Difference between MS Excel and Kingsoft spreadsheet shortcuts

Kingsoft Office is very much similar to MS Office and highly compatible. On the surface one will observe very few differences between them. Though there are some key differences between two suites, our key focus lies on understanding how much the shortcuts of the two differ. Today we'll see the differences in the shortcuts of MS Excel and Kingsoft Spreadsheet. 

Most of the important shortcuts of MS Excel, that we've discussed in our previous articles, can be used in Kingsoft Spreadsheet as well. However, there are some dissimilarities as given below:

1. Formatting keys don't work in Kingsoft

The formatting keys (Ctrl + Shift + ~/$/3/%/! ), used for changing the given number in different formats like date, currency, percentage etc. doesn't work in Kingsoft spreadsheet. Only CTRL + 1 shortcut can be used to open the dialogue box showing different formats. The user will have to select the appropriate format to get the desired result. 

2. No shortcut for Hiding/Unhiding rows and columns

There are no dedicated shortcuts for hiding and unhiding rows or columns in Kingsoft Spreadsheet. This action can be performed by going through the 'Rows & Columns' tab given under Home tab or by selecting a row/column and choosing 'Hide' option after right click. 

3. ALT based shortcuts work in little different manner

The ALT based shortcuts in Kingsoft spreadsheet need little explanation as they work in slightly different way from that in MS Excel. Let's understand how 

a) A normal Kingsoft spreadsheet looks like this

b) Now when we press ALT on keyboard, a menu emerges which has been highlighted in the red colour. This is similar to appearance of the numbers on the tabs when ALT is pressed in Excel. 

c) The user can either press an alphabet key or use arrow keys to open a particular section. For example, upon pressing I, following options appear in front of the user.

Use the arrow keys to select the appropriate option and perform the intended action. 

Excel v/s Kingsoft Spreadsheet: Major differences in features

Kingsoft Office is very similar to MS Excel in many ways. In the previous article we had seen how only a small part of the whole set of shortcut keys in Excel is missing in Kingsoft. The user interface of both the applications is very similar. In addition, the availability of many common tools, functions and file saving extensions in Kingsoft make it an good alternative to Excel. That explains its success in many of the small to mid level organisations.

However, there are some major differences between Excel and Kingsoft spreadsheet & you should be well aware of the latter's limitations. 

Note - The points discussed here pertain to the free office version of Kingsoft spreadsheet only. 

1. Formatting and colour scheme

The formatting and colour scheme in Kingsoft aren't good at all. A screenshot given below gives you a better idea. 

2. Charts

The charts layout isn't as refined as that of Excel. In fact it gives you the feeling of Excel 2003 version. The screenshot shows the comparison between Excel and Kingsoft. 

3. Autocomplete feature

Autocomplete feature doesn't works for the functions in the Kingsoft spreadsheet. As you can see in the screenshot given below, a user needs to type the whole function name in Kingsoft unlike Excel which gives the options. 

4. Customization

 The customization of quick access toolbar, one of the prominent additions to Excel in 2007, is absent in Kingsoft. 

5. Trace Precedent and Data Table

Kingsoft doesn't offer the 'trace precedents in cells' and 'data table' feature. Both these features are very prominent for the people dealing with advanced level of Excel.

6. Pivot Capability

Kingsoft doesn't provides 'Pivot capability' to its users.

7. Functions library

In spite having a lot of common functions, Kingsoft's library of fucntions, as a whole, pales in comparison to Excel.

Kingsoft Office suite

In the last few years many new sophisticated & improved Office suites have emerged and that has given the users other alternatives of Excel and Numbers. Undoubtedly the most successful so far has been Kingsoft Office

Kingsoft Office is an office suite developed by Chinese software developer Kingsoft. Like Word, PowerPoint and Excel in MS Office, Kingsoft includes three applications in its offering: Kingsoft Writer, Kingsoft Presentation and Kingsoft Spreadsheet. The current version is KSOffice 2013.

Kingsoft has seen much more success in its smartphone offering where it has more than 100 million registered users. But in this article our focus is on understanding some important features of desktop application of Kingsoft Spreadsheet. 

Features of Kingsoft Spreadsheet

1. High compatibility with Excel 
The biggest plus with it is that Kingsoft is highly compatible with Microsoft Excel. The compatibility thing includes similarity in layout, shortcuts, availability of common tools and file saving extensions. 

2. Various templates for the users
Kingsoft has various templates to offer to its users with themes ranging from business, education, office and resume etc. 

3. Built-in PDF converter
Kingsoft has a built-in PDF converter sub-software which can convert Spreadsheets slides into PDF format for free.

4. Multiple tabs in spreadsheets
Taking a leaf out of the latest web browsers, Kingsoft has introduced multiple tab interface in the spreadsheets. So a user needn't worry about switching between a lot of windows. 

5. Creation of group hyperlinks
Another very interesting feature of Kingsoft is that it allows users to create group hyperlinks. Through it a user can convert large amounts of text into hyperlinks to the internet, Email or other sections within the same document.

6. Summarize feature
In the end comes the summarize feature. If a cell contains a lot of content then Kingsoft automatically summarizes the information for the user and display it.