Utility	OS	Inputs	Outputs	Remote?	Interactive?	Comments
AbiWord	Linux	Text HTML	DOC	N	Y	Full-function word processor saves to DOC format
AportisDOC PDF Converter	Windows	Acrobat	DOC	N	N	Limited to text w/no formatting
Bibelot	Perl script	Text	DOC	N	N	Alternate script
CES QuickWord	Windows	Text MS-Word DOC	QuickWord	N	N	Has a drag-n-drop, convert-as-you-go desktop conduit
ClipSync	Windows	Text Images	DOC FireViewer	N	N	Acts as a drag-n-drop, convert-on-the-fly HotSync conduit
DocInOut	Windows	Text DOC CSV HanDBase JFile	Text DOC CSV HanDBase JFile	N	N	Integrates into Windows Explorer
Doc-on-Demand	Web	Text HTML	DOC	Y	N
Documents To Go	Windows MacOS	MS-Word WordPerfect WordPro Text DOC AppleWorks ClarisWorks MS-Excel Quattro Pro Lotus 1-2-3	Proprietary: WordToGo SheetToGo DOC	N	N	Retains formatting & allows document beaming & editing
DocReader	Windows	Text DOC Peanut	Text DOC	N	Y	Removes formatting from Peanut-formatted documents
DropBook	Windows MacOS	Text	Palm Markup Language (PML)	N	N	Creates documents in PalmReader format
EasyDOC Reader	Windows	DOC	Text	N	N	Works much like Windows' 'Quick View' utility
eBookStudio	Windows MacOS	Text	Palm Markup Language (PML)	N	N	Creates documents in PalmReader format
ExpressReader Pro	Windows	MS-Word Text RTF DOC HTML CSV	Text DOC	N	Y	Advanced editing functions
ExpressReader DX	Windows	Text RTF DOC	Text DOC	N	Y	Advanced editing functions
FastWriter	Windows	Text RTF MS-Word HTML DOC	MS-Word DOC	N	N	Word files synchronize with desktop
HandDoc Editpad	Windows	Text DOC Excel CSV HanDBase MS-Access MS-Word RTF HTML JFile	Text DOC CSV HanDBase Excel MS-Access	N	Y	Advanced editing functions; can handle .zip files also
HandStory	Windows	Text DOC JPG BMP GIF	Doc HandStory Image (Proprietary)	Y	N
HML2Doc	DOS	Text HTML	RichReader	N	N
InstallBuddy	Windows	Text RTF MS-Word DOC Acrobat	Text DOC	N	N
Interparse	Windows	Text, HTML, Doc	Text, HTML, Doc	N	Y	Allows for "FAST" repair of trashed format on text documents before uploading to PDA.
iSiloWeb	Windows	Text HTML	iSilo	Y	N	GUI driven; supports inline images
iSilo Maker	Windows MacOS DOS Linux FreeBSD Sparc	Text HTML	iSilo	Y	N	Command-line driven; supports inline images
Lilalu PalmDoc Machinery	Web	Text	DOC	Y	N	Very full-featured online conversion utility
Mac Palm Doc	MacOS	Text DOC	Text DOC	N	Y
MakeBook	Windows MacOS	Text	Palm Markup Language (PML)	N	N	Creates documents in PalmReader format
MakeDoc	Windows	Text Doc	Text Doc	N	N	Visual Basic Script converter. more info
MakeDoc8	DOS	Text DOC	Text DOC	N	N	Command-line doc converter
MDoc	DOS	HTML Text	DOC	N	N	Takes a list of HTML files and converts to DOC format, stripping the HTML tags.
MakeDocDD	MacOS	Text DOC	Text DOC	N	N
MakeDocJ	Java	Text DOC	Text DOC	N	N
MakeDocW	Windows	Text	DOC	N	N	Very popular utility, one of the first
MakeIt	Windows	Text HTML	DOC	Y	N	Requires Internet Explorer
MakeTeal	DOS	Text HTML	Text TealDoc	N	N	Supports inline images
MobiPocket Publisher	Windows	Text DOC	Text DOC MobiPocket	N	N
PDB.CNV	Windows	MS-Word DOC Text	MS-Word DOC	N	Y	Requires MS-Word (is an Office add-on)
PDF2Doc	Windows	Text Acrobat	DOC	N	N	Requires Adobe Acrobat (not Reader)
pedit	PalmOS	DOC MemoPad	DOC MemoPad	N	N	Conversion on the Palm
Pilot Install	Windows	Text HTML	DOC	N	N	Acts as installer; also handles image formats (requires separate viewer)
Plucker	Windows Linux OS/2	HTML Text	Plucker	Y	N	Supports text formatting and inline images; open-source
Primer	Windows	Text Acrobat	Primer (Proprietary)	N	N
Pyrite Publisher	Linux	Text HTML	DOC zTXT	Y	N
QuickLookup Dictionary Builder	Windows	Text HTML CHM	MXD	N	Y	For making QuickLookup databases
RTF2Doc	DOS	Text RTF	RichReader	N	N	Supports inline images
Sitescooper	Web	Text HTML	DOC iSilo RichReader	Y	N
SyncBuddy	MacOS	Text DOC JFile MobileDB	Text DOC JFile MobileDB	N	N
Syncplicity	Web	Web content	MemoPad AddressBook To-Do DateBook	Y	N
TealAgent	Windows MacOS	Text HTML	TealDoc	Y	N
TealDoc	Windows	Text HTML Other	TealDoc TealInfo Others	N	N
TomeRaider	Windows	Text RTF HTML	TomeRaider	N	Y
TomeRaidit	Windows	Text HTML	See below*	N	N	* This is an pre-parser only -- it creates files that can be easily imported into the TomeRaider converter listed above
TWord	Windows	Text RTF RichReader	Text RichReader	N	Y
txt2pdbdoc	UNIX	Text HTML DOC	Text DOC	N	N	Requires C compiler and Perl 5
WavePDB	Windows	Text HTML DOC	Text DOC	N	Y	Also enables storage of binary files on PalmOS device
Word DOC Converter	Windows	MS-Word DOC JFile	MS-Word DOC iSilo RichReader	N	Y
WordSmith	Windows	MS-Word DOC Text	WordSmith	N	N
WRTF2Doc	Windows	Text RTF Acrobat	RichReader	N	N
XML2LIT	Windows	MSXML	LIT MobiPocket TXT HTML	N	N

