I’m new to Billings and think its going to be great EXCEPT I’m going out of my head trying to add in a subtotal on my bespoke invoice for different slip kinds. I want a subtotal for my fees and one for my expenses, any advice on what I’m sure must be v simple would be hugely appreciated.

Rob

I’m not very impressed with the template choices either. They are all quite ugly in my opinion. Maybe I will give this program another shot, but as of yet I’m not impressed.

Another thing that turned me off is that a couple of their instructional videos don’t even work. I am using Firefox and have the latest quicktime installed.

Oh well, love the idea behind Billings, but the flaws seem to outway the benefits right now.
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Update: I’m happy to say that I finally figured out how to use it for estimating, and am especially happy with the time savings by re-using template slips.

However…I did curse quite a bit after losing 30 minutes of slip writing. I was breaking out a bid into modules…wireframe/design/code…each with own slip and price. I wanted to combine the slips sequentially into a project bid. But, Billings would not allow me to re-order the sequence by dragging (very un-Mac like!). Grrrr…

Next I tried to ‘combine’ the three slips. This was a baaad move and could not be undone. It combined them alright…into one slip with total price but only one description–erasing all my hard descriptive writing.

In any case, I’ve since figured out how NOT to do that again. And I HAVE been using it successfully and much more efficiently the last few weeks.

With any luck, the app will be improved for more flexible design and better user interface. Fingers crossed! Until then, I use it because so far, it’s the best for my needs. But LOVE it? Meh.

Billings 3 for Mac OS X—Professional Invoicing…

Billings 3 is an excellent billing and invoicing tool, which is solely for Mac OS X 10.4 and higher….

I’ve been using Billings for about 8 months after migrating from Billable. I’ve found Billings’ timer to be awesome–especially since it will ‘remind’ me I’ve been idle and give me the option to remove minutes.

However, I must agree w/John. Billings is a bitch to customize. Sure, I’ve managed to put my logo on invoice, but multiple attempts to change all the fonts, colors and alignments…well…phlbbt!

Also, I’m unable to utilize it for estimates (or unwilling to keep trying) so still fall back to my InDesign template.

Otherwise, it’s a good product for my needs.

Thanks for your input

Here are some handy Tips that I have found whilst using Billings 3…

★ If you are having trouble coloring text with loose-values, but want an exact #Hex match (eg: Purple #3a0847), try creating a swatch in Photoshop, etc, and use the “Looking-glass” tool in the Billings Color-popup to grab a sample.

★ When you create an Invoice template, don’t forget to name it via the Attributes inspector. I made the mistake of using the save-as feature to create a new Invoice template—and forgetting to update the name and giving myself a headache by not being able to find it!

★ If you click on a Clients’ address (in the bottom-left corner), Billings will show their address on GoogleMaps from within the Billings window. Cool eh?

I wasn’t aware of the millimetres issue. I reckon this is because, as an American-based software-maker (Marketcircle), I think, use Inches when measuring lengths. Europeans, like myself, use CM and MM. I do agree though, there should be an option to change this setting.

Thanks for your comment…

I just wanted to add that I too have enjoyed using Billings. I find it very intuitive to use and have been doing so for a little while.

I do have one gripe however – that you can’t specify millimetres instead of inches in the template tool. As a designer, I like control, and inches just aren’t good enough for the metric parts of the world (in my opinion).

Altogether though, a very useful tool for time tracking and billing!

/Doug

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Sorry to hear that you had some troubles with it. I don’t really know where you went wrong, but when I selected what template I wanted to use, I chose A4 size paper (as I’m in the UK, but I would create a US letter version also when needed). I then inserted images and logos using the attributes inspector.

I think it is intuitive to a point, as there are also tool-tips when you hover over something you don’t know of. All software has a learning-curve—even iTunes to some.

When I finished customizing my template, I went to “Save as > Billings > Templates” where I can then access it.

I’m pretty impressed by it, but it’s hard to speculate what went wrong for you. Macuser.com gave this software a great review (4/5 http://www.macuser.co.uk/reviews/226950/billings-3-beta.html ), as did MacWorld 4.5/5, as well as good reviews on other blogs, including Veerle’s Design site.

Thanks for your input though, John. Appreciated

It is good looking, and it looks like it has some great features, but I didn’t find the interface so intuitive, the worst thing however, has to be the invoice customization process, after an hour trying to create a good looking, branded invoice template I had to give up through sheer frustration.

A not-so-effective customization process meant I was simply unable to create a branded invoice template that met my satisfaction.

Didn’t you experience problems during this part of the process? Maybe I was doing something wrong, I don’t know, but after an hour of trying, I couldn’t produce an invoice that I would be happy sending out to clients, so it’s an hour wasted and billings moved to the trash I’m afraid.

I’m a big fan of your site and always look forward to your posts, but not a great recommendation in my opinion Andrew.