Mar 2005 autoreply from j2, received my e-mail and assigned a case# again.
29 Mar 2005 received e-mail from j2, the issue has been forwarded to their developers for furthed research.
6 Apr 2005 sent e-mail to j2 asking for an update on the problem.
6 Apr 2005 autoreply from j2, received my e-mail and assigned a case# to it again.
6 Apr 2005 received e-mail from j2, "Our developers are still researching this issue. We may have a work around shortly, however."
17 Apr 2005 e-mailed j2 asking if anything has been resolved with the program problem and asked if iI could possibly get a refund or a working program.
17 Apr 2005 no autoreply or any reply at all.
18 Apr 2005 did a Google search and found e-mail address to the president of j2 Global and explained my problem .
19 Apr 2005 received e-mail from j2 support asking for me to forward the (MDB) file again, and I noticed it was the exact same e-mail I sent on Feb 19th.
19 Apr 2005 No autoreply or any reply at all.
21 Apr 2005 e-mailed and attached the (MDB) file to j2 support again, digitally signed again.
21 Apr 2005 e-mailed an explanation of the problem (and attached the file) to the j2 PR contact.
21 Apr 2005 e-mailed (again) an explanation of the problem (and attached the file) to the j2 president.
Also, in between all this, I called the j2 support section twice.
18 Mar 2005 got cut off twice after waiting 10 min each time; and one time I did talk to someone, but after explaining the problem I was put on hold and again cut off. (in the mean time, I'm chalking up long distance minutes because it's not a toll free call to the support section.)
19 Mar 2005 called support again, got cut off the first time; was on hold for about 10 min the second time and cut off again. On the 3rd try, I made contact and was transfered to what they (j2) call 2nd level and after about 10 min, did talk to a 2nd level tech. who was very quiet, didn't ask what type computer I have, or what operating system, or anything else that I thought might be usefull. I explained the password problem to him and after about 25 min, many of them silent ones he said he would e-mail me a link to got to, but never explained what it was or what I was supposed to do.
As of this date, I haven't herd anything else, not even autoreplys.

I've been going through this Papermaster Pro 7 non-working program problem, and trying to figure out why it's so hard for j2Global to resolve it. This is the first time in my 53 years as I can remember when you either got an exchange; repair; or refund if the product was faulty. Especally now-a-days (2005).

I can't figure out why after numerous attempts to send the file j2 wants to analyze as an e-mail attachment that never gets there, I copy on a cd and mail it to them certified mail (return receipt) they still have a problem fixing the program; replacing it or just giving me a refund.

They sent out the e-mail advertisement offering the program for $100.00 so I took up on it. Do they need the money so desperatly so as not to reply to my e-mails any more??? to get a working product!!!

I'm not a company owner; executive; millionare; or what ever, the $100.00 to my is hard worked for.

I wonder what their major problem is.

I've only been waiting 3 months now, how many more till I have a working program?

[Andy Dillersberger]

I really loved PaperMaster Live (3.03), It was simple and easy to learn. The office I work for has collected 150,000+ pages using this program. When Papermaster Pro 6.0 came out we hoped many fixes and new improvements. We used 6.0 over the network and soon began to notice corrupt MDB files (thought all the data was intact) and as other people mentioned have e-mailed tech support the files in question who did not recieve them. I had a conversation, with papermaster tech support, via email regarding the corruption of the MDB file who stated that he had no tools to look into this file to see why it was corrupt.
Having passed 6.3 and now using 7.0 the latest problem is that instead of corrupting the MDB file we have lost individual documents with no warning. The Clients W folder and Clients H folder have lost 100 documents in the last 2 months. Right now the problem has been random with no clue to its origin or solution. If you have many documents, an archived daily backup will prevent a lot of frustration until Papermaster comes up with a fix. I am not happy with the papermaster tech support and their lack of tools and response but if this carries on I will switch to another program.

[Jeremy]

Thanks for the comments, Andy. I've written before about the company's poor support for the product. One possible alternative is DocuCabinet from Vixelsoft. Has anyone tried it?

