Portable Simple Spreadsheet

Office work is greatly enhanced by computer applications. In fact, it was a famous man’s dream come true to see a computer on every desk, and has now evolved into a lifestyle. Among other office tools, Portable Simple Spreadsheet gives you the possibility to store data in tables, and also take it wherever you go.

As the name suggests, this is the version of Simple Spreadsheet that doesn’t require an installation, meaning you can deploy it directly on an USB flash drive to use on the go. This is a neat advantage considering you can also store files here, making it possible to work on other computers as well, without causing any damage since registries are not tampered with.

Running it brings up the main window, which stores most of its functions in plain sight. A large area represents your canvas, with multiple cells spread throughout rows and columns, just like you’re used to from Excel. You’re free to add more or remove those that aren’t used. In additions, there’s a large text input field in the upper toolbar to write down data a bit better and insert functions.

Unfortunately, the application hasn’t been updated in quite some time, and there’s a high chance it won’t appeal to many. This isn’t just because of the rather outdated visuals, but the set of features itself leaves a lot more to be desired.

Writing down text is done like in any other spreadsheet editor. Functions can be used, but there’s nowhere to tell which are supported, so you just have to try out your luck. Moreover, text doesn’t benefit from any enhancement options of any kind.

Probably the biggest disappointment comes from file support. Not only is the application unable to load any other kind of spreadsheets such as XLS, but the output is delivered in its own particular format, somehow forcing you to use it for this task.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that Portable Simple Spreadsheet is a really bold and straightforward approach on office work. Although its simplicity lets you accommodate in a jiffy, the set of features feels incomplete, with poor file support cutting down even more off what’s left of practicality.