Microsoft Office applications on T3

A

atomic punk

New member
Hello all. I am new to this forum. I have been in the background reading posts on and off for a while now. I finally have decided to register so that I can ask a question and seek the knowledge of the forum.

I have been a Palm OS device user for some time. Not because I wanted to but because I had to. I sell devices for measureing radiation from x-ray generators used for medical purposes. The device is called the Barracuda and it uses a Palm for a display device. If you want to see it you can go here www.rti.se

I have always been a lover of the HP200LX and still have two of them and still use them. They still have power that cannot be found in other palm type devices.

I have used Palm IIIc, Handera 330, Tungsten T2 and have just purchased a T3. Both the T2 and the T3 came and will come with Documents to go Proffesional edition. I am considering upgrading to the Premium edition for the T3. I have read up on it and from all they say on their web site it will read native file formats for Word, Excel and PP. I am gathering that I can create these documents on the T3 in their native file format as well and they can then be read directly on my PC.

Is any one using this software and are these true statements that I have written above?

What software is better, DataViz's Documents to Go or iGo's Quickoffice? The Handera 330s that I have used had Quickoffice on them. How do the two packages differ and how are they similar? Which one is better? I am assuming that one has strengths over the other and visa versa. Finally are there any other Microsoft Office programs that are out there and you find to be much better than either of these two?

One other question for the time being and that has to do with cases for the T3. I have seen some posts on this. I want to get a case for it. I see that there are some good leather cases out available which you can hot sync with the case on the T3. Do you know of any cases that allow hot syncing but also allow access to the two attachment points on the back of the T3. We use those to attach the T3 to the Barracuda. I use the T3 for demonstrating the product all the time and it seems like it could be a bear to pull the T3 in and out of some of these cases. Maybe that is not the case (no pun intended) after all. I want to protect the T3 as best as possible. I never had a case for my T2 and it got dropped out of my pocket on occasions and it got thrown into my bag etc. By the way the T2 still works and is being used for one of our other demo Cuda's.

Thanks for the input.

Robpm
 
I just looked at one more application available out there. Iambic Quickoffice Premier. How does this one rate against the other two which I have already asked questions about in my previous post.

Thanks

Robpm
 
I have used both Documents To Go and Quick Office. Quick Office Premium also has native file support. However, in addition to Word and Excel native files, it will let you view native Powerpoint files. However, you cannot create Powerpoint files from scratch.

Documents To Go Premium is a more complete and flexible solution in my opinion. Unlike Quick Office, you can create tables, and you can create slideshows. Quick Office has a nice looking interface. But Documents To Go has what counts. Also, Dataviz offers great support for their products. Quick Office support is terrible because Iambic recently sold Quick Office to iGo to develop and distribute. This has made it difficult, if not impossible, for customers to upgrade and register. I gave up on them because the support was very bad.
 
I'll vote for DTG Premium as well. It will let you read and create MS Office documents in their native formats so it's easy to e-mail the document as attachment without conversion. It's a very stable program and Dataviz is good about fixing bugs quickly. I've uses quickOffice as well and found the it just didn't do as good a job faithfully reading MS Office documents, especially for Word with embedded tables. Iambic has not had a good track record of fixing bugs on a timely basis and they want you to pay for "upgrades" which are really bugfixes.
 
Docs to Go Wins. I didn't care for Quick Office. The Desktop PC interface is VERY "tweakable" with Docs2Go and the spreadsheets (which I use exclusively) are terrific. Very few "corrupt sheets" like I had with TinySheet (now ALSO discontinued by Iambic!) although I mis the smaller spreadsheet sizes.

Now for the "however" Part: As far as native Excel on the handheld I'm glad you brought that up to the Forum because I've had a question of late. I start most sheets on the HANDHELD, then transfer. I OCCASIONALLY start a sheet on the PC and sync it. In both instances they're saved as Sheet To Go Format.

My girlfriend's Father uses Excel BIG TIME through work, and has them as NATIVE excel files on the HANDHELD. Just for laughs, I put a native Excel sheet on my SD Card to see if D2G (Sheet2Go) would read it. It DID NOT FIND IT. Then I moved the file to the handheld - and it still didn't find it. I'm sure that's because the "Documents" file hadn't "seen" the new file name. Same thing happens if you delete a spreadhseet, reinstall it through the HotSync Manager or restore it from the SD Card - it won't show up in the Docs2Go application.

