NeatReceipts Professional Mobile Receipt and Document Scanner and Software Combination Version 3.0 Reviews

• What a NEAT dea, but what a NIGHTMARE!

  
  By A33Z8Y6U4WTJU8 on 2007-11-29
  This product is a good example of environmental waste. What you are buying here is a great idea, but what you get is a product that is glitchy, with incomplete glitchy programming, fields that don't populate properly (State for instance can be changed but not removed), and then crashes after a few hours. After spending 8 hours to scan and label approximately 40 receipts (yes, SLOW!) out of about 1500 receipts I need to scan, the system then shut down, with the message:
  
  "An unexpected error occurred while using NeatReceipts Professional. We
  apologize for the inconvenience, please contact Technical Support if
  this problem persists."
  
  I bought this item really just for the recognition software, as I already have a faster laser scanner. Turned out that the software was proprietary to the scanner and couldn't be used with your own faster more reliable scanner. NeatReceipts turned out to be another product that went untested properly, and still got mass-produced and distributed without being ready for market.
  
  I read the reviews first, saw some bad reviews on the 2.5 version, but then saw a huge mound of these at CompUSA a few days ago with 3.0 version, so thought maybe its improved. Buried in a pile of receipts that must be organized and itemized by years end (I manage residential properties), I have been desperate for help. Some of the receipts need to be billed to various HOA accounts, and others need to be applied to cost basis or maintenance for tax return purposes. Our accountant has been after me to get this done. Unfortunately I have several toddler children crawling all over me during the day, so I needed something fast and easy to use. Thought this may be the solution. Here's what happened:
  
  1) Receipts scanned with errors each and every time except for twice (that's 38 receipts that I had to go make corrections to out of 40 scanned). The software makes guesses too much, like UPS and USPS came up as the company on the receipt many times for receipts that read for instance, OfficeMax.
  
  2) The recognition software does not recognize many company names (got Walgreens and The Home Depot), but not many others. Company names in plain font on top could never be read, which surprised me.
  
  3) No field for shipping charges.
  
  4) Scanner finicky and receipts often start going sideways in the feed (many rescans necessary). Resolution not that great.
  
  5) No ability to scan cancelled checks (which are most common type of receipt for property tax payments and handyman expenses).
  
  6) No customer service. I called and left message on general mail box, technical service mail box (that said busy with other callers), and then sent e-mail to tech support. Received following e-mail back, that provided no solution to problem, just more questions that were already answered in the initial on-line form I filled out for tech support:
  
  "
  Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support
  center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.
  
  We will assume your issue has been resolved if we do not hear from you
  within 72 hours.
  
  Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.
  
  Subject
  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  An unexpected error occurred .... AFTER 8 HRS OF SCANNING RECEIPTS.
  
  
  Discussion Thread
  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  Response (Megan) - 11/28/2007 09:31 PM
  Hello Suzanne,
  
  When do you receive this message and what version do you have of the
  software. Check the version from Help> About NeatReceipts. Have you ever
  been able to use the program successfully or not at all? Have you ever
  been able to get the program to open? Thank you and let me know. Have a
  good night.
  
  Customer (Suzanne) - 11/28/2007 07:21 PM
  An unexpected error occurred while using NeatReceipts Professional. We
  apologize for the inconvenience, please contact Technical Support if
  this problem persists.
  "
  
  Ok, I indicated I had used the program for 8 hours, had keyed in the product key id and the serial number, but no answers from customer service and no call backs.
  
  Here's what I'm going to try next. Using my Brother laser scanner/fax/printer/copier, I'm going to try scanning all the receipts using my Adobe Acrobat. Then I'm going to just set up a master "LEDGER" spreadsheet in Excel, splitting screens to imput the data from the PDF images. I think this is a far better solution.
  
  Sorry guys, great needed idea, but test the product before distributing so many to the market. This produces a great deal of waste for our environment as well as waste of our $$$. Also, improve the software to work on any scanner so can just buy the software. Most people don't need to travel with a scanner and can wait for when back home or to office. Returned the item back to COMPUSA today and reported it as defective product.
  
  
  
  
  
  

• I love neat receipts

  
  By A1YLKXFFC7UPWQ on 2008-01-22
  This thing is amazing. In an attempt to become organized I have been trying out new software and methods lately. After some research I decided to give this little gizmo a try. I figured if I hated it I could always return it. No such chance! I'm in love with this thing.
  
  Anyway here it goes.... This thing slices, it dices, it does it all. It's so easy to learn that anyone can get the hang of it.
  
  It has three sections. One for receipts, one for 'documents' and one for business cards. Each section lets me create folders. I created folders like 'Ty's Tax Write-offs' and 'Electronics' and 'Home Improvement' in the receipts section.
  
  I click on a 'Folder' and place the receipt in the scanner and hit scan. It pulls the receipt through. It recognizes over 1500 major retailers like Best Buy, Target, etc. If it doesn't recognize it, you type in the business name. Here's a cool feature; the next time you scan a receipt from that company the thing recognizes the receipt and names it by the correct business.
  
