HP's new OfficeJet 8040 printer lets you print, store, and organize a trove of documents

Hewlett-Packard is introducing its HP OfficeJet 8040 all-in-one printer that is aimed at transforming your office into something much more organized and digital.

Thanks to a deal with Neat, the $400 all-in-one printer can do a lot more than an ordinary dumb printer. It can print, fax, scan, copy, and connect via Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or near-field communications.

The printer itself has a terabyte of storage available in a hard drive. And you can also safeguard your data in the cloud. HP says the printer files, organizes, and stores your documents either to the hard drive or in the cloud. Like other HP printers, the device can connect to the web, and it can print photos from your mobile devices. It has a 3.5-inch touchscreen.

You can subscribe to HP Instant Ink, an optional program that lest you save 50 percent off the cost of HP ink cartridges. HP will use the web connectivity to sense when the ink is running low. If you are a subscriber, HP will send you ink in the mail before your ink runs out. It costs about 3.3 cents per page printed.

“What we’re really bringing to market is a twist on the traditional all-in-one,” said Craig Stein, senior product manager at HP’s Inkjet and Printing Solutions division, in an interview with VentureBeat. “This product is designed with the home-based worker in mind. It’s for the person trying to build and manage their own business.”

Stein said HP has figured out there is a large population of workers that could use something like this.

“Research has shown us traditional all-in-ones don’t go far enough,” Stein said. “It makes it automatic to organize your home office. You can get that shoebox full of receipts to become digitized, organized, and searchable.”

You can back up your documents on the hard drive as well as the cloud. The hard drive sits in a pocket, out of sight.

It includes an organization system dubbed Neat from an outside vendor, Neat, a cloud-based service. Stein said the hard drive goes hand-in-hand with Neat, which helps organize information from scanned receipts, business cards, and documents for quick, easy searching.

When you set up the printer, you get Neat’s mobile app and access to their web-based infrastructure. You can scan an unlimited number of documents to the cloud. It has Neat’s software to take your scanned documents and make them keyword-searchable. And it extracts key info from business cards so you can create contact lists from those names. You can export the data in the Neat cloud to programs like Microsoft Excel, TurboTax, and Quicken.

Neat normally costs $5.99 a month. But HP is including it for free for three years with the printer. That’s a pretty good deal, as it’s worth around $150.

“Once the customer buys the OfficeJet 8040, they don’t have to pay the subscription fees for this service,” Stein said.

The printer has a 25-page automatic document feeder and two-sided printing. You can use a mobile device to print 4 x 6 and 5 x 7-inch photos, using a separate photo paper tray. You can print from iPhones, iPads, Android devices, the Amazon Kindle Fire, and other devices.

“Our customers have told us they want to be able to work at home and on-the-go as efficiently and cost effectively as they do at the office,” said Manel Martinez, vice president, Experience Design and Marketing, Inkjet Printing Solutions at HP, in a statement. “The HP Officejet 8040 and Neat software help streamline the home office, removing clutter and maximizing productivity. When customers add the cost savings and convenience of HP Instant Ink, they have a robust printing system that delivers affordable office-like performance at home.”