Programs that hook into Office
Like many of you, I've used Office for years. What I've come to realize in the last two versions I've used (Office 2000 and Office 2003) is the premium I place on other applications ability to hook into Office. When I launch any of the core Office apps these days, I see additional toolbars from other applications I've adopted.
It's not something I was completely aware I was doing, but I have made this integration one of my buying criteria. I'll be providing a more in-depth review of many of these tools over time but here is a short list of the applications I use that extend themselves into Office:
- Adobe Acrobat Professional 6.0 - the reference standard for creating sharable electronic documents.
- Mindjet MindManager X5 Pro - my pick for the best brainstorming and lightweight project management tool available.
- TechSmith SnagIt 7.0 - a must have if you produce documentation or web pages about software. SnagIt is the killer app for capturing what's on your screen.
- Groove - Ray Ozzie's latest idea - P2P (peer to peer) for the business set. Groove provides a shared workspace that can include all sorts of chat, discussion, calendar, and file tools and can capture Outlook data with a mouse click. Disclosure: I've only experimented with Groove and am setting up a test to see how well it works for small project teams. I'll certainly provide a report in the future.
All of these tools can be evaluated on a 14-30 day basis.
Have you found a cool tool that plugs into Office? Let me know by posting a comment.