applications software

DataViz Documents To Go 5.0

Rating:

By Maggie Buerger

September 30, 2002

So you finally bought a Palm Pilot? Congrats. It’s perfect for keeping track of all your phone numbers, addresses, and appointments.

Too bad it can’t do anything with those Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files that are so crucial to your, uh, professional well-being. Don’t sweat it. DataViz, has the answer for you. You can take your Documents To Go. And you can sync them to your PC or Macintosh, and e-mail them, too.

Palm vs. Pocket. When it comes to personal organizers, personal digital assistants (PDA), or whatever you want call them, there are two ways to go: Palm or Pocket PC.

In the Palm corner is Palm itself, with it’s Palm Pilot line; Handspring, with its Visor and Treo products; and Kyocera, with its outstanding combination PDA and cell phone (read Reference Guide’s review). The Pocket PC platform, which runs on a trimmed-down version of Windows, is represented by Hewlett-Packard, with its Jornada and Compaq iPaq; Casio, with it’s Casseopeia; and a combination PDA and cell phone from T-Mobile.

	Create Word-compatible documents. Sync them to your PC or e-mail them.

Naturally, those Pocket PC product include Pocket versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Your Palm, however, is out of luck. Or so it would seem.

Documents To Go is a complete applications suite that runs on your Palm-compatible handheld device. You can create and edit Word-compatible documents, Excel-compatible spreadsheets, and PowerPoint-compatible presentations, and do it all right on your handheld. That’s pretty darn amazing. When you’re done, you can upload the documents to your desktop next time you sync.

The spreadsheet supports a long list of arithmetic functions.

Installation isn’t difficult. First, you install the CD-ROM to your PC or Macintosh, then you download the applications to your handheld device. If your handheld uses removable memory cards, you can install some portions of the software on them. That will keep the maximum amount of memory free on your device for storing data. We didn’t have any problems installing the software, just be sure you follow the instructions closely.

The product requires 2 Mbytes of free memory on your handheld, plus memory for any documents you create or edit. If your handheld contains only 8 Mbytes of memory and has no expansion-card capability, you may find yourself deleting those useless games that people tend to beam to each other at cocktail parties.

Pint-size. Now let’s be honest, you can’t expect any handheld, with it’s teeny screen and lack of keyboard, to function like a full-size laptop of desktop. And you’d be right.

The fact is you can do many of the things that Word, Excel, and PowerPoint can do. Formatting. Fonts. Charts. Financial analyses. But it’s certainly not as convenient. And you can see only a very small portion of a document at one time. But that aside, it’s also very true that Documents To Go is a remarkable application that makes the previously impossible possible. If you’re not sure, the DataViz Web site offers a free trial version.

Three editions. DataViz offers three versions of Documents To Go. The Premium edition is the only one to buy. The others come installed on various handhelds, enticing you to get hooked and then upgrade. You probably will.

• Premium Edition. The flagship of the Documents To Go family, offers the ability to create, synchronize, and edit word processing, spreadsheet and presentation files on the handheld, as well as synchronize e-mail with attachments, PDF files, pictures, and Excel-like charts.

• Professional Edition. This product lets you create, edit, and synchronize word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation files on the handheld. Palm includes this version with many of its Palm handhelds.

• Standard Edition. This version lets you use Word and Excel files on the handheld. Sony includes the Standard Edition on many of its Clié handhelds.

If you own a Palm-compatible handheld, you must have Documents To Go. It’s just that simple.<