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Provides: Software registration management

Developer: Outer Level

Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4.8

Price: $19.99

Demo: Limited (1.5MB)

There was a time when I would keep all of my serial numbers, passwords and order numbers in a word processing file. I didn't need anything more than that. Before long, that became too hard to manage, and I moved on to a spreadsheet. I hate spreadsheets, though, so I started using FileMaker Pro. That was great, until the time I accidentally wiped out my hard drive and lost both FileMaker and my serial number document. My fault for not backing up, but that's not what this article is about.

As I set about reinstalling all of my software, I wondered whether it was worth it to install FileMaker Pro, seeing that I only used it for that serial number document and to keep track of my music. Surely, there are smaller applications for that, right, that are easier to use and don't cost as much to upgrade?

Yes, of course there are. License Keeper, perfect example. It's smaller and it's less expensive, and it's more intuitive. Unfortunately, it's also lacking some basic features that I was able to set up in FileMaker Pro.

I don't want to start out with a restriction, but it leads to the way License Keeper works; you can only manage your software serial numbers with License Keeper; no passwords, unfortunately, which will be a big letdown for those who prefer to use different passwords with each website at which they register. This isn't because License Keeper doesn't let you enter that information, but because their method of organizing the information is aimed specifically at software, widgets and such.

There are manual and semi-automatic methods of getting programs into License Keeper. If you click the New Item button, an entry is created, and you then fill in all the fields. You can also manually drag the program's icon into the display window. You can also choose to import an application, which automatically places the icon and version number, as well as a couple other items, such as the web address of the developer. You still have to add the bulk of the information yourself, the most important of which, of course, is the serial number itself. License Keeper allocates a lot of space to this, which is very helpful for those programs that have exceptionally long serial numbers or those that also want you to enter purchase keys, user names, etc. All of that can be stored right there with the serial number.

Along with the software's title, version number and serial number, License Keeper allows you to keep track of other bits of info across five tabs. Attachments is an exceptionally handy area where you can literally attach e-mails, documents (such as manuals) and more to the file's entry. It's a great way to gain easy access to all files associated with the software, no matter where they're stored on your computer.

The Registration tab is simply a place to enter your personal information regarding who owns the registration, which is helpful if the program may be registered to a different user, your company, etc. You can elect to have License Keeper automatically import this information from Address Book, but you'll have to overwrite that often if you have multiple users or different information for different programs. The Publisher tab stores the name, URL and support e-mail of the publisher. The name and web address are usually pulled in when you import a program, but not always, and they occasionally need some tweaking. Clicking on the arrow buttons next to these fields will launch your web browser or e-mail program and automatically take you where you need to go.

You can enter the date of order, price and order number in the Purchase Info tab, and the options are rounded out with a Notes tab that has room for any other information you want to keep with the program.

One other tremendous feature is the ability to scan your e-mails for serial numbers. If you import or attach an e-mail to the application, License Keeper will find the serial number in the e-mail and ask if you want to place it in the serial number field (License Keeper supports Mail, Entourage and PowerMail; other programs can be accessed, but only by importing text files exported by the program).

To back up your information, you can export an XML library that can then be imported back into License Keeper. This is all well and good, but it would really be great if this information could be automatically published to another source, such as .mac. It would also be great if it could exported to a text or spreadsheet document that could be printed out for handy reference.

As mentioned above, my main issue with License Keeper is that it only supports programs, plug-ins, preference panes and Dashboard widgets. I would like to be able to store my passwords here, as well, for the various websites that require them. Perhaps this is left out because License Keeper itself doesn't offer password protection. Anything you store in this program can be read by anyone who opens it unless you use a third party password protection program, such as Apple's built-in FileVault.

A more minor gripe is that all the programs are displayed alphabetically in the application window. You can bypass the need to scroll to a particular program by typing the name in the Search Window, but I'd prefer if there was a way to categorize the programs: games, internet apps, graphic apps, etc. That would make the program much more efficient.

Although License Keeper isn't a perfect solution, you can work around most of its few limitations. My personal gripes outside, the program is clean, it's stable, and it does what it says it can do at a price that's worth it. If you're tired of keeping your software registration information in word processing documents or buried under dozens of e-mails, License Keeper may be just what you need. Why not give the demo a try and find out?

Download License Keeper.