Office & Productivity Programs

Open Office 'OO' is a complete office suite, very similar to Microsoft Office. It's advantage is it can also read and write most files created with Microsoft Office '97-2003 formats (aswell as its own XML format), which means you are still able to share documents with your collegues, family or friends - plus it's totally free! OpenOffice has been found to be able to open files of older versions of Microsoft Office and damaged files that newer versions of Microsoft Office itself cannot open

So, if you want to type a letter, your CV (resume), that report or a project for school, Open Office is more than capeable. You can create presentations with OO Impress, or logos, illustrations and diagrams using OO Draw. You can then import any images or the diagram you just created into your report in OO Writer.

The full office suite includes the following programs:

• Writer - A Word Processor
• Impress - Presentation software (like MS Powerpoint)
• Draw - A competent drawing/diagram and illustration program.
• Calc - Spreadsheet software (similar to MS Excel)
• Base - Database Software (design, maintain, and manipulate data)
• Math - Component for Mathematical Equations

Open Office is able to read and often also save in many other filetypes from software such as WordPerfect, StarOffice, Lotus software, MS Works, Rich Text Format - The Calc spreadsheet for example is able open and save CSV files, which is a very useful feature, great if you need to convert a documant type to another. Another neat feature is the ability to output/save documents as PDF's, so you can get typing and publish that ebook! Impress can output in flash format, which means you could embed your presentations into a web page, or even make online tutorials.

I've used this program for sometime now, and unless you are a real advanced Microsoft Office user (complicated calculations in MS Excel for example), then it will more than satisfy all your needs!

A useful site if you use the Open Office suite is; OO Extras. It has templates for various tasks such as CD/DVD's, documents, stickers, and others. There's also various graphics you can download, and quite a lot of background images for your Impress presentations. Open Office also supports extensions which extend or add new functionality to the software such as dictionaries, and things like eTOK - for composing 'e-training' web pages, definitely worth a look.

OxygenOffice - Office Suite
OxygenOffice is an extended version of OpenOffice. It includes ready made templates for various projects and common documents, more than 3,200 graphics are also included, both clip art and photos. It comes with extended help and tips, plus its own user manual which makes it ideal for beginners. Integrated Wikipedia search (OOoWikipedia), allows you to research or instantly get answers from the free online encyclopedia, from whichever application you have open. This download is quite big at over 230Mb, but I prefer this install over the basic OpenOffice. Download From Here
[Select 'Binary - Windows 32 bit' - then the file ending in: 'install.exe' is the English version].

Alternative to: Microsoft Office

This is a fantastic free personal information manager, that is uncluttered and very easy to use. Some of the features of EssentialPIM are:

• To-do/task lists
• Organised notes (using trees & folders)
• Personal & business contacts
• Calendar & diary functions
• Different calendar views (day/month/year etc.)
• Password protection (optional)
• Printing of data
• Reminder alarms (birthdays, appointments etc.)

So if you need to get organised snd have a central place for all your appointments, contacts and important information, then this program comes highly recommended and is used daily at Lessfuss!

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Create PDFs from any program that is able to print. PDF Creator installs itself like a printer driver, so from within any program you can click on print - select your output destination, and it will output your document in an easily distributable PDF ... it's that easy!

PDF Creator has many settings to get the desired output and quality, including encryption, so that a password is required to view. You can also output your file in various image formats too.

This is an alternative to the Microsoft calculator, I prefer it because you can make it stay on top of other Windows, which makes a doddle to use while also using other programs. Supports different colour interfaces, ticker tape output, minimize to tray, and more.

Alternative to: Windows Calculator

Scribus is an open-source professional level desk top publishing (DTP) program. Scribus brings award-winning page layout to desktops with a combination of "press-ready" output and new approaches to page layout. Scribus can be used to produce many types of publications and documents including:

• Newsletters
• Posters
• Leaflets
• Magazine Style Layouts
• Brochures
• Menu's
• Booklets

Supports CMYK colour, colour separations, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation, so you may distribute your publication in an electronic format.

Alternative to: Adobe InDesign, QuarkXPress, Microsoft Publisher

Convert will convert all of the most popular units of distance, temperature, volume, time, speed, mass, power, density, pressure, energy plus many others.

You are also able to setup your own custom conversions - give them a name, and input the conversion figures, and save.

TheSage's English Dictionary and Thesaurus is a professional software package that integrates a complete dictionary and multi faceted thesaurus of the English language into a single and powerful language reference system - or so they say! Either way, in my opinion, this is the best combined free dictionary and thesaurus available.

TheSage can now look up words directly from almost any program, is 100% portable, supports 'always on top', anagram solutions and look-up history.

Comprehensive Dictionary - Over 145,000 references with multiple detailed definitions (over 200,000). Complete Thesaurus - Nearly 1,200,000 relationships between definitions (synonyms, antonyms, hypernyms, hyponyms, meronyms, holonyms,...). Example Sentences - A large collection that already includes approximately 35,000 examples of usage.

This is a really nice post-it note program with reminders, to-do lists in fact anything you want to keep a handy note of on your desktop!

HottNotes allows you to create all kinds of lists, to-do lists, reminder notes, set alarms, and even scribble notes using your mouse or a stylus. The notes are very easy to manage - just click on them to edit, archive or delete them. You can print any note (use a to-do list as a shopping list for example!), and you can also save the contents of a note to a file to save or give to another. They support transparency, colour selection, and best of all they look pretty too!

You can read instructions on how to use HottNotes from here.

