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The main competitor to our favorite document scanner, the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500, is probably the NeatDesk Desktop Scanner. Last week, Joel Johnson of BoingBoing Gadgets got his hands on one, and spent a few hours putting it through its paces.
His verdict: While he didn’t have any major complaints about the NeatDesk desktop scanner, it’s probably not worth it. Consider the ScanSnap s1500 instead.
Update: TryNeat.com sent us a a NeatDesk scanner to try. You can check out our NeatDesk document scanner review post here.
That being the case, I found this observation about the NeatDesk odd: “[i]ts first problem is that it’s simply a scanner, and a sheet-fed one at that . . . .” Er, yes, that is kind of the point. In a world of ubiquitous multi-function-printers, we think document scanners still play an important role.
Joel’s complaints about the odd NeatDesk document slots limiting the number of documents, however, are well-taken, even if that assembly can be removed. He makes complaints about the software and optical character recognition (OCR) included with the scanner.
Consider this. The ScanSnap comes with licensed copy of Adobe Acrobat, a $300-$460 product. It also includes various utilities (that some will find more useful than others). But the NeatDesk comes with only a license code for a copy of Neat Library, which is not included in the box. The equivalent Fujitsu software (and more) is free and included in the box.
The NeatDesk OCR apparently needs a lot of work, as well. Joel had trouble getting it to recognize basic text like “.com” in a website address on a business card.
I am not likely to give up my ScanSnap s1500 anytime soon. I already know it provides excellent value, quality, and utility. Based on Joel’s review and the spec sheet, I think I would be paying more and getting less with the NeatDesk.
A couple of hours with the NeatDesk scanner (Verdict: not worth the time or trouble) | BoingBoing Gadgets
Sam Glover has been writing about law practice technology, management, marketing, and other stuff on Lawyerist since 2007. He consults on appeals and motion practice in his solo practice. When he isn't blogging or lawyering, Sam drinks espresso and plays with fountain pens.
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Hi Sam,
I’m an employee of The Neat Company and I wanted to clarify a couple of things. Joel was incorrect in stating that NeatDesk only comes with a library, that’s not included in the box. NeatDesk comes bundled with NeatWorks software, which enables users to digitally organize and manage their receipts, business cards and documents. Users can easily create expense reports, send contact information to Address Book and export data to other applications, such as Quicken. Also, every item is searchable through the application or Spotlight and everything is stored as a PDF.
Additionally, the purpose of the paper tray is to enable users to scan in disparate types of paper at the same time (the software will identify the type of item scanned). Often with other ADF scanners, the smaller items will skew if you try to scan in receipts, business cards and documents together.
The ScanSnap is a great device and PDF maker, so this is not an attempt to put a negative light on it. Actually, many individuals purchase the NeatWorks for Mac software (available as software only) and use it with the ScanSnap. This allows them to use a scanner they already own and utilize the features and functionality the NeatWorks application provides.
Please let me know if I can provide any additional information. I can be reached at jchoi@neatco.com.
Jenn
Jenn
Just curious if you are still working for neat?
If you are, what a loser.
I am being audited by state of MN and I made the mistake of storing my data in neat what a pathetic piece of shit and what if anything was I thinking I am sorry for my choice are you???
Imran
I am the executive director of a high school… I would like to go more paperless… and scan bills/invoices and have them be able to be imported into Quick Books.. does the Scan Snap do that? Neat Desk?
It is great to scan, contracts and bills and even checks received.. and have them filed digitally… but the real time saver would be if it can be “read” and imported easily into Qucik Books?
None of the scanners I know of can import bills directly into Quickbooks or any other accounting software. I suppose that would require the scanning utility to have a template for each bill, which is probably a ways off.
I guess you weren’t reading, Neat imports to both Quicken and Quick-Books. So, you guys are Fujitsu Venders?
No, we aren’t Fujitsu vendors.
And yes, the Neat is supposed to export to Quicken and QuickBooks, but that wasn’t the question. It doesn’t scan directly to Quicken and QuickBooks.
I have been vascillating between these two products and need to purchase soon. I appreciate your comments, but need clarification on the software utilities they come with. So fat the advantage I see inthe Fujitsu is that it can scan directly into Word and other editable formats, not just pdf. All else looks somewhat the same. Input please? I will liely end up with about three of these over time, and I want to make the right choice.
The ScanSnap comes with Adobe Acrobat, while the Neat does not. That is a $300-400 piece of software. That makes a pretty big difference.
NeatReceipts DOES come with PDF converter software, so im not sure where mr. glover is missing that. Its right there on the home page.
I don’t think I ever said otherwise. What it doesn’t come with is Acrobat, which is a great deal more than just “PDF converter software.”
