Review: Ability Office Business office software

When most people hear the word office software they think of Microsoft’s ubiquitous Office suite.

However, over the years cheaper programs, similar in terms of features, have cropped up, Ability Office being one.

The new version comes in standard and Business forms, but don't be put off if you're a home user – it's well suited to non-business users, and the price remains low.

The software works with Windows Vista and XP and comes with two licences, which means users can install the software on two home PCs. It requires 89MB of hard disk space to install the full set, which consists of Write (the Word equivalent), Spreadsheet (Excel), Database (Access), Presentation (Powerpoint), Photopaint, Photoalbum and Draw. If you do not need all of these or do not have enough space then it is possible to pick and choose the ones you wish to use at installation.

Installing the software was quick and easy: it took us just under two minutes to install the complete version. Users can also download the latest free updates from the website.

Most of the applications are well-built clones of their Microsoft counterparts: Ability Write, the version of Word, is a case in point. Apart from the pale blue colours of the outline around the screen there was little difference between the two. The features are identical, with the toolbar at the top mirroring Word 2003 (it doesn't use the Ribbon toolbar of Office 2007), so much so that when typing a document we forgot we were using Write.

One thing that sets the two apart is the icons on the toolbar. While Word has bold sharp pictures for its tools in the menus, Write’s icons are slightly washed-out and cartoon like. However, this was a small grumble and didn’t affect the ability to work with the programs. Spreadsheet and Presentation also did not let us down, performing in much the same reliable way.

There are some areas in which it betters Office: Photopaint, for instance, has no direct equivalent. It’s compatible with Adobe Photoshop and we particularly liked the way it allowed us to input text: clicking on the text option brings up the usual box to type in text, but Photopaint will spell-check it as well. There is also a red-eye reduction tool and the standard features to be found in photo-editing programs such as cropping of images.

There's little here to grumble about in terms of features, and it's fully compatible with Office 2003 (although it won't read or write Office 2007 files). It's true that Openoffice, which is free, does the same things just as well, but Ability Office just about has the edge.

Vista compatible: Yes