BEWARE of Mariner Software in general. I purchased MacGourmet from this outfit and then key features of the software stopped working (e.g., syncing between the computer and iPad). It's been over a year and still does not work. Customer support claims they are working on the problem, but has no idea when it will be fixed. When I asked for a refund, I was pointed to their 30 day trial run policy. Mariner Software will take your money and then leave you hanging.
Really would have liked to use this product, and although I feel that the price is reasonable I contacted their customer service about a discount that they have for a transition from NEAT. Although I sent a screenshot of the discount offer customer service claimed that they don't give discounts. I am easily able to afford the product without discount, but feel that customer service fell short when I contacted them which does not give me confidence if I should need support with the purchased product
This is NOT working correctly, and when I reached out to customer service, via email, the ONLY available way to reach help, they waited days to reply, and DID NOT HELP at all! They basically said I was on my own to figure out why it wasn't working on my own. Terrible!!!! DO NOT BUY!
This software was NOT working correctly, and when I reached out to customer service, via email, they waited days to reply, and DID NOT HELP at all! They basically said I was on my own to figure out why it wasn't working on my own. Terrible!!!! DO NOT BUY!
I was previously a Neat Receipt user, but tried to find a software alternative because I didn't want a Neat cloud subscription. Once I started to understand how to use the Paperless program, I really like how it interfaces with our ScanSnap scanner, and the scans come out very clear. However, the Paperless software is NOT very intuitive to learn. But more problematic, is that it CRASHES on me multiple times a day on a new Mac running with the latest Catalina OS and the latest paid version of Paperless 3.0.80. This software seems very glitchy and unstable running on this new computer. I've tried to reach out to Mariner, and even sent them the crash logs to look into it. I haven't had any response back from technical support. I've reached out to them again, still without any response. There may be a possibility that there is something wrong with the computer, however, I don't know because they haven't gotten back to me. And all of my other programs seem to operate just fine on this system. Paperless crashes upon launch just about every time. I have to open it several times just to get in. It also crashes when I try to look at a receipt in the preview window. If the customer support was better in helping to resolve this issue, and if there were better online tutorials on how to use the software...I could give it more stars. Overall, it has the features I need. I hope that Mariner comes up with an update to make this program more stable. A program that doesn't crash is something that one should expect.
great app just need to work natively with I cloud across home Mac and Laptop.. it you die even better to be able to have an iPad or phone app.. It unofficially works with dropbox.. however I use many programs that easily sync..
There is a HUGE FLAW with cropping in Paperless! Cropping your receipt to decrease the file size degrades the quality of the print to useless!! Tech support is very aware of this, I called and asked. My understanding is there is no fix in sight. Buyer beware !!
Excellent product
My experience in using Paperless 3 software to create a paperless home/office environment has simplified the process creating a comprehenisve library of receipts, documents and manuals.
To get the most out of the software I would recommend spending time planning and setting up the fields for each document type you plan to keep and then begin entering your documents and populating the relevant fields you plan to use. The more information you enter into your chosen selected fields the more effeicent your documnet management system and searches will perform
The setup and slected view of field, headings, catorgories etc. is flexible with the options to add your own customised fields and headings
The scanning of single or multiple sheets is simple process even with my old canon printer scanner. You also have the option to drag documents into paperless and then add the relevant data to the selected fields.
I have used Mariner support on few occassions who have always come back to me qith solutions very quickly
Verdict
I have spent a lot of time and energy researching this type software to help me with my goal of significantly reducing my paper storage and Paperless 3 in my opinion the best value software to achive this compared with others available,
With the option of a free trial give it a go
Awesome product. Going paperless is always something I dreaded doing but once I put my mind to it - it has really become sort of a lifestyle. Every document or receipt I touch gets scanned and put into this application. I'm up to 2GB so you can tell I've been doing this awhile. Never had an issue with company or support.
