NeatReceipts Scanalizer Professional 2.5 Mobile Scanner and Software

The only fly in the ointment is the fact that this device only really works with Windows XP, and not Mac or Linux, and not very great (as of last month) with Windows Vista. Scans and helps you organize store receipts and business cards, very important items for anyone who likes to really keep track of their or their business finances.

I am a very heavy and long term user of scanners of all kinds as part of my quest to have a completely digital (paperless) life. Before buying this portable, I had used Visioneer scanners for many years and many models (each of which got more limited and less reliable over time). Thus, I switched to Neat Receipts about two years ago. This scanner and similar models are exactly what the name implies. For small receipts that need to be organized. It is NOT a high volume machine but is one that fits perfectly on the desktop between the keyboard and the moniter where it is easily and immediately available. I do not use the Neat Receipts software as I find PaperPort is a stonger program for sorting, creating files, and reading/converting formats from PDF, TIFF, JPEG and its own proprietary format. However, the Neat Receipt scanner captures a great image directly into the PaperPort problem, so my unhappiness with the Visioneer scanners was solved. The weakness with the current portable scanners (all of them!) is that they no longer have their own power supplies. Rather, they rely on the USB power and TWAIN interface to operate. This leaves the user with much fewer choices about how they want to scan. For example, Neat Receipts cannot scan an 8-1/2 x l4 inch page (as far as I can see). Other than that, it is super easy to use. I have recommended it to my clients. And, I am on my seond scanner -- whenever a (*&(*^%@@ dust particle gets caught in the mechanism it leaves a line down the entire scan; and, it is next to impossible to get that particle out. I have tried the cleaing paper that comes with the scanner, sticky paper, q-tips and in the end, I just pony up for a new scanner and give the old one to someone just starting out...... I like my images to be PERFECT! Anyway, a solid product. And I will continue to use it for the forseeable future in connection with my other (flatbed) scanners.

I have a serious problem with receipts. First of all, I cant throw them out. What if I have to return something?? So, my handbag is full of receipts, old and new. Then, when I need to return something, I cant find the one Im looking for. Never fails. This cool little scanner solves all of my problems. Now, after shopping, I come home, empty my purse, scan my receipts and throw them all out...except for the ones that have a high probability of a return. Those I save until Im sure Im happy with the product. Still, if I ever need to return it or take a look at my receipt, all I have to do is pull it up on Neat Receipts. The scanner works amazingly well on receipts that are faded or wrinkled. A lot of the times the image recognition software doesnt read the information correctly - it doesnt recognize debit payments and always puts them in as cash. Its very easy to correct errors, so its no big deal. I have different folders set up for different stores that I go to a lot. Then I have general folders for food stores, clothing stores, shoe stores, etc. I LOVE THIS PRODUCT!! The other day a friend asked me how much an item cost that I bought at Sams Club. I brought up the program, went to my Sams club folder, and quickly found the receipt. It has a place to check off if its a tax deduction and even asks you the form number. Now all of my receipts are organized and Ill never be fishing through my handbag looking for that one stupid receipt that I cant find. BUY IT!!

I purchased this scanner several years ago. I intended to use it instead of a flatbed scanner to scan my household paper documents. The major drawback of using this scanner is the included software. Using an application to organize documents is alright as long as the application always works. When you cant get the application to run, you have no way of accessing your documents. Such is the case with me when I upgraded to Windows 7. The Neat Receipts application will not open the database, so I have no access to my documents saved using Neat Receipts Professional software. Luckily, I only save documents for about a year several years ago. As time goes by, there is less and less chance that I will need the documents I cant access using Neat Receipts software. Early on, I started searching for a software alternative to use with this scanner. Basically, all I need is software that allows me to save documents in PDF format. I am quite capable of storing individual PDF documents in directories that allow me to locate anything I am looking for quickly. If I need a hard copy of a document, it is easy to print a PDF document. The software I found that works great for this purpose is JGS-Scan ([...] With the Neat Receipts Twain driver, the scanner works great using JGS-Scan. It allows scanning of multiple pages into 1 PDF document and I am not limited to using a program to look at my documents. As a portable scanner, I think this scanner deserves 4 stars. The only problem with the scanner itself is the difficulty in feeding documents into the scanner that are not free of creases. Documents with previous folds have to be watched closely to make sure they feed properly. The software deserves 1 star, in my opinion, which is why I gave this review 2 stars.

