Featuring the new Office Ribbon Interface, Microsoft Project Professional is now much easier to navigate. There is an excellent timeline view that makes organizing the execution of even complicated and long projects much easier. The compatibility from other Office apps is also much improved, meaning you can quickly copy paste into Microsoft Project Professional while retaining your formatting.

Microsoft Project Professional allows you to manage a team of people on a project with a really visual resource view that allows you to easily see who is available and when. Creating tables, adding columns and so on is much easier now, and there are some great data mining tools.

For new users there are wizards to get your project plan up and running. Setting projects up is still a long process, but it's not difficult. Once you start, Microsoft Project Professional is full of automated aspects that make life much easier. Graphs, calculations and reports can all be automated.

When you add in integration with the Office suite, Microsoft Project Professional really is the finished product, a great application for creating workflows and plans for projects of all sizes.

Download Microsoft Project Professional 2010 in Softonic

With Microsoft Visio, you'll be able to create and share a variety of diagrams, organizational charts, flowcharts, floor plans and even network maps. You can choose from a wide variety of templates to help you get started, modifying as easily as you go thanks to an intuitive ribbon interface and drag & drop capabilities.

Even if you haven't used a tool like Microsoft Visio before, you shouldn't have many problems. As you would expect from a Microsoft product, there's plenty of help and when you first run the program, an interactive guide.

Modifying diagrams created with Microsoft Visio is easy - all aspects are totally modifiable - from both an aesthetic and technical point of view - and you'll be able to insert all kinds of extras, such as hyperlinks, documents and CAD drawings.

To ensure the validity of your diagrams, Microsoft Visio has a Diagram Check function, which will point out all of the possible errors in your document. Ideal for business situations, you'll also be able to share your documents via SharePoint, as well as importing Excel documents and automatically converting them.

Microsoft Visio isn't very flashy, but it is a solid tool for creating diagrams and charts of various kinds.

Download Microsoft Visio 2010 14.0.4760.1000 Premium in Softonic

Sometimes complicated project management tasks can be made easier by compiling the data graphically. Similar in concept to EDraw Mindmap, MindManager is a very complete tool that will help you do just that, mapping your ideas and hopefully streamlining and refining the decision-making process while it does.

MindManager is an attractive tool that most users will immediately feel comfortable with. It's worth following the Interactive Quick Start guide so you can familiarize yourself with the program's main functions and features. By the time you've finished, you should easily be capable of creating your own maps. There are endless uses for MindManager. If you have the ideas, this program will give you the means to express them, in an attractive and ordered way that will make it much easier when the time comes to act.

MindManager has lots of extras that allow you make your maps as detailed as you want. You can add multiple Topics, Sub-Topics, Relationships and other elements. Everything can be dragged and dropped, and right clicking will allow you to add elements such as icons, notes, images, links and attachments. Once you've finished, you can treat the document as any other text, editing, spell-checking and exporting to various formats.

MindManager's main attraction lies in how easy it is to organize information and ideas. A complicated idea soon becomes a workable plan when you get it down on paper, and MindManager's user-friendly interface means that you can move elements around as much as you like until you get it right. MindManager also has features such as a timer, brainstorming mode and built-in internet capabilities, elements that take an already great program to another level.

MindManager makes organizing even the most complex projects a total breeze.

Download MindManager 2012 10.0.445 in Softonic

With Microsoft Visio, you'll be able to create and share a variety of diagrams, organizational charts, flowcharts, floor plans and even network maps. You can choose from a wide variety of templates to help you get started, modifying as easily as you go thanks to an intuitive ribbon interface and drag & drop capabilities.

Even if you haven't used a tool like Microsoft Visio before, you shouldn't have many problems. As you would expect from a Microsoft product, there's plenty of help and when you first run the program, an interactive guide.

Modifying diagrams created with Microsoft Visio is easy - all aspects are totally modifiable - from both an aesthetic and technical point of view - and you'll be able to insert all kinds of extras, such as hyperlinks, documents and CAD drawings.

To ensure the validity of your diagrams, Microsoft Visio has a Diagram Check function, which will point out all of the possible errors in your document. Ideal for business situations, you'll also be able to share your documents via SharePoint, as well as importing Excel documents and automatically converting them.

Microsoft Visio isn't very flashy, but it is a solid tool for creating diagrams and charts of various kinds.

Download Microsoft Visio 2010 14.0.4760.1000 Professional in Softonic

Designed for team collaboration, Microsoft SharePoint Workspace (formally known as Groove), allows you to create and manage workspaces in which you can share documents, calendars, folders and spaces. These can be worked on on your PC, before being automatically synced with your SharePoint site. You can choose to work offline and then sync back with Microsoft SharePoint Workspace when you next go online.

Fast file access

Managing your site's files with Microsoft SharePoint Workspace is a dream, thanks to a handy launcher interface which allows you to quickly import documents. The software integrates with Windows Search, allowing you to access specific pages and files very quickly by searching all available workspaces from the same place.

