This is part 6 of my 8 part series about starter apps for a lawyer to build a basic work machine. I’m not digging into a lot of custom apps here – just the meat and potatoes of the workflow for many lawyers. Last time I talked about presentation apps. Today I’ll talk about a subject that is probably of top concern to many lawyers – Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel compatibility.
Even if you do most of your drafting in raw text (which I recommend), you will inevitably need to view and edit a .doc or .xls file. For those times, my preferred app right now is QuickOffice Connect Mobile Suite (iTunes link). For a mobile Microsoft Office compatibility suite, this app offers everything you would expect. While you won’t be generating cross referenced tables of contents and custom styles in QuickOffice (or any of the competitors), all the basic formatting tools a lawyer uses are there. The reason this app is at the top of my list compared to the other capable apps in this area is in how it manages files. QuickOffice uses an intuitive drag, drop and tap interface that resembles how one might work on a desktop computer. Given that file management and version control is so important for lawyers, this feature pushes QuickOffice ahead of the competition in my eyes. QuickOffice Connect Mobile Suite is also just $14.99 at this writing (usually $24.99) (iTunes link).
That said, Dataviz’s Documents to Go Premium (iTunes Link) is still on my iPad and gets used from time to time. The main positive distinguishing feature between QuickOffice and Documents to Go is that DTG supports footnoting and QuickOffice does not. If documents with footnotes are part of your workflow, then you are going to want DTG. I draft contracts and correspondence rather than briefs and memoranda so footnotes are rare in my legal writing workflow. On the flip side, I find DTG’s file management scheme simply Byzantine at times with unintuitive panels of file management options that don’t seem linked together in any intuitive way. I’d love to see this aspect of the app get a refresh.
One thing to remember with both of these apps is that they aren’t WYSIWYG like your desktop version of Office. This is unfortunate as WYSIWYG seems like it is certainly possible on the iPad. Indeed, Apple’s Pages for iPad is much closer to a WYSIWYG experience. I think the reason QuickOffice and DTG don’t offer WYSIWYG views is because they are ports from older mobile devices and mobile operating systems (I think Palm may have been the original platform) where WYSIWYG was not an option.
Both apps have a standard version. Documents to Go’s (iTunes link) basic version is $9.99, but it lacks PowerPoint editing and cloud storage access. The basic version of QO is QuickOffice Mobile Suite (iTunes link) $4.99 but also lacks cloud storage integration and is only an iPhone app. Because cloud file storage is so critical for effective workflow on the iPad, I only recommend the premium versions of these two apps. There are other “Office” suite apps out there including Office2 HD (iTunes link) and the Pages (iTunes Link) / Numbers (iTunes link) combination, but these apps did not fare as well as DTG and QO in handling the quirky formatting of typical law firm documents (see my posts about pleading formatting and business agreement formatting on the iPad).
Stuck with a WordPerfect file? Well, you can’t edit it, but you can view it with WPD Viewer (iTunes link).
Josh,
You missed a huge issue as far as I’m concerned — tracked changes (a.k.a. redlining). That is a dealbreaker for me. I have to review and edit drafts of motions and pleadings all the time. I make my changes in tracked changes format, and so do the lawyers I work with. We also use the “comment” feature in word (this is not the biggest obstacle because you can always put comments in caps within a document). I can’t view or work with tracked changes in any app that I’ve tried. And I’m not about to tell senior partners at my firm to not use tracked changes in their edits just because my iPad can’t read them. As a result of this significant drawback, I am forced to tote my laptop with me when traveling, instead of simply traveling with the iPad. I don’t see that changing until either (a) one of the apps you mentioned add this feature (do you know whether any of them are working on it?). or (b) preferably, Microsoft finally releases a Word app.
Your thoughts?
Al
Yes, the weaknesses of all the Word compatible apps in the tracked changes / comment department have been long discussed here, though I should have mentioned it again. None of the Word compatible apps can create tracked changes or comments. If you look at a post I did last summer about Word compatibility, you’ll see one user in the comments saying he has had some success in getting tracked changes created on his desktop to display on his iPad. I think he was using Word 2007 (.docx) and Documents to Go. I’ve not been able to confirm this, but hope to soon and will report.
Josh
Thanks Josh. Yeah, I definitely agree that “Word compatibility” would have been a place to mention it (and link to the previous post). Unfotunately, the previous user’s recommendation is not helpful because my office uses .docx with the more recent version of Word and I can’t have a standing request that lawyers I work with only send me documents saved in different formats. More importantly, even if I can see the tracked changes in a different format, I can’t accept/reject them easily and I can’t prepare any of my own. With the new Macbooks being far lighter, faster, and having a much longer battery life, I’m starting to think that is the way to go for lawyers who are serious about working while traveling. I was initially in the “iPad for work” camp, but with this new iteration of MacBooks I find myself back in the “laptop for work” camp.
The MacBook Air is certainly a compelling proposition. I don’t use track changes much in my practice because of the metadata issues and because my firm uses a third party markup software common in the transactions we work on (track changes is the exception rather than the rule).
I was also frustrated by the inability to track changes with quick office. I recently downloaded VCN Viewer, which allows me to connect to my desktop (a la windows mesh or gotomypc). So far it seems to work pretty well. It does require the purchase of additional software for the host computer, but $30 seems like a small price to pay to leave the laptop in the office.
Thank you for tnie post as I’ve strugled with Doc editing also.
One thing that I would like to highlight is the ability of handling fonts by other apps than Apple’s own apps. It is simpler than you have mentioned (that it is probably due to other folks not taking care yet of those things).
And as I’ve learned from Dan Benjamin (5by5) it is due to The fact that Apple is not providing support to change fonts in application. There is just no way to customise the font by the developer of the app.
And that is the reason why they all look the same.
I didn’t know that about the fonts, but it makes sense. May be a license element there too.