Pocket Excel: Powerhouse of the Pocket PC

Way back in the good old days, back when we were still called Handheld PC Magazine, in the September/October 1999 issue, I wrote our first review of Pocket Excel (www.pocketpcmag.com/Sep99/spreadsheet.htm). I reviewed the version that came built into the Handheld PC and H/PC Pros. In those days, the Pocket PC didn't exist. Its predecessor, the Palm-size PC, had just been released and we all thought it was pretty cool. But as cool as it was it had some weaknesses, and one of the biggest was that it was missing Pocket Excel.

Microsoft's mistakes are opportunities for independent software developers. Very quickly, three alternatives to Pocket Excel were released for the Palm-size PC. I mentioned them in the Sep/Oct 99 issue. As it turned out, these alternative spreadsheet programs were popular with users.

Microsoft noted the popularity of these programs and the suggestions received from Palm-size PC users. They also noted the general lack of success the Palm-size PC had competing with the more popular Palm series of computers. They decided that instead of trying to compete with the Palm's "basic is better" philosophy, they would take the high road and create a device that packed the power of a PC in your pocket ­the Pocket PC.

Microsoft improved the operating system for the new Pocket PC and added a number of entertainment and productivity applications, including Pocket Internet Explorer, Pocket Word and, of course, Pocket Excel. This is excellent news for two important reasons: first, Microsoft did a very good job implementing Excel for the form factor of the Pocket PC; second, it's now built into ROM memory which means that it takes up no storage space and can't corrupt.

Why bother with a spreadsheet program on a tiny little computer?

You might be wondering what's so great about having a spreadsheet on a tiny little computer like the Pocket PC. After all, it doesn't have a keyboard and the screen is so small. Is it really practical to put Excel on a Pocket PC?

The answer is a resounding, "yes!" Don't make the mistake of thinking that Pocket Excel is a program for accountants. Pocket Excel is one of the most useful programs built into the Pocket PC (or Handheld PC), and I'll show you why. In fact, once you've finished reading this article, you're going to use your Pocket PC more than ever.

How could they get that great big program on the Pocket PC?

The answer is, "they didn't!" More precisely, they didn't put the great big desktop PC version of Excel on the Pocket PC. Microsoft created a small "Pocket" version of the program that lacked some of the memory-intensive features of the desktop version. Pocket Excel doesn't have any graphics support so you won't be able to display pretty pictures in the background, or display graphs and charts. In addition, the VBA scripting language, pivot tables, embedded objects and passwords are missing. You can open just about any Excel spreadsheet in Pocket Excel, to view, edit and enter data. You just won't be able to access those features.

Are these serious omissions on the Pocket PC? Probably not! After all, the Pocket PC is designed for simple data access and entry. The heavy-duty spreadsheets that use Excel's advanced features are probably better left on a desktop PC.

What does Pocket Excel do?

Pocket Excel supports most of the important features found in the desktop version of Excel, including all the financial, date and time, math and trigonometry, database and statistical functions. It also supports multiple sheets in a workbook and functions like Sort and AutoFilter. That's a nice list of features, but what are you going to do with it?