Excel Softmaker Planmaker 2004

As I mentioned in my review of SoftMaker’s TextMaker 2002, the short comings of the Microsoft embedded Office applications are painfully evident. There is no where within the Handheld PC world is this shown more clearly than in Pocket Excel. Pocket Excel, while it does give basic spreadsheet functionality, is so severely handicapped with charts (unavailable) and formulas (try going beyond 5 steps) that it is rendered redundant for most power Handheld PC users. Fortunately, as they did with TextMaker, SoftMaker has an answer for this dilemma as well. PlanMaker 2004 is the newest offering from SoftMaker and like TextMaker, stands head-and-shoulders above any other spreadsheet application for the Handheld PC platform. Offering all of the features of Microsoft Excel for the desktop, PlanMaker turns a Handheld PC into a fully functional extension of the desktop. Further, PlanMaker spreadsheets are easily convertible to Microsoft Excel sheets, can be protected (cells, sheets or workbooks), charts and pictures can be embedded, and complex formulas are not a problem. PlanMaker is everything Pocket Excel should be but fails to achieve. Like it's word processing counterpart, PlanMaker is a must have for any power spreadsheet users. It is feature rich and is considerably more stable than freeware or shareware competitors. The installation of PlanMaker is a rather hefty 9MB and is accomplished via ActiveSync. The application can be installed either on a Storage Card or directly to your Handheld PCs main memory and all user data files, are by default, stored in My Documents. The installation program has several options including where to install the application and grammar. Once installed, PlanMaker shortcuts are added to the Handheld PC Programs menu. An additional dictionary can also be installed which will cost approximately another 7MB of storage space. Like the primary application, this too can be installed on a storage card or in main memory. What sets PlanMaker apart from any of its competitors is the plethora of features and customization that can be done within the application. Every mathematical, formatting and operational function is included in the product with the only real add-on being the dictionary. Further, almost every aspect of the application can be customized to fit ones needs or preferences. This includes the layout, where taskbars (referred to as Control Strips in PlanMaker) are located and the functions on those Control Strips. To go over all of these features in this review would be a challenge so I will only go over some of the key features that set PlanMaker apart from its competitors. I encourage readers to download a demonstration version of PlanMaker from the SoftMaker website to see all of the functions and features for themselves. The default display of PlanMaker is very similar to that of Pocket Excel. Rows and Columns are identified at the left-hand edge and top of the display and each cell is easily identifiable. In the bottom left-hand side of the display is the menu key which allows access to the multitude of options and features PlanMaker. From the menu, every feature of PlanMaker is reachable via a submenu. The menu is easy to navigate and is intuitive in function. The built-in help is excellent and well written and should be the first place to check for answers to questions.
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