The newly designed Documents To Go on BlackBerry 10 builds on over 13 years of optimizing our mobile Office suite, and rather than just porting our existing app and feature set from one platform to the next, our mission was to deeply integrate documents into the underlying DNA of the BlackBerry 10 platform for an end-to-end experience that is far greater, more productive and more secure than can typically be achieved as a stand-alone application.

Take a Peek

Since email and attachments go together like peanut butter and jelly, it is no surprise that one of our main focuses of this release was flowing seamlessly from the BlackBerry Hub to previewing an attachment – all without the need to launch a separate application.

Our Word, Excel and PowerPoint file previewers gracefully slide over top of an email message with a “content is king” design strategy. This means that all the clutter of distracting toolbars and options fade away, leaving the user to a glorious full screen view of the document. Within the previewers, you can navigate pages, slides, and worksheets, rotate the device, and zoom in and out on content to determine the next appropriate action, which is typically share, edit, or save.

Tapping ‘share’ flows to a screen where you can select from an array of different options such as email, BBM, and cloud accounts among others. Simply tapping two NFC-enabled BlackBerry smartphones together allows you to instantly transfer files right from the document previewer.

It’s worth mentioning that although the document previewers are accessible from the BlackBerry Hub, they can also be leveraged in other applications such as File Manager or 3rd party solutions. At any time you can peek from the document back to any previous activities. Previewers also exist for other popular file types such as pictures, videos, music, and Adobe PDF files.

Feel Free to Tweak

By no means are we trying to cram all the features and functionality of Microsoft Office on a desktop computer into a mobile form, but instead we are aiming for key scenarios where we can eliminate the need for a laptop or desktop computer.

A great example of this is the reason we are investing so much on our mobile presentation capabilities including rendering the underlying presentation content such as charts, graphics, tables, formatted text and complex slide layouts. If you’re going to invest the time in creating beautiful presentations (and documents and spreadsheets,) we want to ensure that they remain beautiful as they make their way to your BlackBerry 10 smartphone. Once you realize that you can rely on the quality and accuracy of the data being viewed on the device, you’ll then have the confidence to edit and make last minute tweaks on the fly – slowly weaning yourself off of the reliance and delays associated with laptop edits. And when it comes to mobile editing features, we are trying to keep it simple with frequently used actions like adjusting bullets, indentation, spacing, fonts, colors and formatting as well as inserting, copying and pasting text.

Our InTact Technology, which preserves original formatting, goes one step further, and is designed to help ensure that any complex elements that might not make sense on a mobile device (like Macros in Excel) will be maintained when editing and sending updates from your smartphone. Again, you may not edit often, but when you do, we want it to be a tweakin’ awesome experience!

Stand Out While You Speak

Let’s first break down a typical meeting in which you’re aiming to present to a group. Today, you can create the slides in PowerPoint on a desktop computer, laying out the content so it looks pixel perfect with cool slide transitions and effects. Given the efficiencies in doing this on a bigger screen and reliance on a keyboard and mouse, we don’t see this part of the equation changing anytime soon.

However, the next step requires you to lug around a bulky laptop to present the content. This is where we think a mobile device is suited better to fit this need and lighten the load. To do this requires a combination of the right software, hardware and pricing. As mentioned above, Documents To Go now covers the software side with the peeking, tweaking and even a new “presenter mode” that shows speaker notes, upcoming slides and overall progress, while the audience sees only the content being presented. On the hardware side, BlackBerry 10 smartphones use an industry standard micro-HDMI connection plus enough mobile computing power to drive output to an external display including over 125 stunning PowerPoint slide transitions. Since many TVs and projectors include HDMI inputs, this end-to-end experience is now available to the masses whether at work, home, or school. Not only will presentations look great, the presenter is sure to impress when this is all pulled off from a BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

The second way that BlackBerry customers often “speak out” when collaborating on files is when working on a project with another individual. Whether in the same location looking over each other’s shoulders, emailing drafts and comments back and forth, or using a web conferencing solution, we’ve noticed some common themes around the value of real-time discussion and document editing. Yet again, we thought to ourselves that a BlackBerry 10 smartphone is perfectly suited to simplify this process. This is why we are introducing BBM Video with Screen Share, which connects two collaborators as intuitively as making a phone call and then allows them to both see the same file in real-time and discuss as needed.

Eliminate the IT Mobile File Freak Out

As mentioned, many individuals have always wanted mobile access to their files, but at the same time, IT continues to struggle with ways to secure corporate documents without being too overbearing. With BlackBerry Balance on BlackBerry 10, we are addressing this issue by storing corporate data in an encrypted Work space. All of this happens automatically behind the scenes, so let’s take a closer look at how this applies when peeking at an attachment, making edits, and then saving or sharing those files.

