Here's the one-line review: ActiveWords makes my PC smarter.

More than any other utility program I have ever used, ActiveWords changes the way I work by taking formerly complex, multi-step actions and reducing them to a word. I type the word and ActiveWords does the rest. By way of example, here's a task I regularly perform - responding to a shareware site or publisher who wants to include a copy of one of my company's applications on their site or CD.

In the pre-ActiveWords world, here are the steps I had to perform to respond to such a query:

1. Click on "Reply" in Outlook or press Ctrl+R.

2. Go to OneNote, ClipMate, Notepad, or some other container for the template reply I used to copy and paste into a reply.

3. Copy the reply.

4. Switch back to Outlook.

5. Paste the reply text.

6. Send the reply.

With ActiveWords here's what I do:

1. Press Ctrl twice (this is my keyboard shortcut for invoking the ActiveWords Action Pad).

2. type "distro" (my ActiveWord for this procedure)

3. Send the reply.

Time saved? A minute or two. Multiply that by the number of times I invoke an ActiveWord in the course of a typical day (dozens) and we're talking some pretty serious productivity gains. The magic behind this is an application with so many capabilities it would require a book to cover them all. Here are a few examples to give you an idea of the breadth of functions ActiveWords can perform by typing a single word:

• Correct typographic errors on the fly

• Generate ASCII symbols without having to use the painful Character Map utility

• Use any of my contact names to provide an instantaneous set of actions (send an e-mail, find a phone number or map, etc.).

• Enter a date/time stamp, perform math calculations or convert numbers to words

• Perform a Google search on any word or phrase in any context (not just in the browser)

• Launch applications, open regularly-used documents, go to a web page

• Enter a text block into an e-mail, Word document, or just about any other application

• A powerful scripting interface (Plus or Enterprise edition) allows you to create automated routines like my example above

This list is only a fraction of the automation and time-savings ActiveWords makes possible. You can configure ActiveWords capabilities by adding Wordbases to the core program. A large library of these Wordbases are freely available on the ActiveWords site.

ActiveWords is available in three editions: SE ($19.95), Plus ($49.95), and Enterprise (starts at $29.95 per seat). A comparison chart that shows the features in each edition is here. If you're an Outlook user, I highly recommend the Plus version. ActiveWords can be evaluated for a very generous 60 days before a license purchase must be made but if you're like most of the people I've shown this tool to, you'll be buying a license within hours or days. A number of demos are available online and you'll receive a series of helpful e-mails containing tips and tricks during your evaluation.

ActiveWords works really well on the Tablet PC. The Tablet Input Panel (TIP) is accessible from the ActionPad or ActiveWords Monitor Bar. Let me assure you, writing a single word is a lot easier that performing a lot of launching, navigating, and tapping with the pen.

Like the other tools that make up my equation for serious productivity, ActiveWords has survived the tests of time and heavy usage to make the cut. Unlike any other tool, it touches everything I do on my Tablet PC. If I repeat an action more than two or three times, I create an ActiveWord for it and increase my efficiency. It's like magic - on a daily basis.