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QuickOffice Premier 4.5 is essential in turning your S60 device into a multimedia computer

When you buy a Nseries or one of the various other supported Nokia devices found around the world then you will find that the QuickOffice software is preinstalled as the Office document. However, after you launch it and try to create a document you will find that these devices come with the viewing only capability. (The Eseries devices do come with editing capabilities because they are designed for the mobile worker who is more apt to create documents.) This may be fine for the majority of the people, but if you own a device with the viewer capability or with no Office compatible software and you need to create documents, then I recommend you check out the ultimate in S60 mobile Office viewing, creation, and editing. QuickOffice Premier for S60 is now at version 4.5 and includes seamless email integration with Mail for Exchange 2.0, sharper fonts, live voice notes in PowerPoint, and much more. While there may be other S60 Office software, QuickOffice Premier is the only one with PowerPoint editing functionality.
Written by Matthew Miller, Contributing Writer

When you buy a Nseries or one of the various other supported Nokia devices found around the world then you will find that the QuickOffice software is preinstalled as the Office document. However, after you launch it and try to create a document you will find that these devices come with the viewing only capability. (The Eseries devices do come with editing capabilities because they are designed for the mobile worker who is more apt to create documents.) This may be fine for the majority of the people, but if you own a device with the viewer capability or with no Office compatible software and you need to create documents, then I recommend you check out the ultimate in S60 mobile Office viewing, creation, and editing. QuickOffice Premier for S60 is now at version 4.5 and includes seamless email integration with Mail for Exchange 2.0, sharper fonts, live voice notes in PowerPoint, and much more. While there may be other Office software, QuickOffice Premier is the only one with PowerPoint editing functionality. To see for yourself a large number of the available screens in the application then check out my image gallery. As you can see in the complete list of features in QuickOffice Premier 4.5 it is an extremely powerful and functional application. I'll go through much of the software in my review below, but I also recommend you download and try it out yourself (there is a fully functional free 30-day trial available) to see just how extensive and amazing the software just is.


 Image Gallery:There are a ton of functions available in QuickOffice Premier 4.5 and these 35+ shots should help you get a feel for the software.  
Image Gallery: QuickOffice File Manager
 
Image Gallery: Menu options
 

Version history: I remember using QuickWord and QuickSheet many years ago on my Palm and Sony CLIE devices and they do still have Palm versions available. While the software always has been quite powerful, it has come a long ways since 2001 and is now the reigning champion on the S60 platform. Working with Nokia to include QuickOffice on many of their devices was a significant partnership that has resulted in some wonderful improvements in functionality and integration (such as the Mail for Exchange support). I look forward to further updates and personally have no reservations in offering my highest recommendation for the QuickOffice Premier software.

Location selector and File Manager: When you first launch QuickOffice on your device you will be taken to a location selector screen. From here you can choose to continue on to the File Explorer and your internal memory or external memory card. You will also see a Mail for Exchange heading (if you have this application loaded on your device) so you can view/edit any email attachments you may have received. Recent documents are also indexed so you can quickly go to documents you have been working on most recently without navigating through your file structure. The Quickmanager selection takes you to a screen where you can view and download any updates or upgrades for the software, view other Quickoffice products (such as ebooks), or view any offers & promotions for other software.

The File Manager will show you icons in front of documents that indicates what type of document it is, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. You can also create new Quickword, Quicksheet, or Quickpoint documents and new folders if you want to organize your documents in the File Manager beyond the folders you have on your device. You can sort your documents by name, date, size, or type. You can rename, copy, or move them around or even delete a document in the File Manager. You can filter your documents with the Show selection in case you have many documents and need to quickly browse to a selected format. You can also view document properties, send the document (via Bluetooth, IR, post to the web, or via email), view the help file or exit QuickOffice from the Options menu.

