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The Neat Company NeatScan To Office Scans to Excel Outlook Word and PowerPoint (White) | 
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| Brand: The Neat Company
Category: CE
This item is no longer available
Rating:  25 reviews
Format: CD
Color: White
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Operating System: N/A
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.8
Dimensions (in): 14 x 10 x 4
MPN: 00179
Model: 00179
UPC: 899061000179
EAN: 0899061000179
ASIN: B001CQDOR2
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| Features:
| • | Installs a Scan button in all your MS Office applications | | • | Scans directly to Office applications | | • | Mobile, easy to carry scanner goes everywhere | | • | Boost productivity and cut down on re-typing, cutting and pasting |
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| Accessories:
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
SCANNER, NEAT SCAN TO OFFICE, USB 2
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
 Really is a "Neat" scanner! December 2, 2008
R. Davenport (San Jose)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Neat Scanner for Microsoft Office
Great little 600 dpi scanner! Although it says it's for Microsoft Office 2003 or later, it actually works with any Windows application that can use a TWAIN scanner. So far I have tested it with Picasa3, Photoshop, Windows Paint, Open Office, Adobe Reader (for pdf files it creates), as well as Microsoft Word and Excel 2003.
When you use it as a TWAIN scanner, a great setup screen comes up and allows you to set the dpi, color selections, just about anything you would want to change or set for a scanner.
This a well designed device: right size (very small), very sleek looking, easy setup, easy to feed magazine clips/cards/letters/bills/anything that's 8 1/2 x 11 or smaller. Total weight is under 1 pound, it's powered by the USB cable so no power brick and it comes with a light weight slip-on cover. You can drop it into your laptop bag for trips or to take back and forth from the office.
Setup is extremely easy as they have thought of every mistake you could make and have taken steps to prevent pilot error. When you open the box, you see a fancy lid with a welcoming message. Under it is the scanner itself in a protective compartment. When you take it out there is a label on the end covering the USB Port that says "STOP: insert CD and install software before connecting USB cable to scanner!" to keep you from a very basic mistake. As you take the scanner out you notice a legend on the supporting cardboard that says "Lift me out to find your accessories and quickstart guide" Under that you find the Quickstart Guide, the USB cable, a carrying case, and a wet cleaner for when you need it. The Quickstart Guide is a folder that also has two calibration sheets and a dry cleaning sheet as well as your software. I don't know who did their product design, but it is done right and I am sure it cuts off a lot of support calls and product returns.
The Quickstart Guide is really that with step by step in big letters with clear pictures. No extensive manual as that is on disk and online. I followed the directions, installing the software first. As I neared the end of the software install it offered to show me a video to show me how to use the software/scanner. Unfortunately, the video wouldn't play . . . not sure if it was a network problem or what. Really didn't need it to get going. When you plug in the scanner you see a series of messages from Windows (I'm using XP) about the new device just as you would expect.
I opened Word and then Excel and there was the new menu bar for the scanner just as promised. Since I don't use Outlook anymore (gone to netmail completely) I couldn't really test it. According to the online documentation, you can scan business cards into Outlook and it creates contacts automatically. The menu bar in Word has Scan, Scan to PDF, Settings and Help. In Excel it adds Open NeatSheet and Open Images. If you select settings you can then specify what you want saved: Image Only, Text Only, or Document which attempts to do both. I set it for document for word and excel. The "Neatsheet" option in Excel lets you select from the excel spreadsheets for expenses in a number of different formats -- you can alter these or develop your own.
I tested the software OCR capability by setting the software for text and used the Neat Company warranty sheet that was in the box and transferring it to Microsoft Word. The sheet has very small print in several different fonts and font sizes and is only 5x7 in size. It was perfect! Every word was there, no misspellings or garbled words that I could find. I then tried it on several other complex documents and some bills just to see what it could handle. The drawings on an instruction sheet didn't come through completely unless I set it for
The Neatsheet Excel spreadsheet allow you to scan bills and receipts and then inserts them automatically into the form and enables you to create an expense report easily. The spreadsheet stores the actual images with the information on the spreadsheet so you can get back to it to print the receipt or bill along with the report. I tried setting up my own excel sheets to track family medical bills for taxes and had a few problems with complex medical bills . . . there is some limit to what software can handle.
The Neat Company makes several products based on this one scanner, so any features that the others have that this one doesn't are software dependent. That means you can probably find software to use this scanner to do almost anything you need as long as 600dpi is enough. By the way, it allows you to set 1,200 dpi in one of the software selections but that must be interpolated and so would lose sharpness. The dpi is application dependent as far as I could tell, so the Microsoft apps will all be at 200 dpi. In testing, I scanned in an 8 1/2 x 11 high color slick brochure into Picasa -- it took 90 seconds at 600 dpi with default color depth. Looked great.
Bottom line: if you need a portable high quality scanner to use with Windows applications, this is a good choice. The Neat Company put a lot of effort into making this a high end product and it shows. Highly recommended.
NOTE: Sorry, not for Mac users.
Easy scanning! December 16, 2008
Kurt G. Schumacher (Broomfield, CO USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
UPDATE: 9/21/2009
I am in the process of upgrading my systems to Windows 7. I ran into some problems installing Neat Scan to Office on Windows 7, and contacted Neat customer support. They replied that they "do not at this time plan to support Scan to Office on Windows 7 or Office 2010". That's unfortunate, because this is a great product.
