Filed under: iPhone, First Look, App Review
First Look: Documents to Go for iPhone
Documents to Go from DataViz has been known for years to the Palm and Blackberry community, and it finally comes to the iPhone -- filling in the need for a built-in Word (and soon Excel) editor that truly turns the iPhone into a mini computer.
There are currently two versions of Document To Go. The $4.99USD version [App Store link] features Microsoft Word editing alone and the $9.99 version adds Microsoft Exchange support. You can also view and synchronize Excel and PowerPoint documents, PDFs, HTML pages and iWork '08 documents ('05, '06 and '09 are not supported at this time, though I do imagine that iWork '09 support will be added later). A free upgrade is part of the deai; when purchasing Documents to Go now, you net the ability to create and edit Excel documents when that feature becomes available.
For an in-depth look of the app itself, click through. Please note that this review covers the $4.99US version of the app sans Microsoft Exchange.
Gallery: First Look: Documents to Go
When you first launch the application, do not skip the Getting Started screen. It contains useful information for new users. It'll then take you to the main menu, where you will need to select Desktop Files. There, you will register your app with DataViz, who will then follow-up with an e-mail containing a link to downloading the desktop application. This is what will enable the all-important sync between iPhone and computer.
After installing the application, you will need to pair the two as you would using Apple's Remote app. Syncing works well over WiFi and the documents maintain their formatting when going from phone to computer. If the originating document is in another font, that font will be retained when syncing from the computer to the iPhone & back again.
You can either create files on the iPhone itself or use the desktop application to sync with files over the computer. I created my first document on the iPhone. Documents to Go boasts a complete set of text editing tools and pretty much can do anything a basic word processor can do: Font size, appearance and color; applying a highlight to text; justification; creating numbered and bulleted lists; find and replace; word count; zoom in and out; auto-jumping the cursor to different points in the document and undo/redo commands. What it does lack is a built-in spelling/grammar check. Swiping the toolbar will take you to the additional features, and is a nice touch.
The nicest feature thus far? Copy/paste. For real. You can only select all the text rather than just part of it, but copy/paste does work -- within Documents to Go itself. We'll know on Wednesday how well it'll carry to other apps.
Edit (10:15 a.m. ET): Commenter Bobnease points out that if you move the cursor to the word or characters you want to select and hold down, the magnifying glass will appear (something that did happen for me yesterday), but if you keep holding it down, the glass will jiggle and you will be able to drag to select anything that you want to cut/copy. Much appreciation to him for figuring this one out, it was driving me crazy when I couldn't get past the initial magnifying glass!
What's the second nicest feature? If you've got more than one iPhone in the household (which I do), you can set both of them up to sync to different folders on your desktop. Currently, I have mine set up to the default folder and I've created another folder for my friend's documents. Thanks to the ability to sync individual devices with the desktop, you can customize which folders go to which phone.
The biggest drawback is that typing isn't very responsive. When I type out an e-mail message, the iPhone is quick to keep up. But, Documents to Go lags somewhat in its rendering speed, so if you're a fast typist like I am, you find yourself waiting for the application to catch up or missing words altogether. Typing in landscape mode makes the application go even slower.
Another downside, that you can see in the gallery, is that with the keyboard active, there's not a lot of space for the document itself since the toolbar remains active as well. There's even less room in landscape mode. There's also one default font - Times New Roman. While additional fonts would take up precious space on the iPhone, I do wish there was at least a sans-serif font such as Helvetica available.
Despite those quibbles, for $5US, what we're getting is pretty fantastic. There's room for improvement, but we already know there will be upgrades to add Excel editing and more.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Corby Hilley said 9:20AM on 6-16-2009
I have been using a program with all of the features and more for quite a while on my iPhone. It's called Quick office and it supports word, excel and pdf files already. This is the third or fourth article I have read about this app and all of them act like it's groundbreaking when it's not. I assume that they just have a better marketing dept. than Quickoffice.
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EMoShunz said 9:25AM on 6-16-2009
i was just coming to post a link to it:
http://www.quickoffice.com/
and it lets you edit more than just word files.
aleenm88 said 9:40AM on 6-16-2009
I knew about QuickOffice, but never bought it because i was waiting for Documents To Go to be released.
I prefer buying this from a very good company that have always gave me great solutions for mobile office suite since the 90's (I owned this software since that time for my Palm Tungsteng and many others).
And damn i was right. Maybe it doesnt have all the features at once, but they will update for free. And BTW the software in general is much better coded that Quick Office. Quick Office really looks hedious.
Another thing is the great software for the desktop (Mac or PC) that is included and that you can sync between the phone and the computer.
And finally, charging more for a office suite than the KING of mobil office suites, i think QOFF is screwed.
airmanchairman said 11:35AM on 6-16-2009
I don't think so.
QuickOffice is IMHO better known on all other platforms as pretty much the best of the Office-compatible mobile word processing and spreadsheet apps outside of Microsoft Office for mobiles itself.
Corby Hilley said 11:45AM on 6-16-2009
Syncing documents with the app is easily accomplished with Quick office. The price is cheaper for Docs to go but it offers less functionality so it should be cheaper. To each his own i guess.
Brandon said 9:24AM on 6-16-2009
I'm using this on 3.0 GM and what sucks is that apple's iteration of copy/paste is much easier to use, and this app cuts out apples system-wide implementation. Hopefully they'll release a version that will eliminate the apps copy/paste and let the iPhone handle it.
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Megarain said 10:22AM on 6-16-2009
I totally Agree with the Lag issue. For me it makes it nearly unusable. Lets only hope it gets an update that fixes this. If it does, then this app worth those five dollars.