Quickword: When you open an existing Word or text file in Quickword the application starts in reading/viewing mode. In previous versions I noticed that some documents took quite some time to open in native format. This latest version is very fast and documents open in seconds. You will see your document in all its glory with tables, highlights, and other advanced formatting. You can switch to page layout in the options menu to see the page breaks and view the document just like it would appear if you printed it out (aka WYSIWYG view). In reading layout the margins are hidden and the text is made more viewable. By selecting zoom the page will change with the current zoom level appearing at the upper left. You simply press up/right or left/down on your directional pad to increase or decrease the zoom level. You can choose to zoom from 100% to 190% in 15% increments. After you have selected your preferred zoom level you press the left soft key to accept and switch to that zoom level.

You can switch to full screen mode, which is handy for viewing as it will make the document take up the entire display and hide the top and bottom menu and heading areas. Full screen is quite useful if you have your device setup with TV-out on a large display too and is great when your are entering text in your document and don't need the menus for special formatting. If you have a large document you may not want to scroll down using the directional pad so you can go to the top, middle, or bottom with the applicable option. You can also search for specific text in your document using find. In the find selection screen you enter your text, select to have the case matched or not, and the direction to search (up or down). Another available option is the save option that lets you name your document, select the location to save it in, and select the type. For Quickword you can save your document as .doc or .txt. Most of the Options menus also have the updates and upgrades, help, and exit choices.

You can also switch to editing mode to make changes to your document. If you select to create a new document in the File Manager then the application starts out in editing mode. You will see that the Options menu changes in editing mode with the first selection the toggle to reading layout. If you are creating a new document or want to add text to an existing document then you simply position the cursor where you want to begin and start entering text. If there is selected text you want to edit then you can select all or use the edit key (button with pencil on it) and the directional pad to select the text you want to edit. This may be even easier to select text once the S60 touch UI devices are available. After selecting some text, then your edit options change to cut, copy, delete, and select all.

Options to insert tables or images are also available in editing mode. If you select to insert a table then you go to a screen to enter the number of rows and columns for the table. If you select to insert an image then a file selector with thumbnails of all the images you have on your device appears and you can quickly select the image you want to insert.

Text can also be formatted as bold, italic, underline, bullet, strikethrough and subscript/superscript. Other formatting options include font choices (Times New Roman, Symbol, Arial, and Tahoma are loaded by default), font size, font color (16 color palette available to select from), and background color (15 color palette available). You can select to align your text to the left, centered or right, define your line spacing, set the space before and after a paragraph, and whether or not to use bullets.

You can check your spelling as long as you have a dictionary loaded on your device (they are available for free with the application). Text can be found & replaced using the same options described above for finding text. Zoom, go to, save, help, updates & upgrades, and exit options are the same as described above in the viewing mode. When you select to close a document or exit the application you are provided with options to save, save as, or discard changes (assuming you made some edits).

Quicksheet: When Quicksheet is launched it opens up in editing mode since there is no view only mode with the full version of QuickOffice Premier. The Quicksheet Calculation Engine provides advanced formula support, 3D references, array formulas, implicit intersection and much more, as described below. The first function in the Options menu is edit cell. You can also activate this functionality by moving to a cell with the directional pad and then pressing in on the center action button. The left soft key options now change into cell editing functions. These include accept changes, operators, insert function, insert cell, insert range, and help. There are 11 common operators in the menu, including addition, subtraction, equals, multiplication, and division. If you select insert function then you will see the following categories of functions, all, common, math & trig, statistical, logical, text, date & time, financial, information, and lookup & reference. I counted a total of 120 functions available in Quicksheet, which should satisfy most mobile needs. The insert range option lets you insert rows, columns, or a range of cells.

When you select edit range the left soft key options again change functionality. With this option you can now edit the range with cut, copy, paste, clear contents, clear formatting, or clear all. Formatting options include bold, cell color, font color, number format (general, number, currency, accounting, date, time, percentage, scientific, and text) and format cells (same options as in Word such as bold, italic, font type, size, and more).

You can go to a cell and select view cell to see a blown up version of the cell. You can select to switch to full screen or zoom. Zoom works like it does in Quickword, except you can go from 80% to 240% in Quicksheet.

Panes can be frozen/unfrozen, rows and columns can be resized or columns can be autofit. You can add worksheet to a single document too. Find & replace functionality is also present. Edit options include the same options as the edit range functions described above. The format options are also the same for the cell as they are for the selected range. You can insert rows or columns in the main Quicksheet interface. Preferences include auto-move, calculation (auto or manual), and calculate now.

