FileMaker, Inc. (http://www.filemaker.com)– a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple — says more than one million templates have been downloaded from the Bento Template Exchange, since its launch in June 2009.
The templates, available in 10 languages, are free to download and give people real-world examples of the many uses of FileMaker’s personal databases: Bento for Mac, iPad and iPhone. Over 1,070 templates — most created by actual Bento users — are available on the Exchange for everything from templates for small businesses designed to make it easy to managing contacts, projects and events to templates for coin collecting and managing a Cub Scout pack to beer lists, pet info, exercise logs and job-hunting. Among the most popular templates are contact and customer manager, bill tracking, project manager, family organizer, and lecture notes.
Bento 4 for Mac is required to download and import templates, but once added on the Mac, templates can be synchronized with Bento 1.1 for iPhone and Bento 1.1 for iPad (each sold separately on the iTunes App store for US$5). Bento 4 for Mac costs $49 US and is available directly from the FileMaker web store, the Mac App Store, and in Apple retail stores. Until Nov. 18, owners of Bento 1, 2 and 3 for Mac can upgrade to Bento 4 for Mac for $9.
