Consumer Reviews

I am not someone who needs a scanner in my everyday life. My main focus for buying this was because I use USAA banking. USAA is an online only bank and the only way you can deposit checks with them to scan the check through a browser page on their site.

The problem was is that I never could find a list of mobile scanners that were supported and my first attempt failed miserably for me. So with no little amount of trepidation did I buy this. For all those USAA users, it works! Took a little bit of tinkering to make it work but it did great and my checks are being sent in now.

What I didn’t expect was my actual joy with the software though. In no time I found myself copying my important documents (tax returns, etc) into the device for storage. Then I found myself getting 2 year old credit card statements. A little while later I am saving my receipts. It is just so addictive and easy to store my documents electronically and free up physical space (who needs a file cabinet any more!).

My only major issue is that the database is getting rather unwieldy to load. As someone who programs databases I am not sure if it is just the hardware difference or if the programming wasn’t indexed or optimized. I have heard 4.0 is faster but I am unsure if it is worth an upgrade when this does everything I want after the initial start-up annoyance.

Either way you will be more than happy with this device.

As one who runs his own home based business, I accumulate a ton or receipts each year. Not only do the receipts take up their fair share of space, but they also, thanks to thermal paper, seem to “disappear” as time goes on. OK, maybe the paper doesn’t disappear, but the writing on the paper does. And what good is a receipt that can’t be read at tax time?

I began using the Neat Receipts Pro in late 2006 and haven’t looked back since.

The software is intuitive. You create a category (let’s say “Office Supplies” or “Fuel” or “Client Entertainment”) and then just scan the receipts after hooking up the scanner via your PC’s USB port. Scanning involves feeding the receipt into the scanner, waiting a few seconds and then seeing the receipt on-screen. For the most part, the software is pretty good at deciphering what the receipt says, including the sales tax and the total. It does have issues with the vendor at times, since many stores like to use their logo instead of writing out their store name. If there is any information that the software didn’t “read”, it’s just a matter of typing it in manually, which takes no time at all.

Once you have created all of your categories (and you can create both business and personal categories, and label them as such), and you’ve scanned your first batch of receipts, looking up a receipt takes no time at all. Simply highlight the category and look for the receipt, which is arranged chronologically. If you need a reprint of the receipt, simply select “Print” and it will print it out original size. You can also export to PDF, which is a feature added in the latest software release.

In addition to receipts, you can also scan in documents for putting into a “digital safe”. The software categorizes those items also.

I save up my receipts for the week and scan them on Sundays. Once I’m done with the scanning, the best part is coming up: the big pile of receipts gets shredded! Everything is stored on the PC. Obviously its a good idea to create a backup of your receipts and the program has that feature built in also. Since all of the receipts and documents are stored in a database, you simply select “Tools” from the menu, then “Database”, then “Backup” and it backs up everything into your My Documents\NeatReceipts folder. I then backup to an external drive nightly. Quarterly I copy the backup to a DVD and place it into a safe.

The Neat Receipts program also scans business cards and transfers the contact information, another neat feature (I see where they get their name now!).

The IRS accepts the receipts in digital format, so there is no issue come tax time.

Bottom line, if you like to have your life organized, and you don’t like to have a ton of receipts taking up space, this is one of the best investments you can make.

I have had this for a couple months now. I travel sometimes for work and this sucker does a great job handling the receipts. When I get back to my hotel or whenever I get a chance to scan the receipts, it scans them into a folder. I can add comments, so that I remember why the company has to bill it back. For me, I need to add contract numbers, who was in attendance (for meals), etc. I can add all of these things and even have it kick out a nice little expense report.

So far I have been happy with it, except for a few glitches with the software, and some lack of functionality.
…it has been fantastic for the following reasons:

1. It puts everything into a folder that I can name and add a date to. I do my expenses by the week, so I have weekly folders.
2. It will generate a nice little pdf with a cover page, a line by line listing of receipts, the comments about the receipts, and the actual receipts. I will have upwards of 30 receipts and still be under 1 meg.
3. They let you know that IRS accepts scanned receipts as originals. This means that every receipt that I need to keep until tax time can be scanned in and placed in a receipt folder for taxes for that year. Then when tax time comes, I can just generate one big pdf file for the whole year.
4. Everything stores in a database. There is some limited searching that you can do, but my main happiness is that I haven’t lost a receipt, yet.
5. This thing comes with a mounting bracket so that you can hang it upright. It’s a fantastic idea. I scan my receipts straight into the trash. Once they are scanned, they drop into the garbage.

…it has had some issues.
1. In the version 3.0 that I purchased, it would just not print out all of the comments if you had too many receipts. This was frustrating for the first month and a half. Then, since I had complained about it, they sent me a free license for the next version, NeatWorks 4.0.
2. They only let you use their scanner. This is frustrating because I come home, dock the laptop, but can’t use my home scanner that’s attached to the docking station. I have to drag out the specific scanner and use that. Apparently, Mac users can use alternative scanners. They need that with PC users. Currently, their software is crippled.

If you’re a traveler who needs to generate copies of receipts, then this is a great deal. If you have a workspace and already have a scanner, then this may be for you. Once they un-cripple their software and allow any scanner to work with it, this will be a much better deal.