• PATHAGORAS uses plain text and plain-vanilla interfaces. Other programs heavily depend upon hidden fields, 'smart fields,' links, separate component files and other 'behind the scenes' coding.  PATHAGORAS requires none of that. A PATHAGORAS document is totally a free-standing standard Word document.
   
• Our use of 'standard' and 'plain text' doesn't mean unformatted text. The text you create can be highly formatted and highly stylized to meet your needs. Plain text only means that no fields, logical or Boolean expressions, wizards, ancillary files, special formatting or other hidden coding is required. You don't need to create (or pay another to create) templates, SmartDocs, IntelligentForms or component files in order to use the program.
  

• PATHAGORAS runs wholly within Word®. It is an 'add-in' for (i.e., augmentation of) Word. When you are in Word, Pathagoras is already loaded and you have its powerful document assembly features at your fingertips. Most other products overlay Word. They require you to load then separately in order to begin a document assembly project.
  

• You are never 'captured' by the system. With some other systems, separate programs control your activity. You are not released to perform other word processing jobs until you close those other programs.
  

• PATHAGORAS does not require a set pattern that you must follow, or depend upon a single datasource. It does not limit you in any fashion. Continue to use the programs you now use. Use Pathagoras as your primary document manager or assembler, or as an auxiliary device.
  

• HotDocs® , thinkDocs® and GhostFill® are three popular document creation programs. Other (perhaps two dozen) similar programs exist. Some limit you to their clauses only. All require special working templates, libraries, work sheets, extensive coding, special databases and special overlays. 

  Pathagoras uses:    your clauses,    your directories,    your databases,    your language.

  Some of their features and interface screens are more 'dramatic' than those of PATHAGORAS, but the trade-off is not necessarily ease of use. Pathagoras uses your clauses, your directories, your databases, your language.
  

• Because of the special templates and hidden coding that other programs require,  the document (base or final) frequently cannot be viewed or edited unless their program is running. Not so with PATHAGORAS. A PATHAGORAS document is always a Word document. Whether you are viewing a source library or a final product, everything created by or for use by PATHAGORAS can be opened and edited on any computer running Word®, regardless of whether PATHAGORAS is running on that particular computer.

• Some other programs are "whole document" oriented. You start with, and edit from, a complete document as the base for future documents. "If /Then" formulae are inserted at strategic points throughout the document so that clauses are added (or deleted) to the final products depending upon certain conditions. Separate tables are then created outside the document which control how the document is personalized for the client or customer. If you understand how to create these 'SmartDocuments' and how to make them work, then you probably don't need PATHAGORAS. But if you find (or found) such programming too difficult or time consuming, consider PATHAGORAS as a strong alternative.

• Unlike any other program, PATHAGORAS can instantly insert a single term from a library directly from your editing screen. Other programs require multiple, sometimes complex steps, just to call in a single clause. (Some program don't allow 'single clause insertion at all.)  At a minimum, to get to a particular clause requires the user to activate the outside program, select the library, and select the type of document you want to create, navigate to the clause and select it. You may even have to choose the parameters and worry about correct variable assignments. All this for a single term!!  With Pathagoras you simply type the clause name onto your editing screen and pressing <Alt-G>.  Indeed, you can assemble an entire document this way, and you don't even opening a single overlay screen. Try doing that with any other program!
  
• Moving clauses into your source libraries is just as simple and intuitive. To add text to your 'clause library,' just highlight what your want it (it doesn't matter the source -- it can be 'freshly typed' text or from an existing document) and them press <Alt-G>. A simple screen pops-up. There, give the clause a name, select the library which will house the new clause and press <Save>. It is not possible to have a simpler method to build your clause libraries.
  

• Due to their pristine simplicity, PATHAGORAS libraries, books and glossaries can be readily viewed, edited and understood by their creators. Future users can understand them too. They are 'cleaner.' They are immediately usable. 
  
  

• PATHAGORAS does not change document extensions. It does not compress anything into an indecipherable collection of codes . It does not move anything to directories where they weren't originally without your say so. 
  

• You can find, edit and save your final product as a real Word document. That's because the documents created using Pathagoras are in fact Word documents.  Documents created by PATHAGORAS are transportable from one computer to another, regardless of whether the other computer uses PATHAGORAS. Want to take a your document home, or on a trip, but don't have Pathagoras on your laptop? Who cares? It's just a Word document. Just do it. Same with the glossary. It doesn't have to be on a 'Pathagoras' machine in order to edit it.
  

• PATHAGORAS does not require (or 'work better with') a database. If you have a database, great! PATHAGORAS will work with it. If you don't yet use a database, not a problem. If you want to experiment with a very simple records manager to see what databases can do for you, PATHAGORAS ships with a very clever, very easy to use 'InstantDatabase.'  We call this the world's simplest database. It will work with you while you move from simple "111" and "AAA" and "[CustomerName]" type substitutions all the way to the most complex of formatting. Or if you want to ignore databases altogether for now, that is fine. Everything is your choice. Everything is at your pace. 
  

• Every document in every folder on every computer on your network is easily and almost automatically a part of the document assembly system. No importing or converting is necessary.  Just point one of your books to the folder which contains the clauses and you are ready to go.

