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Newton X-Port 2.1

LandWare has released a new version of X-Port, their popular connectivity tool. There are a number of great new features that make it worth your while to upgrade.

X-Port 2.1 now can be activated from from the routing menu. You're in a slip, tap the envelope icon, tap X-Port, click on the Receive X-Port button on your desktop, tap X-Port; now/later, and you have it. Your Newton can now import spreadsheets as delimited text if you have QuickFigure. They have also improved filename awareness: Notes go back and forth with their filenames which also show up in the new progress dialog boxes. EnRoute users can use X-Port to create RTF files which can now be emailed. As to RTF itself, X-Port recognizes (for export from the Newton) notes written on the blank paper stationery that I like to use while NCU does not. There is now a bit more bit depth for images in BMP files and PICT files you import. You can also configure combinations of images and text that make maps, charts, and diagrams easy to export.

But wait! You also get...
With X-Port 2.1, you can file away all of your data on your desktop in exactly the format you want. It can do a mass export of to-dos as well as notes, names, dates, calls, and meetings, by creation date, modification date, and/or folder. Using the format editor, you even have the ability to customize multiple formats. So even though X-Port doesn't directly synchronize with a desktop PIM, these files/fields are completely controllable. X-Port can do a mass export of to-dos as well as notes, names, dates, calls, and meetings, by creation date, modification date, and/or folder.

Mac users can bring up a multiple file selection box to select the files you want to send. For Windows users there's support for color BMP files and support for long filenames.

LandWare has a challenge for Newton users: If enough of us die-hards register at www.newts.com/newton/xportchallenge.html we'll all be able to import and export recorded sounds to and from the Note Pad. This feature would be included in a proposed rev 3. Registering will help LandWare gauge how many of us are sticking with the Newton.