WordPerfect Office X3 Standard Edition Upgrade for PC Review

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(More customer reviews)I recently loaded the one month demo version of Corel WordPerfect Office X3. The main changes appear to be improved compatibility with other software. In addition, Corel changed the skin to make it look more like XP, added a Yahoo toolbar, and for those who need it, the WordCount feature is on the application bar at the bottom of the WordPerfect window. This new version appears to be very stable. It does a very nice job of importing PDF forms and translating them to editable text.
I don't have much use for anything in the suite except WordPerfect. I've been using WordPerfect since before Windows, when it had a blue screen, displayed ASCII characters in Courier font (there were no fonts except Courier), and laser printers cost a small fortune. I work for a number of attorneys -- WordPerfect is the software of choice for wordprocessing in most offices I've worked in because, in my opinion, it is the better product for the job. It may also be because WordPerfect has been around for so long that everyone just migrated without changing. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
When WordPerfect came out, it took over the market. (It was far superior to the software then available, and remains one of the best.) When MicroSoft came out with Word, I had the feeling they did everything they could to make it different from WordPerfect just to use their power in the industry to take over the wordprocessing market, just like MicroSoft did with every other good software idea to come along. (e.g., Mozilla/Netscape, Norton Utilities.) I hate Microsoft's stupid animated paperclip -- it makes me feel like a 7 year old. "It looks like your writing a letter ..." Go away! It was amusing to watch it roll itself up and spit itself through some imaginary pinch rollers when you print a document. But only once. I want to tell MicroSoft to wrap that annoying the paperclip around their cable modems!! I'm an adult!
I have three versions of Word (two purchased and one that came on a used lap-op) and WordPerfect 5, 7, 8, 10, 12 and now X3. I use the MicroSoft product only when absolutely necessary -- usually because someone else needs the document in that format. (I am currently working for a big law firm which uses Word.)
In my experience, Word does one thing better than WordPerfect - it works better (although not perfectly) with WEB pages. It would be nice if WordPerfect went to the Web and got the pictures and had the resulting document look like the web page being pasted in. HEAR THAT COREL!?! However, I don't often copy entire web pages into my documents.
Don't get me wrong -- the nearly ubiquitous "Word" is a fine product and is used by many law offices, particularly the larger ones. I have Office on all three of my computers. I like Outlook and how well Word integrates with it. Word is excellent for short projects like email and correspondence. I just find Word is just not as good as WordPerfect for long documents.
The reason I like WordPerfect so much is that it types more like a typewriter. You can set up and use styles if you want, but you can also just hit the tab button to indent the first line of a paragraph. If you want to change the margins for the entire document, you simply change the margins. The rest of the document follows the change. You don't have to change each paragraph.
In addition, you can get to the formatting codes. Hit Alt-F3 and the screen splits in half and displays all of the format codes -- bold, underline, tabs, indent codes, line spacing, column on and off, etc. Then you know exactly what you have done and fix and format it easily. This ability has proven useful on several occasions when clients, who insist on using Word for legal documents, cannot cajole Word to put their unruly documents into the format they want. (This is particularly true when using OCR with scanned or faxed documents.) By opening the Word document in WordPerfect, I have been able to use "Alt-F3" to identify the errant codes and quickly repair them. WordPerfect can then save the document in Word/RTF format with the problems fixed. This is particularly useful when combined with the global search and replace. For example, you can search and replace all [paragraph style] and end up with a manageable document.
Working with columns is also easier. You turn on columns and tell it how many colums you want, set the width of each, and the space between them, and away you go. You have four types of columns to work with -- newspaper, balanced newspaper, parallel and parallel with block protect. I've tried the other software, and if you change text or printers, you can never get the columns to line up the way you want it. With Word, each colum change or page change seems to introduce a whole new set of control codes, and a complete set of formatting, and you can never get it back the way you want it. I once tried to scan in a list of names and addresses which were in two or three columns into Word. Each name and address was placed in its own text box. I could never work with it.
Another very important feature is the ability to view a document from the "open document" screen without having to actually open up the document. This way, if you are searching for a specific document or a document containing certain specific information or "language" you need, you don't have to serially open a document, close it, open another document, and so on until you find the one you want. This is particularly powerful when combined with the "find document" feature on the "open document" screen. Using the find button opens a screen which is similar to the windows "search" screen. You can type in a series of words, and WordPerfect will search all files on the hard drive or in the folder/subfolders in which you are working for all documents containing your target search terms. You can then scroll through and look at each document to quickly determine their contents. From the "find" screen, you can access the "quickfinder" program which pre-scans folders on the computer so that searching for documents is nearly instantaneous. Just tonight I needed to find a "Declaration re Ex Parte Notice" to use as a template from amoung thousands of documents. The entire search took perhaps half a minute.
The most prominent change between WP 10 and 12/X3 is the workspace manager which allows you to switch between legal mode, original (classic) WordPerfect 5.1 mode (with the blue screen), legal mode, standard WordPerfect for Windows mode and Word mode. They have also included and upgraded the ability to publish to Adobe PDF, HTML, and RTF/Word formats.