[JJ van Zyl]

My first experience was many years ago with Papemster 98 and it worked like a charm until 2005, when I have decided to purchase Version 7. Payment was made effortlessly but obtaining a key code ncessitated several e-mails to the agent company in Germany!! and ony after a phone call from South Africa (my cost!!) the problem was resolved. A feature enable sharing by publishing a cabinet to cd rom including a viewer with the cd. But this did not function at all. Again the war of words and the Jfax silence of the lambs. Then I tried e-mailing using another e-mail address and this elicited response!! I have since then received a link to a fix but I do not want to implement this. I any event, I think there are a company that realy want my business and their CEO, Todd Stevenson has called me twice discussing their nifty solution. It is good. Visit www.myfilecenter.com

[john sakiewicz]

Well I,m back,
the problem I had with the Papermaster Pro 7 was somewhat resolved. Around Apr 30 05, I received an e-mail from j2 QA section with a fix. (the QA individual said it is a known problem with the program). When you install the XP SP2 upgrade, it does something to the WIN XP MDAC.inf file and you have to follow this set of re-install procedures he sent. After you re-install the MDAC file, Pamremaster Pro 7 seems to work ok. If yo don't have a full version of your operating system (XP) you will have to find it somewhere on your computer, as I had to 'cause mine was preinstalled. I havent used the program very much cause I don't trust it after the poor support they (j2) gave me. Then today (8 Oct 05), low an behold, just for the heck of it, I booted it up and it came up with a message stating that the license is temp suspended, and to re-activate it, I had to log on the their web site and re-enter the activation code they sent me. After doing that, the program seemed to work ok again. Problem is, I couldn't find anything in the eula stating j2 can invade my computer to de-activate the code with out proving I'm using the program for other than personal use. I don't know how often the code is/will be deactivated, or for that matter, why j2 would do that with out proof that the user is in violation of the eula. Go Figuer, you tell me!!!

[Andrew McColough]

Don't buy anything from this company. Their Efax product uses very deceptive practices, especially if you ever try to cancel. Just google "Efax complaints" and read the horror stories. I used to use Papermaster before Paperport, and liked it then, but I would never buy anything from J2.

[Dave Iles]

Well what can one say about this company. These guys should be featured on " How not to run a business". I have been using the product since Papermaster "BC"? papermaster 98 was fine,a nice picture of a filing cabinet, draws with folders, Hot Save Hot Print. Ok the ocr engine was Caere's omnipage,bought by scansoft. It was disapppointing when papermaster crashed and burned but hey resurrection was good news; just update the program and make it work with w2k, keeping the simple interface etc etc.. But its been like pushing water uphill eversince. I'm only a personal user so haven't suffered the same degree of anguish business users have. I have had limited success in my communication with j2 ?? support, but they don't appear to have a clue about what customers want and need to hear...we live in hope

[Ridotto]

My tail exactly parallels the longest above. Bought at $100 just the same.
Did you know that it will only index WHOLE CABINETS and not an individual file despite what the "Click here to read and index this document" says.
Multiple errors indexing a whole cabinet. After just receiving email about new version with fixed, I was considering buying again (got my $100 back). While I totally love the interface, I just don't know if I want to pay the $100 again. I - WILL - NOT - PAY - $199.00 for it !!!

[Mike Deecke]

I haved also been a longtime Papermaster user, but J2 and V7.0 seem like a very poor package to me. I am about to uninstall it and go take a look at www.myfilecenter.com, which is also significantly more realistically priced.

[Jeremy Wagstaff]

Thanks, Mike. I'd be interested in hearing people's experience with programs like these. FileCenter looks clean and uncluttered, but lacks some of the features of Paperport, such as viewing real thumbnails of the files, as well as the ability to easily fix scanned files. Or am I wrong?

[Paul Costic]

I agree with the guys who voted for PM 98 with an upgrade to be used in Win2K/XP. PM Pro is a poor interpretation of the old PM program. It lacks many of the basics that '98 had. J2's pricing is perdatory and use policy (secert code for access) is an insult.
I'm still using PM 98 with a image conversion routine from Informatik (Image Driver). One extra step in getting things filed, but still works great and far better than PM Pro.

[john sakiewicz]

I see others have problems with the 7 pro also. It figures!
PM98 is still my best choice and still use it.
I don't use the pro7 anymore, just don't trust it or j2.

my only problem is, getting the documents i put in pro7 back to another program or for that matter back to pm98.

any suggestions??

thanks.