It allows you to store all your notes, emails, texts, hyperlinks, etc. into one or multiple databases. With the look and feel of the familiar Windows explorer, editing, storing, browsing, searching and retrieving your data can not be easier!

This is deceivingly powerful for such a small and lightweight program. I used to use it for storing bits of code that I wanted to re-use while building websites (until I discovered Javascript collector which is listed on this site). To get a better idea of its many uses and abilities take a look at the screenshot (link below) and then take a look at the Treepad website!

Easy-to-use personal finance software, which primarily helps organise your finances and keep track of where, when and how the money goes. Designed with simplicity in mind, it's also a great tool to get a bird's eye view of your financial worth.

Manage multiple bank/building society accounts, cheque reconciliation, income, expenses, bills, standing orders, stocks/shares and investments, budgeting and more.

Alternative to: Microsoft Money

If you have used Visio then you will be familiar with the type of program Dia is. You can use it for many purposes such as organisation charts, flowcharts, network diagrams, electronic circuits, floor layouts and more. Dia can then print or export your diagram in one of many formats including EPS, SVG, XFIG, WMF and PNG.

Remember, Open Office Suite (the top program on this page) has a program called 'Draw', which is also quite competent when it comes to diagrams, and may be worth giving a try for not so specialist applications.

Alternative to: Microsoft Visio

This program is an easy, but powerful font manager, allowing you to get a quick overview of both installed and non installed fonts and see an example of what they look like. It can install and uninstall fonts, organize them in categories, show special characters, supports true type, and open type font sets. This is an essential bit of kit for anyone who uses a lot of different fonts regularly, such as designers, digital artists, publishers and editors etc.

I used to use AMP Font Viewer which is still a very worthy program, if you'd like an alternative.

TeeChart Office is a mature charting and plotting tool for end-users and developers. Provides hundreds of chart, and graph styles, importing, exporting, printing and complete customisation.

"The main purpose of TeeChart-Office is to easily create Charts, link them to heterogenous sources of data, modify and change the chart appearance, export Charts to native format, image files and printer, share created charts with other users and configure the many properties it offers."

ClipMagic is a powerful Clipboard Extender and Information Manager for storing Images and Text, either automatically or manually in a categorised format, with details of the URL if the text is from an Internet site.

To save something simply copy it to the Windows Clipboard by pressing CTRL-C or right click on the mouse and select Copy. ClipMagic then automatically stores it and if you have set up rules & filters the clip will be moved into a particular category.

Clips can easily be retrieved either by copying from ClipMagic and pasting into your application, by using HotKeys or using the new PastePicker.

Do you want to prioritise, know where you are, where you've been and where you are heading? Do you want to keep a personal knowledge base, which is easy to manage? Freemind can help you to plan, think, and articulate your ideas. It can help you to visualise awkward concepts, display possibilities, and for basic visual diagramming. This latest version of Freemind is feature-rich and can hold its own against just about any commercial competitor in the mind mapping software arena. If you are brainstorming, or starting any new project, then Mind Mapping is a quick, and easy way to get your ideas out in the open, then ornganise them into something useable.

Some applicatin highlights:

• Multiple ways to navigate your mind map, dragging, and scrolling using the mouse wheel.
• Folding 'child' branches to hide sections of your map.
• Advanced Drag an Drop - single or multiple nodes, files, or text etc.
• Paste from other applications (will retain hyperlinks etc)
• Context sensitive menus (right click a node) with numerous options.
• Supports multiple keyboard shortcuts, for faster use
• Topic linking, and linking of external web pages, local folders, executables.
• Supports different text styles, sizes, colours etc.

Requires Java installed to run, but if you're a person or businessman who has heard the buzz surrounding Mind mapping software, then you can find out with Freemind ... for free!

Additional Resource:
If you have used mindmapping software and know its value when brainstorming, or working on new projects, then you will love this collaborative resource! MindMeister gives you all of the familiar tools, but allows you to work with others in real time. It allows you to collaborate with others online, on any project you want, and you'll see any changes others make to the map as they happen. Just set-up a project, and invite others to join you! (membership required).

If you ever have to work with CSV files - importing or exporting data using them, then you'll know how hard they are to manually edit. If you don't know what a CSV file is, then you most probably don't need this program!

CSVed will allow you to edit, delete, add and insert items. Delete and add columns, rearrange the column order, column search, Column sort and more ... A very useful little utility.

SimpleOCR (OCR means Optical Character Recognition) is a program that converts the text on a paper document into an electronic format that you may then use in MS Word, Open Office Writer, Word Perfect or HTML documents for example. If you are fed up of having to retype documents so that you can then manipulate, archive or publish the text, then this can help you. The writers claim it is 99% accurate and it will work with almost all (Twain) compatible scanners - so minimal intervention is needed.

SimpleOCR has its own built in dictionary (which you may add to), it can despeckle (ideal for faxes), can retain images, and even retain the text format. You can batch process documents, or extract text only, or the text just from a specific zone on the page.

A Gantt chart is a popular type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. GanttProject is a tool for creating a project schedule by means of a Gantt chart and resource load chart.

With GanttProject you can break down your project into a tree of tasks and assign human resources that have to work on each task. You can also establish dependencies between tasks, like "this task can't start until this one is finished".

If you do any kind of project management, GnattProject will assist you in running it, and give you a graphical overview of tasks that need to be completed, those responsible for each task, the order that things need to be completed, and the resources required. These reports can then be printed, output as a PDF for distribution, HTML or common spreadsheet formats. The program has a very good set of features, yet is easy to learn, and best of all - compared to it's expensive commercial counterparts - it's free!