When it comes to gathering tabular data there is nothing better than entering it straight into a spreadsheet. So we put a set of the most popular (in my humble opinion) spreadsheet Apps to work looking at their use for rapid data capture.

Preamble

This is a road-test of the following scenario. An inspector goes on site, works offline, can open a templated spreadsheet, enter data and once in network range all data is synchronised. They can then access and work with the data back in the office.

The level of templating I am interested in is small - locked cells, data entry formatting, and a nice-to-have is use of formulae.

For the testing, I have set up a Google Sheet and also an Excel Spreadsheet (xlsx). I added them both to my Google Drive and into Dropbox.

What I am looking for is ease of use from an operator perspective, data compliance from a quality perspective, and getting my hands on the data easily when back in the office - an operational outcome.

The Gear

For this exercise I choose my tried and trusted Samsung Tab 3 7inch. This is running Android 4.4 (KitKat).

Introducing the Apps

I have used various Office suites on ipad and Android for a while, but canvassed other users and then went back to the Google Play store to grab the latest versions.

Top Tip: If you are logged into Google on your web browser when you visit the Google Play store it will automatically pick up all the devices where your account is in use and you can choose to push the apps out to the devices. Neat.

I chose the following Apps:

Polaris Office 5 from Infraware

Google Sheets  from er, Google

KingSoft WPS  from Kingsoft

DocsToGo - Free from DataViz

Test cases

This review is not about covering all the features of the Apps -  specifically what I want to cover is some of the basics needed for doing field work consistently and easily.

What I am looking for is:

• In-field editing
• Keyboard use - how to start editing
• Navigation - zoom, scroll etc
• Preformatting - respect for number fields (do we get a number pad?)
• Preformatting - respect for locked fields
• Advanced - support for basic formulae
• Offline use - opening from Dropbox and Google Drive

For each App I am going to look at the use-case of opening a preformatted spreadsheet, and Google Sheet from Dropbox and Google Drive both offline and online. The test spreadsheet has one tab locked except for key fields and with the following attributes:

• A cell formatted for Numbers with data validation on the range of values
• A cell formatted for Text
• A cell with a formula referencing the number field

My expectation was that I could only edit the specific fields, and when a field got focus the keyboard presented would be appropriate for the data being entered (i.e. keypad for numbers). I also expected a validation warning if my number was out of bounds. If my data was correct then the formula would update. Simple eh?

In both drop box and Google Drive I setup my files for offline use. In Google Drive this is via the file details, and then turning on the offline storage. In Dropbox you access the details and favourite the file.

How did they fare?

Polaris Office

This was first out of the traps, and started off strong. It looks nicely put together, and you can connect to cloud storage from within the App. Offline you can only work with local files within the App (could be obvious but worth stating anyway). 

This App doesn't have in-cell editing, but it is easy to get attention by double tapping on a field - so long as you are in edit mode. There is an easy-to-use button at the top to switch between view/edit. 

The screen supported pinch-to-zoom, and in the number field the keyboard presented was a number pad, and the formula updated as required.

However there were some major down sides. The field validation was not used at all (in fact it got discarded when the file was saved). Also the field locking was not sufficient - a protected sheet was locked completely and I was unable to edit the fields I had left unlocked.

When editing the Google Sheet it opened and re-saved in the Excel (xlsx) format. So no native Google sheet editing.

Working offline was an interesting exercise (for all the Apps). For a start Google Drive did not allow opening of the test spreadsheet in any App other than Sheets - so lost a few points for interoperability.

When offline the native cloud file explorer in Polaris refused to access files (understandable). So offline editing was tested by locating the template in Dropbox, and choosing 'Open With'. 

Offline I was able to edit the test spreadsheet, and then save it back to Dropbox. Dropbox collected the file and showed it was waiting to update.

I also tried 'Save As' to follow the scenario of picking up a template, editing it and saving a populated file. The App gave me the option of saving the file locally in a default Dropbox location with a new filename. However when back online the file never appeared.

This was a common finding as KingSoft WPS also allowed this to happen. Most odd. If you do want to save with a different filename, then save it in a managed location on the device, and then add it to Dropbox later.