[Jeremy Wagstaff]

John, I've not tried it, but if you made a backup of your cabinet before upgrading that should be simple enough. If not, I have a feeling it might not be possible. Other readers may have better suggestions.

[Andy Dillersberger]

I have been very disappointed with Papermaster 6.0 - 7.0. The technical support is very poor to non-existent. When used over the network our Papermaster 7.0 inconsistently looses files. J2s solution was for us to wait until they have the next version out. We are now running a stand alone (1 computer) of Papermaster so we do not loose any more data. I talked to Vixelsoft who can convert from the old Papermaster 3.03 to their DocuCab V2, but they cannot convert the efx files from Papermaster 6.0+. I like DocuCab and really would like to convert to it. Any help would be great.

[Dave Bingold]

I started with PM 2.0 and it still works on windows 95,98 and xp, but on xp{only) faxing turns 90 degrees and is not usable.

I downloaded 98 and it seemed to fail the fax test and cabinet transfers also so im back on 2.0

[Bobby Boyd]

Horror stories! Does the newer 7 pro program work or not?
Did ya'll get the bugs out? I have been using PM98 for several years. What price for the updated version if it works. Please do not waste my future time frustrations if the newer program does not perform as it declares.
Thank you, BB

[Jim McGuire]

I have been using Papermaster 98 for years. Except for the print driver, it works fine with XP. I would not switch to Papermaster Pro, especially after reading all the earlier reviews. However, I have heard that right before Documagix sold over the rights, they briefly made a patch or a version that works completely (including the print driver) with Windows XP. I would love to buy that version. If anyone knows how to obtain that version, please email me. Thank you.

[Jay Sigel, MD]

I have used PM since version 2. I am now using PM 2002 and have no problems whatsoever with it. I did purchase PM Pro 6 (or 7?) but many essential features were left out and the user interface was very unfriendly. I needed support for ISIS and not just TWAIN scanners and they dropped ISIS. ISIS is much faster than TWAIN and is suitable for use with automatic document feeders. My biggest concern is that I won't be able to reinstall PM onto another computer when my old computer dies. Putting in the old license info just doesn't work and you need to call/email them for each reactivation. I have to keep medical records for 21 years. What if something happens to the computer and PM no longer exists? That's the fear. Backing up the data is easy; reading it requires PM...

[vsscott]

I backed up my cabinet before reinstalling windows xp due to registry problems. I reinstalled Papermaster 6.3 and my cabinet. But...none of the files in the inbox were there! I can't find them. Anyone know where they could be? Hidden in the papermaster file folders somewhere? Help.

[Jess Ware]

I have used PM98 since its inception. I stumbled onto it with its predecessor as bundled software. Presently I am using the Danish version (http://www.infoshare.dk/stilbud5.htm) which incorporated the NEDIP driver, which is very useful outside PM98 as well. NEDIP has a memory limitation which I hope the Danes fixed. Presently I have three cabs residing on a DVDRW as backup to the tune of 2½GB. I have imported/exported my docs as image files for modification or input to PageGenie many times. (PageGenie is the most outstanding manual PDF/HTMLprogram I've encountered.) I've been able to use Quicklink II fax directly w/o problems. I've also had to restore my cabs from system crashes and in most cases been able to restore all the links with the aid of Cabdoctor found in the Documagix folder. I heartily recommend using that utility regularly as PM98 sometimes screws up the links. Saving a backup cab, or even a drawer is as easy as copying the appropriate folder on the PC. I used the CD utility by writing their default cab to an empty hard drive or folder, then copy my cab into the same cab folder PM98 created. Then, after deleting the default cab, I used CD/DVD writing software to put it on disc. This makes a great archive or backup readable on any PC. I get around the network savvy problem by mapping the destination drive to my PC. I used this approach at my last engineering job. Other depts. were able to retrieve docs for quoting or inspection with no trouble.

I am disappointed to learn PM Pro did such a lousy job of upgrading the features. Instead it sounds like all j2 was concerned about was preventing piracy. I would recommend PM98 to anyone. After nearly a decade of use, I wouldn't live w/o it.

