I have had this system for nearly a year now and stopped using the Neat Scanner just a few months after buying it. This unit is simply a waste of money; it scans single-side pages (which usually need to be held manually as it goes through so it doesn't twist) at a very slow, inefficient speed. For those considering Neat's hardware, look to their upper-end unit.

Later I bought the vastly more efficient Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M, which is light years ahead of NeatCo's equipment (even their "higher-end" NeatDesk model which I've also used at a colleague's. Highly recommended instead of this brand.)

The software is useful, but as others have pointed out there are limitations (See later UPDATE below). One of the most troubling is that, according to NeatCo Tech Support themselves, their software only supports FIVE scanners! Let's face it, scanning isn't rocket science, and OCR has been around for a long while. How hard can it be to at least try to adapt to the most popular scanners? This company seems to put very little effort into Quality, and far more into Marketing.

While Fujitsu's software leaves much to be desired, their hardware is the real choice if you want to track receipts and such. Sadly no software out there yet matches the potential usefulness of Neat's. If only the two could play well together...

UPDATE MARCH 2011:
Neat just released a vastly improved software update and it is now nearly perfect. They really listened to users. The low-end scanner review, and my recommendation for Fujitsu's in its place, still stands.

After various attempts to tame the mounds of paper that threaten to engulf my office, this package has the best chance. The scanner is a thing of beauty in itself. The software is very, very stable (Readiris take note) very cocoa yummy, mac OSX friendly. There is a capability to produce SEARCHABLE standalone OCR/image pdfs independent OR file within the neat office ecosystem, which is excellently designed, and probably the best way to manage receipts.

In truth, the OCR is only about as good as anyone else's, so that means that receipt or business card scanning still requires quite a lot of hands on manipulation. That said, its stable (did I mention that?), the data management is elegant, receipt scanning/analysis is still reasonably efficient, and I've been able to pressgang my 12YO into handling it.. in lieu of her running wild with my itunes account.

Neat appear to have a commitment to upgrading the software - my WISHLIST for future development includes:
Evernote integration (I'm sure they are working this as I write)
Batch applicable editing (eg Tags, categorization etc
Tonal adjustment of scans (to reduce background noise and cruft)
TWAIN for third party image photoshoppery (assuming this doesn't exist somewhere already)
Generally smarter OCR.

But all in all, this (after a seriously disappointing experience with IRiScan and Readiris), is the first practical solution I've experienced. Incoming paperwork that might be needed is efficiently scanned, OCR'd, and recycled.. (now coming to an egg carton near you).

Neat is highly recommended.

I must say that I love the idea of this scanner because I travel so much. I also have too many receipts to count and I am looking forward to throwing them all away as I scan them.

I just received this yesterday and I began setting things up with the software for Mac that was provided. Unfortunately, no go. I tried everything and finally I remembered that when I opened the program it asked if I wanted to install the updated version of the software. When I updated the software then the scanner worked perfectly. It is quiet and steady. It is not extremely fast but not very slow either. I scanned both a full sheet and a small receipt (face down) and the results were very acceptable for me.

The program that comes with it is also handy although this is the area that needs help. It doesn't do a great job of reading details. I noticed it picked out some details but then it put gibberish in other places. That doesn't really matter to me as I can correct and add the important details. I am just happy to use the system, though it would be nice if I could simply scan the receipts and be done with it as advertised. Even so, I am still giving it 4 stars because for the price I don't think there is a better package out there of software and scanner.

So a good friend of mine who is a producer/ DJ told me that I needed to be up on this Neat scanner & I'd always wanted one so I decided to take him up on it. I'm actually happy I did.

The quality of the scanner is fantastic... I actually dropped it a few times now on a hard wood floor & it hasn't broken yet which is a big deal for me. The quality of the scans are good also & installation for my compy (MacMini) was simple & super easy. I ddin't have a CD drive though so I had to go to Neat.com to download the software.

Scanning receipts is also extremely easy as is the organization set up in the Neat program. The ONLY issue I had with this is the number recognition which I'll get into below...

Most of the time this scanner seems to get all of the numbers just blatantly wrong. A 6 will be an 8, a 1 will be a 7, or a 5 will be a 4. It seems to really depend on the FONT the receipt is written in. Long receipts like Best Buy for instance it will always get wrong. Completely abandon the idea that this thing will read your chickenscratch you call handwriting. All restaurant receipts will have to be entered by hand. Which, to Neat's credit, is amazingly simple & not very time consuming at all. After a while because not many receipts are read the "right" way, you get used to it. What's upsetting is that when this thing does it right, the whole process from feeding the paper into the machine to moving on to the next item, is less than 30 seconds. Most of the time though, if you're thorough & adding the business name & taxes paid ect... that turns into 1:00 of time easily.

I'm an actor & a DJ. I can write off QUITE a bit so even if this thing doesn't get it right all the time, it still saves me TONS of time because of the sheer amount things I can write off. The sheer fact that this thing will allow me to throw away all that paper is a blessing. The only place where Neat can improve this scanner is the resolution to be able to scan numbers more clearly. Besides that, not a bad effort at all.

I was looking for a scanner that would fulfill my need to get rid of all receipts and documents I had piling up around the house and create a sort of virtual filing cabinet for them. Neatreceipts for Mac has been able to do this. Not only does this machine scan any piece of paper you can think of feeding through it but it also allows you to search for whatever information is on the document afterwards.

How it works: You scan a receipt and an image is taken in either black & white or color. Choose which one you want in the settings. Hit the button on the machine, the scan starts and is done in a matter of seconds. That's it. Put a receipt in upside down and the software, Neatworks, knows to flip it around to its correct position. If you have faded receipts that are hard to read, the quality of the image is often enhanced after it is scanned through. The price paid for an item, the name of the store it was bought at, whether you used cash or credit are all searchable terms.

What I don't like about NeatReceipts is how it's necessary to feed each piece of paper into the scanner manually. Instead of having a machine that just "knows" to grab a document and start scanning, I have to press and hold down on the "scan button" for every single receipt. Tedious and annoying if you're attempting to do dozens or even hundreds of documents in a sitting. Then there are times when the machine inexplicably gives out halfway through a scan forcing the user to pull out the receipt and restart the process all over. The equivalent of a having a paper jam in a photocopy machine just far less difficult deal with.

On the issue of Neatworks taking too long to open up as others Amazon users are complaining about - I've scanned a lot of receipts, close to 600. When my library is indexed, it takes maybe 5 - 8 seconds to complete. Then the program starts up. Not a big deal unless you're really concerned about those extra few seconds. For those experiencing speed issues, it might be necessary to get the latest software through the Neat website.

I'll admit, I was wary to purchase such an item based on the price tag and reviews here on the site but I'm glad I did. This is a classic made for Mac type accessory that almost pays for itself in a way. For anyone looking to get their physical data organized more electronically, Neat has created a filing system that allows users to access information in a manner not really possible until recently. 4 out of 5 stars.