Docs to Go versus Quickoffice

[luigi]

I'd like to have opinions from differents users, upon which is the best between these two suites. I'm using DOcs to go 4 (professional), but I saw that there is a version 5 premium. Do anyone knows the difference in the main programs? I.e., in Word and excel, given that they bundle, with 5 premium, Mail and Charts programs.
I saw also that Quickoffice 6 costs less than Docs to go, and at least Quickword looks quite complete.
What users have to say? Which one do they prefer and why?

Luigi

[OldBlue]

I upgraded to Version 5 and can now edit PowerPoint presentations on my m505. I can also create new PowerPoint presentations on my Palm, although I finish them on my PC re addition of graphics, editing the Slide Master, etc. Several improvments have been made to Word To Go and Sheet To Go, too. Version 5 also supports hi-res and Palm OS5, so it should work on the Tungsten when it is released in a week or so.

OldBlue

[DrMud]

I have used both. A few years ago I settled on QuickOffice because I thought the conduit to Excel and Word was more reliable. And I thought that QuickWord was easier to use. Since the newer version of QuickWord came out I have concluded that I have little or no need for a powerful, slow, and large app on my Palm. I use my Palm very aggressively and extensively, due in part to some physical limitations I have. It is hard for me to work directly on a PC Keyboard for long periods of time. I can use Grafitti and Fitaly all day on the Palm. Most of my Word files are now written in the Palm's Memo pad and then transferred from Outlook Notes by cut and paste into Word and there fancied up for printing.
Doc

Just a little mud in the water!

[djmangen]

Well, I have both, plus Wordsmith for word processing. As DrMud states, these are all memory hogs and quite bloated, and there are ways to work around them--especially for word processing. With that caveat, however:

1. I use Wordsmith exclusively for word processing on the Palm.
2. I use Quicksheet for Excel.
3. I use Docs predominantly for Powerpoint, although that gets little use on my Palm (PC, now, that's a different story).

Docs to Go may be removed from my Palm before too long.

DJM

[Yunk]

I have tried a bunch of different programs. I like QuickOffice best. I load spreadsheets I need for meetings a can answers questions regarding the calcs, items, etc. I also use this and QuickWord for my class notes for the courses I teach. Loads of fun.

[LLaMona]

I am glad you asked this question. I have Doc to Go ver.4. Came with my Palm 515. I too saw that ver 5 was out. I transfer doc files from my home pc to Palm then hotsync at office. However formating and such gets lost in the transfer.

Would Wordsmith handle this better or is this improved with Doc to go ver.5.

I could as easily email my office email and attach file but truly like using the Palm to transfer back and forth except for the formatting loss.

:confused:

[action49]

The new version of DtG is much better at retaining formatting - I write in bullets much of the time and the new version does that well. Now you can also select a font and font size which is an improvement for Docs. It was a bit of a pain to reformat everything with v4 but this is much better! I really like the Power point presentations and the ability to edit them now too.

Angela

[LLaMona]

That's good to know about bullets. I use a lot as well. I also highlight sections, shading, and that does not transfer all the time. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

I haven't used the program much for Excel but have used it to review Power Point Presentations. Actually didn't know I couldn't edit that with the Palm.

[DrMud]

Quickoffice allows for bullets, transferable formating and editing Power Point.
DrMud

[djmangen]

Originally posted by LLaMona
Would Wordsmith handle this better or is this improved with Doc to go ver.5.


I do not know about DocsToGo V5, but Wordsmith handles this extremely well. If done properly, i.e., you think about your formatting needs in inches of indentation, you can have no changes following a sync.

DJM

[mooreman]

I'm afraid I have to be the odd-man out and disagree with everyone promoting QuickOffice. I tried it out a couple of years ago with whatever version was available at the time and got too frustarted with it losing the text formatting in transfer, scrolling thru a large document took WAY too much time and anytime you make and changes, it wants to compress/decompress "to save time". After I got an M505, I tried Docs to Go on for size, and tho it doesn't have all the neat-o looking "styling" that QuickOffice has, it allows for instant and quick file viewing, you can save the individual files to your expansion card and sync without having to move them back to the handheld's ROM as you do with QuickOffice and overall, my DocsToGo experience has been MUCH less stressful and easier to figure out than Quickoffice was. I recently had occasion to try QuickOffice's newest version thinking maybe they had addressed some of the issues I had, but unfortunately, it wasn't any better than I remembered. In case you're wondering, I use DocsToGo for Excel spreadsheets and for Word text files.

[LLaMona]

Thanks for your response. Decisions!Decisions! Decisions!

I like Doc to GO except when it changes my formatting. Then I have to go in and clean up and I want it the way it was when I transferred it. Sometimes it has even interpeted something as a number in the transfer when it is not a number at all.

That makes it frustrating for me.

I plan to check out QO and the newest version of DtoG this weekend. Hopefully with all the input I will get what I need.

[DrMud]

As I suggested in an earlier post to this thread I think all of the newer versions of "Word on the Palm" apps have grown too large, too slow, and far too complex. In my mind the virtues of the Palm are speed , convenience and simplicity. I use the Palm Memo pad and don't fret the formatting or the spelling while working on the Palm. Once the memo is hotsynced into Outlook on the PC I cut and paste the contents to Word. Once in Word it's easy to edit and format on the big screen.
Doc

[dr_vlurk]

What is good about QuickOffice is that it comes with a speelchecker and a thesaurus... However it doesn't seem to input some characters correctly (those using the "FN" key) using the Logitech TypeAway keyboard... I know that because I write in french very often and need to use "é", "à", "è", etc...

Also it has the ability to compress your documents, move/retreive them directly form your SD/MMC card... It has some nice features.

What is cool from Documents to go is that you have a little bit more options about text formatting and bullets (they can receive number automaticaly, the text can be Justified)...

[BlairMartin]

It's a bit unrealistic to expect to do full-scale word processing on a PDA. The screen is too small for that. For me, it's enough to be able to use a few paragraph styles (spaced paras, bullets, paragraph numbering), tables, and some basic character styles (italic, bold). I don't need spell checking - I can do that later after uploading my docs to my PC.

The same is true for spreadsheets. If I build a spreadsheet on the PDA, it's to use on the PDA, and it has to be simple. I also download reference spreadsheets from my PC. So long as the PDA displays and scrolls it properly, and accepts simple edits, I'm happy.

I'm using DocsToGo 4, and I don't think I need anything beyond that.

Blair Martin