  It picks out the tax, the total amount on the receipt and then reads all the remaining text and it indexes it.
  
  This means that if I bought my ipod and scanned it I can type in 'ipod' or 'apple' and it finds the correct receipt. It's awesome. I have started scanning in all of our receipts past and present. Before we visited our accountant I scanned in all of our tax write-offs and ran a report on numbers.
  
  You can click on a particular receipt and it brings up a copy of it. You can print it, pdf it, etc.
  
  You can search by category, business name, amounts, anything.
  
  The documents section is handy too. I'm scanning in all our loan documents, home documents, legal documents, extended warranty information, etc.
  
  The program is amazing and in my opinion that is really what you're paying for is the program. The scanner is pretty great too though. It pulls through receipts of any size and shape with little problem.
  
  Essentially what you're getting is an amazing high tech filing cabinet for $200.
  
  To those that gave it low ratings... it's technology. No it's not perfect, but it's pretty darned nice for the price. I scanned in probably 60 receipts in the first hour and I was just learning how to use it. I would have spent that much time just filing them in a filing cabinet. I had few problems and overall it recognized probably 85% of the vendors and prices correctly.
  
  

• 3.0 is really, really good

  
  By A1AGJRUYABHI9U on 2007-10-16
  I've had a NeatReceipts machine for awhile, and it has become an office tool I wonder how I lived without for so many years. It's great for tax records, expense reports, all that stuff, but the biggest difference it's made in my life is just GETTING RID OF THE PAPER! I had piles all over my desk for years. Cab receipts, travel receipts, charitable donation receipts, etc. Not just sitting on top of the desk, but in files and folders all over the place. When it came time to do the taxes, or do the accounting, sometimes I could find what I was looking for, sometimes I couldn't. The NeatReceipts changed all that. Now I just scan the piece of paper in, put it in the right file on my computer (or even in a Misc file, because it's easy to search and find later). I back up my computer regularly, so I never worry about losing the important data to back up my financial paperwork. And I've moved from a desk with big file drawers to basically a computer drawer and a couple of shelves.
  
  I upgraded to the new 3.0 NeatReceipts because I figured they've known what they're doing so far, so I tried the new one. My favorite thing about it is the ability to produce pdfs easily. And I can scan in a pdf and edit the text. I was only able to do that previously by taking it to my brother in law and having him scan it and use some utility he bought for his machine. I haven't tried all the new stuff yet because I haven't gone through tax season yet, which is when my NeatReceipts really gets a workout. But the new version is much more searchable - like when I was looking for an Embassy Suites receipt the other day and could search on "Embassy Suites" and find it.
  
  I highly recommend the NeatReceipts, and even more, I recommend enjoying throwing away all that paper.
  
  

• WARNING, No PDF IMPORTING

  
  By A26KR3B0YV0K6 on 2007-11-24
  SUMMARY: Its a decent product, and does mostly what it says... but scanning receipts is not wham-bam shred them mam, it is more like put it in, scan, adjust the image (not much adjustment available) put in the reciept information (even though it is supposed to be automatic).
  
  PROS:
  Decent interface, decently fast scanning, convenient packaging, searching functions and organization.
  
  CONS:
  It also annoying that it scans to an image file and not a high quality, search-able PDF, which is the document standard these days.
  It is not horrible though. my big gripe is that I can not import PDF files from my ONLINE STATEMENTS.
  
  Last Word: you may enjoy just buying a nice, high quality scanner and adobe acrobat standard and making things work on your own. They have attempted triple convergence and so far have failed.
  
  

• great tool

  
  By A2CJBRXKEASQFM on 2007-11-22
  This is great, wish I had purchased it a long time ago. You can run reports that give you totals for categories that you scanned your reciept in. The image is good and the software is easy to use and works well. The only issue is the scanner itself is finicky about accepting the receipt upon inserting it, apparently it has to be placed just so (without pushing it in) for it to take but this is only a minor issue considering all the other benefits. What I didn't know when I bought it is you can use this software to check your spending in categories and thus help you with your budgeting, this is a bonus on top of reducing your endless piles of paper receipts (well those you will not need to return something with) because the IRS apparently accepts these scans. Also it takes no time to set up and start using and not too much time to scan a bulk of receipts. You can use it to scan business cards, which I plan to do since I have loads of those scattered around and never can find the one I want when I need it. I recommend it.
  
  
• "Export to Quicken" is MISLEADING, at best
  By A1YBMMXU85TN0B on 2007-12-27
  OK, I bought this so I can scan receipts, export to Quicken and forget keeping a box of old paper receipts. I'm OK with the scanning ability because I only accumulate several hundred per year; however, after trying to export to Quicken I found out that NEAT Receipt's export/import feature is based on OLD Quicken format (QIF). The industry standard is now OFX and that format is NOT supported by NEAT Receipts software. No workaround, no nothing. I called customer support and was told that is coming soon. I asked, "How soon?". I was told, "We're not sure".
  
  Bottom line, I'm going to return it until the software is compatible with current version of Quicken.
  
