This is NOT a good investment....Software is proprietary and does NOT work with any other software... basically you are stuck, and the product is not that great, average at best...

This little thing could actually keep me organized??? Even my Ma couldn't do that.

Wow, somebody still remembers the Amiga! It had so much promise and they managed to kill the goose that laid the Golden Egg. The 2000 was my first computer.

ledudeflambe wrote:Wow, somebody still remembers the Amiga! It had so much promise and they managed to kill the goose that laid the Golden Egg. The 2000 was my first computer.

Many of us still do. I'll never forget the ones I've had over the years. I still fire up my A1200 from time to time!

Hmmm. I read amazon reviews and am now leery of purchasing the scanner. The majority of recent reviews were negative. One of the reviews was from a person who purchased the scanner from Woot. I think I'm going to pass but my heart is broken because I really need something like this. Sigh

Do you believe I just purchase the smaller, mobile NeatReceipts YESTERDAY at Staples for $199 plus tax?? This one was $399.00 there, with a free shredder this week only (I got a free shredder with mine too).

The only reason I bought it at Staples, though, is because of their special through tomorrow - 25% of your entire purchase back in Staples Rewards. Even with that incentive, however, woot's deal beats theirs hands-down.

I think I'll be returning the smaller one and buying this one instead!

WOW!
And here I thought you were joking on the PC VS Mac thing... Good news though, it will make a decent go of it with the IBM OS/2 software.
By the way... were you aware of the fact that a Mac is a PC?

...and the armada wouldn't be complete without DR-DOS!

finds an extensive list of obscure OSs that this PROBABLY won't work with.

http://kernelthread.com/publications/appleoshistory/

Ditto.

dsnygrrl wrote:Hmmm. I read amazon reviews and am now leery of purchasing the scanner. The majority of recent reviews were negative. One of the reviews was from a person who purchased the scanner from Woot. I think I'm going to pass but my heart is broken because I really need something like this. Sigh

ashleynricker wrote:Ditto.

Just cancelled my order after reading more reviews. Sad that such a nice piece of hardware is saddled with terrible, proprietary software.

Our offices now have two of these, each purchased refurbed on Woot. For the purpose of creating pdf files that we use to archive medical records that are then uploaded to our electronic medical record server, these are perfect and we could no longer do without. Initially, I attempted to use the included software to file and organize but for my purposes, the pdf function is all I need and this scanner is fast and accurate. Highly recommended for small medical practices both for the above mentioned purpose as well as archiving EOBs and bills paid.

My wife bought one of these and over the past 3 weeks, is on her third unit. The software was extremely difficult to install. The driver has been re-installed 3 times. This latest unit is now casuing the USB to 'surge' there is a warning that pops up telling her the USB port is receiving power surges. Very odd.

Usually it works for a day, then it will only scan 2-3 sheets at a time and lock up. After a re-install it will sometimes work fine.

Very bad all around. She is very disapointed by her purchase.

John1000 wrote:I would love to have a product like this that scans the raw data to internal memory (sd card, flash drive, etc.) which can later be processed. This approach would not require that the scanner be connected to a computer at the time when documents are scanned. Someone is not doing their job, but what's new?

And this scanner is screaming to be wireless.

I had the Brother MFC-420CN, and that scanned right to a SD card (Xd and CF too) in PDF. Second best feature I ever had. I'm getting this one for the duplex scanning (best feature I've ever had) and paper feeder.

I bought the smaller version of this a while back from Woot but I really, really dislike it. This company FORCES you top use their crappy software for filing and organizing your receipts/invoices. It will not allow you to just save it as a .pdf on your computer in your own folder as a standalone file. Unless something has drastically changed over the last year or so, don't get this!

simlesa wrote:How does this one compare to Fujitsu ScanSnap machines?

The scsnsnap blows it away - period

efooter wrote:Do you mean the WOPR?

That's a good point, there's a whole range of computers from cinema that we need to know about. Can HAL work with this?

Sure, why not?

ImMikeNice wrote:I bought the smaller version of this a while back from Woot but I really, really dislike it. This company FORCES you top use their crappy software for filing and organizing your receipts/invoices. It will not allow you to just save it as a .pdf on your computer in your own folder as a standalone file. Unless something has drastically changed over the last year or so, don't get this!

this is simply not true. I've had mine for 3 years and do just what you are saying.

