AportisDoc is the industry standard for publishing, sharing and exchanging electronic text documents of any size. AportisDoc is an integral part of a wide variety of business and consumer applications. Its versatility, ease of use, search functions, large fonts, teleprompting, and bookmarking capabilities make it an ideal reading tool for any Palm Computing(r) platform connected organizer.
Here is what 3Com has to say about AportisDoc: The Doc(tm) format has been instrumental in enabling business people to use Palm Computing platform devices to carry important documents and reference materials in their pockets. AportisDoc Professional's features help expand the use of Palm Computing platform products even further by allowing documents such as Microsoft Word documents and HTML documents to be easily converted for display on any Palm Computing platform device. - Mark Bercow, vice president of strategic alliances for the Palm Computing, Inc. subsidiary of 3Com Corp.
AportisDoc
AportisDoc allows you to both create and read text documents on any Palm Computing platform device. Normal text documents consume large amounts of storage space, while AportisDoc does not. It lets you read, search through, and annotate documents in an efficient, compressed form, enabling you to carry many large documents easily. Many professionals use AportisDoc to carry important text documents in a wide variety of mission critical business applications.
For example, health care professionals take patient records and lab results on their rounds, real estate agents keep recent home sale prices, financial services professionals refer to client information, and corporate trainers carry their materials and presentations. Scrabble(r) players even carry lists of acceptable two- and three-letter words.
AportisDoc is distributed in three editions:
AportisDoc Reader - Freeware
AportisDoc Mobile Edition - Shareware
AportisDoc Professional Edition - Commercial Software
AportisDoc Reader contains all the essential functions for reading documents. It is freeware, and we encourage you to copy and distribute it.
AportisDoc Mobile Edition - this product - contains all the features of the Reader plus the ability to find text, copy text, create categories, control preferences, add Bookmarks, use extra fonts, and more. AportisDoc Mobile Edition does not expire and has no functional limitations, although it does require payment within 60 days after installation. AportisDoc Mobile Edition costs US$30.00. It is available at http://www.aportis.com, and other internet sites.
AportisDoc Professional Edition contains all the features of the Mobile Edition plus desktop computer software that allows you to create AportisDoc documents from Microsoft Word, text, and HTML; the ability to preset bookmarks, and more. If you are comfortable with using a mouse, you can easily create AportisDoc documents. The electronic download version of AportisDoc Professional is US$39.95. Registered users of the Mobile Edition may upgrade to the electronic version for $9.95. It is available at http://www.aportis.com, other internet sites, and resellers throughout the world.
Order AportisDoc Mobile Edition or AportisDoc Professional Edition now by visiting http://www.aportis.com or calling the toll free order line, 1.888.APORTIS, or international +1.503.736.3240.
Reading
AportisDoc makes it possible to read a good book (or a carry a service manual or reference guide) with you while you are mobile - without lugging its heavy paper equivalent.
Since every company needs an efficient method for distributing written information, AportisDoc provides the solution. For example, the daily corporate newsletter, updated sales incentives, and the employee handbook can all be easily placed on any Palm Computing platform device. Manufacturer's representatives can carry detailed price codes and technical specifications, insurance agents can keep the text of specific riders, waivers, and endorsements, and lawyers can refer to pertinent codes and statutes.
Thousands of electronic books, magazine articles and columns, and other useful materials are available today in AportisDoc format. Other documents available include reference works, weather reports, HTML codes, the Bible, postal and country codes, bus and subway schedules, travel guides, and sports schedules. More are created every day.
A collection of AportisDoc documents plus links to other sites with AportisDoc content are listed at http://www.aportis.com. Some of the other sites that contain AportisDoc books and documents include Craig Froehle's free website at http://www.memoware.com and John Swain's free Lending Library at http://www.macduff.net.
APORTISDOC MOBILE EDITION REFERENCE GUIDE
Installing
Use the standard Install Tool (Windows) or InstallApp (Macintosh) to install the AportisDoc Mobile Edition application and any AportisDoc-compatible documents, including the AportisDoc Mobile Edition Reference (this document).