• PATHAGORAS uses plain text variables. Typically, these variables are set out in a document with simple square brackets. E.g.., [Customer Name] and [number of widgets]. Any kind of 'bracket' is acceptable. Indeed, the brackets aren't even necessary unless you were to use the GotForms? module or other 'scanning' features of the program.
  
  These variables are easy to create and become fully 'automated' with no further effort on the part of the user. They otherwise sit in the document as 'plain text.' 
  
  Here are the advantages of plain text variables:

1. A Pathagorized form is essentially neutral. It is and remains plain text at all times. (HotDocs and other competitive programs change the essence of the form to meet that program's needs. The base form is neither readily viewable or accessible when HotDocs, etc., is not active.)
   
   
2. You need HotDocs, Ghostfill, TimeMatters, etc., to read/use/edit a form created by that program. You don't need Pathagoras to read/use/edit a Pathagorized form. As stated before, Pathagorized text is plain text. If someone buys a manual of forms marked "Pathagorized" but doesn't own Pathagoras, it's not a problem whatsoever for the customer to use the forms in their present state. The customer can manually 'search and replace' any text (including bracketed variables) to personalize the document.
   
   
3. Plain text variables are clearly defined and clearly visible at all times. Even Word's very simple  'DOCVARIABLE' field disappear upon creation and reappear only when you have called for a field hunt. Editing is more accurate and precise.
   
   
4. Plain text variables are simply easier to create. Other than typing an opening and closing bracket, there are no steps to create them. All steps are performed on the editing screen.
   

• An author who wishes to market forms does not have to create a two set of forms to sell to the target audience, one for the 'automated' market and the other for the non-automated' user. A sentence containing regular and multiple choice variables such as
  
  
  "Please send to me [quantity] [dozen/gross] [red/blue/olive green/sunrise yellow] widgets"
  
  
  makes just as much sense to a non-automated user as it does to the fully conversant Pathagoras user. Therefore, the market for an author who has created plain text forms is infinitely larger. (If someone buys a forms manual marked "HotDocs compatible," but doesn't own HotDocs, that user is out of luck.)

• PATHAGORAS disk navigation tools are built into the program. Locating documents or clauses for assembly or editing is easy. Saving a new document to a proper location is a snap. (See the PathSmart and SaveSmart pages on this site.)


• PATHAGORAS disk navigation tools are native to MSWord. All Word folders and functions remain the same. PATHAGORAS tries its best to maintain the environment with which you are familiar. It doesn't block access to features which conflict with the program. Nothing conflicts with PATHAGORAS, and PATHAGORAS conflicts with nothing. (Exception: PATHAGORAS may not be compatible with some  disk management programs such as WorldDox which store documents using their own (sometimes artificial) directory structures. In those cases,  you can only use their programs to locate the documents in their directories. It's not that Pathagoras conflicts with them -- it is the artificial nature of folder assignments which force you to use their programs to do anything.)

 
• Pathagoras can display a filtered listing of all of the files in a selected directory right on the face of the PathSmart screen. This improvement on Word's ability to filter and display files is unmatched by any other program. For example, if you have stored all client work in a single folder, you may have thousands of files. (Typically, that is not a good file management technique, but Pathagoras will work well with you nevertheless.) If you want to see all of the 'Thompson' file, just type in the first few characters of the name (e.g., "Thom'" and Pathagoras will immediately filter the display for you in a split second (not the four or five seconds required by Word just to display the unsorted folder). You than can scroll the available choices and select the appropriate document. If you need to check other SmartPaths folders to locate the file, just click another of the 12  buttons on the screen. That way you can quickly rotate through all of your SmartPaths. The filter remains intact without additional intervention. You have got to see this to believe it.

     PATHAGORAS has the speed of AutoText and AutoCorrect but PATHAGORAS provides much more versatility for document assembly purposes. AutoCorrect and AutoText just were not designed for document assembly. For example, you cannot save all formatted text, or database fields, in an AutoCorrect library. By contrast, any text, with full formatting and database links, pictures, etc., can be saved in a PATHAGORAS glossary.

     AutoText and AutoCorrect allow you to add text to your document only one term at a time. PATHAGORAS allows one term, multiple terms, hundreds of terms. It spans the range. So what PATHAGORAS has to offer is the best of both worlds.

• While both have unlimited capacity to store SmartPaths (or its MSWord equivalent), there is a practical limit as to the latter's display.  Only the first few are visible on the screen.
  
• PATHAGORAS groups folders into convenient profiles which can be user or subject matter oriented. Word does not. All of Word's MyPlaces display all the time. (See above entry.)
  
• PATHAGORAS' SmartPaths are Word-centric. Only Word document folders are mapped. Word's favorite places are set at computer level and, assuming that you have set My Places for each program you run, all such folders will be displayed. (See above entry.)
  
• PATHAGORAS filters before the display.  Word (including My Places) displays the entirety of the folders contents first. Only then can you filter.
  
• PATHAGORAS allows mouseless access to any folder. No way with My Places.
  
• PATHAGORAS allows the user to quickly move (copy to new location and delete from old location in a single step.
• PATHAGORAS allows active document deletes.  If the current document is trash, then delete it without having to close it and then relocate it.