Not worth the upgrade from v2 if you already own it. Only noticed a couple of bug fixes that have been broken for several versions and is now working. Other than that OCR, still doesnt work that great. About all they did was change to a Dark them and charge for it. Not even worth $5 for an upgrade yet alone $30. I have been using this app since its inception and have always been on the fence about it. The developers are real slow to fix bugs and it seems like they break things each time they release a new version. I would actually give the upgrade 1 star, but overall since it is a new version to some that have never used it, I would give the overall app 3 stars. This app has always been a love/hate relationship as it does what I need it to, sometimes. It is not the easiest document management software to use and like I said earlier, the OCR is all but useless even in this new version.
If you do decide to upgrade and try it, make sure YOU back up your app as one of the bugs is that it states it will do if for you, but doesn't.
I became frustrated with Mariner products a long time ago. It isn't that they make bad products, its that they almost never update them once you have purchased them. Mariner is a company full of one hit wonders. Buy them if you need them, again, I am not deriding their offerings. But, as some reviewers here have posted updates have not been forthcoming in a while, that is Mariner customer speak for, forget waiting for an update because it is not going to happen. I got Leap a long time back and it is OK. HoudahSpot is my favorite go to tool I use with my Scansnap scanner to keep track of saved searches for new PDFs.
I've been using Paperless for years to store my bank statements and other important documents. While it has serves it's purpose and the developer promptly maintains the program to run on OS updates the program is long overdue for a major upgrade. Missing features include no syncing between computers or the cloud and improved PDF viewing with annotation. Someone below was informed that major update is around the corner; however, that was well over a year ago. I will continue to use it but if I was starting from scratch I'd probably look to another program with syncing.
This is an update to my last review. Continued issues with the product hanging when quitting has caused me to abandon this product given the potential possibilities of forced quits corrupting the database. As such I did want to trust critical data to this product. Technical support for this product. as some other users have previously reported has been in my opinion; abominable. After a number of communications with Mariner, the result was that the company blamed Apple for all of its issues, stated that they had informed Apple about this, and that Apple had done nothing and they were not to do anything about it until Apple fixed it. A call to Apple Tech Support indicated they they had not received any such information to their knowledge, but they would be in contact with Mariner about it to try and get it resolved. Today I see an update released from Mariner that may address the issue but are still publicly blaming Apple for the issue in their release notes. This raises the question for me that if they are experiencing this issue, which they blame on Apple which in my opinion is a very disparaging manner, give I have over 500 apps on my primary machine, why are none of the other Apps experiencing this same issue?
What is an even bigger issue for me is the fact that I applied for a refund within the trial period, since I had switched over to DevonThink Office Pro and intended to turn in my license and destroy all copies of the product on my machine. Instead they pointed me back to MacUpdate for the refund, through which I purchased the product when it was on special. MacUpdate would not oblige as they plainly state on their purchase agreement that no refunds are available from MacUpdate for products purchased through their website which I found to be plainly stated and quite valid. I also suspect that Mariner knew this when they sent me back to MacUpdate for a refund. After much negotiation, they finally agreed to make an exception and provide a refund of $25 to me; but only if I agreed to accept the refund through my PayPal account. However I do not have a PayPal account due to some of their reported history and concerns about identity theft. So I suggested either a check or credit to my credit card. They refused indicating that unless I set up a PayPal Account they would not provide a refund. Since it was not worth $25 for me to abandon my values and concerns, I am being refused the refund. So I am now giving this product a 1 star rating due to their customer service; refusing to take ownership of the issue; and a refusal to provide a refund via check or the same way I purchased the product despite requesting in the designated time period along with the refund being an exception.
Given this experience with Mariner and having researched other users dissatisfaction with Mariner's support and integrity, I currently do not foresee the day that I ever will purchase another Marriner product.
One final note: During my conversation with Mariner, I mentioned that I was replacing Paperless with DevonThinkProOffice. The response was to make disparaging remarks regarding Devon technical support. I have been using Devon for several months now and have contacted their support for a number of questions. The response so far has been prompt, accurate, with offered answers and solutions. So at this point I have found their support to be excellent. and contrary to Mariner's comments.
