Ability Office has long held court as a viable alternative to Microsoft's comparatively expensive market leader. The suite of essential office tools has just been upgraded and Ability Office 2002 has made it into the What PC? Labs to be given the once-over.

We gave the former version a top rating as an affordable entry-level office suite and this latest offering maintains the standard. For those not familiar with Ability Office, here's a brief rundown of what's in the box: Ability Write, Ability Spreadsheet, Ability Database, Ability Photopaint and Ability Draw. They're everyday office applications that, on the surface at least, are hard to tell apart from their Microsoft contemporaries.

You don't get an equivalent of the Microsoft presentation tool PowerPoint, but the Adobe Photoshop-compatible Ability Photopaint photo-editor is a good-value replacement. Besides, these programs integrate so well, it's possible to use them to create presentations.

Ability Write has everything you need from a basic word-processing package and will help you present better-looking letters, reports, memos, newsletters and the like. Much like the Word equivalent, this latest version can now support full table creation, which the previous version could not. So, if you are creating a document and you need to illustrate a particular point with a table, you don't need to import from another program.

Another major improvement is the ability to save and print to PDF documents so you can send any kind of Ability file to anyone, even if they don't own the software themselves. This means that you can send complex letters, spreadsheets and tables to whoever you want, safe in the knowledge that they can import them and use them as a general PDF file.

Ability Spreadsheet again apes the Microsoft equivalent and, if you are used to Excel, then learning this will take little, if any, effort. This 2002 version is compatible with Excel 97/2000, so you can swap tables between the two.

One of the most significant improvements in this latest version of Ability Office is increased compatibility with Microsoft. This office suite is ideal for those who run Microsoft Office at work but need a cheaper alternative at home. The advances made since the last version make this almost worth considering as a Microsoft replacement, especially now the advanced database program is so easy to use.

Ability Database is a powerful relational database program. It works exactly like Microsoft Access, allowing you to enter data, then build and maintain a large database. It has a component-based querying service, which means you can filter data in different ways. This combines with the Spreadsheet and Write programs to present data in a variety of formats.

You can throw all kinds of queries at the system without it going under, and for a data management tool, this is about as easy as it gets.

The Photopaint and Draw programs allow you to convert and alter your digital pictures into all major file formats. The photo-editing package is very similar to market-leading Adobe Photoshop and has all the brushes, selection tools and layering abilities you might need at home. This program operates well above the basic entry-level functionality.

Ability Office 2002 has improved greatly since the last release. It has far more compatibility with other office programs and because you can print any file to PDF it can be viewed on any PC. Considering that the basic Microsoft Office XP suite costs over £400, Ability Office is a fantastic money-saver. It might lack some high-end functionality but for most users it has everything you need.

Specifications

• Word processor
• Spreadsheet
• Database
• Photo-editor
• Drawing tools

Minimum requirements

Windows 95, 32Mb RAM, 40Mb hard disk space

Contact

Ability: 020 7231 1004
www.ability.com