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FreeBudget |
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Copyright © 2003 Anita Karlson Henssler
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More software reviews |
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What does it do?
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FreeBudget is a small program that counts words, characters or lines in documents. Based on the price per word/character/line inputted by the user, it calculates the budget for the document. The program is intended for language professionals who estimate their work against the word/line/character count of documents.
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How does it work?
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The program has two views: The Process panel, where you select files and set parameters, and the Result panel, where you view and store the results.
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In the process panel view you find a folder tree structure where you can choose the path to the file or folder of files you wish to work on. You can select individual files, several files or entire folders, with subfolders. You also have the possibility to select the file format and just display the files of a specified format.
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This is also where you perform all the settings and give all the user inputs. You can set the counting options. This lets you choose what is to be counted (footnotes, annotations, headers, footers, end notes, text boxes). You define what currency you want to work in, your price per word, character, line, whether to use smart delimiters or not etc. This is also where you set your proxy settings if you need to use a proxy-server.
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The program has a build in function that allows you to control how delimiters are affecting the counting process. (A delimiter is a character indicating that one word ends and another begins. By default this is space and tab.) You can choose if you want this function to be active or not. What makes it really handy is that you are allowed to define your own delimiters.
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The result panel shows you the detailed results of the counting processes and a calculation of the budget for each file. Each counting you perform is logged in this window until you delete it or exit the program.
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You are also allowed to update the price you have set and recalculate the budget for the chosen files. And it provides an integrated currency converter who goes online to get the latest exchange rates to perform the calculations.
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And you have the possibility to save your reports as text, html or excel files or print it out.
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What it isn't!
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The program is limited in the fact that it only supports a few file formats. It only works with the following formats: Text files (*.txt; *.asc, *.csv), Windows Write (*.wri), Rich Text Format (.rtf), MSWorks, WordPerfect (*.wpc, *.doc) and MSWord documents and templates (.doc, *.dot). But I find it quite useful for counting words in plain text files.
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The program is an adware. This means sponsors pay to have their banner displayed in the program. The top section of the process panel is reserved for this banner. There is only one banner displayed - and every few seconds it rotates to show the next in line. The banner takes up space, but it is not to annoying. And it is the reason why we all can use the program for free.
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Is it easy to use?
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I found the layout of the process panel a bit confusing to start with. I had problems finding where to choose the file formats, and I didn't see the buttons to start the counting. Some of the settings are not self-explaining. You will have to read the help files, available online, to understand what is meant.
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The displayed results were a bit difficult to read, as the naming of the different columns are abbreviations and not complete words. In the help files these abbreviations are also explained.
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Once I had it all figured out - the program is easy to use. Invest five minutes reading the help files and you will be able to use the program without problems.
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The Facts
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Operating systems: Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows Me, Windows 2000
Requires: MSWord97 or later
Version: 4.0
License: Freeware/Adware
File size: 960.5 KB
Web page: http://www.webbudget.com/
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New Release - Read what is new in version 4.0!!
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