  
• It keeps getting better ....
  By A2R521HGRDUHRG on 2008-02-29
  I have been using the Neat Receipts product since its first release and with each subsequent release I can only say it just keeps getting better. The new scanner hardware is a great improvement on the earlier model and the changes to the database engine has made the day to day performance of the application rock solid. Though the OCR accuracy is not 100% it comes damn close considering the variety of receipt layouts and quality that I feed it. It does a superb job of recognizing and tagging the main data elements in a receipt and ignoring the individual line item amounts and sub-totals. It also does a great job of recognizing the form of payment and allowing the user to tie the receipt to a cash account or a particular credit card.
  
  The software does have occasional difficulty with graphic logos on the receipts but the underlying intelligence will pick up the vendor name if it is somewhere else on the receipt. If there is no alternative to the graphic the field is left blank and highlighted. Since the image of the receipt is right next to the data it is a simple matter of reviewing and updating this field. The Neat Receipts software remembers vendors once they have been entered, so this edit is often as simple as entering the first few characters of the name and Neat Receipts will fill in the rest.
  
  I use the product almost entirely for managing paper receipts for tax purposes. My accountant loves the fact that I no longer hand him a box of loose receipts. I now provide him with a printout of the receipts fully categorized. This alone has been worth the cost of the product many times over.
  
  In addition to receipt scanning the application does a great job of scanning and managing business cards. In this area it is definately on par with other dedicated products that exist and is better than most.
  
  Though document management is available as a feature of the product it is not the primary focus. The dpi quality of the scanner is sufficient to keep usable images of scanned documents and the software does a good job of categorizing and managing them. The dpi is also not so high that it creates a burden on processing overhead and storage that would come with a higher dpi.
  
  I would highly recommend this product. There is nothing else out there that comes close to the features and sophistication of the Neat Receipts application.
  
  
  
• Don't buy it if you want to use it with Quicken
  By APGG75SJKFIGL on 2007-11-13
  I use Quicken for my personal expenses, and I thought that NeatReceipts would help me get rid of all the receipts I was keeping.
  
  Using NeatReceipts with Quicken is such an annoying task!!! When I was reading the description on Amazon and their website, it said that it exports both QIF and OFX. OFX usually means that there is a direct transfer to Quicken. This is NOT true (Unless I'm missing something here)... When I export to OFX, I first have to save the file off. Then I have to open the file using Quicken import. What a PAIN!!! I was looking for it to just automatically link to Quicken..
  
  I was definitely impressed though by how it read the receipts. It's definitely a great tool for the business traveler, which is why I rated it four stars.
  
  
• NeatReceipts works great for me
  By A1B4HYTN0HSP58 on 2007-12-28
  I have been using this product since version 1.5 and was eagerly awaiting Version 3.0 so I could run it on my new Vista notebook. Program runs much cleaner for me under Vista (new install not upgrade) than it did on XP, although it ran fine there. Overall I am very pleased and couldn't live without my NeatReceipts. I travel extensively as a Board member and investor in companies and collect lots of receipts all the way. I should note that I am a board member of Neatreceipts but I am also a pretty experienced user of many business productivity gadgets and software. The program IS a little slow to load as noted here but I do have a database with more than a thousand receipt images . I have also found that my Vista notebook power settings have a pretty big impact. I timed my most recent expense report preparation from a 4 day multi city trip. It took 3 mintues for the program to load, 17 minutes to scan in 21 receipts, 5 minutes to edit data that the scan missed and 5 minutes to generate a PDF report that I emailed. I've been using the software and hardware for about three years so I know the little quirks that others have found annoying. You get used to it much like my Windows Mobile phone. I also usually do my scanning in front of watching a sporting event on TV on the weekend so I am multitasking anyway. The OCR is actually quite good and is improved in 3.0, dates which were a bit of a problem in earlier version read in almost perfectly, amounts are pretty good but do need to be checked for extra digits, 8s vs 0s (depending upon font), Vendor names get better and better as you "train" your system to recognize the stores/restaurants you frequent. End of the year I can run great reports (the upside of the large database installation that is bedeviling some of the reviewers here) for reimbursement and tax purposes. I don't bother trying to directly export to Quicken or Quikbooks. Business card scanning has worked well for me when needed and I use the Scan to PDF to email signed documents all the time. Scanner is very portable and I've completed expense reports on Amtrak or waiting in the airport lounge and immediately emailed them off.
  
  
• Very disappointing...
  By AF41ZGB6YQZUJ on 2007-12-23
  The scanner itself would be great if the software wasn't so terrible. There are no useful options to set. You can choose B&W or color, that's pretty much it. You can't set DPI, folder to save in, or anything else useful. The software takes forever to load, and uses an inordinate amount of memory.
  
  The scanner itself has the potential to be very nice. Receipt and document scans come in fairly clean. However, if you want to export to PDF, the PDFs always come out blurry! Also, the "scan to PDF" feature forces the documents to be saved after OCR conversion (which looks terrible despite being searchable).
  
