Recently, Neatco was awesome enough to send me a review copy of the NeatDesk scanner with the bundled NeatWorks software. I liked both products (here’s the NeatDesk review and NeatWorks review), but since I already have a ScanSnap S300M here, and really liked Neatco’s software, I wanted to try using my ScanSnap as a scanner with NeatWorks as the software.
This is possible because Neatco will sell NeatWorks for Mac separately. Unfortunately, I don’t believe they currently sell the Windows version standalone.
The guys at Neatco are smart. Instead of being all Apple-ish and saying “our software will only work with our product!”, they recognize that people who already own ScanSnaps, and there are a lot of us, could benefit from NeatWorks as well so why not make some cash from us too. Brilliant.
Integrating NeatWorks with the ScanSnap is incredibly easy. In fact, they’ve added a menu item right into the program to set it up for you!
I made this video that goes through the steps:
In a nutshell:
- Start ScanSnap Manager running
- In NeatWorks, go to Scan | Fujitsu ScanSnap Settings
- A screen will come up telling you that ScanSnap Manager is running, and there is a button saying “Configure and restart ScanSnap Manager”. Click it.
- Once ScanSnap Manager restarts, you’ll have a new Profile called Scan to NeatWorks and when you check the settings, it’s configured to scan to NeatWorks.app
- Scan a document in your ScanSnap, and it should kick it to NeatWorks for you to process. Done!
That’s it! Like I said, incredibly easy.
Is anyone out there already using your ScanSnap with NeatWorks? How’s the integration going?
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Cool. So, I have a ScanSnap that was made for Windows and I've downloaded the SS software to make it run on my Mac. Do you know if I can then run NeatWorks on the Mac with this setup?
@Nitin
While I haven't tried it myself, I'd guess that sure, as long as you have the Mac ScanSnap Manager, that is what NeatWorks interfaces with- not the ScanSnap hardware itself.
If you try it out, definitely let us know!
Once you have the ScanSnap running on your Mac, it'd work fine. It just creates a scanning profile for you, that's all.
If using the patch I created for ScanSnap V2.2 L11 (Mac), then I can confirm it works as I've tired it before. Even profile creation works without an issue.
Note: If you make backup first (and didn't patch the original), then NeatWorks may try to use the backup copy instead. You can check it from NeatWorks by starting the ScanSnap application to see which one it starts – if it does start the wrong one then apply the patch to it and it should work fine from that point on.
I followed your instructions up to where I get the ScanSnap settings from within NeatWorks, but it says that ScanSnap Manager is not installed when it, in fact, is. I even quite SnanSnap Manager, launched it again, and tried to go through NeatWorks to identify it but to no avail. I just get prompted to download the app from Fujitsu's website.
Any ideas?
Hi Ben, that's pretty weird. What kind of ScanSnap do you have and what version of ScanSnap Manager?
I have the ScanSnap S510M running version 2.1 L10 of the ScanSnap Manager.
If I configure the Manager to use NeatWorks from its Settings menu, it works fine, but I just can't get NeatWorks to recognize that the Manager is installed. Weird.
Maybe try installing V2.2 L11 – I can confirm this version does work with NeatWorks (since I'm using it with the S300.) And according to the release notes, 2.1 might not have the right profile support ability anyway:
How the latest (V2.2L11) version differs from the previous version (V2.1L11)
1. A profile function has been added.
2. Supports German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese (Traditional), Korean and Russian.
@Ben
Yeah, I have 2.2 L10 and it works fine for me too. I agree with racerx90. Upgrading ScanSnap Manager would be the first step. Otherwise, I guess you'd either have to contact NeatCo support to see what is up, or do as our forefathers did and add NeatWorks manually to ScanSnap Manager (which it sounds like you already did). Tres etrange.
I was wondering if you have tried networking the snapscan s1500m? I would prefer to try plugging it in to some kind of print server scenario (under $100). Your help would be appreciated as it does not appear to be mentioned on any other site or in documentation. I do not want to have it plugged in to a dedicated computer and would like it on the network for all to use. Thanks so much, hope you have tried it or knwow someone who has!
I don't believe you will be able to network the ScanSnap S1500M since the scanner needs local driver software (running on a computer) to function. It doesn't operate like a standalone network scanner or multifunction printer device which can be plugged into a print server and can operate on it's own.
Agreed. I've actually had a note to myself for quite a while to see if
I can figure out how to do it but have never had the chance.
I did some searching and came across lots of people who wanted to
network their scanners using Bonjour or something, but not a lot of
success.
If anyone has had any luck, let us know!
If the goal is not to have a computer directly hooked up to the ScanSnap scanner then based on the way the driver code is written (the driver directly looks at the USB bus looking for the scanner device before initialize it (meaning it requires special software to operate)), you would need to extend the USB bus over the network in order for it to work.
While I can't say that a USB network device server such as the Keyspan will work for (it's limited in it's description), based on the product specifications it might just work.
http://www.tripplite.com/shared/product-pages/en/...
However, that would mean you also need specialized drivers in addition to the scanner software for each computer.
Now if you're willing to put a dedicated system hooked up to the scanner – then you have options (while I haven't tried it, I'm pretty sure SANE could also accomplish this plus you already have at least 1 computer anyway since you're planning on sharing it.)
I noticed NeatWorks is at version 4 for WIndows and version 2 for Mac. Is Mac treated as a second class citizen by them?
@NBW I personally don't have any insight into their version numbering, but if I had to guess I'd say that the Mac one was developed later so maybe that is why it has a lower version number. But again, I personally have no knowledge of it.
I will say that the Mac version of NeatWorks seems pretty well received and they've made it quite slick, so I doubt it's the second class citizen issue like so many other vendors.
Costco right now has a great price on the NeatDesk ADF scanner and NeatWorks software for 299 but no Mac software. By the time I purchased the scanner with windows software and added $79 for the Mac version of NeatWorks i've blown my budget. So I'll probably stick with a Scansnap S1500M (plan to purchase) and my receipts/biz card will be handled by NeatWorks which i'll gladly pay the $79 for. That way I won't be tempted to track biz cards and receipts in DEVONthink Pro Office which I want to use research and other stuff. Glad to know the link is working. Also I'm waiting for the next major version of NeatWorks for Mac. At WWDC they were talking up new features enabled by Snow Leopard that piqued my interest