What doe s not having TWAIN mean in real practical terms? I am thinking of getting the Fujitsu with Rack Filer2… seems like I can’t go too far wrong
The biggest problem with the snap scanner series is that it scans only to pdf if you are truly trying to go paperless there are many programs to help you manage you documents most will not work with the snap scanner I have been involved in document management for aprox. 15 years getting good software if far more important than the scanner they will typically get replaced every 3 to 5 years however it is much more difficult to change the software you are working with. Adobe makes a very good product. It is not document management software like most people try to make it out to be
The best answer is to find the right software for you then get the scanner that will work with that
I’m totally with you on this, even several years later! My biggest issue with the Neat system is that it is not in any way an “open” system. It can’t be extended or adapted to work with more scanners, and you can’t extend the defined document types it knows about to include, for example, checks! I had lots of frustration with mine, and to this day don’t understand why a “quick scan” has one set of controls and stores its documents in one place, and a “scan” (“regular,” i.e. not “quick”, though I don’t see any difference in speed) does something different. Neither works in a way tha eliminates frustration, if you get my drift.
peter you have 15 years under you belt i need help here what i want to do for
my bussiness is keep track of bills and collections i operate a body shop can the neat scanner do this and store my info that i can always go back to it
thank you
Not quite. Like any scanner, the Neatdesk scans your documents so you can save them on your computer. Your computer is what stores those documents.
I still do not understand why any software is necessary to go paperless, other than the software that turns my paper into PDFs. My operating system (Windows Vista, at the moment) was built from the ground up to “manage documents.” Why do I need an expensive add-on for this?
ScanSnap is a very expensive scanner for its capabilities. just converting into pdf, any scanner made by any tom-dick-n-harry with a OCR can do. Just imagine what good it can do if you have lot of bills, lot of business cards and lot of documents to scan. What neat works does is scans all the bills and exports them to QuickBooks, scans all the business cards and exports it to your address book, scans all the documents to pdfs. If you are planning on doing all these things with acrobat and windows vista, it will be the biggest joke. Just imagine automatically scanning 1000 bills in to QuickBooks, I doubt it is possible with ScanSnap+Adobe+Vista.
I do not think ScanSnap is not any where close to the capabilities of NeatDesk. ScanSnap is a scanner, where as NeatDesk with Neat works is a digital office organizer.
I just wish they would sell the software alone and drop the crappy scanner. I don’t need another piece of equipment on my desk. I already have a nice AIO….the previous version of their software worked with any twain scanner just fine. If the hardware goes, you are SOL.
The customer service sucks to say the least. if you encounter an issue with your scanner no one will respond. The customer service consists of computer generated responses. Nothing less and nothing more. Just a joke to anyone that would spend their hard earned money on a scanner.
Try the Epson scanner. They scan faster and have a great 24/7 customer support system that is always there to help.
I am not associated with any of the supplyers of the products mentioned above. From the pros and cons mentioned above about each of the scanners, I am really eager to know what arguement stops me from going Neat desktop scanner. I take it to be a kind of an office assistant. I did scan a lot of papers but never seen one that does as fast and digitally organize it for you?
Just wait until you have 6 months worth of scanned data and your Neatdesk software quits working because you downloaded and installed one of there many software patches! That is where I am right now. The only thing I have is the PDF files that I created instead of their data in one big lump that I now have no access to. Good Luck.
Mike
Still waiting for NeatDesk tech support to tell me how I can move my version 5 data back to Version 4.3 software which doen’t seem so buggy and is easier to use (more intuitive). I’m also having trouble re-loading 4.3 software on my Windows XT HP laptop. After re-loading I get an error message telling me to call their tech support team for why this is happening. I didn’t happen when I bought the software 1 year ago–so why now?
Disappointed User
I’ve bought neatworks for mac and I would not recommend it. When I bought it, I was excited about the marketing and was dreaming about how it was going to help me get receipts and duplex paper onto my hard drive…
But, the mac software is glitchy, slow, and a couple of versions behind the PC release, and the duplex option on the scanner does a poor quality scan on the back side. The neatdesk software does a poor job of post-processing the image and you get something that is barely readable (both with and without duplex), and the available changeable settings don’t help any. When I use the scanner with another software product, the duplex option no longer works.
Overall, I’m very disappointed with the product and am looking for something that actually works as advertised.
So I went ahead and bought the scansnap… hands down the clear winner. It’s fast, great quality, works out of the box. I was blown away!
En route toward completely paperless accounting for my practice, I have been excited by the promises made by Neat Company’s marketing campaign. Earlier this week I had a chance to check out the product first-hand at a Neat Company kiosk that was set up at Toronto’s Pearson Airport.
Never before having used the product, I did what any sensible buyer would do and asked for a demonstration. Believe it or not — and much to my disappointment — I was refused. In fact I was told that I would only be shown the software after I purchased the suite.
