Quickoffice for Symbian OS Goes to Version 6.0

Quickoffice, the powerful Symbian OS office suite, is reported to have just been released under the long expected 6.0 version. The application features password protection for documents, ZIP file support and word count in Quickword, as well as a range of improvements such as Excel 2007 chart viewing and a 'Go to cell' function, not to mention the enhancements in the file manager interface.

At the same time, a new version of the Quickoffice-written Adobe Reader has also been spotted on the loose. It comes with a series of UI improvements meant to make the application easier to use, the latest Adobe core engine update, reported to include fixes for previous issues, as well as several optimizations for speed in the form of tweaks that are meant to allow for faster scrolling in more complex documents.

Previous versions of Quickoffice came with improvements like new editing engine and interface or the support for Office 2007 (.docx, .xlsx, etc.) files, in Quickoffice 5. The new version of the app delivers to users a series of usual fixes and tweaks along with new features like View Password Protected files, ZIP File Support, Support for transparent .PNG images, View Microsoft Excel 2007 (.xlsx) charts, or 'Go To Cell' in Excel worksheet.

As expected, not everything is possible with the new version, and that would include no option for creating charts in spreadsheets, though they can be viewed in case the document is in Office 2007 (XML) format. At the same time, charts can not be edited, although the underlying data can be changed. Quickoffice does not use WebDAV remote disk functionality, which is connected to the underlying WebDAV support in Symbian OS.

Another big issue of the Quickoffice is that the application can not be used on S60 5th Edition and on the 5800 XpressMusic, yet Quickoffice viewers can be found in the Download! Folder of the 5800.

Those interested in updating a built-in v3.85 or v4.01 Viewer edition with the v6.0 editing solution should pay $39 at the moment (about £25) for a full license. No price on the updating from v5.0 has been announced yet, but Quickoffice is expected to do so in the next few days. More information on Quickoffice 6.0/Adobe Reader can be found on Quickoffice's site.