# T-Quoter, FastManager or Estimate?



## Pwear (Mar 7, 2008)

I'm looking hard for shop management software but need some direction from those with some experience. 

We do primarily screen printing, vinyl decals/stickers and signs, and custom heat transfers.

What I'm looking for is a program that does invoicing and payment tracking, job quoting and calculation, job management and scheduling, and just overall shop organization like keeping track of money in/out and current/upcoming jobs. Also, it MUST integrate with quickbooks.

I think each one of the programs in the title work, but which one works the best for my needs?

Thanks for any help.


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## nolantmc (Jan 24, 2008)

Aaron
i do not have tmanager but there is a free download i tried and loved it to death. Just very costly i thoght. Since out new website we really dont need to spend the extra money because it is full funtion for production and so on. Good luck with what ever you choose but i loved the t manager awesome 
tonya


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## Pwear (Mar 7, 2008)

Thanks for the post - are you referring to t-quoter or fastmanager?


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## intercontex (Apr 6, 2009)

I have worked with shops that use Shopworx (Shopworks).


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## HG (Jun 20, 2008)

We use Shopworks and love it. It does everything and more. It's a little expensive and can be difficult to get used to but it's totally worth it. You can download a demo at Shopworks


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## nolantmc (Jan 24, 2008)

sorry i cant type . i meant to say t quoter. it was awesome


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## short5696 (Dec 18, 2008)

Have you looked at T-Boss? I just downloaded the demo and like what I see. Very reasonably priced. Or, maybe to good to be true?


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## Pwear (Mar 7, 2008)

Thanks guys - my problem is that I do decals, signs, banners, etc. as well, so the program would have to be adaptable. I'll check out the suggestions above though, thanks again.


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## irish (Dec 13, 2008)

Personally I would not recommend T-quoter. It was incredibly slow on all of my computers.

Also the software was recently sold to resourcesoftware.com and it is not showing on their website as one of their softwares. I would think that support might be an issue.


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## southlandgraphic (Nov 2, 2006)

irish said:


> Personally I would not recommend T-quoter. It was incredibly slow on all of my computers.
> 
> Also the software was recently sold to resourcesoftware.com and it is not showing on their website as one of their softwares. I would think that support might be an issue.


I don't spend much time on these boards but I wanted to share my take on T-Quoter. We have been a user for 3 years almost.

Honestly, we bought T-quoter when the company that created it still was in the screenprinting business, which was a huge selling point for us. We didn't want to deal with a IT software guy, like we are having to deal with now at resourcesoftware. For a couple months it was good, but then bugs started creeping up. Several times we thought about leaving, but decided to stay when we saw how hard it would be to migrate our data to another system. Aside from being incredibly slow because of a memory leak in the code, there is a known issue that is NOT fixable in the software. Any invoices that you create will forever remain in the "invoices to print" column. Also, some email's that you send out will not send to the customer...and you can only use port 21 email servers, which means GMAIL and allot of other email servers are out. And the bulk mail...don't even try it... because there is no way to stop it from emailing.

Aside from those issues, it is what it is. It has a great feature called the dashboard, which no program has adopted to my knowledge. It has clean looking invoices and art approval forms and has a great feature to make sure you are making money on the job, called "summary of cost". Honestly, we have outgrown the program and have outgrown the support, or lack of it. Resource Software needs to get their act together. I know they just bought this software, but they need to start supporting it.

In my honest opinion, and in closing, if you are a small shop then it is good, and will help you price profitably and not be just another price list low-baller. You will stay in business and you can* export your invoices to Quickbooks, and it does signs, business cards..etc. We used them all. They are just types of work orders that you create- not really that hard.

*Bottom line, it helped us become more profitable...but other than that, your data is trapped inside the program.* It is your call...hope you make the right decision. Oh, FYI, we are still looking for the perfect solution. I like Precise Software, but thats crazy expensive 10K!!!


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## Pwear (Mar 7, 2008)

Thank you, I appreciate the input!


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## short5696 (Dec 18, 2008)

I recently purchased their quote version. Haven't had a chance to really use it but, we were impressed with the trial version. Can't wait to dig into it deeper.


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## JamesE3 (Mar 22, 2006)

I've been using t-quoter for the past 2 years. I've never had problems with invoice pricing. I have had some problems with emails and the dashboard, but it's been minor. If anybody has any problems PM me and I may be able to help you. I can definitely see outgrowing it one day, but the price is right for a small to midsized shop. 

I received an email from resource software about a week ago and it basically stated that they are going to be doing a minor update in the middle of December which will pave the way for more major updates in the future. I think they're finally restructuring the program. Hopefully it will start to be faster. When they first purchased t-quoter they sent out a survey and asked what people like and what they would want to improve or add to the program. I'm sure speed was a major complaint.

It's not a perfect program, but I don't really think I've ever bought a piece of software that was.


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## txscreener (Jan 19, 2008)

You should also check out Teecal. it is very user friendly and you can customize it to your liking. www.teecal.com


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