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Bobnease said 10:05AM on 6-16-2009
It looks like you were saying that DocsToGo can only "select all" in order to copy and paste, I just wanted to point out that if you press and hold your finger on the word or characters that you want to select, the magnifying glass will jiggle and then you can drag to select whatever you want. It works quite nicely on my older 2G iPhone!
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Megan Lavey said 10:13AM on 6-16-2009
Oh, thank you! Seriously, thank you! I was trying everything that I could yesterday to get individual words and characters highlighted. I pressed long enough for it to bring up the magnifying glass, but not so long that it jiggled. I'm going to amend the article right now.
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Peter Payne said 10:43AM on 6-16-2009
This is the company that built a business model for helping people LEAVE the Mac in the 1990s, and I remember their ads in all PC mags: "Leaving the Mac? Use our crappy conversion products to move your documents to PC formats." No Mac user should support this vampire of a company under any circumstances.
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cortiel said 11:05AM on 6-16-2009
I just purchased dtg for th iphone and can't see how to sync with my vista desktop
Help
peter
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Gazoobee said 11:31AM on 6-16-2009
This looks like a seriously bad first attempt although I haven't tried it yet. The fact that it doesn't support iWork 09 is a deal-breaker. The fact that it doesn't support a good copy and paste is a deal breaker. The fact that it's reasonably unattractive is worrisome (good design is always attractive and people who don't understand aesthetics are not good designers by definition.
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Dirk S said 11:28AM on 6-16-2009
Once you edited a document, can you send it on through your POP or IMAP mail account?
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liuping said 11:27AM on 6-16-2009
Typing in horizontal mode is horrible. they leave the iPhone status bar up, plus their title bar and their menus above the keyboard. Seriously, there is just about 1cm of text space available. what were they thinking?
And not supporting 3.0's system wide cut and paste is ridiculous in a product coming out NOW. If this came out last year, I can see having their own cut and paste system, but now?
At least quickoffice allows you to sync by mounting the iphone as a drive, no app installation on the Mac/PC required. And quickoffice supports emailing docs as well. (without Exchange). really if I'm traveling to a customer site (or friends house) , am I going to ask them to install a sync app so I can download my doc to print it, etc?
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alansky said 11:29AM on 6-16-2009
Personally, I'm waiting for Microsoft Word to go away. I know this isn't likely to happen soon, but one can hope. It's shocking that so many people depend (quite unnecessarily) on such a mediocre piece of software.
Oh, and thanks to Microsoft for finally fixing the debilitating bug in the Office 2008 auto updater. It only took them *nine* updates to get around to it!
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Fabrizio said 12:02PM on 6-16-2009
About the default font, you can upload from the computer to the iPhone an empty template with a different font selected (of course it has to be one of the fonts installed on the iPhone), and DtG will let you edit the document using the preferred font.
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VAStateOfMind said 3:52PM on 6-16-2009
Totally disagree with aleenm88's assessment of DTG - sorry, but DTG in its (EXTREMELY late!) debut on the iPhone OS does not compare to Quickoffice v1.2, at least right now. I realize that DTG *will* have future updates that alleviate some of its current shortcomings, but right now the following are dealbreakers for DTG that make me glad I spent the $20 on Quickoffice:
- Having to install a SEPARATE desktop client for syncing!!
- Very limited on-screen editing areas in DTG (slightly better in Qo)
- SLOOWW response times using and typing in DTG
I very nearly waited for DTG's debut on iPhone but am so glad I sprung for Quickoffice several weeks ago - I'm completely underwhelmed by DTG. Hopefully it will get better quickly and more aptly compete with Quickoffice 1.2.
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aleenm88 said 12:21AM on 6-17-2009
Installing a desktop software its not a downside.. Its great they included something like that!
With QuickOffice you have to mount via IP a Wifi unit disk. Ive also used other products such as as AirSharing, Files, etc (that arent mobile suites) but just file viewers, and you have to mount those disks in the same way.
And BTW, that is not syncing, its just TRANSFERING files manually via WiFi a thousand times
With D2G you have all the files of your computer in your iPhone. Whenever you make a change in any document (independently of the device) it will SYNC automatically and you will have the newest version on both devices.
Mac Diva said 9:14PM on 6-16-2009
Time to clear up some misconceptions.
DataViz, which produces Documents to Go, has been a close associate of Apple for at least two decades. Its file conversion software, MacLinkPlus, originally was pre-installed on Macs. Later, it became a 'must have' purchase for anyone who worked with Mac and Windows documents. As Apple made file conversion easier, MacLinkPlus became less important. I haven't upgraded mine in years.
Meanwhile, DataViz became a big player in file conversion and synchronization for mobile devices. More people probably know it as former users of Palm, Sony and RIM PDAs and phones.
I was one of thousands of iPhone owners who lobbied DataViz to create file conversion and synchronization software for the iPhone. I doubt there is another company that can say so many of us came to them asking for a product.
I will go with DataViz product because I know what a solid operation it is. It makes excellent software and is as reliable as the sun coming up.
Here I go dating myself, but seeing baseless attacks on a good software developer necessitates a response. My bull---- detector also suggests that persons affiliated with Quickoffice are joining this thread to attack DTG. That's a shameful way to try to attract customers.
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Odineye said 10:11PM on 6-16-2009
I've used DtG on three different iterations of Palm device. It was useful then for simple notes, but even with a Lifedrive it never quite reached its full potential of allowing my mobile device to be a laptop replacement. I'll be curious to see what his iteration looks like.
I'm still waiting for Apple to put out a mobile version of iWork. At this point I far prefer iWork to Office.
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