As a writer, I confess my usage of spreadsheets is limited to basic accounting for my freelancing business. For simple needs such as this, Kingsoft Spreadsheets appears to be a great alternative to the more expensive Microsoft Excel.
The basic interface of Kingsoft Spreadsheets 2009 is virtually identical to Microsoft Excel, although the menu appears to be missing a few of Excel's more advanced computing functions. However, the software is able to easily open files created in Excel and will save your Kingsoft Spreadsheets in the correct Microsoft Office compatible format.
Notable features of Kingsoft Spreadsheets include:
- An integrated Google toolbar lets you conduct online research at the same time you're working on your spreadsheet.
- "Export to PDF" lets you easily share your documents with others.
- To send your spreadsheet to a colleague as an email attachment, simply choose the "Send E-Mail" option from the "File" menu. A new window will open with your spreadsheet automatically attached to the blank message.
If you frequently use templates in your work, Kingsoft Spreadsheets makes it easy to create invoices, balance sheets, a sales analysis, an accounting of business start up costs, a daily schedule, or a telephone contact list.
As with Kingsoft Writer, be aware that that the spell-check feature in Kingsoft Spreadsheets is mediocre at best. It fails to recognize many common typos and will occasionally tag correctly spelled words as errors.