So if you're planning to move ahead with the next release of Windows and/or Office, don't consider this product. I'll update this review again if Neat decides to support the new versions of Windows and Office.
I bought the original NeatScan a few months back, so I was eager to see what they had changed in the new version. I was very happy with the new design and features.
The first change I noticed was a small ledge in front of the input slot. This makes it *much* easier to get a document inserted correctly. And there's a little icon that shows you which end of the slot to align the document at, also very handy. However, it's not very clear from the icon that the document goes in face down!
The driver installation went very smoothly. I ran the setup program, plugged the NeatScan into my computer, and brought up Microsoft Word. I am using Office 2007. I found the NeatScan buttons on the Add-Ins tab, as the documentation indicated. Except in Outlook, which doesn't have the Office 2007 ribbon yet. In Outlook, NeatScan installs its own toolbar.
I was able to scan documents in both image and text format. NeatScan is very fast, and very quiet too. The OCR (optical character recognition, or "graphics to text") conversion is excellent. I found very few "typos" in the conversions I ran. Image scanning produces excellent quality as well.
In Excel, it took a while to figure out how to scan a document in text. I finally read the help system and figured out how to use their "Neat Sheets", which are Excel templates designed to work with the NeatScan software. The templates are oriented towards business users... expense reports and calendar entries.
I was also able to scan a business card into Outlook Contacts, which was very nice.
I'm very happy with the improvements in the NeatScan hardware and the new integration with Office. The scanner itself is very small, and the package includes a cloth carrying bag. It would fit easily into a briefcase.
This would be an idea product for someone who does a lot of business travel, and needs to keep track of contacts and expense receipts. Because of its small size, the NeatScan would also be excellent for an office desktop where space is at a premium. (However, it's also small enough to get buried under a pile of paperwork!)
The only thing I can think of that would make this product better is integration into Quicken/QuickBooks.
NeatScan is an excellent product that has gotten better. This company is on the right track for smart scanning.
Neat gets it July 2, 2009
esanta (San Jose, CA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This new NeatScan to Office product contains the same hardware you will find in the NeatReceipts Mobile Scanner and Digital Filing System or the NeatReceipts Mobile Scanner and Digital Filing System for Mac, but instead of the full version of software, it comes with plugins for the Windows version of Microsoft Office.
The box contains the scanner itself, a USB to mini USB cable and a cardboard folder holding calibration paper, cleaning paper, a single use wet cleaning pad, a soft carry pouch and the software CD.
The scanner itself is amazingly small and draws its power from the USB connection, so it doesn't require a power brick and desk clutter is reduced to an absolute minimum. You probably won't find a scanner with a smaller footprint, and you won't think twice about slipping it into your suitcase when going on business trips, so you can get a headstart on filing your expense reports (if you plan on traveling with the NeatScan, consider purchasing the Travel Case).
The software installs in a couple of minutes; it adds a NeatScan toolbar to Microsoft Office applications, from which you can control scanning. Configuration could not be simpler, and after a quick run of the calibration sheet you're ready to go. When scanning to Excel, you can use "Neat Sheets", templates allowing the software to know how to locate and assign information (this is geared towards filling up expense reports, but can be customized easily to perform a variety of tasks). When scanning to Word, OCR is performed automatically and results in an editable text document.
Scanning a letter-size page takes around 10 seconds. OCR processing can take about a minute on a complex page. The scanner is capable of passable color results with photographs, but it's clearly not its strongest point. The two buttons on top (Scan and PDF) trigger a scan (or scan to PDF) into the currently active Microsoft Office application (if available).
If you wish to upgrade to the full version of the NeatReceipts software, or if you're switching to a Macintosh, you can purchase the corresponding software directly from the company's web site (neatco dot com), and use it with this scanner.
This product is amazingly easy to use, and the Neat Company has quite a knack for crafting excellent software. If you need a scanner mainly for document archival and expense reports, it just can't be beat for the price. If you have lots of documents to scan, consider the more expensive NeatDesk scanner which is faster, easier to feed and supports duplex scanning.
Great portable scanner, does the job December 19, 2008
Dave Millman (San Jose, CA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I installed this scanner on my 6 month old Dell laptop running Windows XP Pro. The installation was quick and easy, and it integrated automatically into Microsoft Office.
The first document I scanned was a two-page contract. In 20 seconds, I had a PDF version on my computer that I could email to the customer. This alone is worth the price of the product: not having to drive back to the office to use the scanner to make electronic copies of signed contracts.
Next I tried some business cards. The scanner quickly delivered full-color scans. I'm looking forward to trying the OCR feature for database import.
The scanner comes with a felt bag to carry it safely in a briefcase. This is a nice touch that makes it an ideal mobile solution. There's only one cable-power is delivered over the USB connection.
This scanner is one more reason that I DON'T have to run back to the office. I'm really happy with it. I gave it five stars because it completely and elegantly solves the problem I had-scanning on the road. And by the way, it looks great.
NeatScan to Office, Word and PowerPoint December 12, 2008
J. Love
I had no problem whatsoever installing and using the product. Scans documents to jpeg and .pdf perfectly.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
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