My question is, then - do ALL placements of sheets to the handheld have to be done through the Desktop Conduit? I heard on here (I forget from who) that you could just slam 'em on the card and go - that isn't working for me. There are, I know, apps out there that "designate" a certain .prc to handle files on external media - is that what I need? I would think it's quicker to transfer a number of excel files to the card without hotsyncing - but I can't get it to work.

Alas, waiting an answer on that point, let me say that the TinySheet PC interface was a NIGHTMARE, and nothing I've seen is as flexible as Docs2Go PC Conduit. If anything it's "TOO SAFE" and gives you messages about "document was changed on both, so here's both, and pick the one you don't want." This happens often to me because I have an eraser program WIPE the docs to go sync folder (not a big fan of spreadsheets unencrypted on the PC) and as a result upon hotsync it "believes" the desktop version has been changed. Just a note for edificiation.

Good luck and welcome to the forum - you can't go wrong with a T3 and as far as I know they're still shipping with the Docs2Go INCLUDED. Be sure and get any UPDATES (important issues resolved, especially Word2Go/crashes) from DataViz.
 
Thank you everyone for your input. I appreciate it very much. You can learn so much. I did not know that Iambic had gotten together with iGo etc. This is helpful information. It looks like Doc2go is the way to go.

Here is another question for you. Is there a way to use Excel on the T3 like you can on a PC? Let me explain better what I am asking. I do not mean this regarding the interface etc. Although I do have some questions regarding the formulas and how much of the capabilities there are in Doc2Go verses Excel on the PC etc. Maybe someone could comment on that.

At present when using the Barracuda which I mentioned in my first post we have a direct RS232 link with the Palm and the Palm controls the Barracuda. There is a piece of software which was written for the Palm called QABrowser. It has a pretty slick interface that is easy to use. We also have a log function in the QAB which logs the data in a , delimited file. When the hotsync is performed the file comes over to the PC and there is a macro which was created by the programmers that runs in Excel and if you run the macro it will pull the file right into Excel on the PC.

In addition the Barracuda can be hooked directly to a PC using the RS232 on the PC. There is a piece of software called oRTIgo which the user can control the Barracuda with. One of the nice features is the ability to have your data go directly into Excel in what ever cell you select with your cursor or mouse. i.e. when the user makes an x-ray all the data gets put directly into the cells within the spreadsheet that the user has opened.

Now finaly to the question. Does any one know if is possible with the Doc2Go version of Excel to do something similar only do it using the Palm and the QABrowser software that we run on the Palm? This would be my ultimate goal.

Thank you again for the valuable input.

Sincerely

Robpm
 
Paul,

DTG docs do have to be added to the PC or the Palm through the DTG conduit to be recognized. If you don't do this, DTG doesn't know the source of the document and has no way to keep changes in sync.

Rob,

You're getting into some very specialized software here and I certainly don't have a good answer for you. You should drop an e-mail to Dataviz anout this. they are prtty good about answering customer inquiries and I'm sure would be able to give you a more authoratative answer than any of use here.
 
I use Excel & Work extensively, on PC at work, home office, and on T2. When I want to use a pure Excel file, e.g., at work (where I do not Hotsync), I use a card reader/writer to copy the file to the DOCUMENTS directory on my SD card- and invariably, D2Go searches and lists the file, which I can then work with on the T2. (Works the other way, too, as long as you elect to use native format when you create the file on your handheld.

I am still blown away by this functionality.

I too evaluated QuickOffice a while ago- besides the native implementation, Excel-like functions are much easier to access and apply within D2Go.

Good luck-
 
Hadn't thought of that - put it in the Docs2Go Folder, not SOMEWHERE ELSE!!

I swear to God, If I don't get the meds RIGHT ON THE HOUR. . . . .

Thanks! I'll try that tonight.
 
I have done the same thing without any trouble. In fact, I have been using Card Export to turn my T3 into a card reader/writer.

It has allowed me to connect the T3 to my office computer and then copy files back and forth without having HotSync installed on the desktop computer.

Using Documents To Go, I have also been able to beam native files from my T3 to a Pocket PC. Unfortunately, Pocket PCs cannot beam the native files back to a Palm device yet, unless they get a third party program such as Peacemaker Pro.
 
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