NeatDesk Desktop Scanner and Digital Filing System
by The Neat Company
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of NeatDesk Desktop Scanner and Digital Filing System
Customer Review: Great for road warriors and organizers
Summary: 4 Stars
Disclaimer: I am not a 'road warrior', so this review comes from just a computer guru who likes to test and review things. :-)
This product is basically a combined specialty scanner that comes with OCR software that was built to work with the scanner. I presume that either the hardware or software could work independently, but they were meant to work together. In other words, you may be able to use any scanner to scan in your receipts and the Neatworks software would still be able to 'file' it for you; or you could use the scanner independently as a document scanner, although a flatbed scanner would be much more versatile.
The software installation was more difficult than other software I install. You have to be sure you have the latest Windows updates, since this software uses some of these recent updates and will not function without them. I tested on Windows XP -- I don't know how it works with Vista. Once the software is installed and working properly (it took me about 2-3 hours to finally get it to work), then you connect the scanner and you're ready to go.
To test, I scanned a couple receipts in the "Receipt" slot of the scanner. It loads an image of the receipt into the "Inbox" of the Neatworks software. You must open your Inbox and review each scan for accuracy and the file it into a folder you create. The OCR (optical character reader) part of the software did pick up that my receipt was from Sears, that it was dated 11/18/2008, and that the total was 154.83. It misread the tax paid as 1.54 instead of 4.54, so I corrected that. It guessed at a category of "General Retail", which was fine, but you can change that or add a new category if you want. So the software saved me some time by reading the receipt for me, and I filed the captured text and an image of the receipt.
Then I tried some business cards, which there is a special slot for on the scanner. It runs through the cards as quickly as you can hand-feed them in, putting the images of them into your Inbox. I fed a couple duplicate cards through to see if the OCR would read the same info from each. I found that the most accurate information was read from cards which had block-style typeface and were generally neat and organized. However, people can get creative with their business card designs, and so you can't expect OCR software to 'read' most of these. Several cards that had script fonts, or vertical lettering, or text within logos, etc., were difficult or impossible for the software to read. You would have to type in most or all of the info from these types of cards. But you still get an image of the card saved with the data.
Next, I tried scanning some paychecks, invoices and other documents into the Document slot. It appears that the Neatworks software does not attempt to 'read' these scans and you just get an image of the document, which you must type in the details about it and file it. I also tried scanning a business card in the Receipts slot. It was assumed to be a receipt, but of course there was no dollar amounts or store name on the card. However, I could move the scanned image to the proper Business Cards folder in the software and then the program 're-read' the image and filled in the business card info correctly.
My conclusion is that I think this hardware/software combo would be valuable to a business person who must record and/or report expenses, business contacts, etc. This is who I think this product is marketed for. For the average person, it's an expensive toy that might make tracking your expenses more interesting or easier, if you tend to throw your receipts in a wadded pile at the end of the week. For me, I'll continue to just manually input my expenses in Quicken and use its reporting and tracking features.
Customer Review: cool scanner, but needs serious improvements
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought a NeatDesk scanner for my office and while it's a cool device and scans documents quickly, there's no way to adjust the software to reduce the size of the PDFs it creates. I scanned a two-page document today and wound up with a 1MB PDF file, which is utterly ridiculous for simple b&w text-based documents with no graphics. Shortly after getting the machine, I contacted their customer service to determine if there was a way to adjust the size of the PDF files it creates, and the answer was simply "no." They were most unhelpful. I really want to like this device because it has some really cool features, but I think I'm going to have to swap out to a different machine because I need it primarily for scanning documents and the file output size is too impractical.Customer Review: Software concern with Neat Desk
Summary: 2 Stars
I purchased this product because the concept sounded great. However, once the software was installed, my computer was severely impaired. From login to the display of the desktop was delayed by 6 additional minutes. I contacted the company and found out this is essentially what their software does, and there is no solution.
I found the Quick Scan to be strange. When loading several test documents, it creates individual PDF screens, and then you have to go through several steps to put them into a single PDF file. If you pre-loaded 50 documents, then you would have 50 open PDF's to scan in. Organizing them is cumbersome. I'd prefer to use Adobe Acrobat but you can't do that with this scanner.
The scan speed was fast, but all the additional steps wasted the time advantage. I've decided to return the item because of these reasons. I'm very concerned about the effect of the software on the performance of my computer. It is a relatively new machine with 4 GB of RAM and an Intel Quad processor, which has worked very well to date until this software was installed. Removing the software completely eliminated the delays.
ADDED NOTE: I have since engaged in ongoing communication with the Neat Company. Although I gave a low rating to the scanner as it functioned for me, I would give 5 stars to the company. The focus is clearly on finding solutions to the issues that arose, and making this a very strong, effective tool. It is obvious that many people are having success now, and I expect the future will yield a product that works well for everyone. The staff members were not only professional, but pleasant and interested in understanding the issues.
I would suggest trying the product. If it works for you now, that is wonderful. If not, keep your eye on it because these people will overcome the complexities of all the technology challenges we face with today's new computers, software, and operating systems.
Customer Review: Awful Customer Service(Neatco)...
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this at an Airport kiosk, with the promise of a price match should I find a lower price. When I got home, I did some research and found that just about EVERYBODY had it for significantly less. When I asked for a refund of the difference, they (neatco) tried to back out and simply stopped returning emails. I contacted multiple parties, including directors and got no response. I invoked the return option, as I had as of yet not opened the item. I am still waiting on the refund though even though they have had the item. They were very quick in billing however. Probably not as much buying risk with Amazon, they are great, but hope you never need support on this item from the maker. Check out the Fujitsu ScanSnap, they are a little more $$$ but it is a name you can trust.Customer Review: Great Scanner
Summary: 5 Stars
Awesome device. I was fed up with the all-in-one printer/scanner, etc. and needing ink just to scan into my computer. Found this and knew it was what I needed. It is fast, easy, and efficient. A bit pricey, but the aggravation it saves me was worth the money.