How To Create Stylish Invoices, Manage Clients, Track Inventory In One Mac App

Political pundits claim that the U.S. of A. is full of two classes of people. Makers and takers. I understand the sentiment but don’t fully agree with their divisive math.

For me, business isn’t just math. I work for a living. I work for me. So, I’m a maker and a taker. But I also work for my clients. To keep track of my work and my clients I recently switch to a new invoice app.

Totals From Totals

For a professional, invoicing can be handled a dozen and twenty ways. Have your bookkeeper do the math. Use an online invoicing service. Or, roll your own invoices.

I chose the latter because I like a combination of detail tracking and style. Totals is the new app on my Mac that does both.

Invoices are a reflection of me and my services and Totals allows for customization, including logo.

All invoices and estimates are visible in Totals with a glance. Instead of just a lump sum total, Totals gives options for reports and statements with specific details.

There’s even a built-in option to manage inventory (don’t get excited; this won’t run the inventory in a store or manufacturing plant).

The toolbar is simplified. Overview. Reports. Layouts. Click Reports and select from Payments, Invoices, or Stock.

Create your own reports with pages, fields, and simple, usable drawing tools.

Invoices can be recurring, manage discounts, or be sequential. There’s space for terms and conditions, dynamic fields, and a custom logo.

Track payments in Totals, too, including by invoice, by client, and click to see any report or invoice.

Click on any document in the Documents and Items section from the sidebar and see all the details, including client, amount, date sent, and when paid.

I appreciate the option to write and track project estimates.

There’s options for different tax settings, and a reminder option for overdue invoices (and Totals keeps track of what’s paid and what’s not.

If you run a business that’s really multiple businesses within a business, Totals handles that, too with multiple databases.

The built-in salutation is also visible on a per client basis, as are the layout options when creating invoices (one design for this client, another design for a different client).

From what I can see, the inventory management option is useful, especially for a small business with limited stock, but I would recommend a standalone app for a store with many products.

Totals combines a stylish interface that doesn’t overwhelm with practical touches, including options to export as PDFs, and email invoices (complete with email templates).

What’s missing is a time tracker, but Totals can be configured to use time blocks as inventory. That’s an odd way of tracking time but it works.

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