Compare- Pathagoras to Other Document Managers
How does how Pathagoras compares to other Document Management Programs:
- 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 MS Word. All Word folders and functions remain the same. PATHAGORAS tries its best to maintain the environment with which you are familiar, and the PathSmart/SaveSmart modules are no different. Unlike other commercial document managers, Pathagoras 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 commercial disk management programs such as WorldDox. These programs capture the save process and store documents not in 'classic' Word folders, but rather use their own (sometimes artificial) directory structures. In those cases, you can only use their programs to locate the documents in their directories. Pathagoras cannot find them. It's not that Pathagoras conflicts with them -- it is the artificial nature of folder assignments made by the other program which force you to use their programs to do anything.)
- Word allows a user to narrow the selection of displayed files so that you are choosing among a well filtered collection. But Pathagoras goes Word one better. Pathagoras can display its filtered listing right on the face of the PathSmart screen. And you can literally scroll every folder in your profile to search for a particular document without leaving the screen. (That means you can view up to 12 separate folders-worth of documents on the same 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.
How Pathagoras compares to Windows' and Word’s native document management features:
"My Places":
It is possible in Window's (XP and later) to assign folder's down the left edge of a document folder which greatly speeds up navigation from folder to folder. The idea is similar to what PATHAGORAS has done (but Pathagoras has done it since 1998). To set a MS Word 'My Places' folder, navigate to the desired folder (highlight the folder from the parent folder, but do not enter into it), click on the Tools drop down toolbar at the top of the folders display, and click "Add to 'My Places." The differences are these:
- While both have unlimited capacity to store SmartPaths (or its MS Word 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.
Filtering files:
- Word allows a user narrow the selection so that you are choosing among a well filtered selection of files. But 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.
Even with all of its features, PATHAGORAS has made the learning curve to move from program installation to initial document production very short. In effect, PATHAGORAS has taken document assembly to a new level -- to that of the typical user.