  The software really kills this product. It is bloated, unpolished, confusing, and painful to use. Despite having high hopes, I had to return this sorry scanner to the store.
  
  
• Great Idea; Great Product, Needs Software Overhaul/improvements: V3 -SP1
  By A1PPIHKU8USU3H on 2008-05-08
  I purchased this product roughly 1 month ago; had a need to scan documents, receipts, business cards. Since I travel on business, the portability came in quite handy. (Great idea for a product for the typical road warrior) Here's some overall Good points & suggestions for improvements.
  
  The Good:
  Hardware:
  Very portable, light weight, easy to hook up, uses a very common interface, comes with a easy travel pack, doesn't take up too much space on the desk, comes with a nice little stand & a wall mounting option; and a hidden little compartment to hide the soft carrying case.
  
  Software:
  Intuitive interface, easy to install, clear instructions, works well for a small scanner, scans in color!!, has OCR, scans multiple forms of documents (does what it advertises)
  
  
  Suggested Improvements: (ranked from highest need to lowest)
  Hardware:
  1) USB cable doesn't fit in the soft travel bag. Can you make it bigger or with a couple of velcro straps to carry the USB cable. As anyone who travels knows, if it isn't packed together, it'll get lost, or tangled in the , left in the hotel room.
  2) Consider changing from USB B type to Mini USB. The hardware states it runs on 5V, 500mA; so it doesn't seem to me that it needed the USB type B connection. Does it really use that much power to run a scanner? These days with many cell phones, PDAs, Blackberries, and digital cameras all using the mini-USB cable; the USB type B cable is less commonly used. (Personal opinion) From looking at the use of it, it seems the USB is mostly used as a data transmission line.
  3) Cable too stiff, too long; and get rid of that toroidal ferrite thing hanging on the end of the USB type B cable. It's too big & bulky. Stiff cables makes it harder to sit the scanner flat on the table. Maybe the engineers who designed this decided the set length USB is cheaper; but in use, I would think a shorter USB cable doesn't get in the way and would work better.
  4) Other minor misc issues: change the USB cable color to black, it will look better as the cable jacket wears, scuffed and discolored. Consider making a marking on the stand more intuitive because the scanner only sits in the stand one way.
  5) That hardshell hardware case is quite nice, I just wish you would have put a little marketing flyer inside the original box to let me know the hardshell hardware case was available.
  
  Software:
  1) This software takes forever to open. You click on the icon and it takes about 15-30 seconds before the opening screen even pops up on the screen. Next to Adobe Acrobat; this is the longest loading software program. ...and functionally it shouldn't be that slow should it?
  2) Memory Usage is too big. Because it took so long to open, I started opening the Windows Task Manager just to see if the program is running or not. I have noticed it takes quite surprizingly a large amount of memory. Why is this software such a memory hog? (Again: I'm using Version 3, SP1)
  3) Can you incorporate a drag and drop feature into the various cells of the business card & receipts section of the software program? I understand OCR is difficult to implement correctly; I would not mind correcting it if I didn't have to retype all the correctly scanned words and just putting it in the correct data cell. This would make things much more intuitive and easier to work with. This same drag & drop feature would work nicely if you could allow scanned files to move from one section to another. [receipts section/Documents section/Business cards section] I frequently don't remember to click on the right category before it's scanned.
  4) Can you put in the opening screen a load % progress bar so it's more intuitive how long before the program is up and running?
  5) Maybe there's a preset I've not clicked on, but does it always start with the receipts section? ...can you make it use the last setting I left with when I closed the program last time or make it a preference setting option?
  6) Perhaps this might have something to do with memory usage; but can you make the default image file format JPG instead of BMP? Bitmap images are generally really big for the resolution you get.
  7) If possible, can you change the blinking LED setting on the scanner blink until the image is completely transferred to the PC? Being a portable device, similar to a digital camera, it would be nice if there was something telling me not to unplug the thing before the image finished transfered.
  8) I've noticed there's a greater frequency of software crashing when the USB cable is hooked into the USB hub instead of the USB port on the PC/Laptop. Is this a software stability issue?
  9) simple image editing. This is a low priority software improvement suggestion, but it would be nice if there was a way to allow me to do some simple image cropping or rotating so the image size is smaller. I noticed frequently I'm scanning in other things on the paper I'm not interested in. It would be nice if I could crop it out so it doesn't take up extra memory space.
  
  Overall, please don't let my comments reflect negatively on the product. It's a great product idea...I think the software could improve greatly. This should not prevent me from buying the product since software can easily be upgraded via the internet. Restating this another way: Product Idea: 5 stars. Software implementation: 1 or 2 stars.
  
  thanks,
  Will
  
  
• Works well - considering the challenges
  By A34Z7D2RD0LNQW on 2008-06-04
  I bought one of these and returned it after a day or two of experimentation. Later, I reconsidered. After better understanding the product's capabilities vs my expectations, I repurchased. I think many people misunderstand (as I did) the challenges involved in scanning, analyzing, and parsing receipts. Ever run across a receipt that took you some time to figure out??
  