Needless to say I was not impressed and after making sure I had heard correctly, I walked away. The Kinder Surprise approach to sales might appeal to the pre-school set, but it doesn’t exactly instill a lot of confidence in prospective buyers who are putting upwards of three hundred dollars on the line for what is supposed to be a professional product.
I have a Scansnap in both of my offices and I cannot imagine practicing without it. Yes, it is “just a scanner” – a scanner that came with a $300 piece of software, a scanner that scans both sides of every page and automatically throws out blank pages, a scanner that keeps file size to an acceptable level (especially important for ECF), etc.
The best feature of all is it is ultra-portable. I can bring it to another location, plug into my laptop, scan, save to my Dropbox, and everthing I just did is “dumped” on all my computers.
I know there are other scanners out there that do those things. However, Scansnap is the only one I found to date that does it for about $125.00 (I am deducting the costs of Adobe as I think that shows the true value).
I would be hesitant to recommend Neat scanner. Ihave three Kodack, Neat and Fijutsu. I personally use neat. It hase taken me a very long time to get pdf files scanned to the right place. I don’t like to use it without converting everything to pdf. First I used the quick scan. It took the scanner full 15 minutes to “read” the pages although scanning itself was fast. Then I had to import it to the “neatworks”. That was about 15 minutes ago. Booked airline tickets, looked on web for good back up program and then came to this page. It has still not managed to “import” the pages. Every few weeks it asks me to put the software license key in again. What a hastle. Don’t buy it. Anything you put in “neatware” cannot be password protected. It is still not done finishing the job of getting 40 pages where they belong. A true dog.
I’ve been using the NeatDesk scanner (I previously bought the original portable scanner for receipts only) for about a year now. I like the scanner itself — it has not presented me with any problems (I am not scanning more than 20 pages at a sitting, usually) and is reasonably quick for my law practice. The software is not great (although after having it set-up for my QB, getting receipts taken care of is a snap — since most of my bills and purchases made are with the same vendors, the software readily recognizes their info); I do not use it for document management (as was stated above, my operating system takes care of that for me when needed) and anyways, I have practice management software to deal with organizing. As to Nish’s comment, I was unclear what was meant by getting files scanned to the right place — I scan to PDF and it asks me where I want to save the document. I just send it to a folder I created to receive newly scanned docs. No problems there. It is very slow software and a resource hog, so you have to plan on not using your desktop while doing large scanning jobs. Which works for me since I just use my laptop if needed. As far as a few page document, I don’t have any qualms about it. And as far as the Acrobat software inclusion, that’s great unless you already own Acrobat (and I use Pro anyway). That said, I would definitely shop and test scanners if I had a larger volume of pages to scan — I don’t think Neat really serves that purpose — more the mom and pop and solo practitioner with small scanning needs.
why has no one mentioned the fact that adobe acrobat is a free software??? I’ve never paid for it and can get the most updated versions off download.com. I would never pay $300 for software, so the fact that scan snap comes with it and you all are trying to say it’s a great deal b/c it comes free in the box, who cares??? Anyone can get adobe free online! I just need to know which one is the better product sans software!
Perhaps you don’t realize that the free Adobe Reader is not the same software as Adobe Acrobat. The former is only for reading PDF files. The latter is for creating, editing, annotating, and doing other things with PDF files.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t there other programs out there to make PDF’s for a lot cheaper than what Adobe Acrobat would charge??
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatstandard/features.html
That’s the Acrobat Standard features list.
If you find a free program that does all that, please send me the link.
Interesting to note that well over a year later, neither cearan nor Dustin have sent Kenneth his requested link. :-)
There are definitely PDF software options that do much of what Acrobat does, for much less. There just isn’t anything that really measures up, especially if you can get it included in a bundle with an already-well-priced scanner.
I have read all the reviews and found all to be very helpful concerning everyone’s opinions. I am working in an Manufacturing company that has a lot of paper work, bills, Delivery Transfer Notes, etc of different sizes. All these paper work are filed away in folders and just creates a disgusting site to see so I want to try and eliminate this problem. I want to be able to scan documents very fast (120 pages approximately a day) and be able to organize them digitally into separate folders. I must also be able to locate and print the documents easily in a decent format, PDF or Word. Which scanner would be better for me to use?
If it wasn’t clear from this review, get the ScanSnap. However, you may want to upgrade to a bigger scanner if you are going to be scanning so many files regularly.
OK Sounds like the Scansnap is getting the most positive reviews. Do I need to get the $400 model or will the $125 model work. want to scan 20 miscellaniois items a day.
Please advise
I don’t think the S1100 (the lowest-priced ScanSnap) is something you would want to use daily. The S1300, however, would make a fine scanner if you feel like your usage will be lighter.
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