Product ReviewsOffice software
Sending invoices to people can be one of the more tedious tasks for a self-employed worker. The taxman, however, dictates that you have to keep track of all your income and whom you've worked for so it's something you should take seriously. You can, of course just use a word processor or page layout application to make your invoices for you but this approach doesn't offer much flexibility or tracking. MacFreelance is an application designed to make invoicing and billing simple so that you don't have to spend too much time on the boring stuff. The interface is centred on a single window that allows you to handle multiple projects at once with both Timed and Fixed price work. MacFreelance is fully integrated with Address Book and iCal so you can easily bring in data from those applications. There's also a backup system that allows you to store a safety copy on disk or to .Mac. The application is managed from a row of icons across the top of the window. There are a series of 'drawers' that slide out of the sides and bottom of the window to cover things such as payment and project information. The project-based nature of MacFreelance can take a bit of getting used to if you normally just type the information directly on to the page. However,
There are some nicely thought-out operational touches as well; click on a project and then statistics and you're shown costs and profit calculations, etc. Best of all though, if you then shift-click another job, that data is automatically added. It might seem small but it allows you to take a quick look at how well you're doing without the need to leave the window. You can create reports that take in to account information such as payments, advances and discounts so that you can keep an eye on how much money you've got coming in and going out. You can also edit the amount of information passed over to the invoices for each project. Once you've finished a project, all you have to do is enter the relevant information and you can print or email an invoice directly. The basic design is easy enough on the eye but there are a number of built-in templates should you wish to make more of an impact. You can even create your own design should you wish to. We really liked MacFreelance - it's a cheap application with plenty going for it. The learning curve is probably a bit too steep for such a basic application but once you're up and running there's not much to find fault with. The supplied help documents could cover the application in a bit more depth but other than that it's an accomplished tool for the lone freelancer looking to upgrade their invoice and billing tracking. At current exchange rates, MacFreelance works out at just £20 and for that price it's an absolute steal. It might take a bit of your time to get going but once you're up and running the time it saves you will be more than repaid. By Christopher Brennan |
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