Documents List
The Documents List screen displays the list of available documents you have installed (see above). It appears when you launch the AportisDoc application from the Applications Picker. If you are reading a document, tap the Done button to return to the Documents List screen.
By default, documents appear in alphabetical order. They may also appear in the order they are installed, with or without their size displayed (see Preferences, below).
Read a Document
Open the document you want to read by double tapping on its name from the list of available documents on the Documents List screen. If this is the first time the document is being opened, the message Scanning for Bookmarks appears (a Bookmark is a pre-designated location within a document). When the scanning is finished, the document will be displayed on screen, beginning with the first page. If there are any Bookmarks in the document, they will appear in the Bookmarks pick list in the lower right corner (see below).
When you are finished reading a document (or you want to read a different document), tap the Done button, and it will be closed. The page you are currently reading (your position in the document) will be remembered by AportisDoc, and you will be returned to the Document List screen. If you re-open a document, you will be returned to the page you were reading when you last closed it.
Scrolling
A document can be scrolled via the Hardware Scroll Buttons on the front panel of your handheld or by tapping.
Tap the bottom half of the text screen to scroll down. Pressing the Bottom Hardware Scroll Button on the front panel does the same thing. Tap in the top half of the text screen (or press the Top Hardware Scroll Button) to scroll up.
You can also have text scroll automatically (see Set Up Prompter, below) or you can only have the text only scroll downwards (see Tapping Only Scrolls Down, below).
Options-Document List
The Options Menu on the Documents List screen contains three commands, About AportisDoc, Delete A Document and Preferences.
About AportisDoc
Choose the About AportisDoc command from the Documents Menu to register your copy of AportisDoc Mobile Edition and learn more about AportisDoc Professional Edition.
Delete a Document
After you are done reading any AportisDoc document, or if you have mistakenly installed a document, you can selectively delete it.
First, close any document by tapping the Done button or by choosing the Close Document command from the Options Menu. You will then be at the Documents List screen.
Tap the Menu button and choose the Delete a Document command from the Options Menu. You will be presented with a list of all AportisDoc-compatible documents on your handheld device. If you have many documents, you may have to scroll down to find the desired document by tapping the down arrow.
Select the document to be deleted by tapping on it. It will become highlighted. Tap the Delete button. Repeat this process to delete other documents.
Tap the Done button and you will be returned to the Documents List screen.
To delete all documents, use the Erase All Documents command from the Special Menu (see below).
Preferences
Choose the Preferences command from the Options Menu to control any of the following features. Tap any checkbox to turn the option on, tap again to uncheck it. Tap the OK button to return to the Documents List screen.
Allow Text Selection - By default, you cannot select text in an AportisDoc document. This is because tapping on the screen is used to scroll up or down. When you want to copy some text to paste into another application, tap this checkbox to be able to select text for copying.
Strip Linefeeds - Tap this checkbox and AportisDoc will try to fit more of the AportisDoc document onto the device's screen. This setting does not display single line feed/carriage returns, but retains double ones that usually signify a new paragraph.
Overlap Screens - Tap this checkbox to keep one line left over at the top when the screen is scrolled. Unchecked, there will be no overlapping of text.
Tap Scroll One Line Only - When checked, tapping on the screen only scrolls one line at a time, instead of a whole screen. In addition, the speed of scrolling depends upon how far from the (top-to-bottom) middle that you tap. The closer you tap to the bottom, the faster you go down.
Tapping Only Scrolls Down - If unchecked, scroll up by tapping the top half of the screen, and scroll down by tapping the lower half. If checked, tapping scrolls down only. This is useful if you just want to simply sit back and read a document.