Adopting the ribbon style of other Office products means Microsoft SharePoint Workspace is very well organized and easy to get around. It allows you to easily work with other programs in the suite, and utilize the resulting documents on your SharePoint sites.

Collaborative tools

There are plenty of helpful collaborative tools within Microsoft SharePoint Workspace that make it easier to manage projects across a team. For instance, there's a Check in/out tool for allocating files to users, an integrated chat feature and a version history tracker for keeping up with changes.

Microsoft SharePoint Workspace offers a quick solution for managing SharePoint sites on your desktop, and provides a simpler way to collaborate on projects.

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PersonalBrain is one of the better applications out there for this kind of task, allowing you to map your ideas very fluidly as you think. You can use PersonalBrain to create diagrams, networks or simply sketch out your thoughts. You start out with a 'Brain' (i.e. a thought), and then build it up into something more concrete. What makes PersonalBrain a bit better than many other similar apps is that you can even drag and drop files and web pages into the mind map to make it more useful and richer.

The functionality can be poor at times however. Because its based on Java, it can take while to startup and responsiveness can occasionally be slow. Surprisingly as well, PersonalBrain will only let you export your mind maps in HTML format, and it would have been nice to have a choice of other formats such as OPML, Powerpoint and RTF formats for more flexibility, such as that offered by EDraw Mindmap. It's also a little expensive to upgrade but this trial version should give you a good enough idea as to whether it's really worth it.

On the whole, PersonalBrain is a very flexible mind mapping program which lets you write down and connect your thoughts very easily.

Download PersonalBrain 6.0.7.0 in Softonic

As a time recording tool, TimeSheet will keep track of the exact amount of hours you spend on each task and each project. In that way, not only will you have more exact data when you need to create reports or generate invoices, but you won’t lose money again for those extra hours you work but are never included in the bill.

TimeSheet is based on a very simple principle: the program lets you associate each application you run with a specific project and calculates the time you spend using this app. The association between application and project is done automatically, with TimeSheet displaying a desktop alert every time you run an app for the first time. Once your work day is over, or when you’re done with your project, you can easily check the total amount of time you devoted to it in TimeSheet’s reports – and export the data to Excel.

The idea behind TimeSheet is good and the program works fine. On the downside, time tracking based on used applications is not that accurate and the program’s configuration can be a bit tricky.

TimeSheet is a simple time tracking tool that helps you calculate the time you spend on each project and task.

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SharedPlan Pro is designed to allow you to compose and manage projects offline but post them online for team collaboration. The developer assures that its online service is highly secure and allows managers to control access to users. Shared Plan pro goes beyond mere project management though, also allowing a certain amount of project analysis and reporting.

To start with SharedPlan Pro, you need to create a task which you can do by double-clicking anywhere on the screen. When you're finished, you should have a linked network diagram that starts with the project concept and ends with the finished task. You can link them all by dragging the chains between then. You can then click sticky notes that you want to associate with each stage of the project by holding shift and double clicking.

By double-clicking on each task, you can edit essential details such as task duration, cost and any other important facts and figures. To have a handy overview of the time schedule of your project, click the 'Gantt Chart' view, which displays, in chronological order, the sequence of events that need completing. If you get behind or forget an event, it's here that you can highlight it.

The added bonus of SharedPlan Pro is that you can share the plan online by simply selecting 'Central' and 'Publish to Server'. You can then email a link to others, who can view and edit the plan if you want them to.

Overall, there's much more to SharedPlan Pro than this brief overview and if you're looking for a highly accomplished project management application, with online support, it's definitely worth checking out.

Download SharedPlan Pro 6.2.1 in Softonic

Just bear in mind that there's a more recent version available - Microsoft Visio 2010. If you're interested in the 2007 version, however, read on!

If you've ever needed to create a flowchart for work or school, you'll understand how difficult (and messy!) it can be to try to draw one by hand.

Microsoft Visio is a valuable tool for anyone who needs to create works like drawings, network diagrams and calendars. You can even make office layouts and flowcharts. Ready-made templates are included in Microsoft Visio, or you can opt to start from scratch if that's your preference. A member of the Microsoft Office 2007 family, Microsoft Visio gives you a lot of options and is compatible with other Office programs, which makes it even more convenient.

Although there are many types of drawings you can make with Microsoft Visio, three basic steps are all most users will need to create ready-made templates of any design. Just choose a template you like and open it, drag shapes and connect as you like and lastly fill up the shapes with any text you want. That's really all there is to it with Microsoft Visio.

Making custom designs is the only really tricky part about using Microsoft Visio. Beginner users might find it difficult to learn to do. It also takes some time to navigate around the program's interface.

Great for just about any diagram need, Microsoft Visio is an easy-to-use program for students and employees alike.

Download Microsoft Visio Professional 2007 in Softonic

You can also keep track of details of clients, create mailing lists and produce an assortment of useful reports.

is generally fairly easy with a pleasing interface although it can be a bit sluggish at times. This may be partly because underlying Flick!

is the FileMaker Pro database engine which makes it rather bloated. However, the workflow is logically organized so that you never wonder what you have to do next to fill in a field or enter data.

This includes images and even video.