I am a first time user of this product getting it on the Mac update promotion. When it works it works well. However I am having frequent hangups with the product whenever quitting it. This forces me to use "Force Quit" to quit the program. It concerns me since all my documents that I saved to it are contained in a database file. I worry about continuing to force quit may damage the database and cause me to lose all my data that I've saved.
Unfortunately the only support available for Mariner software is by email. I sent a message today but of course they've yet to answer it. Additionally some of the menu listings are not obvious. For instance the ability to change categories titles and other things are all contained in a menu listing called "Show Library Configuration". Not very intuitive naming from my perspective.
Once you figure it out the product is actually quite flexible. You can delete or change the names of most of the fields. You can also add new ones that fit your needs. They include many of the common stores and merchants. Unfortunately it is all or nothing. You could add your own individually, but to get the preset ones you either have to select them all and then delete the ones you don't want, or add the ones you want individually. Luckily you can group delete. What would be nice is if they had these items sorted by groups and that you could display the groups and choose the ones that you want, rather than having them all and then deleting the ones you don't want. I would really like this app if it wasn't for all the hangs and crashes. But given the current issues with it, right now I Highly recommend it.
I´ve been using Paperless for years now with Epson v500, and find it excellent. So is the support which answered my mails with suggestions to solve my problems immediately.. I recommend the program
Working with it the last 4 years. Wonderful piece of software. No updates recently, but still the best to use. Of course I would wish to sync with iCloud and having more nice features. But so far it still works for me.
Complete rubbish!!! Every time Paperless says that scanner is not available, yet every other app that connects to scanner has absolutely no problem at all. Will never go near Mariner Software again.
what I like about the Paperless, it save me time to save all the documents in the system, so I don't have to worry about losing the document. after i have lost several document so i can alway have it back up with the Paperless that can scan all the Document and input my system and saved that way I wont have to lose it.. it will always have back up. no worry, no stress. Paperless will always be on your side whatever you need it to scan it and save it . that what is all about Paperless.
I don't believe their is truly any *perfect* software but for me Paperless is overall a good product for the price. And yes their are coupons that give you a nice discount off the normal retail price, but this is becoming a common practice by most software developers today. Most people like promotions and discounts and the feeling that they saved a few dollars or pounds off on their purchase. This is why every retailer known to man has a SALE now on every occasion :)
With that said, I have a coupon that people here can use if you should desire to do so, the coupon is ( TOMW ) and its a 25% off coupon for new purchases and 5 pack bundles.
Cheers!
Overall, I am growing to like to Mariner Paperless, but it is not perfect. While I like the fact that Paperless is usually very good (but not perfect) in scanning a receipt and recognizing the amounts, it does not always get the data correct, so you have to proofread the scan to make sure it is accurate. Nevertheless, that ability to scan your receipts and send the item (usually, not always, accurately) to a preset category alone makes Paperless a time-saving useful tool, especially since the program can display those scans in sortable columns that will display your scans by date, by category, by sub-category, by the number of pages scanned, or by size of scan. Additionally, if you scan via the Fujitsu ScanSnap sheet-fed scanner, as I do, then the document can be OCR-scanned so that the text can be later searched in Paperless.
However Paperless is marred by idiosyncrasies and a lack of features that do not seem congruent with standard Macintosh features that have been already proven to work on other programs, so I see no reason why Mariner’s coders do not implement such features in Paperless.
For example, if you scan a multiple-page document, and if some of the pages do not get scanned so that, when displayed in Paperless, they all show up with the page shown correctly, Paperless does not allow you to individually rotate a page to the left or to the right. When you click on the Rotate Left or Rotate Right buttons, which, by the way, have no associated short keys (another Mac interface oversight, it seems to me), the entire document gets shifted, not merely the individual page which you want to rotate. I find that rather inept.
