How it works

From download to a calm morning.

A short manual: what happens on day one, what MapleDesk does for you every day after, and what never changes.

Day oneOn your own, or in a 90-minute session with us

On your own Steps 1 to 5, at your pace

Most practices are done in an afternoon, free during the 30-day trial. Everything below tells you how.

Download MapleDesk

With us, in 90 minutes

0:00Install and connect, together
0:15Your client list brought in, and checked with you
0:30An hour of training on your own files: the morning list, a secure link, an invoice, a backup test

Ask about a setup session

Install it like any app.

Download it for Mac or Windows from the home page. MapleDesk installs in a minute, runs free for 30 days, and keeps itself up to date after that. Your plan's code turns it on for good.

Which computers does it run on?

MacmacOS 13 Ventura or later, Apple silicon or Intel
WindowsWindows 10 or 11, 64-bit
iPhone, iPad, AndroidNot as an app. Your clients use their phones for secure links, in any browser
Linux, ChromebookNot supported
InternetOnce, to start the trial. After that only for secure links, updates and renewing your plan

Time: About a minute
You'll need: A Mac or a Windows PC

Connect your firm.

When you choose a plan, we email you a one-time connection code. Enter it and it turns on your plan, Solo or Practice, and renews itself in the background whenever MapleDesk is online.

No code yet? You get 30 days to try everything first. After that MapleDesk keeps all your work readable until you connect.

Your first 30 days

Day 1Install. Everything works.
Day 30The trial ends.
Read-onlyNothing is lost. You can still look everything up.
Your codeEnter it, and everything works again.

What if I'm offline?

MapleDesk works offline. Your plan stays on for 45 days without the internet, and renews by itself the next time MapleDesk is online.

Time: About a minute
You'll need: The email with your code

Lock it with your passphrase.

Choose a passphrase and your practice is encrypted with it, on your own computer. Nobody else holds a copy, including us.

Keep the passphrase somewhere safe: a forgotten one can't be recovered.

What if I forget my passphrase?

Nobody can recover it, not even us. If someone on your team forgets theirs, an owner gives them a new one. If the owner forgets, you can restore a backup whose passphrase you know.

Time: Two minutes
You'll need: A passphrase you'll remember

Move your clients in.

Bring your clients over from a spreadsheet. With setup, we move your records in with you and spend an hour on training, so you start on familiar ground.

Download the import template (CSV)

Which files can I bring in?

Excel, Numbers, Google Sheets, CSV, contacts (.vcf) and JSON. MapleDesk guesses which column is which, you check its guesses, and one click undoes the whole import.

Time: An afternoon, or 90 minutes with us
You'll need: Your client list, as a spreadsheet

Add your team.

On the Practice plan, each person gets their own name and passphrase. Staff work on clients and files; owners also manage people, encryption and backups. Remove someone and MapleDesk changes the key, so their old passphrase opens nothing.

Can we use two computers?

Not yet: today your practice lives on one computer, and everyone signs in there with their own passphrase. To move to a new computer, restore your backup on it.

Plan: Practice
Roles: Owner or staff

Every dayThe work MapleDesk takes off your plate

Open one list.

What's past due, the IRCC deadlines this week, whose status or passport expires next, and who still owes you documents. Work down it, and the leaf turns green.

When: Each morning
Instead of: Sticky notes, a calendar and a spreadsheet

Ask once, receive safely.

Start a file and its document checklist is ready. Send your client one secure link; what they send from their phone arrives locked, straight to your MapleDesk.

Does my client need an app?

No. The link opens in their phone's web browser. There's nothing to install and no account to make.

When: Whenever a file needs documents
Your client needs: Their phone and your link

Bill and keep the record.

Invoices come out with the right tax for your client's province. The records the CICC expects, from retainers to client property, are kept as you go.

Are IRCC's fees taxed?

No. IRCC's own fees go on the invoice without tax; only your professional fees are taxed.

When: As you go
Covers: GST, HST, or GST and QST

AlwaysWhere your clients' information lives

Your client's phoneLocks each document before it leaves

Our relayHolds only locked bytes it can't open, and deletes them once you collect them

Your computerThe only place they're unlocked

Backed up, and yours.

MapleDesk backs up to a folder you choose and can test that a backup restores. Your clients' files stay on your computer, never on our servers.

A document your client sends waits on our relay only as locked bytes we can't open, and is deleted once you collect it (30 days at most).

How do updates work?

MapleDesk checks once a day and tells you when an update is ready; it installs when you say so. Every update is signed by MapleDesk, your data is never part of one, and a safety copy is made the first time a new version runs.

Where: A folder you choose
On our servers: 0 client files, ever

If you ever leave.

Export your clients, files and payments as spreadsheets, your deadlines to any calendar, and a full backup, whenever you like. Even after a trial ends or a plan stops, everything stays readable and exportable. Nothing is ever deleted.

Formats: CSV, calendar (.ics) and a full backup
Cost to leave: Nothing

For the careful readerHow your clients' information is protected.

Encryption: AES-256-GCM, on your computer. The key comes from your passphrase (PBKDF2 with SHA-256, 310,000 rounds).
Each person: Has their own key pair (ECDH P-256) that opens the practice's data. Removing someone replaces the data key.
Secure links: Documents are encrypted on your client's phone before they leave. Our relay holds only encrypted bytes and deletes them once you collect them, 30 days at most.
Updates: Installed only when signed with MapleDesk's own update key (on a Mac, also by our Apple Developer ID). Your data is never part of an update.

Records kept as you work

Retainer dates, and the signed agreement on each file's checklist
Client property: what you received, when, and when you returned it
Invoices and payments, with the tax for each province
Who did what, in the activity log
Closed files kept and archived, not deleted

A note from the founder

I built MapleDesk for consultants who run a practice out of spreadsheets, sticky notes and inboxes, and still never miss a date.

Your clients trust you with their passports, their status in Canada and their money. So MapleDesk keeps all of it on your own computer, encrypted with a passphrase only you know, and it never asks you to trust a cloud you can't see.

If something doesn't work the way your practice does, write to me at hello@getmapledesk.com and tell me.

Mehakdeep SinghFounder, MapleDesk

Before day one.

Four things to have ready, so setup takes an afternoon or less. Tick them off as you go; this page remembers on this device.

Export your client listFrom Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets. Names, programs and expiry dates are enough to start.
Choose your passphraseSomething long you'll remember, and a safe place to keep a written copy.
Pick a folder for backupsAn external drive, or another folder you trust.
Keep your code email handyNo code yet? Start the 30-day trial and add it later.

See it on your own files.

A 20-minute live test. Or write to hello@getmapledesk.com.

Book a live test