Fortora Fresh Finance 1.6 for Mac User Reviews
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"Product was fine until I renewed my license"
Version: Fortora Fresh Finance 1.5.8
Pros
Worked great when I first set it up.
Cons
Customer support is non existent. After my initial license expired and I couldn't take the nagging anymore I renewed the license. This is when the problems began. It acted as if I was creating my info from scratch. I think at that time I was able to restore from a backup. This morning when I turned on my Mac and opened the app it asked me for my activation code again. My info was GONE. I reentered the activation code and my info is still GONE. There is no back up to restore like there should be. I've emailed support 2 times. The first time they never even responded. I'm waiting to see if they respond this time. I have no idea what I'm going to do now.
Summary
If you purchase this product do NOT renew your license of you will likely lose all your data.
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"Underhand 1 year licence - be careful!!!!"
Version: Fortora Fresh Finance 1.5.6
Pros
Loved the actual application, worked flawlessly. Had a few updates over the year, seemed mostly cosmetic.
Cons
After a year a pop-up Nag Screen will appear, saying your software has expired, and asking you to pay to 'upgrade'. Nowhere does it say how long your licence is for and the upgrade is about $30 (perhaps for another year?).
Summary
Very good application, spoilt by a hidden one year licence that the developers do not tell you about. Fancy spending $30 per year to keep using this app? I certainly don't.
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"Poor Support"
Version: Fortora Fresh Finance 1.5
Pros
Kinda works.
Cons
Investment accounts do not work.
Unable to change color scheme, somethings hard to read.
Unable to personalize home page.
Support is non-existent, for me anyway.Summary
I have been using the program for 11 months and have seen 3 upgrades which do nothing that I can see. Have tried to get support for my investment accounts and have received nothing to date. The program works but is a long ways from my old 2003 MS Money which cost less than half of this program. I am really unhappy with the program.
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"Good Basic Product"
Version: Fortora Fresh Finance 1.5
Pros
Converts old MS Money files.
Cons
Has issues directly connecting to some banks - not as sophisticated of an interface as could be.
Summary
For the Mac, probably the best option.
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"Good & basic home finances software"
Version: Fortora Fresh Finance 1.4.9
Pros
Easy to install and use; tidy interface; covers all the basics for personal finances; nice 30-day free trial period (full use); imports loose QIF files;
Cons
Heavy reliance upon reports to find information; entering category information not as good as it could be; so-so customer service; price;
Summary
I've been using the 30-day trial to test this as a replacement for Microsoft Money as I've moved over to the world of Mac.
Props to Fortora for offering a full-blown version for 30-days of trial. It's been helpful in coming to my final observations and decision.
I'm actually going to pass on purchasing this software and instead look for an alternative for my Windows-driven laptop. I'm having to replace my current laptop soon and my Money 2002 version is not Windows 7 compatible so a replacement for my Mac seemed a reasonable idea.
Running Fortora parallel with Money I have found it pretty much handles everything I need it to do. I use Money as my checkbook, register and for tracking expenditures over time. This is pretty basic stuff and I've never been disappointed with Money. For the most part Fortora performed well and handled everything I did with it, but I don't believe it did things quite as well.
For example, when typing the name of a category in Money the application will find said category based upon what I type into the field even if what I'm typing is a sub-category to a primary/parent. Fortora doesn't handle this sort of thing. If I want to use a sub-category I must type the parent name first, which requires a fair bit of extra typing in my opinion.
The splits box works well enough, but again I think Money had the advantage in how it provided more useful information. As one enters entries into the splits box in Money the programme informs you as to the remaining uncategorized dollar amount, while Fortora does not. I find Money's design more useful.
I've also had no small amount of irritation with how the various buttons work in Fortora, but I think this may very well be a Mac issue just as much. If I tab to select a button it often becomes outlined in the requisite colour to indicate it has been selected, but the button itself doesn't become highlighted in the colour. As such, when I press enter it is another button (the one highlighted in colour) that is acted upon. For example: in the splits box "Done" is by default highlighted as the button upon which action will be taken when the Enter key is pressed. If I tab to "Add" (to add an individual split entry) and press Enter the programe responds to "Done" instead of "Add". I have yet to figure out how to alter this problem as I much prefer to tab and enter to expedite data entry as opposed to having to use the mouse all the time.
In addition there is the price. $45 isn't a ton of money, but it seems a bit steep for a fairly basic personal finance application. Granted, in the world of Mac there are few alternatives in the great scheme of things and so it is we pay a premium (Apple Tax). Based upon my 30-days of experience I'd be much more inclined to consider this software as a replacement for Money if it were priced around $30.... maybe $35.
