Documents To Go for iPhone: (Almost) Microsoft Office in the Palm of Your Hand
by Bill French on 24/06/09 at 1:38 am
Bill French is an information architect specializing in Internet applications. He is also the co-founder of MyST Technology Partners and Senior Editor for iPhoneCTO.
There are many wonderful attributes about mobile devices; taking office documents with you wherever you go is one of them. I remember how exciting it was back in the days of early Palm PDA’s when I synched my first Microsoft Word document to my Palm Pilot III with Documents To Go, voted Best General Utility of 2000 by ZDNet. That was just shy of a decade ago and while much has changed in terms of device power and agility, one aspect of mobile computing remains the same – documents continue to cling to the desktop and enterprise workers want access to them remotely.
DataViz has been in the business of making documents mobile for a long time. Their model and approach is sound and perfected. They support all major mobile operating systems, a clear benefit to organizations that want to standardize on mobile software that works the same, regardless of the mobile device their workers happen to prefer.
Mobile Platform Diversity
Enterprises and small business are diverse because the employees have preferences, biases, and different work requirements. As such, it’s no surprise that so many different mobile platforms find their way into service in businesses environments. And therein lies one very important reason iPhone support for Documents To Go 
is a leader in this software class. The user interfaces and document synchronization processes are relatively similar across all platforms. But each platform is natively embraced to take advantage of unique implementation opportunities.
It’s odd that one of the most important reasons to consider Documents To Go for iPhone is the fact that it supports platforms other than iPhone OS. Leveraging best practices and consistent performance and deployment strategies with platform-agnostic technology is a key success factor in IT strategies. DataViz understands this requirement and provides a comprehensive collection of tools and integrated products that address enterprise diversity.
Desktop OS Diversity
With desktop support for Mac OS X and Windows, DataViz is able to punctuate its mobile platform agility with document sources from all organizational departments. Despite more than 2 decades of attempts to create the killer knowledge management solution, the bulk of enterprise IQ is in a folder on the desktop of employees. This is another enterprise reality – the topology of actionable information in most organizations is largely uncharted. Dataviz [again] embraces this reality and chips away at the problem by integrating its mobile clients with Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync®, providing a unified knowledge-push approach that keeps employees informed with up-to-the-minute document changes across the enterprise.
Document Creation on the iPhone
While the name implies that it simply allows you to take desktop documents with you, Documents To Go also provides the ability to edit and create Word documents on-the-go. The user interface for creating Word documents is elegant, easy to use and intuitive. Admittedly, it’s light on editing and formatting features, but that’s OK. As long as I can start typing away with minimal hassle, I’m happy. I was disappointed, however, that I couldn’t also create and edit Excel and PowerPoint documents. That being said, Dataviz promises to provide the ability to create and edit Excel files in a future update.
My Files
Documents to Go offers a multitude of options when it comes to file storage. The first option is to install Dataviz’s free desktop application and select, or better yet share, folders on your computer you want to make viewable to the iPhone app. Once setup, Docs to Go on your iPhone will be able to access those documents which you can then view, edit and email. Second, the desktop application will create a folder (for your desktop) that is more akin to the Briefcase, reminiscent of Windows 95. You simply drop files into the folder and they are then synchronized with the iPhone app. This is where it gets interesting. If you have Exchange set up in Docs to Go, it will scan all the emails on your iPhone and copy the documents into a folder named Attachments. This gives you one central location to access all your Microsoft Office files and pdfs. From there you can view, edit or email any document you want.
Email Attachments
One of the most important features business users need is the ability to email documents either created or stored on the device. Dataviz clearly knows its customers and they’ve crafted the feature to be accessible virtually everywhere. Present in every screen, except when you are actually viewing a document, is a page icon that provides two options; (i) create a new Microsoft Word Document, and (ii) create a new email message with a document attachment. The email option allows you to browse the different location stores of your files and select the document(s) you want to email. Selected files are added directly to an email message from within Documents To Go. You can also go back and add additional files as you compose your message; very elegant, very functional, very easy.
Document Search on the iPhone
Search is a key aspect of any KM initiative and Documents To Go provides a powerful full-text search feature that works with all document types including PDFs and PowerPoint presentations. I was a little surprised to find that synchronized documents could not be found through iPhone’s new search function. Another use case that would be helpful is the ability to search across multiple synchronized desktops. In the current iPhone version, you must select a device before you can search for specific documents.
In spite of the minor shortcomings noted, Documents To Go is a winning solution for organizations preparing to embrace the iPhone. Viewing, sharing, locating and editing documents with the iPhone interface is productive and reliable. I’ve used many iPhone apps for office document viewing and I cannot remember any that provide an experience that performs as well, or is as seamless as Documents To Go.
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