Description:
Why clutter your hard drive with applications, when a single suite can fulfill all your daily productivity needs? AppleWorks 5 offers a comprehensive palette of flexible tools that let you write, draw, paint, juggle figures, organize data, and create presentations with ease. The word processor's typical button bar gives you access to the most common formatting options, and although there's no grammar check or auto-correct feature, AppleWorks makes creating columns and wrapping text around images easy. The drawing application is best suited for flowcharts or maps, while the paint application better handles scanned images or original art. In any case, the tools are easy to find, and you'll appreciate being able to store clip-art libraries and textures in accessible floating palettes. The spreadsheet includes a comprehensive array of formulas as well as an equation editor, and the database is a solid-list management tool with some nifty quick-sorting options. The weakest link is the communications package--barely more than a simple terminal program--and the very basic HTML creation. Taken separately, each program has some nice features, but none qualifies as a powerhouse. Where AppleWorks shines is in its ease of use and in the way the applications are integrated. A single button will add a spreadsheet to your word processing document, and creating a mail merge from database records simply involves pointing and clicking. As you switch between applications (or data types), the button bar will automatically change to reflect the tools available. The button bar itself can be customized to reflect your own work habits by adding predefined functions, macros, and even AppleScripts. Included "Stationary" files offer everything from business plans to more than a dozen classroom aides, and "Assistants" create family budgets as easily as newsletters. With its low system requirements and trim size, AppleWorks shows how sweet all-in-one packages can be. --Jack Gardiner
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