I bought one, full price, and it took them 10 days to get back to me on how to load the software. It wasn't me or my lack of computer skills but rather the software they sent (Version 5) had a glitch in it which wouldn't allow me to load the "cabinet" or link to their web page. It took almost 2 1/2 hours (divided between 3 phone calls) and them accessing my computer remotely to finally get it to work. Then when I loaded a few receipts and insurance statements I realized it would take many hours to load everything I had for this years taxes. Frankly, it is overpriced and underwhelming and a real disappointment. I sent it back Saturday before the 30-day free trial ran out. The other thing they really need to work on is their customer service availability. They are only open on weekdays and only until 8:00 pm EST. When you call in for help (and this was for tech assistance as well as when I needed to request the return label) it was not uncommon for me to wait 10 to 15 minutes on hold before the phone was answered. I think they have bitten off more than they can chew with the push to sell this product and don't have the staffing to support the demand. Too bad because this was a great idea!

ImMikeNice wrote:I bought the smaller version of this a while back from Woot but I really, really dislike it. This company FORCES you top use their crappy software for filing and organizing your receipts/invoices. It will not allow you to just save it as a .pdf on your computer in your own folder as a standalone file. Unless something has drastically changed over the last year or so, don't get this!

Actually you can. You can always save a previously scanned document as a pdf, or jpg or csv file. You can also scan directly to pdf. This is with the new ver 5 software, which is much better then the ver4. I have the mobile scanner, but I have a file cabinet of old paper that would disappear faster with this one.

After reading the 1* reviews on Amazon, I wouldn't touch this with anybodies 30 foot pole.

Question?? Can you put in paper at the top and have a B A G of C R A P come out the bottom. If so, I want one, maybe two.

Just use a file cabinet to file your papers. Takes less time and effort.

I'd like to know if those that are having software problems are running mac or pc. I thought I heard somewhere that the PC version had more issues but Mac was pretty much glitch free.

This one is like Woot read my mind... except the mixed opinions here have lessened my excitement. The issues with the proprietary software make me really nervous. I just want something something stable and simple that plays nice with my Mac and scans straight to PDF. Nothing fancy, just something sheetfed so that I can scan a whole lot of old files without spending a billion hours doing it one page at a time. Do I have any great options in this price range or slightly above it? Everything I see is a bajillion dollars (AKA $400+), and I'm a grad student and don't have a bajillion dollars, so it's somewhat tempting to buy this despite the mixed reviews.

Edit: I'm seeing now that people have said you apparently can scan straight to PDF and that the software is more stable on Mac. Hmmm. Still curious whether I have a better option, but if not, maybe I'll just get it.

RonnyBoy wrote:No comparison. The Fujitsu wins hands down, or in this case, rollers down.

Would have bought the Fujitsu instead of what I did buy, the Epson, but for one major problem. Fujitsu scanner doesn't hook directly with other scan software, i.e. Omni something or other, whereas the Epson can. Fujitsu has their own proprietary software too. Epson is bundled with
Paperport, which BTW also works with the Brother MFC copier/scanners.

Hey, I've been around looking at scanners since Wang Labs and Lanier started their failed implmentations over 40 years ago.

I'm a software developer and this has led to an unfortunate situation where software that does stuff for me poorly drives me absolutely nuts, since I spend time considering redoing it myself, then realizing I have a day job etc. This has led to me doing weird things like spending tens of hours figuring out how to completely avoid Itunes while still using an Ipod.

Anyway, I almost got one of these NeatDesk scanners but I ended up getting the Fujitsu Scansnap 1500. It scans better. Both have bundled proprietary type software, but the Fujitsu's software's only job is to get the file scanned and (optionally) OCR'd and filed where you want it. It works pretty well. My use case was getting a file cabinet entirely scanned. Once I scan as an OCR'd PDF, it's searchable within Windows 7 and I never touch the special software again.

The fact that I'd be dependent on NeatDesks's (some say) old and clunky software and the fact that the NeatDesk scanner alone isn't better is what pushed me over the edge.

wished I would have bought this here...I would have saved 100.00....Love it it works great...now if I can just find all my receipts from last year...

I just set one of these up for a customer a couple days ago. If your in the market for a desktop scanner with some easy to use digital filing system software I highly recommend this one. Easy to use and install. The software automatically fills in amounts, place of purchase and many more fields. That data can also be exported / imported into many different formats as well as into Quickbooks.

gutum wrote:This is NOT a good investment....Software is proprietary and does NOT work with any other software... basically you are stuck, and the product is not that great, average at best...

