Docs2Go to PPC equivalent

[biglouis]

So far I am incredibly underwhelmed by the native PPC Word and Excel applications, versus the Docs2Go viewers I had on my Treo 600.

Apart from the obvious statement that MS must have their heads up their whatsits, what is the best document/spreadsheet/presentation program for PPC?

TIA for any advice

BigLouis

[Cybrid]

http://www.softmaker.de/product_en.htm

[yankeejeep]

Westtek's ClearVue Suite is a good choice if you are interested in viewing MS Office docs in their native formats. The addition of HP Mobile Printing (free) or Westtek JetCET (reasonable, with an added connection option), you will be able to print the docs directly from your PPC to a variety of standard printers.

To work with MS Office docs in their native formats, I agree that SoftMaker's TextMaker (Word docs) and PlanMaker (Excel docs) are the way to go. I think that the latest version of Pocket Slideshow will work with PowerPoint presentations without conversion. I have no issues with Adobe's new version of Reader for PPC (free) when it comes to viewing PDF files, although there are significant problems reported by some. And while there are several good WM database apps that read Access tables, there is no app that can work with a full desktop Access database application - module and macro coding is typically not supported.

[cscullion]

Let's take this a step further. On Palm, I used Documents to Go. Now, on PPC, I use TextMaker and PlanMaker. Fine.

With Palm, on the desktop, there is the Documents To Go application. I can drag and drop Word and Excel files to it, set up a category for each document, and choose whether it is stored in Palm memory or SD card. The documents on my desktop are scattered around in various directories, but are organized by category on the Palm. When I change the file on the Palm, the desktop file gets updated at the next HotSync. If a file is changed on the desktop, the Palm version gets updated on the next HotSync. If changes are made simulataneously on both devices, a warning is ussed during HotSync, and the file is duplicated on both devices, both sets of changes intact.

What is the equivalent process in PPC-ville?

1- How do identify (to ActiveSync I assume?) the files to be synced between desktop and PPC?

2- How do I organize them on the PPC?

3- Once the above is accomplished, will changes sync between the two devices?

[MleB]

Textmaker seems to show up a lot in articles I've read.

Pocket Word in like a lame duck version of your desktop's WordPad and is pretty appalling. Can't imagine why DataViz didn't create a Docs2Go for Pocket PCs.
Rumour has it that Mobile Word in WinMobile 5 will actually present docs as created - including all formatting and graphs - but I've yet to see a device running the OS to be able to check that out.
Failing that, if you just want to create something on your desktop and have it arrive intact to the PDA (say, for viewing, beaming or adding as an attachment) I suppose you could always use one of the freebie PDF print drivers out there for Word and use Adobe's Pocket Reader on the device.

The whole thing about syncing docs between device and desktop is another issue. Again, Mobile Word might deal with that - but I always found that, even with Docs2Go, there were some formatting issues that were tricky, so I never enabled the process and simply preferred to manually update as needed.