I operate a small business. I purchased this unit to scan credit card sales merchant copies. Pluses: compact. Fits unobtrusively on my desk. USB powered so no bulky transformer. Resolution is high enough to print from. Minuses: I dont need the cloud storage service and it just adds another layer of unnecessary complexity to installing and using the device. My system (Windows 7 Pro) does not always detect the device. I have to unplug and insert plug several times before it appears. The scanner does not do any background removal so the images are gray. The unit has a hard time feeding the thermal paper used on credit card terminals. There is no automatic cropping of the image so if you want to save disk space you have to go in and crop each scan separately.

The software and scanner were 2005 versions that do not work with Windows 64 bit software. I have had to spend much time with tech support. Very cumbersome to uninstall old version before installing the updated version. I had to actually delete files from my system registry AFTER uninstalling through windows. After this was successfully done the scanner still did not work. Contacted tech support again. Had to delete more files in the system registry. Scanner still does not comunicate with the software.

Excellent concept & scanner is easy to use and very portable. However, software recognition leaves something to be desired. Recognition of the vendor name is almost nonexistent especially if the name is in any way part of a logo. Something as simple as a Sams Club receipt is not recognized. Large, page size receipts scan very poorly, and recognition of anything but clear, darkly imprinted receipts is weak or nonexistent. Additionally, creating nonstandard reports or modifying memorized lists is cumbersome. Sometimes you just cant get there from here A training or learning feature for logos, graphics, or receipt formats would be very helpful. Overall however a useful, time saving, but not perfect, product which is probably worth the price paid.

NeatReceipts Scanalizer is seen at airports and retail shops throughout the country. However, the product is slow, requires extensive input and does not produce the results it advertises. I would recommend a regular scanner and a reasonable filing system. The product is very portable, but for the price, it doesnt accomplish its goal.

My disappointment with this product is two-fold: (1) The number of scanning and classification errors it had in my testing were too high. (2) It does not add anything to somebody using Money or Quicken. Ill address the second point first: My main interest in this product was to have my receipt automatically categorized and then have that information transferred into my Money file. However, I found that that the categories it supports are very limited. Secondly the import into Money was very cumbersome: you had to first select the records you wanted to import, save it to a file, then open that file in Money and import the records. Note that these have to be done one account at a time since Money expects that the records you are importing all belong to the same account. The biggest blow was that the importing process did not retain the category selected in NeatReceipts, so the whole exercise was just an elaborate way to get an entry into Money. If your institution supports downloading, that is a much more easier and accurate way to get the records into your Money or Quicken file. You can then categorize them manually (of course both Money and Quicken do a good job auto-categorizing expenses with regular payees). As to the first point (scanning errors), I found that it was unable to pick out the account number in some cases, the date in another case and even the amount in a couple of cases. One of my receipts was for a refund with the - symbol clearly present in front of the amount. It not only categorized that as an debit instead of a credit, it even got the amount totally wrong. On the positive side, it should be useful to somebody who does not use a product such as Money or Quicken - having a digitized, searchable copy of your receipts can be very useful. You will have to correct some errors in the scanning/optical recognition, but using this product will be better than not doing it at all.

The scanner works great but the process is slow. We just got a scanner at work and its easier to scan documents in it and just store the images in folders like a file cabinet. The file system is not easy to navigate and there is no drop and drag ability. For small receitps like from the gas station its easier to scan but then the items are stored in the scanners own format and its not that easy to get them out or export them. If had it to do again would not purchase.