I disagree.. This software can be used to transfer data into Quickbooks. It also can export data into many different formats.

ImMikeNice wrote:I bought the smaller version of this a while back from Woot but I really, really dislike it. This company FORCES you top use their crappy software for filing and organizing your receipts/invoices. It will not allow you to just save it as a .pdf on your computer in your own folder as a standalone file. Unless something has drastically changed over the last year or so, don't get this!

This is not true. I've been using it for years and it does support saving as PDF. I'm not even on v5 of their software.

Camcard, camscanner, lemon receipts, etc all free apps on Android that can pretty much mimic all the functionality of this device. I'm sure the Apple store has similar apps. I rarely use my scanner anymore, and if I do it is for pictures. This device is old technology, with newer more convenient ways to do the same thing using a smart phone. I'm not impressed really at any price,let alone a refurb for $250. PAAAASSSSSSSS

I have had the portable scanner model for years and love it. It hasn't been withouth it's problems as the software did crash one time and I lost data entered since my last backup.

The fact that it had been months since the last backup was my fault - through ignorance. I had purchased Carbonite and thought it had backed up the needed files, but to my horror it hadn't.

The people at Neat Receipts spent hours on the phone with me trying to recover the data. I then sent them files and they worked on them some more. Some data was recovered, but not much. Now I back up a LOT more often and make sure that Carbonite has backed up my back up. As a note, version 5 that was just released has made backups faster.

Version 5 took some getting used to, but I do like the features. I had one concern, and once again customer service contacted me to try and resolve the problem.

Just wanted to share my experience. Love the portable scanner and the software. It has come in handy in finding receipts using the search function.

whatsamattaU wrote:I'm not near my portable scanner, but I thought you could scan them into pdf format and save the scans outside of the program in addition to the usual program backup. I'll have to check when I get the chance (if I get the chance), but others can chime in.

Last weekend my husband brought a document to me and a flashdrive and said I need this in pdf...so one computer is down and I'm scanning this document in and trying to figure out how to "print as pdf" when I remembered this neatdesk prints to pdf. Put in flashdrive, document and hit "pdf" and it was done while the other computer was still waiting to boot up photoshop....more clear too!
EvilMama

junkite wrote:Last weekend my husband brought a document to me and a flashdrive and said I need this in pdf...so one computer is down and I'm scanning this document in and trying to figure out how to "print as pdf" when I remembered this neatdesk prints to pdf. Put in flashdrive, document and hit "pdf" and it was done while the other computer was still waiting to boot up photoshop....more clear too!
EvilMama

This installs as a virtual printer on your computer to print pdfs. http://www.primopdf.com/
and its free. Once installed , you just act like you are going to print something, and select the primopdf printer, and it will create a pdf file.

rharrison10 wrote:So according to the reviews all neat desk products are criticality crippled by the worthless propriety software required to use them. Universally, users have abandoned decent hardware due to terrible software. Sounds like short sighted biz guys have ruined yet another potentially good product.

Funny, I have been using Neat for years and just setup two Associates who absolutley love the devices and the software that accompnaies it.There is a sustained effort by a group of users who do not like the the new software release to discredit the software component. It in fact works OK, particularly for new users who have not used the older softwre.

Does this come with a warranty

How does it transfer data into quickbooks?? QB's is all user-input driven.

Is it Z/OS compatible?

Think I could get it to work on my ADAM computer? Yes I am that old.

I have the portable version and neither are TWAIN compliant (meaning they require proprietary software to scan).

This is important because many modern uses for scanners require TWAIN compliance, such as scanning checks for electronic deposit. It's really not worth anything unless you only plan to use it as advertised, such as scanning those mountains of business cards you get...

Wait, you don't get business cards anymore?

The only thing I use it for is business receipts and that's all that I've found it good for.

Anyone using the Scansnap with other software to search? I have heard that Adobe Bridge or Nuance Pperport can really help find information.

I have the Scansnap and it will easily, quickly and reliably scan to pdf and then ocr the images. Yet when I try to find key words, it comes up empty.

I had hoped I could scan real estate documents, insurance, leases, deeds, receipts, etc. Then do a search "insurance 123 Anywhere street" and it would find relevant docs. But can't, yet, make this happen.