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The Neat Company has a solution for all those scraps of paper we accumulate during the business day--the ones that unfortunately contain important information such as addresses or expense items for reimbursement.The item I received for review came with Windows software, but when I explained to Neat's technical support that I am a Macintosh user, their prompt response included a download link and license key for their NeatWorks Macintosh software v. It has a couple of Mac-only tricks, such as passing information directly to the Apple Address Book. A scan took anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds, depending on size and resolution.The magic happens next: in about 30 seconds, the image is analyzed, subjected to optical character recognition, and catalogued for meaning.
I tested the scanner and software on a MacBook Pro, late spring 2008, Mac OS X 10.5.7, with 4 GB RAM.NeatReceipts Mobile Scanner and Digital Filing System for MacNeat Company has an "organized" vision--it starts with their product packaging, which presents the product in stages as you open it. This information is passed to fields in a database, thus becoming usable in other applications.I found NeatWorks to be really good at this task, though not uncannily so. 2.1.4.
If an item happens to be a cash register receipt, the software can fill in the vendor name and address, date, items purchased, and total--not to mention which credit card you might have used for payment. The scanner itself is a bar with a USB cord, just wide enough to accept 8.5" wide paper. It comes with a slip case and fits easily into my computer backpack.Scanning is simple: start the NeatWorks desktop, insert the piece being scanned into the throat of the machine, and press the button.
It could easily tell the difference between receipts and business cards. The NeatWorks software has direct hooks to work with Fujitsu's line of ScanSnap document scanners; I look forward to trying that in the future.ScanSnap S300M Clr 600DPI USB 10PG Adf Mobile ScannerFujitsu ScanSnap S1500M Instant PDF Sheet-Fed Scanner for the MacintoshThis item is a pleasant surprise, and I recommend it to anyone who would like a little help in organizing their routine business tasks, and to have a little fun doing it.
The scanning and sorting makes for interesting play, but this is overkill. We have that information in the checkbook and our bill files, which get purged every year.This thing could help someone in an average household get organized, but you still need discipline to do that. It just took up more of my time. I didn't find this product helpful. I was eager to try this because I love technology, especially products that are for practical, productive purposes.We're an average middle-age household. I'm just saying, because this is touted as helping you declutter. It takes longer just to scan receipts, and it really doesn't help us keep track of where our money went. The whole "pay the bills, balance the checkbook, purge and file" bit takes us about an hour and a half total per month.
If you've made that commitment, consider setting up your own database or spreadsheet to track your expenses. We keep them till the credit card bill arrives, reconcile, then shred the ones we don't need to keep. Middle income, middle America, no kids. Don't buy this unless you've made a real commitment to be organized. We already have an efficient, manual system for handling receipts. We have files for medical and big ticket items. Paperless, and you probably already have the software. But if you don't really need it, this scanner is just clutter.
I recently started using this scanner and am thus far reasonably impressed. However, if you want something extremely portable that can produce clear copies of crinkled receipts, with surprisingly good OCR, then this is a great addition to your road-warrior tool-kit.It is not 100% intuitive in terms of set-up. I think it is important to manage expectations. This will NOT replace a hi-res flatbed scanner. You do need to read the manual for things like calibration. Once set up, it is indeed easy to use.
The scanner fits easily in my briefcase so it is with me at all times. Quicken then lets me categorize each transaction with respect to taxes.For miscellaneous scanning, I use Adobe Acrobat 9 and create a PDF of the scanned documents.
But I gave up on the software back with version 2. It might be OK for organizing your receipts, but it is far too cumbersome for me to use.
I really like this little scanner. My company provides PDF versions of my pay vouchers since they do direct deposit of the paycheck, so I attach the PDF to the Quicken entry when the software downloads the deposit information.
Instead, I use the feature of Quicken that lets me scan in receipts associated with each entry. Thus, when I pay a bill, I scan and attach a copy of the invoice/statement associated with that bill.
All this works great for me, and I don't have to put up with the NeatReceipts software. And it does a better job of scanning quality than my HP all-in-one printer/fax/scanner.
On new receipts, it's about 30 seconds from when the paper hits the scanner.I also like that you can tag receipts as you enter them (for business expenses, or any category that you'd like to use for your own budgeting purposes), file based on your own preferred filing system, and easily search.I'd recommend scanning receipts asap, as those thermal ones do fade over time, making it much harder for the scanner to read.I haven't used another receipt scanner, but I do like this one very much and have found it very intuitive and simple to use. While it doesn't always pull in 100% of the data correctly (it has trouble with costco receipts, which print totals and dates in white on black; and it doesn't deal with multiple sales tax rates), especially with old, faded receipts, it does the job well enough to make me well pleased.
At time of receipt, the Amazon listing didn't specify platform, so I reviewed a machine that shipped with PC software. My review is for the Mac version.
It was simple to install, and so far, works quite well, quickly and without crashes, despite the fact that my hard drive is getting really full.I found the software very easy to use. I received the PC version from Amazon Vine, but I have a mac.
I contacted the company to receive the mac version of the software & got it via download. I've found that even with old receipts, and when I have to enter the totals/payment/vendor/category manually, the whole process, start to finish, only takes me about 1 minute per receipt.
I've taken one star off because of the difficulty it does have reading some receipts, but overall, I think it's a great product & very easy to use.
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