Microsoft Works was an all-in-one office productivity package created and distributed by Microsoft. Features included a word processor, a spreadsheet, a flatfile database, a telecommunications client, and a drawing appllication.
At last, after a serious update, Microsoft Works is starting to look the way it should. With the release of version 4.0, what was a poorly designed, overpriced integrated works program becomes a sensible, low-cost package. It provides entry-level users with a respectable word processor, database, and spreadsheet, along with drawing and communications tools, for under $100.
And, while trimming the price, Microsoft has enhanced Works 4.0 with plenty of new features, including a built-in calendar, an address book, and a slide-show module — features missing in many other all-in-one works packages.
New and Improved
All of the existing Works modules have been improved, some dramatically. The word processor is most noticeably made over, acquiring a fast, efficient spelling checker, a thesaurus, and a straightforward table-making tool. A zoom command has been added so you can view a page layout at magnifications of 25 percent to 800 percent. A new tool bar makes formatting commands available via pop-up menus. There’s also more assistance online. The WorksWizards, for example, provide step-by-step guidance for creating items such as greeting cards, certificates, and newsletters in a variety of styles. The program also ships with a folderful of AutoStart Stationery templates for new documents.
These features make the Works word processor much easier to use, but it’s still a very basic word processor at best. For example, you can add bullets to a series of paragraphs with a single click, but you can’t customize the type of bullets used. You can insert a table into a document, but you can’t change the color and width of grid lines or shade the table cells. And the module also contains a few odd inconsistencies. Drag-and-drop text editing, supported in the word processor, inexplicably doesn’t work within tables.
The program’s drawing and painting modules have taken a substantial leap forward. You can draw objects using a variety of shape tools, apply gradient fills, and rotate objects at any angle. You can enhance paint objects with a number of interesting effects, such as blur, emboss, and trace edges. These image-processing commands let you do some creative manipulation of original or imported images within Works. Another little Works bonus: the drawing tools can be used to create PowerPoint-like slide shows. The slide-show-setup features are bare-bones but fine for assembling simple on-screen presentations, albeit without any transitional effects.
The graphics tools are accessible on a floating tool palette from any of the modules, making it easy to integrate draw and paint objects. You can drop logos, charts, or diagrams onto a page and then use the straightforward text-wrap commands to make the text either wrap around the graphic elements or overlap them. For more elaborate layouts, you can set text in individual text frames within a page (and across pages) and build links between frames as you would with a full-blown page-layout program.
Subtle Changes
The database and spreadsheet modules are less improved, though they too have been upgraded. The database allows you to create multiple data-entry and -display forms, along with a fully customizable list view. A new field-placement dialog box simplifies setting up new forms, and the reporting capabilities are improved. You still have to enter data into each field through an entry bar at the top of the screen, spreadsheet-style, instead of directly in the field. And the zoom tool accessible in the word processor can’t be used when designing a database.
The spreadsheet also still lacks a zoom function, so you can’t reduce a large spreadsheet to get an overview of your work. Also, the spreadsheet-formatting commands are oddly implemented. If you select a cell and pick a different font, the entire spreadsheet changes to the new font. But if you pick a new color or style, the change affects only the selected cell.
On the positive side, the spreadsheet supports a full range of standard functions and integrates nicely with the other modules in the program. For example, the Paste Special command makes it easy to embed a spreadsheet into a word processing document. Double-clicking on the embedded spreadsheet gives you instant access to the spreadsheet tools so you can edit the spreadsheet from within the word processing document.
The Works telecommunications module is probably the least likely to be used — true for all works programs — but it, too, is enhanced. The module now supports a fuller range of file-transfer protocols, including Xmodem, Ymodem, Zmodem. Other notable features include a status area that lets you display the date, time, and duration of a telecom session, or your online service charges; macros to automate dial-up and log-in sequences; and an option for preselecting an application to open downloaded text files.
In addition to the traditional works modules. Works 4.0 now includes its own calendar and address book. There’s not much to the address book, just a database preset with the appropriate customizable fields for address listings. The calendar is nicer, a simple but useful planner/organizer. It displays daily, monthly, and weekly view's of your appointments, along with a list view' for to-do items.
The Last Word
Despite all the forward steps, Microsoft Works 4.0 isn’t the best integrated software package around; ClarisWorks still offers stronger individual tools and the best overall selection of features — though it costs about $100 more on the street and lacks a calendar program. But Microsoft Works offers so much at such a good price that it merits serious consideration. Entry-level users looking for an all-in-one package at the best possible price won’t be disappointed with Works 4.0.
Schorr, Joseph. (January 1995). Microsoft Works 4.0. Macworld. (pg. 63).
Microsoft Corporation
Applications
out of 10 (0 vote)
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2014-12-28 / 
2a5f4123853307e5556c15ea16add1c7c49aa2d7 / 
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ms-works-4b-us.sit
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Basilisk II
