Get your documents in hand

Road warriors who dislike lugging around a notebook computer will perk up when they hear about DataViz Inc.'s latest software.

Documents To Go 4.0 enables users to create, view and edit Microsoft Corp.'s Word and Excel documents on any handheld device running the Palm Inc. Operating System 3.0 or higher. And with this new version, users can view—but not edit—Microsoft PowerPoint files.

Documents To Go 4.0 also includes expansion card support. Documents, spread.sheets and presentations can be saved onto MultiMediaCard or Secure Digital media, which can then be used as a miniature floppy disk for sharing. The program supports infrared beaming as well, so you can easily transfer files to another handheld.

In addition to those features, the package contains special viewer programs that compress large Word and Excel documents for quick and easy viewing. An add-on kit contains two additional products:

n DataViz Mail, which allows you to view e-mail attachments on the Palm OS and works with Microsoft's Outlook and Outlook Express and Lotus Development Corp.'s Notes.

n PDF To Go, which allows you to view Adobe Systems Inc. Acrobat PDF files.

With the PowerPoint viewer, called Slideshow To Go, you can navigate your presentation in outline, speaker notes and slide show views. The slide show view includes graphics and all formatting. The program requires PowerPoint 97, 2000 or XP.

Sheet To Go, the spreadsheet application, is compatible with Lotus 1-2-3 and Quattro Pro in addition to Excel. It supports more than 110 functions, including logical, financial and statistical work.

One special feature of Documents To Go is its DocSync technology, which enables you to make changes to a document on the handheld without losing the original formatting features, such as paragraph styles, text boxes and embedded objects.

Those features can't be edited on the handheld, but basic text formatting is available.

All of the Documents To Go programs are easy to use and intuitive to navigate. They are also fast—we experienced no delays even when viewing PowerPoint files. The desktop software is easy to use as well. To synchronize documents to a handheld, simply drag the file into the Documents To Go window on the desktop. The desktop application then converts the file into Palm-compatible format and synchronizes everything during the next HotSync.

Documents To Go is compatible with Windows 95/98, 2000, NT 4.0 and Me. Although the handheld requires Palm OS 3.0 or higher, Slideshow To Go requires Palm OS 3.1.

The package is also compatible with Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh systems, although the DataViz Mail feature is not available for Mac users.

Palm will bundle Documents To Go 4.0 free with Palm m500 series handhelds. Customers who have already purchased Documents To Go 3.0 or a Palm m500 series handheld can download Version 4.0 free of charge for up to 30 days from the date of purchase at www. dataviz.com.

Documents To Go may not deliver a lot of bells and whistles, but it does a simple job—and for some users, a critical job—very well.Documents To Go Professional Edition 4.0

Score: A

DataViz Inc. (800) 733-0030 www.dataviz.com

Documents To Go costs $70. For those who want to move supported data files to their handheld devices, Documents To Go is a must-buy.