top of page

Application software that assist users in regular office jobs like creating, updating and maintaining documents, handling large amounts of data, creating presentations, scheduling, etc. are called office tools. Using office tools saves time and effort and lots of repetitive tasks can be done easily. Some of the software that do this are −

​

  • Word processors

  • Spreadsheets

  • Database systems

  • Presentation software

  • E-mail tools

​

Let us look at some of these in detail.

Word Processor

A software for creating, storing and manipulating text documents is called word processor. Some common word processors are MS-Word, WordPad, WordPerfect, Google docs, etc.

Screenshot (283).png

A word processor allows you to −

  • Create, save and edit documents

  • Format text properties like font, alignment, font color, background color, etc.

  • Check spelling and grammar

  • Add images

  • Add header and footer, set page margins and insert watermarks

​

Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet is a software that assists users in processing and analyzing tabular data. It is a computerized accounting tool. Data is always entered in a cell (intersection of a row and a column) and formulas and functions to process a group of cells is easily available. Some of the popular spreadsheet software include MS-Excel, Gnumeric, Google Sheets, etc. Here is a list of activities that can be done within a spreadsheet software −

  • Simple calculations like addition, average, counting, etc.

  • Preparing charts and graphs on a group of related data

  • Data entry

  • Data formatting

  • Cell formatting

  • Calculations based on logical comparisons

Screenshot (284).png

Presentation Tool

Presentation tool enables user to demonstrate information broken down into small chunks and arranged on pages called slides. A series of slides that present a coherent idea to an audience is called a presentation. The slides can have text, images, tables, audio, video or other multimedia information arranged on them. MS-PowerPoint, OpenOffice Impress, Lotus Freelance, etc. are some popular presentation tools.

Screenshot (285).png

Database Management System

Software that manages storage, updating and retrieval of data by creating databases is called database management system. Some popular database management tools are MS-Access, MySQL, Oracle, FoxPro, etc.

Screenshot (286).png

Secondary Memory

You know that processor memory, also known as primary memory, is expensive as well as limited. The faster primary memory are also volatile. If we need to store large amount of data or programs permanently, we need a cheaper and permanent memory. Such memory is called secondary memory. Here we will discuss secondary memory devices that can be used to store large amount of data, audio, video and multimedia files.

​

Characteristics of Secondary Memory

​

These are some characteristics of secondary memory, which distinguish it from primary memory −

​

  • It is non-volatile, i.e. it retains data when power is switched off

  • It is large capacities to the tune of terabytes

  • It is cheaper as compared to primary memory

​

Depending on whether secondary memory device is part of CPU or not, there are two types of secondary memory – fixed and removable.

secondary_memory.jpg

Hard Disk Drive

Hard disk drive is made up of a series of circular disks called platters arranged one over the other almost ½ inches apart around a spindle. Disks are made of non-magnetic material like aluminum alloy and coated with 10-20 nm of magnetic material.

​

Standard diameter of these disks is 14 inches and they rotate with speeds varying from 4200 rpm (rotations per minute) for personal computers to 15000 rpm for servers. Data is stored by magnetizing or demagnetizing the magnetic coating. A magnetic reader arm is used to read data from and write data to the disks. A typical modern HDD has capacity in terabytes (TB).

CD Drive

CD stands for Compact Disk. CDs are circular disks that use optical rays, usually lasers, to read and write data. They are very cheap as you can get 700 MB of storage space for less than a dollar. CDs are inserted in CD drives built into CPU cabinet. They are portable as you can eject the drive, remove the CD and carry it with you.

​

There are three types of CDs −

​

  • CD-ROM (Compact Disk – Read Only Memory) − The data on these CDs are recorded by the manufacturer. Proprietary Software, audio or video are released on CD-ROMs.

  • CD-R (Compact Disk – Recordable) − Data can be written by the user once on the CD-R. It cannot be deleted or modified later.

  • CD-RW (Compact Disk – Rewritable) − Data can be written and deleted on these optical disks again and again.

DVD Drive

DVD stands for Digital Video Display. DVD are optical devices that can store 15 times the data held by CDs. They are usually used to store rich multimedia files that need high storage capacity. DVDs also come in three varieties – read only, recordable and rewritable.

Pen Drive

Pen drive is a portable memory device that uses solid state memory rather than magnetic fields or lasers to record data. It uses a technology similar to RAM, except that it is nonvolatile. It is also called USB drive, key drive or flash memory.

Blu Ray Disk

Blu Ray Disk (BD) is an optical storage media used to store high definition (HD) video and other multimedia filed. BD uses shorter wavelength laser as compared to CD/DVD. This enables writing arm to focus more tightly on the disk and hence pack in more data. BDs can store up to 128 GB data.

bottom of page