[ScaryJerry]

I am using PaperMaster Pro and have scanned about 500 pages. After each scanning session, I count the number of new pages and add them to the prior count and make sure the back-up contains the same number of documents. My back-up is to D:\ and then I back-up again to a DVD. About 2 months ago, I lost my whole operating system and had to reinstall everything. When I got to PaperMaster Pro, it installed with no problem, but I cannot find a way to get my back-up files into the new program. If you look up "Back-up" in their FAQ, there are 2 questions, but neither of them have an answer. Strange? ? ? I have sent 2 emails to J2Global, but they won't even acknowledge receipt of them. Can ANYONE help me get PaperMaster Pro up and working again? If not, I'll have to go to another software vendor. I can't wait for PaperMaster v8.0!

[Allan]

Yeah papermaster has let me down on the new version after 6.3. have had few problems with the.mdb database. Called papermaster and gave them hell about C-Dilla, then got version without C-Dilla. Problem now is for future, What can I use? Paperport is bad layout to say the least. I can't count on papermaster or will not for my documents. Need a program that writes to hardrive so you can recover when program gui gives out. native format

[Andy Dillersberger]

I have set up a church with Vixelsoft Docucab. I like it, it seems to be like a browser interface with different user levels. So far there have not been any problems. The user and notes feature are a good idea.

As fas as papermaster is concerned they are history at our office, even if I have to print every document to pdf. Since there has been no update or patches, we are moving on.

[Amir Ali]

I NEED URGENT HELP! Our company has been using Papermaster 98 since it started and have been scanning all our documents into that program! All our computers still run windows 98 and the employees will soon have nervous breakdowns. After years of scanning into papermaster, we now want to move on and export all our files to a new program, or just use the simple windows folder structure of filing. BUT! We cannot find any single tif or other file?? When you look in the storage folder all you get is a bunch of unusable crappy folders! Please help us out if you know how to export from this to another system. All we want is our scanned files.
Thank you in advance...

[Andy Dillersberger]

Amir
Converting from PM 98. All the data is stored in tiff format even though the files have no extensions. Please do not use PM pro (we have and are sorry having done it). Vixelsoft has a product called DocuCab that does a nice job. Go to their web site and download the trial version and look at it. You may find it a better option.
Some people also say that getting away from proprietary software may be better. They convert to a PDF and us windows explorer to create folders for information to scan into.

[Jeffrey E. Harshbarger]

I have not had any problems with PM Pro 6.0 till recently. I can not get the converter to work properly now. J2 will not help since they only support "7.0". Can anyone help?

[Robert]

I have been using Papermaster pro 6.3 and like it a lot. Until one day I switched to Vista and found out it doesnt work anymore. I sent Papermaster an email in April tellling them about the problem and they said they are working on it. Well that was 4 months ago and still no patch to make it work. Guess I'm out of luck, does anyone know of another filing program that works with Vista. Thanks for any help

[David]

I have PaperMaster 98 but it not work fine in XP. I do not find any torrent por PaperMaster Pro in the web, I do not how to obtain it. Can help me?

[Gord McKe]

I have used Papermaster for years an have thousands of efiles in the system. I recently purchased a new PC with VISTA OS. I contacted Papermaster (J2 Comunications)to see if there was a Vista commpatable version of Papermaster. This was teir reply .............

----- Original Message -----
From: Papermaster
To: Gord Mckee
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 5:34 PM
Subject: RE:'j2G=005-186-789' Vista Compatability

Dear Gord,

Thank you for contacting Papermaster Customer Support. Unfortunately we have discontinued Papermaster Pro. We are no longer developing for it, and we no longer offer it for sale. We apologize for any burden this has placed upon you.

Sincerely,

< + John E.
PaperMaster Customer Support
1-323-817-3214

eVoice Receptionist - Smart. Simple. Professional. See How it Works


© 2007 j2 Global Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
Papermaster is a registered trademark of j2 Global Communications, Inc.

[Frank matticola]

Well it's seems like we got riped off.. sell me that 100$ program & disappear......SCAN all your docs and bang gone.......

[Tony G]

I am using PM 98 on XP SP2. All works OK except that XP insists on using the windows default driver for my scanner rather than the Pm Twain Driver which is better in many ways. The option to use the PM Twain driver does not appear in the Select Source option in PM. Anyone come across this problem and if so how was it resolvbed please

[Bob]

Can anyone advise me how to load Papermaster 98 to Vista?