Probably has the same meaning as an empty chair.
Posted on 09/28/2012 7:21:51 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
First of all, I apologize for posting a vanity, but I have a serious question for the technology buffs on FRee Republic.
Has anyone here had any experience with the scanner and OCR conversion software called NeatDesk? I am considering buying one of these digital filing devices, to clear the clutter, but I don't know how difficult it will be to actually produce reports for taxes, etc. from this device. How does it find dates, titles, and other data points from a scanned document, especially when they are all so different and the info is found in different places on the page?
I recently acquired the Power of Attorney for my 99 year old mother who lives in another state. Her mail is coming here, and I brought most of her important papers home with me. She is in assisted living, but I am overwhelmed with paper work. As tax season approaches, I have to get this under some kind of control, or I will be in deep trouble.
I talked to my usual computer consultant, and he expressed reservations about products like this. However, he admits that he has only lilmited experience with a business card scanner many years ago on which to base his opinion.
Does anyone out there in FReeper land have actual experience with this product, and to you love it, or hate it? Or, is there another product that will tame this mountain of bills, receipts, medical reports, etc.?
I can do the same with the $59 all-in-one Epson printer, copier, scanner I have. It may take longer, but it will get the same results for a lot less money. The same holds true for the Epson printer, scanner, copier I have. Simply put, all you have to do is scan documents then save them in a categorized directory. And for around $79 you can buy a graphics program such as Coral PaintShop Pro that will effortlessly manage your graphic files.
I am just pinging random folks to this thread, hoping that somebody can advise me. Please feel free to extend my ping to anyone who is computer savvy.
I am just pinging random folks to this thread, hoping that somebody can advise me. Please feel free to extend my ping to anyone who is computer savvy.
I had a neat desk once. Before I put stuff on it.
I don’t know anything about this particular product, and there are cheaper ways to do the same thing that this product has to offer.
But I think the one question that does need to be answered is whether or not this product will help you become more productive. If it saves you time, then it could be a product worth getting.
I often go to www.cnet.com and see product reviews for software I am interested in.
Thanks for your input. My computer consultant has said something similar. I can’t get my mind around how I make a spread sheet out of the information from such an array of diffeering docuents. Could you be a little more explicit? Are you manually pulling the info out of each document and putting into a spread sheet?
Saw a sign once that I really want to get. It said something like: If a cluttered desk signifies a cluttered mind, what does an empty desk signify?
I saw the video and one question I have is whether or not you really have to buy the scanner. Can you buy just the software, or equivalent software?
That part, if you already own a scanner, seems to be a waste of money to me.
A neat desk is a sign of a sick mind. I know nothing of the software.
Probably has the same meaning as an empty chair.
I know a woman who bought one. She loves to play with electronic stuff and software. She said it worked very well and she was glad she bought it. I haven’t seen the woman for a couple of months, so I don’t know if her opinion still holds.
My filing system is simple. I pile it up on the desk until it starts bugging my husband, who then files every thing in the proper location. Simple. (I’m grateful that he’s willing to do that because he’s much better at organizing then me).
For that you need an OCR scanning program. I use Abby Fine Reader Sprint. It came bundled with a printer, but I upgraded it online. It works great.
I place a document on the bed of my printer, then run Abby Fine Reader. It scans the document and converts it to a text format that allows it to be inserted into Word or Excel. In fact, Abby does the insertion with just the click of a button.
A few days ago I copied several pages from an operations manual and converted them to a Word document (American Legion meeting agenda guidelines so my fellow Legion officers can have a copy of them). Abbey converted and transferred every page flawlessly, no errors or misreads.
But, as I read your post again, I’m not sure that’s what you mean. Another way would be to scan the document with PaintShop Pro (or consider Gimp, which is free) and save it as a graphic file. Then, in Excel, create a line item description of the document, then a link to the graphic. IE “Expenditure: 09/28/2012 - Wal-Mart {next cell} wm09-28-12.jpg”.
What exactly are you going to scan? Financial statements from large companies/credit cards/utilities/hospitals are already in electronic format. You just have to ask for them to be sent that way instead of on paper. My only paper receipts are for occasional purchases/donations for cash.
I ordered the tried the Neat Desk....It did not work perform the tasks I needed it to perform. I hoped to scan my invoices into it and be able to easily access them to eliminate paper...however, there was no way to choose the fields you wanted it to capture....On routine receipts like Walmart, grocery store, etc. it seemed to be able to pick those up quite easily but not on my invoices. I communicated with the company and they tried to help me figure it out but then admitted it was not programmed to do what I wanted it to do....
That causes a bit of anxiety from time to time but it works.
C-Net is your friend. They have helped me a number of times.
I have a mountain of paper on my dining room table — hospital bills, insurance statements (”this is not a bill...”), retirement payments, bank statements, ambulance, doctor bills, etc, etc. I was planning to put them all into electronic and searchable form so that I could stack up all the paper and put it in a box and store it in the back of a closet.
I guess I’ll have to address this the old fashioned way. Any suggestions? Looks like I need a file box and lots of folders!
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