Mobile Gadgets: NeatReceipts Mobile Scanner 2.0 for the MAC

Does too much paper stress you out? Are you afraid to clear off your desk because you fear that you will never find that important receipt again? Are you longing for a paperless office?

Yes, yes and yes is how I answer those questions. Over the fast few years I have set up several filing systems specifically designed to organize receipts. Credit card receipts, cash receipts and statements are the worst. I spend too much time worrying about this problem but I have no choice. When tax time rolls around I have to be prepared and I refuse to take a shoebox full of paper to my accountant.

In the past I have used a flat bed scanner to make digital copies of receipts. Once scanned, I convert them to PDF in order to organize them in my computer. This process works well but I still have to manually enter the receipt’s data into my computer. It seems as though I never get finished.

I prefer to scan one receipt at a time but I usually ended up scanning several together to save time on my flat bed scanner. With the NeatReceipts scanner I am able to scan receipts one at a time and then organize them into categories for future search purposes.

Recently I purchased a new type of scanner that is specifically designed to eliminate the issues that I have experienced. The NeatReceipts Mobile Scanner allows me to scan my receipts as well as some documents into my computer. There is nothing new there – but it scans the receipt into software that acts as a digital filing cabinet until I am ready to move forward with it. Each page of the software gives me a digital copy of the receipt and it tries to extract information such as the vendor’s name, the date, the type of payment, the amount of payment among other information.

If you have ever dealt with OCR software you know that the results are not always the best. The software does not always get it right. That is the where this product shines. Even if the data extracted from the receipt is not exactly right you can go back later and fix it.

This works great for me because often I have to work in short blocks of time. One session I will scan and later that day or the next I can spend time making the necessary corrections to each file before sending to an Excel spreadsheet. If I prefer I can send it directly into QuickBooks - if you use other compatible software such as Quicken, TaxCut it would work as well. Receipts do not have to be organized before you scan – they can be organized afterwards instead.

MAC users will love this little gadget because you recognize the Mac OS X look and feel. Mobile users or those with a tiny workspace will love this scanner because of its size. It weighs less than a pound (10.6 ounces) and measures approximately 10.8” x 1.6” x 1.3”. You can scan paper as small as 1” x 1” or as large as 8.5” x 14”. Three to four receipts can be scanned within a minute. A USB port is all that you need because a power cable is not necessary.

Unlike with other scanning software you can import receipts or documents from elsewhere on your computer. You can actually print documents from a computer file into the NeatReceipts software. Drag and Drop allows you to move files around including into emails.

I get excited about gadgets that make my life easier. This gadget definitely falls into that category.