Word and Excel: More Portable Than You Think
Having a hand-held computer often is an asset. But add a keyboard and you’ve got a duo that could cause you to leave your laptop behind.
One good option is the Springboard, developed by ThinkOutside Inc. and marketed by Palm Corp. (https://www.palm.com) and Targus Inc. (https://www.targus.com).
Now if only you could take your Word and Excel files along, at least the ones you need.
Microsoft’s Word and Excel are such standard-bearers that competitors such as Corel Corp.’s WordPerfect and Quattro Pro spreadsheet and Lotus Development Corp.’s WordPro and 1-2-3 spreadsheet take pains to offer file compatibility with Microsoft conventions.
Getting Word and Excel documents from a desktop PC onto a hand-held can be useful in a number of ways: ready reference on the road, or even editing and revision. No, you probably wouldn’t write the great American novel using a Palm or crunch the federal budget on a Pocket PC, but there are times when having the ability to edit can come in handy.
Pocket PC users have it easiest: There are “pocket” versions of Word and Excel built into devices such as the Cassiopeia E-125, the Compaq iPaq H3650 and the Hewlett-Packard Jornada 540. These programs offer the best compatibility between the mobile and desktop devices, keeping more of a document’s formatting and styles than anything else I’ve seen.
But because Pocket PCs account for just 20% or so of all hand-helds in use, the majority of personal digital assistant fanatics, tethered to their Handspring Visors and Palm devices, need some help. Fortunately, that assistance is available.
Word files can be converted to a Palm file format known as Doc, which stands for documents, and read with the Aportis DocReader, a free translator downloaded from Aportis Inc. at https://www.aportis.com. Other shareware firms offer Doc converters in advance of an upcoming Aportis release. With the Aportis reader and a converter--https://www.tucows.com offers several--you can achieve a one-way translation of your documents from desktop to Palm.
There are products that go further. Cutting Edge Software Inc. of Dallas recently released the $40 QuickOffice suite of applications for the Palm, including Quickword, Quicksheet and Quickchart, the latter for charting spreadsheets displayed on the PDA. The program includes file converters to translate Word and Excel files from and to a PC, but without the fancy type formatting that Pocket Excel and Pocket Word users find on Microsoft-based hand-helds.
Although the programs can do much more than read files, the sheer ability to take a document from the PC and both read and edit it on a hand-held is something.
In operation, I found Quickword to be a bit easier than Quicksheet, which balked, for example, at a number with more than 10 digits. Ten digits usually is more than enough to cover my budget, but having this limitation is a bit annoying.
By contrast, Quickword ably displayed the various Microsoft Word files I sent it without any hiccups. Information on the program can be found at https://www.cesinc.com.
For those seeking the utmost in Microsoft compatibility on a Palm, plus the ability to work with Corel and Lotus data files, Documents to Go Professional Edition, released last fall by DataViz (https://www.dataviz.com), lets you download and edit Word, WordPerfect, WordPro, text and Doc files, as well as Excel, Quattro Pro and Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets. While lacking the programs themselves, the DataViz program ably handles the editing functions as well as synchronization of the files with the desktop version.
Although the Palm can’t duplicate all the fonts of a PC, Documents to Go file conversions retain such attributes as boldface and italics, as well as large or small type sizes for headlines and the like. The program works superbly and although the most expensive at $70, it seems destined to become a corporate standard in enterprises in which the Palm platform reigns.
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Mark A. Kellner is editor at large for Government Computer News and hosts “Mark Kellner on Computers” at https://www.adrenalineradio.com from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursdays.
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The Skinny
Aportis DocReader
Price: Free download from https://www.aportis.com
Publisher: Aportis
The good: It’s free
The bad: Simplest of the bunch
Bottom line: Portable, and free
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QuickOffice
Price: $40
Publisher: Cutting Edge Software
The good: Converts Excel and Word files easily
The bad: Some formatting lost
Bottom line: Solid
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Documents to Go Professional Edition
Price: $70
Publisher: DataViz
The good: Most features
The bad: Most expensive
Bottom line: Best in its class
