World's Best Selling Digital Paper Management Application for the PC Gains Support for PDF, Enhanced Thumbnail Capabilities and Microsoft Windows XP Certification

Peabody, Mass., March 19, 2003 - ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), a leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions, today announced the immediate availability of PaperPort Deluxe® 9.0, the latest release of its award-winning digital paper management application. ScanSoft's PaperPort Deluxe is the easiest way to turn piles of paper and digital photos into organized files that people can quickly find, use and share. PaperPort Deluxe 9.0 includes significant new features specifically designed to enhance the productivity of people who use scanners, all-in-one devices, digital cameras and personal computers - at home and within small office environments.

PaperPort Deluxe 9 enhances the usefulness of scanners and all-in-one devices with its native support for the portable document format through scan-to-PDF. Documents scanned as PDF can be safely shared over the Web and, as email attachments, and can be viewed using standard PDF viewers, including ScanSoft® PaperPort and Adobe Acrobat Reader. The new release also supports converting to PDF from all standard image formats, including BMP, JPEG, TIFF and GIF, allowing owners of digital cameras to easily share albums and collections of photographs as an individual PDF attachment via email.

PaperPort Deluxe is world's most popular desktop paper and document management application for the PC, enabling the management of all PC files through a distinctive thumbnail-based user interface. It has proven to be an essential time-saver for millions of users worldwide for a range of tasks, including organizing home finances, warranties and receipts; managing records for agencies, associations and non-profit organizations; and maintaining collections of photographs, recipes, hobby instructions and school work.

"PaperPort has brought professional document management capabilities into my home office, allowing me to eliminate clutter and quickly convert stacks of paper into organized, digital information on my PC," said Quentin Leo, a longtime PaperPort user. "Now I use it for nearly everything, from organizing household bills to sorting the digital photographs from our family vacation. PaperPort Deluxe is simply the most versatile, powerful and easy-to-use solution I have seen for organizing my personal and business information."

PaperPort Deluxe 9 is the easiest way to turn piles of paper and digital photos into organized files that people can quickly find, use and share. Key features of the new release include:

• Scan-to-PDF Capabilities
  PaperPort Deluxe 9.0 creates PDF files from scanned documents and enables users to annotate, assemble and manage PDF files and share them with coworkers, friends and family via this universal standard format. PaperPort's PDF capabilities are compatible with, but do not require, other PDF reading, creation or editing applications.
  
  
• Convert-to-PDF for Digital Cameras and Images
  Sharing albums and collections of photographs has been simplified through PaperPort's support for converting standard image formats into PDF. With PaperPort Deluxe existing BMP, GIF, JPEG, and TIFF image files can be converted into PDF, and can be assembled into a single PDF file with drag-and-drop ease.
  
  
• Fast and Easy Document Assembly
  With a single click of the mouse, users can quickly assemble custom PDF documents, combining pages from scanned documents. PDF documents can be reordered and merged using PaperPort's drag-and-drop stacking capability - just as with real paper.
  
  
• Easy Digital Photo Management
  Easy-to-use image enhancing tools make it simple to retouch photos, adjust color and contrast and crop to enhance photos.
  
  
• Intuitive Thumbnail Desktop
  Nearly every application file type and image format can be viewed within the PaperPort Deluxe visual desktop, which provides clear thumbnails that allow users to quickly find documents without having to open them. PaperPort also includes built-in viewers for all popular formats, providing an affordable way to ensure that everyone can view image formats like TIFF, JPEG and PDF, as well as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.
  
  
• All-in-One Document Search and Retrieval
  The SimpleSearch® feature allows users to quickly find any document with a single keyword or phrase search request. Documents stored on PCs are automatically indexed by PaperPort, which uses highly accurate optical character recognition (OCR) to make even scanned paper and PDF files searchable.
  
  
• Fast, Easy Electronic Form Filling
  Filling out forms has never been faster or easier thanks to the FormTyper™ feature, which instantly converts static PDF forms into fill-able electronic forms. Form fields are automatically identified and created, allowing the user to fill, save and email the form online or print it for submission.
  
  
• Edit and Clean - One or Many
  PaperPort Deluxe supports editing and clean-up operations on one or many documents simultaneously-including de-skewing scanned pages, rotating documents or adding search keywords. Image editing tools are also included, including contrast, color adjustment and cropping.
  
  

"A growing number of home and small office users are organizing their paper and digital content on the PC, a trend that has been driven by larger disk drives and more affordable all-in-ones and digital cameras," said Robert Weideman, chief marketing officer for ScanSoft. "Many people will find that PaperPort Deluxe 9 ties their system together by turbo-charging their scanner, digital camera and PC through an easy-to-use application and the power of a personal content management system."

Pricing and Availability

ScanSoft's PaperPort Deluxe 9.0 is priced at $99.99 and is available immediately through ScanSoft and its global network of authorized resellers. For additional information, please visit www.ScanSoft.com/PaperPort or dial (1) 800-443-7077.

About ScanSoft, Inc.

ScanSoft, Inc. is a 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. For additional information on the company, please visit www.ScanSoft.com.

ScanSoft, SimpleSearch, FormTyper, PaperPort Deluxe, and PaperPort are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other company or 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.

Contact Information