Macware MacFreelance - TechRadar UK

MacFreelance is a new Mac invoicing application that works primarily with Address Book and Mail and just focuses on the banking and client-tracking side of freelance work. It caters for all aspects of quotation, invoicing and building a client database, and is tailored for people with multiple clients and projects working with a range of fees and charges.

MacFreelance worked glitch free for us, which was fortunate as there's no user guide in the disc image and no online user forum to refer to. The learning curve was mercifully short.

The look and feel is very Mac orientated, with buttons and features laid out where you expect to find them. Compared to other invoicing apps, MacFreelance feels like it was put together by accountants. Some other apps provide more showy invoice templates but, ultimately, solid accounting features offer better value.

Here you can charge clients by the time you spend on their projects or a fixed fee. You can also apply refinement to the charges with discounts or adjustments to the fees, and easily print out custom reports of your activity for the tax man. There's a depth of ability here and plenty of automated number crunching that the numerically illiterate will be thankful for.

Importing contacts from Address Book is straightforward, as is choosing or creating an invoice template and sending it out via Mail. At the moment MacFreelance only works with Apple Mail though - there was no choice in Preferences to use Entourage despite it being installed.

You do get the option to export the invoice to your desktop, so at least you are not trapped by this oversight, but it's hardly streamlined. This aside we liked the app. iCal integration, backups to iDisk, and TextEdit to create invoices equal a smoother workflow.