Additonally, in regards to searching for text that you had OCR’d into during the scan, Paperless will accurately find all the instances of the scanned text, but, unlike, say Adobe Acrobat and other programs, which allow you to click on an arrow to move directly to the next or previous instance of that search term, Paperless provides no such feature. You must manually click on each page of the scanned document to locate the yellow highlighted search text on the subsequent pages in the document. Why it would not occur to Mariner’s managers and programmers to implement a feature that is proven to work in other programs baffles me, for it reduces the functionality of the program in my eyes.
Hence, while Paperless is a useful program and I enjoy using it, this program is far from “perfect” and could use some improvement. I suspect that the problem must stem from upper management’s attitudes, which is why so many of Mariner’s applications get reviewed as mediocre. The company seems concerned with putting out products which are designed to “get by” rather than to put out top quality work. Thus, they employ a marketing strategy which overprices their products, and they deluge you with “discounts” and bundles to see those products for significant percentages off: one should never pay full price for a Mariner software product.
Overall, I like Paperless, when used in combination with a Fujitsu ScanSnap sheet-feeder, because you can end up with an organized collection of documents and receipts, all nicely presented in sortable columns. The alternative would be to merely scan in your documents and receipts as PDF files, which you would subsequently have to adjust by changing file names, place in correct folders, etc. Paperless allows you to create collections of your scanned slips of paper in one, convenient place, nicely organized, nicely presented, available for quick review.
However, the application is not yet perfect. It crashes every now and then under Mavericks, and I don't know why. The database file does not seem to get corrupted, but I get anxious when any application is not stable enough to handle the load, especially when all my data is being stored in one file. Should that database get corrupted, I will not be a happy camper, and no matter how often Mariner cuts its prices, which is its normal marketing ploy, I will certainly scream to them about it.
Useless. It hardly recognizes any data in clear files. Does it really do OCR? In the understanding that I would enter data manually, I would consider getting it if it offered to store files out of its database, as DevonThink does, instead of locking files in its database for good, and therefore my input work. A second condition would be for it to be paired with an Android/iOS app for quick snapshots of receipts. None of these conditions it fulfills. So it's a no, no. They do have a nerve to set its price. Not even for 5 dollars!
I've been using Paperless for a number of years and found it to be an invaluable record keeper for all manner of records. It had a few bugs in the early versions but it has evolved into a very handy program. One thing I wish it had was a way to do a simple add function as I use it as an assets register for insurance purposes. It would be handy if there was a total value for each category or subcategory.
I was looking for a paper filing system so I could get rid of my filing cabinet. Easy to use and easy to scan in my documents. This software has accounting abilities which are interesting which I may use in the future. This has everything I need for my home!
Good App, but you need to have a compatible scanner to utilize the full repertoire of functions. Good storage and search functions and can be cutomised well.
So why exactly was the ability removed in 2.3.1 to enter an amount + currency? I regularly do transactions in non local currencies (non €) and before I had no issue adding amounts of $250 for example. Since this version however it insists that I've made a "formatting error". Please don't try to be smart in my stead, I know how to type an amount...
To be honest I'm regretting more and more that I've started putting all my invoices in here. Unfortunately with over 400 documents in it and no easy migration methods it's kinda hard to get rid of it again.
Macupdate the video on this product is for version 1. if you go to their website you will see a video for version 2 at the bottom of the page:
http://www.marinersoftware.com/products/paperless/
Scanning is essentially still broken (since 2.2) The dialog which arises when Scan is selected shows a list of possible scanners (a network-connected Epson), but insists that no scanner is selected and will not let me select it. I'm reduced to using Image Capture a la carte, importing its scans, and manually combining multi-page documents. Productive, it's not.
When and how will this be fixed?
I am looking for a document manager to manage the 1,600 or so PDFs and 500 or so text documents that I have but do not utilize because my Documents folder is such a mess.
