Product Details - Ability for Windows

Overview

Ability for Windows 1.5, released in August 1995, is an integrated office suite centered around the three main business applications: word processor, spreadsheet and database. These are integrated to a high degree - they were all designed and produced at the same time with this in mind, unlike other office suites which were "forced" to work together - so that everyday tasks such as mailing a client database are simple.

The three main applications are complemented by five further modules: Forms, a page view of database; Charts; Communicate; a drawing package and a Library Manager, that simplifies looking after files and launching applications.

Unlike some of the bloated office heavyweights, Ability for Windows concentrates on the features users actually need, making the whole intuitive and easy to use.

For details on the modules see:

Write | Spreadsheet | Database | Forms | Charts | Communicate | Draw

What hardware is required? - see System Requirements.

Word Processor

  • Formatting toolbar - Font, font styles and effects size and color; paragraph alignment (left, center, right, aligned); columns; borders.
  • Styles - user definable; text styles and paragraph styles.
  • Bulleted and numbered lists - user definable as styles.
  • Display - Editable page preview mode; print preview; zooms - 15-999%, page width, margin width, full page; MDI interface.
  • Headers and footers - directly editable as normal text; multi-line; free format; alternate first page and odd and even.
  • Rulers - horizontal and vertical; use to set margins, column widths and tab positions and type (left, right, center, decimal).
  • Undo / Redo to 20 levels.
  • Spell check and Thesaurus.
  • Templates.
  • Import/Export - Word 2.0, 6.0; WordPerfect 5.0, 60; Ami Professional; Ascii Text; RTF; Windows Write; Ability for DOS.
  • Find and replace - options for words only, styles and case.
  • Mail merge with Ability's database - conditional and sorted merges.
  • Labels - over 50 pre-defined label definitions, user definable, optionally work as part of mail merge.
  • Fields - date/time, page number, mail merge, formula, linked to spreadsheet.
  • Insert - Pictures (*.bmp;*.dib;*.wmf;*.tif;*.gif;*.tga;*.pcx); OLE 2.0 objects; Ability Spreadsheet, Draw or Form.

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Spreadsheet

  • Display - 256 columns x 16,383 rows; zoom 25% - 399%; view grid on/off, page breaks and formulas; editable page preview mode; print preview; MDI interface.
  • Function builder - 47 built in functions.
  • Cell formatting - left, right, top, bottom, center and wrapped text with align within cells; font selection; background colors; borders.
  • Numeric formats - number, currency, time, date, percent, fraction, scientific; negatives in brackets and/or red.
  • Cell protection - lock and hide with password.
  • Range data filling - copy or series fills.
  • Find and replace.
  • Left, center and right aligned headers and footers.
  • Sorting by three keys, ascending or descending.
  • Spell checker and thesaurus.
  • Charts - works directly with Ability's Charting module; live data.
  • Import/Export - Lotus 123, Excel, Quattro Pro (data only - formulas imported/exported as numeric results); ASCII.

Charts

  • Styles - Bar, line, area, pie and doughnut; bar and percentage styles for bar, line and area.
  • Formatting - 3D effect; left or right axis; grid on/off; series and background color control; fill patterns and point styles.
  • Legends - control over position and fonts.
  • Data - directly from Ability's Spreadsheet; live; no limit to data range; multiple series; non-consecutive series; use series for x-axis labels and legends.

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Database

  • Field types - text, numeric, date/time, memo, calculated, Boolean, enumerated.
  • Limits - number of fields per table - no limit; number of records per table - limited by disk space.
  • Queries - sorts; column arrangements; multiple conditions (company = "APS" and sales > 1000); font selection by columns.
  • Display - row/column tabular display or form based view using Ability's Forms module (single button toggle between table and form view); auto-creation of forms from database tables.
  • Table joins.
  • Import/Export - ASCII; dBase III and IV; FoxPro; Microsoft and WordPerfect mail merge files; PFS.

Forms

  • Uses tables and queries from Ability's database.
  • Design and browse modes.
  • Create database tables from Forms.
  • Attach and Detach commands to re-use forms with alternate tables.
  • Single button toggle between Forms view and Database view.
  • Same drawing capability as the Ability Draw module.

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Draw

  • Vector based - ideal for including in Ability's Write and Spreadsheet modules (vector based graphics scale better than bitmaps such as supplied by paintbrush).
  • Drawing objects - text, lines, boxes, circle, polygon, arcs, free-hand.
  • Formatting - fill patterns; colors; shadows, 3D effects.
  • Configurable grid snap.
  • Alignment and grouping of drawing objects.
  • Insert - Pictures (*.bmp;*.dib;*.wmf;*.tif;*.gif;*.tga;*.pcx).

Communicate

  • Phonebook.
  • Transfer protocols - XModem, YModem, ZModem, Kermit.
  • Chat mode.
  • Supports baud rates up to 56K.

System Requirements / General information

  • Windows 3.1, 3.11, 95 or NT.
  • 4MB RAM (8MB strongly recommended).
  • 386 or higher processor (486 / 66MHz strongly recommended).
  • 20MB free disks space for a full install.
  • Includes a "Library Manager" to make it easy to manage data files and launch applications.
  • Supports OLE 2.0.

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