Allow Global Find (Slow!) - AportisDoc has its own highly optimized built-in search function for searching within a particular document you are reading (see Find, below). You can also use the standard Global Find to search through all AportisDoc documents by checking this feature. It is invoked by tapping the magnifying Find button. If you check this box, the global find will attempt to search all AportisDoc documents. This could take a long time, depending on how many large AportisDoc documents you have. To cancel searching, press the hardware scroll down button.
Show Search Progress - This makes the global search display the name of the particular AportisDoc document being searched. As a Search Progress indicator is being displayed, you can skip the current document by pressing the hardware scroll up button, and AportisDoc will skip to the next document.
Show File Sizes - This displays the size of each AportisDoc in the Documents List screen.
Alphabetize Names - Lists the documents in alphabetical order. If unchecked, documents are displayed in the order in which they were installed.
Scan For Bookmarks - Enables the Auto Bookmarking feature.
Special Menu
This menu contains commands to Set Categories, Read Documents, Erase Documents and Backup Everything.
Set Categories
The Set Categories command lets you choose the categories for documents. Choose the Set Categories command and the menu bar will change from being named AportisDoc to Set Categories. You cannot read (open) documents while in this mode.
Tapping on a document name opens a pick list of the available categories. Tap on any category to assign a document to it.
Category names may be edited or added by tapping the Edit Category item. For example, you might create a category called Novels. If you delete a category name, the documents filed under it will be assigned to the Unfiled category. To merge documents from different categories, rename one category to another existing category name.
When you are finished setting categories, choose the Read Documents command (see below).
Read Documents
Choose the Read Documents command when you are through setting categories. The menu bar will change from being named Set Categories to AportisDoc. You can now read documents.
Erase All Documents
The Erase All Documents command clears all documents in the currently active category. Use it with extreme caution.
Once the Erase All Documents command is chosen, you will be presented with a confirmation message before the documents will be deleted.
Use the Delete a Document command to selectively delete documents (see above).
Backup Everything
Choose the Backup Everything command and when you perform the next HotSync(r), all of the AportisDoc documents will be copied to the Backup directory on your computer. If you wish to override this feature, uncheck the backup check box in the individual document's Details box (see below).
Options-Document
This Options Menu is available when you are reading a document. It allows access to the About AportisDoc and Preferences commands described above, plus three additional commands - Copy, Close Document and Details.
Copy
Choose the Copy Command to place selected text in the clipboard for pasting into another application. The Preferences item, Allow Text Selection, must be checked prior to selecting this command, or no text will be selected or copied.
Close Document
Choosing the Close Document command is the same as tapping the Done button at the bottom of the screen. The page you are currently reading (your position in the document) will be remembered by AportisDoc, and you will be returned to the Document List screen.
Details
Choose the Details command and the Details dialog box appears.
You can set the Category for the document by selecting a category from the Category pick list (see above).
You can set the currently open document to be Private. This will ensure that confidential AportisDoc documents will not appear if you choose to hide records in the Security Application.
Check the Backup This Document checkbox to set the document so that it will be copied back to your desktop computer the next time you perform a HotSync. This is useful when you have set a large number of bookmarks and want to keep them for the next time you use the document. Note that the backup attribute stays set until you manually uncheck it. Otherwise, every time you HotSync, each specified document will be copied.
Check the Always Search checkbox to specify that a document can be searched with the Global Search. This overrides the Preference setting (see above), even if it is set to not allow Global Searches. Using this option, one or more documents can always be globally searched, while others are ignored.
Go Menu
The commands in the Go Menu allow you to change position quickly within a document.
Find
Choose the Find command (or tap the F button in the button bar) to search for a word or phrase. Enter a word or phrase that you want to locate. Check the Ignore Case checkbox to make search case-insensitive. Tap the OK button to begin a search.
Searches begin from the current page, go forward through the document, and stop at the end. To search from the beginning of a document, choose the To Top command from the Go Menu (see below) first, and then choose Find.
If AportisDoc cannot find (any more) occurrences of the Find word or phrase, it will beep.