Key:
OS = The operating system or environment
Inputs = The file formats accepted by the conversion tool (The tool might accept other formats not listed as inputs, but the output is likely to be junk)
Outputs = The file formats produced by the conversion tool
Remote? = Can input/source files be located remotely (e.g. on the Internet)?
Interactive? = Can you edit the document directly within the conversion tool?

Notes: Text is plain ASCII text (.txt). DOC is the PalmOS DOC format, not MS-Word's .doc files. RTF is Rich Text Format (.rtf).

Other Resources:

• Jim Thompson has a helpful page on word processing for Palm devices.
• Jeff Kirvin has a nice set of pages that explore Writing On Your Palm.
• For tips on DOC creation using perl and Linux, visit Rich Bowen's site
• For details on open-source aspects of various DOC converters, visit Rick Moen's site
• Andrew Schechtman's page offers an iSilo Document Creation Tutorial.

Tips on Converting Project Gutenberg files:

Project Gutenberg (PG) files are double-spaced. Removing these extra carriage returns can be tricky and monotonous if done manually. Using a good word processor, such as MS-Word, is the easiest and fastest way I've found. These steps using MS-Word will help you get 90% of the way through reformatting a PG file into a Palm-friendly text file:

1. MS-Word uses ^p as the symbol for a paragraph mark. Search for all instances of ^p^p and Replace with ^p - this will remove the double paragraph spacing.

2. Next, search for all instances of ^p^p again and Replace with @@@@ (we're using @@@@ as a placeholder and can be substituted with another unique set of characters if you wish). This removes all of the paragraph separations, but retains the end-of-line marks we need to remove next.

3. Then, Search for all instances of ^p and replace with " " (a single space with no quotes around it). This will remove any incidental extra returns that only serve to artificially break up a line, and is important to making it look good on small PDA screens.