Google Sheets

This is the odd one out of the bunch. Google Sheets edits xlsx and the native gsheet format equally happily, but Google Drive doesn't act like other cloud storage apps and allow the handing off of file editing to other Apps. 

In addition the sheet and range protection was not straight-forward to use and I couldn't get it to work at all. This may be a general failing of Google Sheets though as it did not respect the sheet locking and protected ranges in the xlsx either. So that test had to be failed.

Pinch to zoom and easy cell editing (though not in-cell) were pluses, though it was not possible to flick to a number pad when in the numeric field. Also data validation only worked in the gsheet, not the Excel file.

However Saving and Saving As worked fine - possibly as the editor was tightly bound into the cloud storage App.

Disclaimer: I use Google Apps all the time, and despite this I was left wanting, and wondering whether this would be a viable option at all in the field for most organisations.

KingSoft WPS Office

After the disappointment of Google Sheets this App was a welcome relief. It has options to connect to cloud storage in the App, and I was able to quickly locate and edit my test files.

As with Polaris, there is no native editing of gsheet format, and editing the gsheet test file converted it into an Excel file. Perhaps not a biggy.

The user interface was easy to use, and well constructed. The number format field was not used to present a number pad, however compared to Google Sheets I was able to switch easily (one button) to a numeric keypad - a major plus for data entry.

Validation worked well, and so did the formula. 

Navigation and zooming in were as expected - pinch to zoom and swiping for movement.

The big plus though was the support for protected ranges in the Excel work book. This App correctly allowed editing of the unlocked ranges of the protected sheet! As I entered data, and tapped 'Enter' the focus shifted to the next editable field - again a major plus if you are adding data to a protected templated file.

Saving whilst online allowed me to rename, save and see the file appear as expected in Drive or Dropbox.

Offline opening of a file from Dropbox worked well, and the re-saving of the file was as required, and once online the files updated in Dropbox or Drive.

Offline the App allowed me to save with a new filename into the Dropbox scratch folder (same as Polaris) - however files saved in this location do not synchronise. Having seen this with other Apps though this may be more a foible of Dropbox and the way it launches Apps.

Docs To Go

I included this in the round up as I have used the paid App for many years on my iPad. I have been wanting it to improve over all that time, but it doesn't really seem to keep up. 

The free version, unlike the other Office packages allows local file editing only - cloud connection is a paid option.

The UI is slightly non-standard - there is hamburger menu that pops out a side menu, and then modal pop-ups as sub-menus. So the lack of familiarity counts against it in the user stakes. 

The usual sheet navigation (swipe and pinch to zoom) were supported fine. Opening a file from the Dropbox App worked well, with the updated file being saved back into the Dropbox. So this would work well for files that had been taken offline in Dropbox like KingSoft and Polaris do.

The App did not support the validation, but the formula and locking worked as required. So I was able to enter data, and then be moved to the next cell.

Overall though the App felt less polished. As I said earlier I have used this for years. I was hoping that it would have improved.

Wrap up

"But what about Microsoft Mobile Office?" I hear you cry. well, this is not available on tablets - only cell-phones at this point. So I skipped the whole OneDrive-Excel possibilities. 

However back to what was reviewed, rather than what was not...

None of the Apps did in-cell editing, but once working with data this was not such a problem. 

Both Polaris and Kingsoft warned me when a newer version of the file was available on the server and offered me the chance to load it - a nice touch.

For one the tests I went back and installed version 6 of Polaris, and was rather disturbed to find that you had to sign up with their service in order to use the software - something I would much rather choose to do based on the merits of the system rather than having to do before I could use it.

The Docs to Go offering felt basic, old and less smooth as a user-focussed App needs to be. 

Google Docs is almost there, but really needs to make the protection and locking of sheets and ranges work. I couldn't even get it to work in Chrome online. Soooo....

My favourite by far was the offering from KingSoft. Though I am a Google Apps person through and through, the utility of the KingSoft App was very impressive. The conversion of gsheets into Excel can be excused because of the great interoperability, support for validation, locking of sheets and formula.

If you work in the field and want to work with spreadsheets then I can recommend the combination of Dropbox and KingSoft WPS. If you are going out and will be working offline, then I would try setting up a working folder with copies of the templates you would want to use, and then favourite them in Dropbox - they can then be safely edited and saved back.