This is what I found when I tried Paperless:
Pros
1. Easy to import existing documents.
2. Easy to rename, change creation date, categorize, subcategorize, tag, and add notes to documents.
3. Can select default external PDF viewer other than Preview.
4. New notes are created in a separate, resizable window or in TextEdit.
Cons
1. Not as easy to import new documents as importing existing documents.
2. Search is one size fit all, cannot define what to search (titles, content, etc…)
3. Spotlight indexing repeatedly fails, progress bar stops and I have to force quit Paperless.
4. Interface is a little drab, looks like iTunes 10 or Finder in 10.7 & 10.8.
5. Pricey compared to Yojimbo and EagleFiler.
The repeated failure of updating the Spotlight index is a deal-breaker for me, the only way I can get it to complete is to reboot and then re-index it first before doing anything else at all.
A very half-backed product made by a typical company that has not a single UI designer among its employees, just a pack of programmers. Unstable and the product manager has no time or interest (or, most probably - competence) to take care about this software. Pity, the initial idea was good.
To the developers @ Mariner: Please, please get a copy of NeatWorks. Study it and make something less buggy and something useable out of it.
Every time Neat pisses me off, I try Paperless (along with all the others) again and it simply does not have the features which make a paperless document manager a useful tool. The meta data fields are simply too limited and not customizable.
Ok, I have scanned a doc. What about it? The meta data is what makes a doc manager a tool. Otherwise, why? I can just as easily scan docs and save them as files in the Finder as docs as what your app does. It's too simplistic to have any real function.
There needs to be a table view with sizable fonts, grep pattern search and replace, custom user created fields, an accurate OCR, a useful set of scanner instructions bypassing the image capture interface, a reports function.
There is an opportunity here for someone to create a serious paperless office business oriented document manager for Mac. Its the meta data which spells the difference.
The biggest bummer is storing the library on a network drive. The repeated “Changed, Save Now?” nonsense makes it unusable. I skipped Lion to use Paperless, but will skip Paperless as my new rMBP can’t go back to Snow Leopard; not that I want to anyway. Only until the end of 2012 to store my bills. I have anyway used manual folder-based filing in parallel with Paperless, as I never trust any software or OS in case I am required to switch software or platforms, and I will revert to that for 2013 unless this idiocy changes.
Ok, maybe I was too harsh on my last review, this what I miss in the app, and what should be enhanced:
- OCR - it must have better accuracy!!
- OCR Auto rotating scan to text orientation, this is something some software do, and should be essencial in a paperless app.
- Auto Tag Sugestions by OCR Content between files.
- Save library in Finder folders and with same Paperless hierarchy.
- Spotlight integration, I mean all those manual input fields should be indexed by spotlight..
Misleading, the first time I saw this app I thought it will be it, a unique paperless app with OCR capabilities that will organize it self and recognize several OCR Data, unfortunately it IS NOT. When I scan a paper it does't even auto rotate, it does not recognize any data, it does OCR, but poorly and don't actually used it very often, some times I see a number in the Total Receipt but not accurate and, most of the times it doesn't show anything.
I wish this could be better, DEVONTHINK Pro seems the best solution so far, but I just can't get with another program between me and my OS X simple folder organization, so for now, I have done this:
I scan with Adobe Acrobat Pro - With Clear Scan OCR - It saves to Scanned Items Folder and I have done a Mac OS X Automator "Folder Action" to search for specific keyword on the items, auto rename the files and move to a specific folder, overall is a lot better workflow than the Paperless app.
It turns out that Paperless for some reason reacts catastrophically with SCPlugin. After removing SCPlugin, Paperless instantly became much more stable.
Paperless used to work well via TWAIN with my Brother MFC7840W, but after upgrading to 10.7, it crashes instead (Mariner blames poor quality TWAIN drivers). They recommend using Image Capture as the preferred method of scanning, but Paperless will not do fake duplexing using Image Capture.
I ended up having to purchase PDFScaner (Which for some reason works flawlessly, despite my 'poor quality' drivers) to do my scanning, and copying the resulting PDF into Paperless. If you need to scan, you will either need to research a scanner that has proven compatibility with Paperless. If your existing scanner doesn't work with Paperless and you're not prepared to buy another one, you're out of luck and will have to use different software.
