# Software



## tirediron (Mar 16, 2014)

Okay.... 'nother software question:  I'm looking for an application that will allow me to track my jobs, keep notes, client information, and ideally ('though not critical) create invoices.  Up 'til now, I've been using a spreadsheet to track everything, but I'm finding that rather clumsy.  I've looked at Office Time, but it's really more of a time-tracker and the hours spent of [most] jobs aren't important.  I'm aware that Quick Books and similar have this functionality, but I don't need a full-on accounting package.  Thoughts?  Suggestions (and no, 'Go soak your head isn't a real application! :greenpbl: )


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## tecboy (Mar 16, 2014)

Have you tried Excel? You can program it the way you want.


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## tirediron (Mar 16, 2014)

tecboy said:


> Have you tried Excel? You can program it the way you want.





> I've been using a spreadsheet to track everything


Mebbe...


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## IronMaskDuval (Mar 16, 2014)

You can look for a free CRM.


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## tirediron (Mar 16, 2014)

IronMaskDuval said:


> You can look for a free CRM.


Yep... but that's the problem; there are so many applications out there, I would go old and grey before I tried them all.  I was hoping someone here might have a specific recommendation.


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## Light Guru (Mar 16, 2014)

Yea spreadsheets can be vary clunky for the things you want to do. 

I have not used it myself so I don't know it will do every thing you want like notes about clients but I have heard vary good things about freshbooks.com they even have a 30 day free trial.


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## manaheim (Mar 16, 2014)

I'm curious about this one myself... not that I have enough business to worry about it anymore... but when I did I wound up writing my own application to track all this using PHP/MySQL.


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## Tiller (Mar 16, 2014)

Quicken


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## IronMaskDuval (Mar 16, 2014)

Tiller said:


> Quicken




I use Quickbooks for my business, but a free CRM is ZOHO CRM. Give that a try.


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## 12sndsgood (Mar 17, 2014)

I have been wanting to look for something as well to help me better track where my money is going. Time. Etc.


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## AceCo55 (Mar 17, 2014)

I did a quick search using "software to track  jobs, keep notes, client information, invoices" and the following two looked like they had potential from the first half a dozen I scanned. I have no affiliation or interest in either organisation.
Field Service Management Software | Jobber
Explorer Pivot, Construction Project Management Software


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## IByte (Mar 17, 2014)

Access


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## pgriz (Mar 17, 2014)

I have used an application called "Ecco Pro", which was designed for Windows, then ported to Windows XP.  Company that made it abandoned it, and has a large group of people who have used it and love it, so the "orphan" has been maintained by other entities.  Here's a link to the current "home":  Ecco Pro for Windows 7 & 8.  I use it on Windows 7 without issues, to track all my prospect/client information, to record project tasks and details, etc.  It is not an accounting software, so invoices will still need to be done using using something like quicken, quickbooks, or similar.  However, it is enormously flexible and is able to store a lot of cross-linked information. 

for instance, I have a client (John Smith), for whom I am doing several projects (Projects A, B, C), and each project has a set of tasks, with deadlines, reminders, notes, etc.  Ecco Pro lets me set up multiple views so that I can see if from the point of view of time (calendar, ordered to-do lists), or by priority, or by any other characteristic that I choose to associate with each bit of data that I store.  I can look at all the tasks that have to be finished by a specific date, or I can look at a project and see which tasks make up that project.  

Powerful, very flexible, has a steep learning curve (mainly because it is so flexible), and pretty portable (I have it on my office computer, my Home-office computer, and my laptop, all synchronized to a master copy).


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## Big Mike (Mar 17, 2014)

I use (well, have is more accurate, as I don't actually use it much) the free version of Quickbooks, Simple Start.

I could use it to create and track customers, vendors, invoices, expenses, payments, assets etc.  But really, I just use a simple .doc file for my invoices.  Around tax time, I enter in all my invoices and expenses into Simple Start and then just print off a tax summary.


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