Neat sent us the NeatDesk for review, which includes the Neat ADF Scanner and a copy of the NeatWorks software for organizing digital documents scanned into your Windows XP or Vista machine via the scanner. Unfortunately, the driver for the scanner didn't work with 64-bit Vista when we were conducting our review (although the driver is now available for download from Neat), so we couldn't test the unit on our HP laptop, but instead had to test it on Windows XP running on our MacBook in Boot Camp mode. We also tested the unit in a virtual installation of Windows XP running in emulation on OS X via Parallels for comparison to see if the Windows-only device and software could work for Mac users, although this configuration is not officially recommended or supported by Neat. Keep reading below to find out what we learned.

Neat ADF Scanner build and ports

The Neat ADF Scanner is solidly built and measuring 10.8 x 7.5 x 7 inches doesn't take up a ton of space on your desk. There's a removable document holder that offers slots for business cards, receipts, or regularly-sized documents, and you can remove this tray should you have larger format documents that need scanning (but bear in mind that 8.5 inches x 14 inches is as large as you can go). Without the paper tray, the device is capable of scanning 50 letter-sized documents at a time. The scanner can either scan one side of the document or both sides simultaneously, so a 100 page document living front and back on 50 pages can be scanned in rather easily. With the paper tray, you can also put all three types of documents in the scanner at once and it will scan all of them with a push of the button. In this mode, it can handle 10 of each type at a time.

Since Neat manufactures both the hardware and software that makes up the NeatDesk package, the scanner is nicely equipped with a regular scan button and a separate PDF button should you want to scan your document directly to PDF. The ADF in Neat ADF scanner stands for Automatic Document Feeder, and the scanner does a nice job of grabbing documents and putting them through a scan. It can scan in either black and white, grayscale, or full color at up to 600dpi resolution. Through the multiple scans we put the device through in our testing, it never grabbed more than one sheet at a time and never jammed. 

The speed of the scans varies depending upon whether you're scanning in high quality color or a lower-quality-setting black and white or grayscale, although there is no real difference in scan speeds between scanning front and back simultaneously or scanning only one side. However, post-scan processing takes a bit longer for two-sided documents. Neat claims that the device can scan 25 letter-sized pages per minute at 200 dpi black and white / grayscale or 8.5 pages per minute in color at the same resolution. Although we didn't conduct any real tests of the scan speeds besides the comic book test below, the overall speed of scanning was pretty fast.

On the back side of the Neat ADF scanner there is a USB port, a port for the AC adapter, and a power switch.

 

NeatWorks software

We tested NeatWorks Version 4 SP1 for our review. It performed well in native XP, however, running the software in emulation on OS X via Parallels proved very slow and even crashed a few times. For that reason, if you're a Mac user, we'd recommend against purchasing a NeatDesk with the idea of using the scanner in a virtual instance of XP, although if you don't mind rebooting into an actual Boot Camp installation, NeatDesk works great. 

There are basically two different modes you can run NeatWorks in, either Quick Scan Center mode or full application mode. In Quick Scan mode, you can set basic scan options like choosing black and white / color or single / double-sided scans, choose to scan directly to PDF or to scan to the application, and you can set advanced options like multi-page scanning, automatic removal of blank pages, and opening the generated PDF if you're scanning to PDF.

 

Although the software is designed to scan in documents that you would normally file and need to conduct OCR (optical character recognition) upon, you can use it to scan in anything and store them in NeatWorks' database. I scanned in a multitude of loose leaf sketches that I'd done into one large PDF using theQuick Scan feature and then I also scanned and labeled them all in the default NeatWorks database. If NeatWorks doesn't recognize the type of data being scanned in, as was the case with my drawings, it still presents you with basic information that you can fill in for the document like a title, a category, a date, type, and you can even choose where on your computer to save the documents. Although the NeatWorks software acts as a database of all your virtual files, all the documents scanned are regularly available via the operating system and can all be saved as JPEGs.

If you are scanning in business cards or receipts, NeatWorks does a pretty good job of identifying the type of document that was scanned and places it in the appropriate category, performing basic OCR on the text encountered and putting that information in the appropriate database type. For example, I scanned in a stack of about 25 business cards, in both black and white and in color to test the performance. NeatWorks correctly identified them all as business cards, and tried to place all the relevant address book data into the appropriate fields. The software then presents you with the scanned picture of the business card alongside the address book entry form so that you can correct any incorrect data or fill in any information it failed to recognize. In black and white mode with skip blank documents turned on, the scan missed two business cards that were printed in a light blue color (one was Paul Miller of Engadget's business card using Engadget's signature blue). However, when running these same cards through for color scans, all the cards were detected.

Although NeatWorks will not grab every piece of data from every business card or document that you throw its way, it does provide a nice interface for viewing your documents alongside the relevant fields that you can fill out and it does attempt to autofill as many of the fields as possible. In that sense, it's one of the best scanner and software options I've encountered for attempting to take that large stack of paper and move it into a paperless format that you can organize on your computer with a little bit of effort on your part. Once you take the time to enter the data into NeatWorks' database, whether it be contact information or receipts, the data can be exported in a variety of formats compatible with other programs like:  .CSV, .XLS for Excel, .RTF for Word, PLAXO, Outlook, Quicken, QuickBooks, TurboTax, and standard HTML. According to Neat, the database can scale to handle up to 1.5 million receipts.

The comic book test

Of course, to really test a scanner like this, we thought it would be best to try some absurd use that doesn't really fit within the realm of activities for which NeatDesk was designed. I took a German language, large format graphic novel that I've had lying around, and which my wife has tried to throw out on multiple occasions, removed the pages from the binding, and scanned the entire thing into NeatDesk in full color, front and back, at the highest 600 dpi setting. Note that Obsessable neither recommends or endorses this use of the device and software.

NeatDesk managed to scan the entire 26 physical pages front-and-back full color for a total of 52 pages directly to a high quality PDF in about 24 minutes from pushing the PDF button to the completed PDF opening on the computer. As you can see from the screenshot below the drum-roll design of the ADF scanner pulling these long format pages through the machine resulted in a slight distortion and curvature of the page. Clearly the NeatDesk was not designed for scanning photographs, comic books, or other images where you're looking for an accurate copy of the page. The ADF scanner is designed for scanning in lots of data-rich documents quickly and the NeatWorks software is designed to perform OCR on those documents and help facilitate the necessary data entry and building of a database based upon those documents. Despite the distortion, the graphic novel is now fully legible in PDF format, so besides being a useful tool for moving to a paperless office, the NeatDesk could prove invaluable to people looking to illegally scan multiple comic books onto their hard drives quickly (albeit inaccurately).

 

Overall performance

 Overall the NeatDesk does what it claims it will do and it does it surprisingly quickly and well. 

Out of the box usefulness

Thanks to including both the software and the scanner, instead of just a scanner and a driver, the NeatDesk offers a full solution for entering in all your paper, providing a backup of all that data, and building a robust database of that data that is both searchable and exportable to a variety of digital formats.

What's missing?

The only real complaint we have with the device is the lack of OS X support, although the company's portable NeatReceipts for Mac device that we also have in for review partially fills that gap.

What we hope to see in future models

 Mac compatibility.

Obsessable recommendation

If you want to move to a paperless office solution, you are running Windows, and you've been looking for a scanner and OCR solution that will help speed up the process of both scanning your documents and entering the data associated with them, the $449 NeatDesk may be the ideal solution for you.

Obsessable rating: 8 out of 10