NeatDesk Scanner

Comments about Neat Company NeatDesk Scanner:

It's a good scanner and the software is very clever at parsing business cards and receipts. It is very good at just grabbing a load of documents and scanning them in with little effort. My biggest problem with the product was the software. For some reason it saves the documents into a database only and exporting them takes more time than creating them. I also never understood the tagging features as that's just not the way I think when I'm looking for documents. In the end, it was too expensive for the trouble and I ended up returning it. I'll just get a regular scanner and save the files where and how I want. Also, as a side note, the software only works from the user's computer so saved documents in the database aren't really available to other users with sharing. Bit of a nuisance when you use one computer for data storage and another for daily tasks.

Comments about Neat Company NeatDesk Scanner:

Once you fix the problem it has with Vista concerning the database, which customer service quickly guides you through, you're in business. The software it comes with is a little buggy for Vista 64, but when the scanner is used with Adobe Pro 9, it's a dream. Super fast and does a great job.

Also, the software it comes with is great (despite the bugs) as it actually reads the receipt and has the tax schedules in a drop down box to select from in terms of business expenses with little tax tips for each one and a brief explanation.

This is really a product to try out. Like the line in Pulp Fiction goes, once you try this, you will know where that extra money went.

I also use a Xerox Documate 510 at another office I work at, which is good, but I wish I had the NeatDesk everywhere I went.

The business card feature is also great and how it physically scans them and receipts with a special feeder (which is very forgiving) is really nothing short of a miracle.

I have had this for about a week and thanks to the backup feature to multiple drives (one of which is backed up to an offsite drive), I feel safe shredding and getting rid of all that paper.

It is small and has a good look. They haven't marketed this product well, but it certainly is a sleeper hit of 2009 as far as I am concerned.

Frank S. Capwell, Esq.

Comments about Neat Company NeatDesk Scanner:

Because I'm super-organized and paperless, I was wary of another review that condemned the software and naming convention--they didn't explore enough. This is an excellent little scanner, and once you figure out the software, all you do is tweak the scanning options on the Neat Quick Scan, hit the PDF key on the unit, and it pops up a "My Computer" so you tell it where you want it stored and what name it will have. Worth every penny for my solo law practice.

Comments about Neat Company NeatDesk Scanner:

On the plus side, scans are very fast, and can scan 2 sided docs. However, docs don't always feed through evenly, requiring multiple re-scans.

The software is very limiting. Features available for receipts (e.g. import to Quicken) are not available for other document types. So for example, you can't OCR your bank statement and import the details to Quicken.

Folder management is clumsy

OCR only gets it right about 20% of the time.

For the very high price, it should have more flexible software that lets me handle documents the way I need to.

Comments about Neat Company NeatDesk Scanner:

I was hesitent because of the price but can't imagine not having it now. It sits on my desk and I use is multiple times daily to scan my bills, receipts, business cards, etc. My desk has never been cleaner and searching for things is a breeze now!

Comments about Neat Company NeatDesk Scanner:

I will be using this to send my work through e-mail. Sending anywhere from 1-100 pages. just as soon as every tech has helped me with how to set up the e-mail. I thought I would just attach the work and send it on its way. Not so. You must have a certain e-mail program. Still in the process of this after on and off effort of set up for 2 weeks!!! Iam sure once it is figured out it will be great and easy. I just thought if you spend $500.00 A 5 year old should be able to work it! On a good note, It does scan very quickly> Great for those who just want to keep there work in folders with out the clutter. Just don't try to send it along!!