First off, when an email is pushed to your device, BlackBerry Hub is smart enough to know which account is work and which is personal. If a work email contains an attachment, no problem, just go about your business. You can preview the file and edit to your heart’s content. It’s not until you go to share it or save it that the underlying security features kick to for example, prevent you from accidentally leaking corporate data. Now this doesn’t mean that you’ll be totally restricted. As you can see from the above screens, you’ll be prompted to store corporate attachments in the work space of the device with a little suitcase icon indicating where the file is headed. And although IT admins ultimately have the last say when it comes to corporate files, in many cases they will allow the ability to save content to popular cloud providers and enterprise network drives for the productivity gained when enabling these existing document workflows, so long as they can track and restrict as needed.

As the name suggests, BlackBerry Balance really does “balance” the needs of users and administrators, and when you combine it with Documents To Go, we are achieving a complete end-to-end flow that is unlike any other mobile platform today. In fact, we’re just getting started and we are very excited for many of the additional features to come as we continue to work on the BlackBerry 10 platform and amazing document experiences!

Learn more at www.blackberry.com/DocumentsToGo

For those that are unfamiliar with Docs To Go, it is a powerful mobile office suite that allows you to view and edit Microsoft Word, Excel®, and PowerPoint® files and attachments on BlackBerry® smartphones and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets. You also have the ability to present PowerPoint documents from your BlackBerry PlayBook by plugging into a projector or TV via an HDMI connection. While in presenter mode, speaking notes are visible on your PlayBook, while your presentation itself is visible from the projector or TV. Updates to BlackBerry® Bridge™ in PlayBook OS 2.0 further enhance this feature by allowing you to control “back” and “next” functionality using your BlackBerry smartphone.

Feature Improvements to the Docs To Go Suite

• Editing text within Microsoft PowerPoint documents is now supported
• The suite now supports BlackBerry® Balance™ for keeping corporate documents and data secure
• Find & Replace functionality has been added to the Microsoft Word and Excel feature list
• Bluetooth® keyboards and keyboard-shortcuts are now supported
• You can now clear files from the “Recently Used Files” list
• Password-protected Office 2010 files can now be accessed
• When presenting, you can now use your BlackBerry smartphone with BlackBerry Bridge as a remote control to move forward and backward through your presentation

Specific enhancements have been implemented for individual applications within the suite.

• While editing Microsoft Word documents, you’ll have the ability to create and edit both bulleted and numbered lists.
• Editing Microsoft Excel files includes functionality which allows you to copy, paste, and resize cells, rows, and columns. Additionally, you may view and update embedded charts and chart sheets. Lastly, a new formula wizard has been added for easy entry of over 110 supported functions.
• Working with Microsoft PowerPoint files will include editing of text in in both .ppt and .pptx file formats, and also allows you to hide/show slides with basic HDMI presenter-mode optimizations. Lastly, viewing of charts within PowerPoint .pptx files has also been improved.

Introducing Print To Go version 1.0

Print To Go eliminates the hassle of mountains of paper files by wireless printing from your laptop or PC directly to your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet with the simple click of a “print” button. With an easy-to-install Microsoft® Windows® application, Print To Go is added as a printer to your system. You can view, sort, and manage digital printouts from various sources like web pages, documents, emails, or other applications – all within a very slick and intuitive user interface that mimics physical sheets of paper, which was inspired by our friends over at The Astonishing Tribe (TAT).

For example, before jumping on a plane to attend CES 2012 in Las Vegas, I printed all of the planning documents and schedules that I had kept on my PC, right to my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, which allowed me to reference these files while en route. I did the same with a map of the city, as well as my flight and hotel booking information. In the office, I have the ability to quickly transfer a document to my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet for use in a meeting or a coffee shop conversation with a colleague. Taking your work on the go is quick and functional with PlayBook OS 2.0 and the Print To Go application. For solutions that allow you to print documents from your PlayBook tablet to a physical printer, look no further than BlackBerry App World™.

On to the specifics!

Print To Go version 1.0 includes the following:

• A Microsoft® Windows® application that installs a virtual “Print To Go” printer onto your computer that can be accessed from any application that allows printing (e.g. Microsoft Office, web pages, image viewers, and more)
• Secure wireless peer-to-peer printing from your PC to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet over Wi-Fi®, including end-to-end encryption of the documents
• If you have BlackBerry Balance in use on your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, all printouts are automatically sent to the secure “Work” partition
• Secure printing using your BlackBerry ID
• Notifications on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet when new printouts arrive
• A Print To Go app on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet that allows you to view, sort, and manage printouts as if they were physical stacks of paper on a desktop
• A virtual paper shredder for deleting the digital printouts from your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet

These enhancements to the Docs To Go office suite, as well as the addition of Print To Go, will truly push the abilities of mobile work far forward. Working from your tablet, especially when using a Bluetooth keyboard or an HDMI monitor connection, now provides a higher level of functionality and capability when creating, editing, presenting or sharing documents. We hope that Print To Go will not only save paper, but also help you to unclutter your work life by keeping your desk clean and allowing you to use your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet as a resource for handling printed documents.

How will you use Print To Go in your daily work? Share in the comments below.