As a document and reciept management system it is pretty good. Mariner's support staff are outstanding. But it's poor scanner support is a very big blemish on what used to be a stellar product.
Way back when (v1.3 days) it used to do exactly what it said on the box. Since v2 and after lion came out, it is virtually useless. You have a 75% chance of the program crashing when you try to use any given function. Scanning no longer works properly (you have to use Image Capture and direct the output to paperless).
I've been playing around with this app for a few days now and so far I'm really disappointed. I started by importing files from a few folders and after it was done I was shocked to see that it had not only imported PDF files (which I expected) but also TXT and other text related files (still acceptable for such an app) and than a huge load of basically everything else -- thumbnails, jpgs, chat protocols, gifs, even mp3 and audiobook files!? Why isn't there at least some kind of setting to let me choose what I'd like to be imported?!
Then I thought I'd just make a "smart library" to sort out all the unwanted crap but again I wasn't able to set it to filter certain file types, most of the filtering options there seem to be contact related anyway. So then I had to go through about a 1,000 files within the app and delete all the unwanted clutter manually, which was rather tedious.
That first basic experience was so jarring that I'm not sure whether I even want to continue using this app or even buy it. I mean, if it fails on such a basic level, what's the point? Maybe I'm totally doing it wrong and maybe I'm missing something here and I'm open to suggestions, but until then I'll stick with my opinion and my rating.
I used to love this program so much, but the latest upgrade, running on Lion.... phew... what a stinker!!!
The program is now so 'clunky'... takes forever to do small things... totally let down by the 'improvements'.... what makes me really angry is I've invested so much time, money and organization into this program, and it has actually got worse!! Very unimpressed.....
One fix which I requested under the earlier version which has still not been implemented is the inconvenient habit of Paperless to revert to importing new documents to the in box. Instead it automatically inputs to the last collection you were in. So when the software has been closed and you scan a document to Paperless it will place your document in whatever collection you were in when the software closed. This requires transferring the document to the collection you want and then going into the other collection and deleting the document from that collection. Very time consuming.
Hopefully they will listen for the next major upgrade.
I've been using paperless for two years now and find it an invaluable piece of my productivity software but its developers really need to get serious about fixing bugs. After upgrading to Lion, the 1.3 version of the software was crashing all the time mostly when trying to scan. Upgrading to 2.15 helped with some of the crashes, but I'm still unable to use my Brother scanning software without a crash.
One fix which I requested under the earlier version which has still not been implemented is the inconvenient habit of Paperless to revert to importing new documents to the in box. Instead it automatically inputs to the last collection you were in. So when the software has been closed and you scan a document to Paperless it will place your document in whatever collection you were in when the software closed. This requires transferring the document to the collection you want and then going into the other collection and deleting the document from that collection. Very time consuming.
Hopefully they will listen for the next major upgrade.
Bought it today as part of the promo... It crashed on me 3 times already in less than an hour.
It is pretty unclear how to configure new fields/document types and so on initially (Show library configuration). Once you find it, the interface behaves weird (unable to delete values, unable to add values).
Saving the library on my external storage is also impossible because of the "Your library was changed by an external application" message every time, probably because the timestamp doesn't fully match. According to the site "using a network drive is not supported". Newsflash: I paid a lot of money to have a storage that has RAID to prevent any failing harddisk costing me data. Somehow I'm obligated to stick to the local disc now (sure, I do have time machine but I prefer my data on the storage, it's just the way I work).
You cant generate reports over multiple collections (yes i do like to generate a report of ALL my invoices, not just the incoming or the outgoing).
I've tried to scan a multi-page document to import in the app, it only adds one page of it.
Ow and the last crash actually wiped 10 or so of my invoices, I now have lotsa pretty (null) documents.
Pretty disappointed so far...
MacOS 10.7.3