  This scanner is a compact sheet-fed scanner, and saves images in PDF or JPEG formats. Up to 600 dpi. It's handy, portable (11 ounce) and convenient to keep in a desk drawer, brief case, etc. Being able to scan a document to PDF anywhere (without AC power) can be very useful.
  
  But it's the software component that performs OCR and attempts to decipher the text, graphics, smudges, wrinkles, and other artifacts. Then the program populates a simple database with its best interpretation of the receipt data. No, it is not perfect. But as you correct entries, the software adapts and recognizes the same receipt format.
  
  My only disappointment - which is why I returned the product the first time - is the software will not read and import data from PDF or email receipts. (It does read receipts in graphic formats like JPG, BMP, GIF, etc.) They're working on it... Until then I can only give 4 stars.
  
  My experience with customer support has been extremely positive and productive. Jenn Choi answers emails and user forums promtptly and professionally. She is amazingly considerate, patient, and polite given some of the rather obtuse words and language she receives. From my perspective, the staff was always prompt and forthright with the product's limitations and problems, and offered recommendations. I encourage the marketing department to do a better job of letting people know of the software's limitations ahead of the purchase so they may check their expectations and avoid 'buyer remorse' situations. For example, right on the box it should say "Although the Scanalizer will create PDF output files from scanned documents, at this time we do not support the import of PDF files directly. We are working on it!"
  
  Despite a lot of searching I have not found another product that does what this package does. Even with the low end 70% accuracy rate (mine was always much better), that's still 70% less transcription for me to do. During testing, I scanned receipts on my other scanners and used much more sophisticated (and expensive) OCR programs, but the recognition rate just was not that much better. But none of those programs could also analyze the result and say "Hmmmm... this looks like sales tax, let's put it in the TAX column. And this looks like a store name, so lets put that in the STORE field." Also remember, a graphic image of the receipt is saved and can be printed out if you ever need hard copy. When you highlight an entry in the database, the corresponding image is displayed in a view window. Database backup & restore utility is included so you can protect your work and records. If you forget to backup, the software will provide periodic reminders via pop-up window (you can configure as needed). You can export to many different file formats and financial apps.
  
  As I sit typing this out, I look around my home office and count five (!) scanners. Each has its own strengths and purpose (or else it would be gone). None of the others do what the Scanalizer and its software can do. But I still look forward to being able to have Scanalizer read and interpret all my exisitng PDF and email receipts into its database.
  
  Anyone contemplating purchase: Yes, do read reviews on Amazon.Com, Buy.Com, the magazines, etc. But also go to the company website www.neatreceipts.com and check out the user forums to see if it will meet your expectations.
  
  (No , I do not work for - or have ANY relationship with - NEATRECIEPTS other than the purchase of a Scanalizer.)
  
  
• Neat Reciepts
  By A312KZIQCDFJ90 on 2008-02-08
  I have used the Neat Reciepts 2.5 version for over a year on a near daily basis. I travel extensively and although sometimes you may have to edit a vendors name I can't imagine going back to stuffing reciepts in a bag. I find it extremely easy to use and mostly accurate and the business card scanner section is great. I input all my gas reciepts, meal reciepts, hotel reciepts, car repairs & maintenance receipts and it is all there when needed at tax time. I also input warranties on some items and important documents that I may need a copy of for information ie; photo copy your passport and then scan it, if it is lost or stolen its much easier to replace. I have just updated to the 3.0 version and I am looking forward to its new features. I give it a two thumbs up :-)The compact size is great it fits in my laptop bag easily.
  
  
• Good performance
  By A2V0JXJDKL84FO on 2008-03-21
  I read the reviews for this product after i purchased one from Costco. Many had bad experiences with it and I was curious to try. I am an engineer and i was impressed with what it could do. I don't fall for technology products easily. I have to try and then decide whether i want it or not. I have to first test the features and then assess for quality, & reliability. That's just my engineering brain at work.
  
  I was ready to give it back if it performed poorly. Now i think i will keep it. It's simple to use and it works pretty well. It has worked great so far. I have scanned at least a 100 receipts within 60 minutes. It has some intelligence built into it and identifies receipts, amount, vendor, date etc and even adjusts the scanned image. There are some mistakes once in a while with the amount and date but that is acceptable as some receipts are so difficult to read. I even tried scanning receipts that were crumpled and almost washed out and it scanned them pretty well.
  
  For those who had trouble with the software, i feel that you need to follow the instructions exactly as mentioned in their installation procedure ( like disable virus software before installation,restart the computer, run the CD first and then connect the scanner later for complete installation etc.) and i had no trouble with it after the install. Everything worked fine. The software is pretty intuitive and easy to use.
  
  The document scanning worked well too. I haven't really tried scanning business cards. Overall I am impressed with what it can do and I am using it quite a bit i must say. I am giving this product a 4 star rating because I still have to test it's overall performance with scanning business cards and its data export functionalities.
  
