Product Reviews

Document editing means different things to different people. Some just want to be able to edit text, while others want to create and share documents on the web. Whatever your preference, you don't have to destitute yourself in the name of lining Bill Gates' pockets or install the bloater that is OpenOffice. We've been looking at the best alternatives available.

'A great niche tool' is a term that can be applied to Google Docs - a document editor for anyone who wants to collaborate and share their output online.

The user interface is adequate for all but the most complex document-creation tasks. As well as working with both Internet Explorer and Firefox, Google Docs can import existing documents in a variety of formats, although not all formatting is always preserved. Editing options are patchy, too, so while you can choose fonts and sizes you can't fully justify your text; you can use bullet lists but can't create your own styles; and you can print documents but have little control over margins and headers. But your documents are available from any internet-connected computer at any time, and can be shared with anyone.