Last of the 'cons' would be customer support. I've e-mailed three times regarding three different issues/questions and received a reply only once for the very first one. The first and only reply was received within a fairly reasonable amount of time and for that I was grateful. Of course, it was the sort of information which I truly believe should have been included in their FAQ section (pertains to whether or not Fortora Fresh Finance can handle only Strict QIF files or the preferred, in my opinion, loose QIF files).
My second and third e-mails have both gone unanswered. Combined with what passes for a very basic FAQ section I have strong concerns about customer support. Considering the importance of the information I would be entrusting to their software I feel the need for a more robust customer service network.
Lastly, I had the chance to also reconcile my checking account in Fortora and while I balanced to the penny (as always ;-) in Money I was off by $22.17 in Fortora regardless of the fact everything appears to be perfectly duplicated with Money, right down to the current balance. I spent the better part of an hour trying to track down the issue to no avail. In fairness it may be something simple and something I did, but I've never had a problem reconciling an account in Money in the 9-years I've been using it.
Final thoughts..... it's a decent bit of software. Perhaps a bit over-priced, but one must keep in mind it's for an Apple computer and options are truly limited out there. It's neat and tidy and pretty easy to use. Sets up quickly and efficiently. It can handle all of your day-to-day personal transactions readily. But it's price and questionable customer support (in my personal experience) leave me to pass on this product. -
"excellent program, tremendous support"
Version: Fortora Fresh Finance 1.4.6
Pros
The program is easy to use and set up
Cons
There are still some growing pains--but they are rapidly being corrected.
Summary
Not only is fortora a powerful and easy to use Financial program for the Mac, the support is incredible. I had a specific problem with one financial institution and the developer kept emailing me with instructions and ultimately issued a new (free) update to the program in order to deal with my problem. I can't say enough about the incredible support by the people at fortora.
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"The program lost all my financial data. No support"
Version: Fortora Fresh Finance 1.4.3
Pros
When it was working the program was reasonably fast and easy to use. For the simple financial tasks in my household (expense tracking, budgeting, etc.) it did the job fine.
Cons
It developed an error where it stopped working and is unable even to access my data backups. Absolutely no tech support available.
Summary
A few weeks ago the program developed an error which prevented me from accessing any of my data. It wouldn't let me access the backups either. Re-installing the program did nothing. Worst of all, 4 emails sent to tech support have all gone unanswered. The company's website claims in several places that they offer phone support but there are no phone numbers on the site and it's impossible to find a listing on the internet. Some rigorous searching pulled up a phone number on an old press release which goes straight to a Fortora voicemail box that is full and can take no more messages. Consumer reviews from a few years ago talk about how wonderful the tech support is but now it seems to be non-existant. I'm wondering if the company has gone out of business but can find no news about them on the Internet. Do NOT use this product.
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"good Mac personal money package like Microsoft Money"
Version: Fortora Fresh Finance 1.4.2
Pros
Simple to set up and use
Good screen interface
Easy to have multiple accounts
Decent reports
Easy to import .qif filesCons
Difficulty importing .csv files that I still can't fix
Summary
If you are looking for a simple MAc based Personal Accounts package this is one of the best that I have tried. It has an easy to understand set up and import .qif files very easily.
The interface is uncluttered and does not try to be too complicated. The basics seem to work well and are quite intuitive for a Microsoft Money user.
Have had difficulty importing .csv files which could be a problem since that is the main type of file produced by my bank. Am pretty sure it is in the set up of the import rather than a feature that just does not work.
Better than the other Mac based personal accounts packages that I have tried, and there are a few. -
"Could this be the Quicken killer?"
Version: Fortora Fresh Finance 1.3.4
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
Presently, I am using Moneydance as it was the only viable alternative to Quicken. I like the program, but it has some rough edges, including the UI.
I've just become aware of Fortora and at first blush, it is remarkably simple, easy to use and flexible. It has all the features the home user will need except for portfolio management. I have no doubt that feature will be coming.
For me, the biggest test for a finance package is the direct connect to banking services. Fortora was able to connect perfectly, recognizing all of my different accounts, checking, savings and credit card. Even Moneydance couldn't do that for me. It also accurately identified duplicate transactions and gave me the opportunity to skip them during the import.
I'm going to continue testing, but I must say this product looks very promising. It also is fully portable, works in Mac or Windows and provides you with a license on up to 3 computers! After hearing how gutted Intuit's new Mac product will be, I think I'm going to be in the market for some Fresh Finance! -
"Excellent finance program. Easy to understand and use."
Version: Fortora Fresh Finance 1.1.5
Pros
Easy to set up and learn. Everything is designed where you can view most everything you need to see on one page. If you need help with the program, it is available and the response is exceptional. They are updating the program on a regular basis.
Cons
There is nothing not to like.
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