  
• Nice Product
  By A1749WTYZMCIWY on 2008-01-02
  I really like how this thing works. The only complaint that I have is that it does not recognize every receipt which is expected. Most of the time you do find yourself typing in information that you would think would be implemented but just isn't recognized.
  For the most part this product does what it claims it does and it does eliminate the clutter that comes with itemizing your expenses with receipts piling up everywhere.
  
  A Little pricey for what your really have to work with.
  
  
• Fantastic Tool
  By A37ISIQ4CFO6P4 on 2008-02-15
  This thing really works as advertised. It is slow loading up but reads all kinds of receipts and enters the data in the database. A reall work saver for me with my own small business.
  
  
• Great way to speed up the bill doing process
  By AIVTH2DQTVC1E on 2008-01-18
  It scans and reads receipts accurately most of the time. It's nice to have your receipts in your computer to access at a later time. Software needs to be updated to support Quicken better.
  
  
• Pure Garbage, Please Do Not Buy This Item
  By A3NATEM4AY5098 on 2008-02-13
  Benefit from my experience, please, and search for something really reputable. This is pure garbage. And, I cannot understand anyone who claims actual usability much less benefit from this item. It is a toy; moreover, garbage. It's marketing appeals to consumers who need the professional organization that companies have but can't get it; but these people don't deliver it. The software is horrible: Receipts displayed on screen are invariably inaccurate and each entry must be corrected. Test: the same receipt scanned twice produces different results! Same for business cards. Also, the "windows" are not the smooth, seamless, interfunctional devices depicted on the box cover. You're thinking the reputation of Microsoft or even Intuit, the makers of Quickbooks, etc. Not here, these windows hardly budge nor navigate logically: sizing and display of windows and items is NOT what the advertising depicts. You're in an uncreative, visual, database straight-jacket, staring at boot-leg windows, with no funtionality. The hardware is horrible: The product does not let you "scan and process multiple documents". In fact, it can't even scan a single receipt without procrastinating. I've had to gingerly feed in each receipt and make sure the edges are crisp or else the machine won't take it. (Much like the ATM bill receptors we're all used to). And, did I mention that Service Pack 2 and ALL updates is a requirement (Windows XP) for the software to load and function? I spent 4 hours "upgrading" my computer with all the latest "patches" and "security fixes" and 1 hour with Neat Receipts customer service before Neat Receipts 3.0 would install. Neat Receipts refused to acknowledge that they did not print such a requirement on their box. In today's economic times, no one can afford to throw away the equivalent of half a car payment on a non-functioning piece of plastic that will wind up collecting dust. I am going way out of my way to return this non-functioning piece of garbage and talk to some professionals to find out how they manage their receipts.
  
  
  
• "Made in China" Says It All
  By AW7OOW21LVQO3 on 2008-02-17
  Well, I certainly wish I could write a nice review for the Neat Receipts scanner, but I can't.
  
  WHAT IT IS:
  
  At barely around 12 inches long and only a few inches wide, the Neat Receipts scanner seems wonderful for those who wish to have a carry-anywhere portable scanner that they can use to scan documents, receipts, and other small texted based items into their computer. The theory is that you can scan these items via the scanner into the scanning software, organize the scans into folders, and have a nice databased of your purchases and expenses on file so that when you lose your receipts (which we all do), you'll have records to fall back on.
  
  SETTING UP SLOW:
  
  Setup was not the swiftest. You must disable all programs (including antivirus) and with the install CD in the drive, reboot your computer. Upon rebooting, the install continues. On my dual core system with 2 gigs of RAM this was a slow process, and during the install it checked for newer versions of the software and said there were none available. Ok, fine.
  
  After completion, it goes through a series of further installs, and then asks you to plug in the scanner via the USB port. Once Window's recognized it, you continue by placing a "calibration card" into the scanner. The scanner pulls it through, and supposedly it's ready to go. Upon starting up the software, it then tells me that now there IS an update to fix "bugs" in the older version of the software, so I download and install that update and reboot.
  
  Having all done, I start up the software, which is very slow to load up and get running. Once ready, your screen is divided into a main area where you can create folders, a detail area below, and on the left an area that is supposed to show you the actual scan once it's done - like a photo. You can then slip the front of a receipt (or document) into the front of the scanner, and press the "scan" or "PDF"(to create a PDF document) button on-screen, or on the scanner itself.
  
  DEFECT DANCE:
  
  The scanner pulls the document through, and at this point you are supposed to see a photo of it on the left. No such luck. All I get are gray lines. All was done correctly and placed in the correct way, but nope - no visual in place. Tech support is not available on weekends, so I took the unit back to the place of purchase and swapped it for another unit.
  
  Same problem. This time I get gray lines where a scan of the receipt should be. Ok, so long story short, for those who buy a Neat Receipts that actually WORKS, then it seems like it's a handy device to organize receipts and documents. However, the girl at the store I took my first (and now will the second) unti back to did inform me that a number of them had come back as "dead on arrival" units. Whether this is simply a bad batch of them that went to a particular area, or whether the "Made in China" badge indicates low quality and a high number of defects, I don't know. I do know that two Neat Receipts produced two defective units in my case, so, I cannot recommend this product.
  
