By Heather Wardell
As a writer, I try to have access to my works-in-progress at all times so I can revise a sticky section or just re-visit a part I particularly like. Of course, my files are all on my laptop, but I don't take my laptop everywhere with me. My Palm, though, is an ever-present companion, and DataViz's Documents To Go allows me to work anywhere I choose.
Now, we've talked about Documents To Go before, which makes sense, since the product's been around and updated year after year for years. This time, I'll be talking about Documents To Go 10, and it's been substantially updated.
The product
Documents To Go consists of two visible parts and several invisible ones. The visible pieces are the Palm software (also available for Windows Mobile and Blackberry) and a desktop companion used to manage the files on the handheld. The Palm software invokes the invisible pieces, which handle editing and viewing for Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files, and viewing of PDF files. Changes you make to an editable file are integrated into your computer's version of the file when you synchronize your handheld.
Figure A shows the desktop component.
FIGURE A
The desktop component of Documents To Go allows you to add files quickly and easily to your handheld. (click for larger image)
As the right side of the graphic shows, Documents To Go is able to access your files from their original directories. Other document managers I've tried required all the files to be in a directory managed by the program, which made it impossible to keep the files organized in my usual way. Documents To Go's method is far more intuitive and functional.
When you add a new file or edit an existing one on the desktop, Documents To Go marks the file as 'Needs Sync' or 'Modified' respectively, so that you can tell at a glance which files are not up to date.
On the handheld
Most of the action of Documents To Go happens on the handheld, where you edit or review existing files or create new ones. The most current version allows you to edit and create Office 2007 files, but as I'm still using Office 2003 I'm unable to test this integration. With my files, though, Documents To Go does a truly outstanding job of maintaining formatting between my Palm and my computer.
My novel's working files have headers and footers, and some parts have styles set up as well. While Documents To Go does not allow me to edit those elements, I have never once lost any part of them when I've made changes on my Palm, and the files look exactly as they always did on my laptop.