Unfortunately, there is no charting support in QuickOffice so you won't be creating charts of your data on your device. There used to be a module called Quickchart that worked with Quicksheet to provide charting support, but apparently this is no longer provided.

Quickpoint: The functionality that really sets QuickOffice Premier apart from other Office clients is the ability to create original PowerPoint presentations right on your S60 device. When you launch Quickpoint you start out in viewing mode like Quickword. If you move your directional pad to the right you switch from slide view to outline view and one more press reveals notes view. You can also select review comments or review voice notes from the main options menu. Pressing up or down on the directional pad moves you back or forward to another slide. The first option available via a press of the left soft key is edit slide. Like the other QuickOffice modules this changes the left options menu into editing functions. If you are editing an existing slide then moving the directional pad around the slide will highlight/select images, headings, textboxes, etc. that you can edit.

The first editing option is either edit textbox, edit autoshape, or edit image, depending on what type of block you have selected. Edit textbox options include edit text, move, resize, resize evenly, rotate, flip horizontally, flip vertically, reorder, format, and properties. Format options include all the same consistent standard formatting options mentioned in Quickword and Quicksheet (bold, italics, font, etc.). Edit image has the same options, except for edit and format of the text. Edit autoshape has the exact same options as edit textbox.

Back to the main options menu you will find the insert function next in line. Selecting insert lets you add a textbox, image, autoshape, table, comment, or voice note to your slideshow. Autoshape choices include left/right/up/down arrows, rectangle, oval, rounded rectangle, line, arrow and double arrow. Selecting table prompts you for the row and column dimensions you desire, like in Quickword.

Other options include Edit>Delete, slide (insert, delete, move up or down), zoom (100% TO 300%), pan, full screen, goto slide, updates & upgrades, save, and help.

The options menu changes a bit when you view the slide outline, to include expand and collapse functions. In the notes tab adds the ability to edit notes text.

Mail for Exchange support: QuickOffice is now integrated with Mail for Exchange so any attachments in your email will automatically appear in the QuickOffice file manager. You don't have to do anything to get your attachments into QuickOffice and I find it to be a powerful integration solution. If you didn't yet download the attachment in you email, the pointer to the attachment will appear and then you will be prompted to download the attachment when you select it. You can edit the attachment and then quickly send it from QuickOffice since the option to reply to sender or all appears in the options menu. You have all the same editing capabilities mentioned above when you open a compatible attachment.

Document round-tripping: As you can see the editing, creation, and viewing capabilities of QuickOffice Premier 4.5 are very powerful and functional. However, all of this power is really worthless IMHO if the round-tripping of documents between PCs and mobile devices is flawed. With all the documents I have tested all formatting, text, tables, images, and other layout and content parts have been maintained between the PC and S60 device. The only issue you may experience is with Excel spreadsheets that have macros or other high-end functions implemented into the cells. I placed large files, on the order of 8 MB, onto the S60 device storage card and QuickOffice had no trouble opening it up for viewing and editing. The opening speed has been significantly improved over the years and it only takes a few seconds to open large documents.

Conclusion:I have tried just about every mobile office suite on Palm, Windows Mobile and S60 and QuickOffice is one of the finest solutions available and IMHO it is the BEST solution for S60 devices. If your device has a QWERTY keyboard or you have an external Bluetooth keyboard attached you will find that QuickOffice supports keyboard shortcuts so that it really helps turn your S60 device into a mobile multimedia computer. I understand they are still working on this software for S60 to add things like charting support so stay tuned for future updates. QuickOffice Premier 4.5 is compatible with all S60 3rd Edition devices. You can try it out for 30 days or purchase the full version for US$49.95. If you own a current version then you may receive a free or discounted upgrade of the latest version.

The SoftMaker Office suite for Windows Mobile is more advanced when it comes to Word and Excel (as powerful as a desktop application), but there is no PowerPoint support. I'll actually be posting a review of this software used on an HTC Advantage in the next few weeks. DataViz's Documents To Go application is a powerful solution for Windows Mobile, UIQ and Palm as well, but does yet run on S60 devices.

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