Find Again
Choose the Find Again command to search for the same word or phrase as the last Find (or tap the G button in the button bar). This allows you to skip the Find dialog before searching again.
Go To Bookmark
A Bookmark is a pre-designated location within a document. Choosing the Go To Bookmark command is the same as tapping the lower right corner Bookmark pick list triangle. A pick list of all bookmarks appears. Tap an item from the pick list to jump to the previously marked part of the document.
Add Bookmark
Choose the Add Bookmark command and the current top of screen position in the document is memorized as a bookmark. Enter a name (less than 15 characters) for the bookmark in the dialog that appears, and tap OK. The name will now appear in the Bookmark pick list.
An identical command is available at the bottom of the Bookmark pick list.
Delete Bookmark
Choose the Delete Bookmark command and the bookmark pick list appears. Tap on a bookmark to delete it. Use with caution as no confirmation dialog appears and the bookmark is instantly deleted.
In addition, the last list item becomes DELETE ALL!, which deletes all bookmarks. Choose it and a confirmation dialog will appear before all bookmarks are deleted.
Auto Bookmark
Choose the Auto Bookmark command to create bookmarks automatically. A dialog appears where you can enter specific text to be found and bookmarked throughout a document.
For example, you could search for the word Chapter, followed by 5 characters. Enter a name to appear in the Bookmark pick list, like Chap. Tap OK and at each occurrence of Chapter, a Bookmark will be created. If it found Chapter One, the Bookmark will read Chap One. If it found Chapter 4, the Bookmark will read Chap 4.
The option to Ignore Case may also be used.
Take the time to experiment with Auto Bookmarks and you will find that virtually all forms of large business, reference, nonfiction, and fictional texts can benefit from it.
Preset Bookmarks
To preset bookmarks you need to use AportisDoc Professional (not this product).
First, choose an inconspicuous Preset Bookmark Indicator, like (--). Put those characters wherever you want a bookmark to be made. Also put the Preset Bookmark Indicator at the end of the document enclosed in angle brackets (< >).
The first time AportisDoc opens the document, AportisDoc will deliberately look at the special Preset Bookmark Indicator at the end of the document, and make a special scan through the document creating bookmarks at each instance of the string. You can turn off this feature via the Preferences command (see above).
To create Preset Bookmarks, order AportisDoc Professional Edition now by visiting http://www.aportis.com or calling the toll free order line, 1.888.APORTIS, or international +1.503.736.3240.
To Top
To Bottom
Choose the To Top or To Bottom commands to either take you all the way to the beginning or to the end of the current document.
Display Menu
The commands in this menu determine if text is scrolled automatically, the size of the screen, and which fonts to use.
Start Prompter
Stop Prompter
Set Up Prompter
These three commands control the teleprompting (auto scroll) feature of AportisDoc. Use this to have AportisDoc scroll a document automatically, so it can be read without the need for interaction from you.
Choose the Set Up Prompter command to control how the document automatically scrolls. Choose to either scroll one line or one screen at a time. Check Use Hardware Buttons to have the left two buttons on the front panel of the device (Date Book and Address Book) start and stop the prompter, and the right two buttons (To Do List and Memo Pad) to slow down or speed up the rate of scrolling. Enter an exact time between scrolls in seconds plus ticks.
Check the Never Sleep checkbox, and the device will not sleep if you have long intervals between scrolling.
Tap the OK button when done with your settings.
Choose the Start Prompter command to begin automatic scrolling and the Stop Prompter command to halt scrolling.
Larger Text Window
Smaller Text Window
These commands hide or show the controls on the button bar at the bottom of the screen. You may choose to have as much text as possible on the screen, or to have the button bar appear on the bottom.
Regular Font
Big Font
Bold Font
Monospaced
These four display font menu choices are equivalent to the font buttons on the button bar at the bottom of the screen. Experiment with each and choose the one best suited for your eyes and reading conditions. The Monospaced font is particularly useful if you want to line up database output, price lists, inventory reports, programming source code, etc.