  CONCLUSION:
  
  If you already own a flatbed scanner then you can with slightly more effort simply do receipt scans with that, or for the $199 average price of the Neat Receipts buy a very nice flatbed (or save money and get a basic one) to do the same job. I vote "No" on the Neat Receipts due to reliability issues.
  
  
• Reality vs Neat Receipts advertising
  By A25MXWR4IDBD4D on 2007-12-21
  I bought version 3.0 just before Christmas and expected something a bit better. It does the job, but takes quite a bit of effort.
  
  1. Software Installation: clunky and slow, very slow. It took about 20 minutes to completely install the software. It is very important to shut down any anti-virus software first.
  
  2. Actual Scanning Procedure: There is no alignment bar,so you have to hope that you inserting the document in a straight fashion. It does not hold the large documents well, so you need to push the document a bit while using the other hand to click the SCAN button.
  
  3. Scan Results: The scan result is high quality, but there is a very important missing feature. There is no alignment option to ensure the document is straight. So some of my scans are crooked. Considering the size of the software (95 MB), I would have expected an option to straighten the scans.
  
  4. Document Filing: This is the strong point of the program. The scans do a good job of identifying the details in the receipts... sales tax, amount paid, etc. but the Smart Sorting feature is very slow - cleaning, analyzing, filing takes 30+ seconds per document.
  
  
  
• Poor Quality Scans
  By AYO4ZXHPTYFFH on 2008-01-31
  I need a portable scanner primarily to scan documents and attach them as pdf files to emails. This scanner is small and lightweight. However, the quality of the pdf files that this scanner creates is very poor. The quality is not satisfactory for business use. The text in the pdf files created by this scanner is not sharp. In addition, when you scan a document to a pdf file, and you look at the scan on your computer screen or print it out, there is a light gray outline around each line of text. It is as if the text had been highlighted by a light gray highlighter pen. The highlighting is light, but it is there.
  
  I called NeatReceipts tech support, and their rep scanned a document using her NeatReceipts scanner while we where on the phone, and she told me that the gray highlighting appeared on her screen and when she printed the scanned document. We tried all the available scan settings, but we could not eliminate this problem. We tried the "black & white" setting and the "color" setting, but the problem persisted. She told me that the "black & white" setting scanned at 300dpi and the "color" setting scanned at 600dpi, although I could not find anything in the manual that gave this information or said anything about how to set the dpi setting. Thus, the only dpi setting available using the "black & white" setting is 300dpi. And the scans created by this scanner look more like 200dpi. This is unacceptable. Recalibrating the scanner did not reduce the problem.
  
  Surprisingly, she told me that she had not received this complaint from any other customers. The explanation may be that other customers are just using the scanner to archive receipts, and maybe the scan quality is not so important for that. But if you need to create good quality pdf files, then you should not buy this scanner. On a good scanner, when you scan a document to pdf, the resulting pdf is virtually a copy of the original document. Not on this scanner.
  
  I bought NeatReceipts 3.0, and the scan quality was poor, so I uninstalled the 3.0 software and installed the old version 2.8 software from their support website, but the scan quality was still very poor.
  
  I did not attempt to use the feature that allows you to scan receipts and automatically import the information from the receipt into financial software, so I can't comment on whether that works well.
  
  In a pinch, I would use this scanner to email a document, but the poor scan quality makes it unacceptable for regular use. Since the quality of pdf files was poor, I returned the scanner.
  
  This scanner is actually manufactured by Plustek. Plustek sells the same scanner under the Plustek name with a different software package. I may buy it to see if it creates better quality scans.
  
  
• Great Product
  By A30VFY1WZVZ11A on 2008-02-18
  Product works great - sometimes it has trouble determining who the receipt is for, but it is easy to add that info after the receipt is scanned. Program would not open after installed. Called tech support but held for 10 minutes. Contacted on line support and got excellent service. Working with online chat, we checked several things on my PC and resolved the issue.
  
  
• would be perfect except for bugs
  By A3B8F6PMZOCZTG on 2008-03-14
  I wanted to give this 5 stars except for some very serious bugs. After painstakingly scanning and correcting $5,000 worth of receipts, the program had an unhandled exception and lost all the data. They should have implemented this with some sort of incremental save. I lost hours of my life and I would like them back please. There is an option to back up the database from the tools menu, but it's not a quick procedure. Maybe the ideal would be to back up the database and exit the program every half hour to ensure the data is recorded permanently before proceeding.
  
  If it weren't for the data loss, I would really give this thing high marks. It does an admirable job recognizing receipts from major companies like Safeway and Office Depot. However, it frequently gets the sales tax incorrect and you have to babysit it, keeping an eye on the values it suggests for the date, total, etc.. Scanning is slow and you have to gently encourage the receipt through the scanner so that the scan is straight. It should have some sort of sliding plastic guide that you can align so you don't have to do that. Then you have to eyeball its results to look for errors. It makes errors about 1 in 3 times, depending on the quality of the receipt, whether it's wrinkled, or faded. Brand new receipts from major companies it does quite well with.
  