4. Then, Search for all instances of @@@@ (yes, the marker you inserted) and replace with ^p^p . This serves to restructure the document into separate paragraphs, but each paragraph is now on a continuous line (this is preferable since the Palm OS handles line breaks itself automatically). Save as a plain MS-DOS Text document and convert into your preferred Palm OS text format using any of the tools in the table above.

Using MakeDoc for DOS:

Installing MAKEDOC8.EXE:

• Download the program from here: DOWNLOAD.
• Save the program to someplace in your executable path. Depending on your setup such directories as C:\DOS or C:\WINDOWS or C:\ or C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND are recommended.

Converting text files to DOC format:
For this example we will be converting 'My Diary' from a file named DIARY.TXT

• Start a DOS session and change to the directory containing the document to be converted into DOC format. Note that only human readable files are appropriate for conversion. This includes source code, web page HTML, lists, Windows notepad type documents and others. Documents saved by high end programs such as Word, WordPerfect, and others however cannot be read by DOC readers. If you must convert such a document it must first be saved as text.
• Enter at the DOS prompt: MAKEDOC DIARY.TXT DIARY.PDB "My Diary"
  For faster editing you may prepare the document without compression by entering:
  MAKEDOC -n DIARY.TXT DIARY.PDB "My Diary"
• Run the standard Palm Application Installer program and select the newly created DIARY.PDB file for installation. After the next Hot-Sync, the diary file should appear on your Doc reader's list of files.

Converting back to DOS text format:
You may also want to convert a DOC file back to a DOS text format for use in another program or for printing.

• Start a DOS session and change to the directory containing your DOC format file.
• Determine the name given to your file. Under Windows 3.x this is the same as the name originally used for the file when it was installed (e.g. DIARY.TXT). Under Windows 95/NT, it may be named using the title given to the document (e.g. 'My Diary.pdb').
• Enter at the DOS prompt: MAKEDOC -d DIARY.PDB DIARY.TXT
  This should result in a new file (DIARY.TXT) in the same subdirectory as the original DIARY.PDB file.

Adding DOC Bookmarks:

If you want to add bookmarks to a DOC document, this was taken from Aportis' FAQ at http://www.aportis.com/custcare/AportisDoc/custfaq.html:

Q: How do I put bookmarks in a text file before converting to AportisDoc format?
A: Choose an inconspicuous search string; for example, two consecutive spaces. Insert these search string characters throughout the file wherever you want to create a bookmark. Be sure to include them at the end of the file, surrounded by < and >. Convert the file as usual. Install on your PalmPilot. The first time AportisDoc reads the file, it will search through the file, creating a mark at each occurrence of the string. It will assign a name to each bookmark based on the 15 or so characters that follow the search string.

Q: How do I get AportisDoc to not scan through new files for bookmarks?
A: Uncheck the Scan for Bookmarks option in the main preferences box.

Adding RichReader Bookmarks:
Michael Arena, author of RichReader, provided this description of dealing with bookmarks in RichReader:

Several users have asked about how to insert bookmarks into Word documents and have them preserved in RichReader. Previously, I had only known that creating a Table Of Contents would automatically create a bookmark for each item in the TOC. I recently discovered (now that I have Word 97) that you can manually insert bookmarks without a TOC:

1. Select the text for which you want to bookmark (NOTE: You must select at least one character. Also, bookmarks are (currently) limited to 15 characters).
2. From the menu bar, choose Insert -> Bookmark...
3. Enter a bookmark name (NOTE: this name is ignored by RichReader. The converter will use the text selected in step 1).
4. Click the Add button

If you want to see the bookmarks you have created:

1. From the menu bar, choose Tools -> Options...
2. Select the View tab
3. Select the Bookmarks checkbox
4. Click the OK button
5. Bookmarks will appear inside of square brackets: [ ]

In an upcoming release of RichReader, support will be added for bookmarks in HTML documents. Text inside "Header" tags will become bookmarks in RichReader. NOTE: For anchor tags, the name of the bookmark will be the NAME attribute of the tag, not the text between the tags.