Screen Width
Use the Screen Width command to use a virtual screen that is wider than the device's 160 x 160 pixel screen. This feature is very useful if you are working with database reports. Check the Wide Virtual Screen checkbox, set the width desired, set the scroll amounts and Tap OK. Once set, scroll left and right by tapping on the edges of the screen, or by using the hardware buttons. You can also specify the amount to scroll (in pixels).
To turn off the Virtual Screen: choose the Screen Width command, uncheck the Wide Virtual Screen checkboxand tap OK. The screen will return to its normal width.
Button Bar
There are additional functions available on screen when you are reading a document. The button bar may be hidden by choosing the Larger Text Window command from the Display Menu.
Done Button
Tap the Done button to close the current document. The page you are currently reading (your position in the document) will be remembered by AportisDoc, and you will be returned to the Document List screen. If you re-open a document, you will be returned to the page you were reading when you last closed it.
Percentage
The number displayed on screen indicates what portion (percentage) of the document has been read. Tap the percentage and the Jump To dialog appears. Enter a percentage, and tap the OK button. That portion of the current document will appear. Tap the Top or Bottom button to go to the top or to the bottom of the current document.
F/G Buttons
These buttons perform the same functions as the Find and Find Again commands (see above).
Font Buttons
These four characters represent the four fonts available - Regular, Big, Bold and Monospaced (see above).
Bookmark Triangle
A Bookmark is a pre-designated location within a document. Tap this triangle and a pick list of all bookmarks is displayed. Tap an item from the pick list to jump to the marked part of the document. You need to use the AportisDoc Professional Edition in order to create bookmarks for AportisDoc documents.
The last item in the Bookmark pick list is Add a Bookmark. Tap it and the current top of screen position in the document is memorized as a bookmark. Enter a name for the bookmark in the dialog that appears. Names should be 15 characters or less. Tap OK. The name will now appear in the Bookmark pick list. An identical command is available in the Go Menu.
Further Documentation
Detailed documentation for AportisDoc Mobile Edition is available in HTML format for free downloading online at http://www.aportis.com.
Mobile Edition
The AportisDoc Mobile Edition (Shareware) - this product - does not expire, and has no functional limitations, although it does require payment within 60 days after installation. AportisDoc Mobile Edition costs US$30.00. It is available at http://www.aportis.com, and other internet sites.
Professional Edition
AportisDoc Professional Edition (Commercial Software) contains all the features of the Mobile Edition plus desktop computer software that allows you to create AportisDoc documents from Microsoft Word, text, and HTML; the ability to preset bookmarks, and more. If you are comfortable with using a mouse, you can easily create AportisDoc documents. The electronic download version of AportisDoc Professional is US$39.95. Registered users of the Mobile Edition may upgrade to the electronic version for $9.95. It is available at http://www.aportis.com, other internet sites, and resellers throughout the world.
Ordering
Order AportisDoc Mobile Edition or AportisDoc Professional Edition now by visiting http://www.aportis.com or calling the toll free order line, 1.888.APORTIS, or international +1.503.736.3240.
AportisDoc Mobile Edition(tm)
Aportis Technologies Corp.
PO Box 86336
Portland, Oregon
United States of America
97286-0336
1.888.APORTIS toll-free
+1.503.736.3240 vox
+1.503.736.3239 fax
http://www.aportis.com
custcare@aportis.com
Doc, AportisDoc, AportisDoc Reader, AportisDoc Mobile Edition, AportisDoc Professional Edition are trademarks of Aportis Technologies Corp. and Rick Bram.
The 3Com logo, Palm Computing and HotSync are registered trademarks, and PalmPilot, Palm, Palm OS, Palm Computing logo, the PalmPilot logo are trademarks of Palm Computing, Inc., 3Com Corp., or its subsidiaries. All other brands and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Copyright (c) 1997-1998 by Aportis Technologies Corp. and Rick Bram.
