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.

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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Source: http://www.dataviz.com/products/documentstogo/iphone/index.h…

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iPhone First Look App Review

Documents to Go from DataViz has been known for years to the Palm and Blackberry community, and it finally comes to the iPhone -- filling...

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Zahid

I used Documents to Go on my Palm constantly & almost never made real changes to the files. Personally I just liked it because it makes syncing a heck of a lot easier (you don't have to have some "sync folder") & so I can keep things @ hand w/o having to moving or copy things around.
ccna ccent

September 04 2009 at 2:51 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

dave

I have many MS Word docs I want to search through on the iphone. Is this possible with DtG? Or another app that also sync's with the Windows desktop.

July 07 2009 at 11:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Aaron

I don't have either package, but here's something important to understand about syncing (I've used D2G on other platforms): if the iPhone version is like other versions, you can make edits on the DESKTOP or on the DEVICE, and those EDITS are synchronized! You don't have to replace the original file on one side or the other. Also, you can have a complex document with all kinds of things that aren't supported on the MOBILE device that are preserved when you EDIT on the mobile...you can make CHANGES to the document on the mobile and those CHANGES are sent back to your main document on the DESKTOP which still has all the unsupported items (enormous pics, footnotes, etc).

Can someone confirm that the iphone version of D2G functions like the above (as it did on other platforms)?

June 18 2009 at 7:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Aaron's comment

Aaron

Actually, can someone with QuickOffice talk about what happens to non-supported parts of documents that are edited on the phone? For example, if there are footnotes in the document and you edit it on the iPhone, then copy back to your computer, are the footnotes preserved? And am I correct that it isn't syncing CHANGES, only copying the full document back and forth?

Thanks

June 19 2009 at 12:31 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Nuke

Wish there was more about the MS Exchange support. Out IT division holds us hostage by staying in Exchange 2003 and refusing to enable IMAP, absurdly stating that IMAP is a security risk.

June 17 2009 at 7:41 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Nuke

Wish there was more about the MS Exchange support. Out IT division holds us hostage by staying in Exchange 2003 and refusing to enable IMAP, absurdly stating that IMAP is a security risk.

June 17 2009 at 7:39 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

rawrawrawr

Does anyone else hate iphone applications that have icons with a completely black background as to appear not to have the curved square icon on the springboard? I like the harmony of having all the icons be identical in shape, it makes everything feel more unified.

June 17 2009 at 4:09 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

VAStateOfMind

Mac Diva, your bull**** detector may require some additional alignment. I'm not affiliated with Quickoffice in ANY way, and was in fact skeptical and hesitant to purchase that developer's $20 iPhone app, wanting instead to wait for DTG to debut on the iPhone platform. Know what, though? I needed a mobile office solution in mid-May - the ORIGINALLY promised timeframe that DataViz gave regarding the delivery of DTG - and it didn't appear in the App Store until this past Sunday. Blame the delay on Apple's App Store approval process all you want, but DataViz lost a handful of willing customers because of their blown deadline - read their Facebook fan page.

Anyway, I moved on and purchased Quickoffice v1.2, and I'm seriously glad I did because I believe that Qo is the competitor to beat right now. Aleen touts the sync feature of a separate desktop client, but why should I have to install ANOTHER piece of software just to move files to/from my iPhone?? I prefer to mount the unit as a disk on the desktop; others will not, and will want to the convenience of a client sync.

My bottom line is that DataViz should *NOT* have released an iPhone version of DTG until it was ready for primetime - it's about a 1/3 of the way there right now, will likely match and perhaps even exceed the abilities of Quickoffice v1.2, but in my opinion, not right now.

June 17 2009 at 12:43 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mac Diva

I think there is a possibility of a mobile version of iWork down the road. Apple came out with Bento for the iPhone a few weeks ago and Bento is much more specialized. And, I recall when Apple had Windows and Mac versions of Apple Works, so needing to support Windows using iPhone owners is not the barrier it seems to be.

June 16 2009 at 10:38 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Odineye

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.

June 16 2009 at 10:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mac Diva

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.

June 16 2009 at 9:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply