Tailor-made Smart move

The Lotus SmartSuite package comes with extra goodies and Internet access.

SmartSuite has a diverse user base. It is popular in corporate organisations where its bigger and more cumbersome stablemate, the groupware database Lotus Notes, is a source of fundamental information. On the other hand, it is regularly bundled with new home-computer systems and is therefore often used by complete newcomers who have bought a machine for personal or small business purposes.

SmartSuite 97 does not add many new facilities for either type of user - but then there's little need to as it already has a comprehensive range. What it does is to complete the process of becoming a fully 32-bit application. Only now has the central application, the spreadsheet Lotus 1-2-3, moved fully into the Windows 95 environment. At the same time, Lotus 1-2-3 has some significant new features. The most revolutionary of these, called AutoTotal, is startlingly simple. Typing the word "Total" or "Totals", after you have entered the numbers in a table, causes the total to appear. An innovation many users will like even better is having the Lotus InfoBox to handle all aspects of spreadsheet formatting in a single "one-stop- shopping tool". With the needs of new users in mind there is more help at hand from Lotus Assistants that provide step-by-step online demos.

Organizer has also become 32-bit and has a new feature worth comment. This is a new Calendar view in which appointments are allocated space proportional to their duration. Dragging on an appointment's box alters its start and end times interactively, making it easier to control appointments on busy days. Although Organizer is a relatively small part of this comprehensive suite, for many users it is the application they would be most loathe to part with. It combines a highly efficient approach to managing tasks, appointments and contacts with a friendly environment. Users have long been amused by the sight of unwanted notes being consumed by flames when dragged to its waste basket and now the program's animation have optional sound effects.

SmartSuite 97 has new Internet-related features in all its applications. For example, a Web toolbar in 1-2-3 enables you to Publish a Range to the Internet or open files from it. Word Pro has new SmartMaster templates, suitable for either personal or company use, for creating stylish Web pages. Even ScreenCam, the utility for recording movies of screen activity, has found a Web-oriented role and can be used via a browser to play movies automatically when the ScreenCam icon is clicked from a Web page. The influence of the Internet is also felt in SmartCenter, the suite's controlling hub. Here you'll find a new Internet section with folders for Headlines, Stock Quotes, Weather and Web Reference. These contain URLs for immediate access to Internet information and it's easy to add folders for other Internet pages of interest.

Although this upgrade is not chock-full of must-have new features, the fact that it fully supports Windows 95 makes it important. Its extra goodies will appeal to many users, especially those who use the Internet on a regular basis either for work or general interest.

Lotus SmartSuite 97, pounds 399 inc vat, upgrade pounds 149 inc vat. Lotus (01784 445350)