  I'm going to keep mine cause I need a solution like this so badly, but it has some serious flaws that are silly. It could be a 5 star product, but isn't. By the way, I'm using NeatReceipts Pro version 3.0 SP1.
  
  
• Just what I was looking for
  By A3155NWLKXEY1I on 2008-03-29
  I think this product is best for on the road folks who have to deal with expense reports and stacks of business cards. For full blown document management, it's going to disappoint.
  
  After seeing a lot of negative/luke warm reviews, I delayed buying this thing, but I'm glad I finally did.
  
  I have a full sized scanner with a document feed for scanning and storage of documents like bank statements, meeting notes, etc. This scanner is a little too slow for that since it has to be fed one paper at a time.
  
  But for those times when I'm on the road and need to send someone a copy of something, I can scan it in and email it rather than hunting down a fax machine. Or scan it, throw the paper away and not carry huge stacks of paper for the trip back.
  
  For receipts, it works great. The OCR isn't fool proof, but there's so much information on the average receipt, that it does a pretty good job. It seems to learn a bit, so that I had to enter the info on a Hertz receipt the first time (tons of information on those) and then afterwards it knows it is a Hertz receipt and even pulls the correct tax and total now. It still pulls the rental start date rather than end date as the receipt date however. For gas station receipts, they often say "Welcome to ___ Shell" and after the first time I entered the info, it now knows that it is a shell receipt.
  
  Receipts can be fed any direction and the program will try to figure out which way is up. Seems to work best if fed top first, but with jagged edges, sideways works just fine.
  
  My old way of doing expense reports was going through the stack of receipts, grouping them to the right time period and project and flat bed scanning them. Now I just enter them one at a time, no need to worry about order or grouping as long as I enter the receipt date and project. Then just highlight the right ones, and it'll create a nice .pdf with a summary of the amounts as the first sheet and pictures of the receipts fit as best as possible on the following pages.
  
  Business card scanning works pretty well. Takes some editing to fix entries, but given how varied business card formats are, it guesses fairly well on what's the company name, what's the phone number, cell number, email address etc. It keeps the picture of the card so if there is a typo in the email or phone number, I'm not completely stuck, I can pull that up.
  
  One annoying thing is the software license allows installing on only one computer. And they don't sell a license for just the software so to be legal, you'd have to buy 2 scanners to use on say a home PC and a laptop. There is a way to install just the scanner drivers so it can be used with multiple machines. But it would be nice to have the software on my home PC and my laptop.
  
  
• GREAT PRODUCT
  By A3GIDOPVJBKTV5 on 2008-01-01
  THIS IS A GREAT PRODUCT SMALL AND COMPACT FOR ON THE
  DESK EASE OF USE
  
  
• NEAT Receipts
  By AQ6Z12NHJHG1B on 2008-02-08
  NeatReceipts Scanalizer Professional 2.5 Mobile Scanner and Software
  
  This is a great peice of hardware. It is very easy to use, and amazingly it can scan your reciept total and automatically enters the dollar amount. Categorizing and organizing is fairly simple, but does require a little thought and processing.
  
  There is a way to tag items which are tax deductible which is great. Works quick and fast, and is great as a basic scanner, but it does take a little bit of skill to actually organize your categories.
  
  The business card scanner function is incredible. It works very well and easily translates all fields automatically. In order to use with Outlook it does take knowledge of exporting and importing from a database file. It does not automatically import to Outlook; a little work is required.
  
  
• Excellent Product.......
  By A53OFMFWAPRNH on 2008-02-24
  The compactness of this product to provide a great scan of a document is great. Then it also helps one organize documents and business cards. I am very happy with this product.
  
  
• Buggy software and poor support
  By A14WO24HBXS24K on 2008-03-08
  In concept this is a great product and I would love it if it worked reliably, but for me it did not. I encountered persistent errors at start up and when trying to execute certain functions like scan to pdf or back up receipts database. I know from the product technical support forums that others were getting the exact same problem, but no solution was forthcoming. A trouble ticket was issued for my problem but it was never resolved and I stopped receiving replies. I had problems getting hold of technical support. Unfortunately I have to return the product, which is most inconvenient.
  
  
• The Best Way to Complete Expense Reports
  By A262BX3NF63LYB on 2007-12-23
  This is a great tool for preparing expense reports. It simplifies the process and saves a lot of time.
  
  My only complaint is that I haven't figured out how to import a receipt that wasn't scanned in (i.e. an email receipt from an online transaction). I'm sure there is a way to do it. I just haven't figured that out yet.
  
  Overall, I'm quite happy with the purchase.
  
  
• Very pleased with its program.
  By A8UQXVX9AR9JU on 2008-02-27
  This is a neat little scanner. I was able to put it in my Vista program
  with ease. It is easy to travel with. It is a bit pricy, but it functions
  well.
  
  

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