This is full featured software, and does everything I need. It handles tables, tables of content, tables of authorities, column sorts -- everything I need in a law office. Graphics can be dropped in with a click of the mouse. I'm considered to be almost an expert, and there is a lot I don't know!
One of the great advantages of WordPerfect is that the files are much smaller than Word documents. This means you can transport them on floppy drives.
As a final thought, Word works very well for short documents such as business letters. If you do anything over several pages, you are much better off with WordPerfect.
Take time to get to know the software and you'll be glad you purchased it. I recommend purchasing the stand alone student and teachers version as it contains all of the same programs at a lower cost.


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WordPerfect Office X3 is everything you'd expect from an office suite -- and more -- for less. Enhanced compatibility ensures that you can work with people who use Microsoft Office or other office suites. Each application in the suite has been updated with stylish new buttons and toolbars to provide more familiar and easy-to-use environments. With lightning speed, the new WordPerfect Mail application will find information in the most cluttered inbox. Plus, groundbreaking new features and enhancements, such as PDF-import capability, make this the most enticing and innovative WordPerfect Office yet.
See the product tour Great Compatibility WordPerfect Office continues to break down compatibility barriers for its users. These days, who has time to figure out which product works with which file format? You want to simply and easily open, edit, save, and send documents, spreadsheets, and slide shows. To that end, WordPerfect Office X3 provides improved support for Microsoft Office file formats. In addition, the suite's built-in PDF publishing capabilities have been enhanced, making it easier than ever to exchange information.
Incredible Ease of Use WordPerfect Office X3 provides exciting new features that are designed to reduce the need for software expertise. The user interface for each application has been refreshed, providing more intuitive, familiar environments. Context-sensitive toolbars make it easy to identify tools and features. You can copy HTML and paste clean, unformatted text. The unmatched Corel RealTime Preview lets you see how potential formatting changes will affect your work before you commit to them. To help new users find their footing, the Workspace Manager can simulate the keystrokes and menu items of other office suites, such as Microsoft Office. The unobtrusive PerfectExpert is a handy guide and consultant for virtually any project. Plus, two free hours of training videos by lynda.com are included on CD.
Standard Edition Applications WordPerfect Office X3 Standard Edition includes the trusted power of WordPerfect X3 for word processing, Quattro Pro X3 for spreadsheets and charts, Presentations X3 for multimedia slide shows, WordPerfect Mail for communication, and Presentations Graphics X3 for creating and editing original drawings and bitmaps. In addition, the Pocket Oxford English Dictionary, Legal tools, and the WordPerfect OfficeReady template browser are included.
On top of all that, WordPerfect Office X3 includes 9,500 clipart images, 175 photos, and 900 TrueType fonts.
WordPerfect X3: WordPerfect X3 provides exceptional ease of use and complete formatting control for producing newsletters, articles, reports, proposals, books, and other documents. The popular Reveal Codes, Corel RealTime Preview, and Legal features help reduce the amount of time you spend on document formatting, freeing you to focus on creating content. WordPerfect X3 also provides enhanced compatibility with Microsoft Word, the new ability to import PDFs, and robust PDF publishing capabilities, ensuring that you can freely exchange information with colleagues and clients, regardless of the software they use.
Quattro Pro X3: Quattro Pro X3 is a powerful spreadsheet application that helps you organize, analyze, report, manage, and share important data and financial information. Improved compatibility with Microsoft Excel ensures that you can smoothly exchange information with Excel users. Quattro Pro X3 also includes outstanding tools for creating tables, financial forms, lists, databases, charts, reports, or any other type of data-oriented document. In addition, you can easily present your spreadsheet data in charts, and you can apply advanced rendering to your charts to give the information a professional, polished look.
Presentations X3: Presentations X3 includes all the tools you need to produce slide shows, project proposals, interactive reports and demonstrations, multimedia presentations, flyers, signs, banners, and more. Presentations X3 provides enhanced compatibility with Microsoft PowerPoint and enhanced PDF publishing capabilities. In addition, Show On The Go lets any PC user view your presentation -- even those who don't have Presentations installed on their computer.
WordPerfect Mail: With lightning speed, WordPerfect Mail finds information buried by years of inbox, contact, and calendar clutter. This new addition to the WordPerfect Office family is a full-featured, easy-to-use application that provides e-mail, calendar, and contact management. Without the complexity of Outlook, you can easily use WordPerfect Mail to connect to mail services from an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
WordPerfect Mail also provides innovative filing capabilities and outstanding spam protection to help you keep your inbox clean and tidy. In addition, WordPerfect Mail offers automatic features to manage mailing lists, distribution lists, and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) news feeds. Plus, you can feel secure knowing that they are avoiding viruses targeted at Outlook.
Presentations Graphics X3: For years, this easy-to-use graphics tool has been tightly integrated with WordPerfect Office. Now easier to access than ever before, you can choose Presentations Graphics X3 from the Start menu to create and edit original drawings and pictures. With support for many commonly used file formats, Presentations Graphics X3 ensures that you can reuse your graphics with other products.
Standard Edition Supporting Utilities
WordPerfect OfficeReady Template Browser: This template browser makes it easy to find the right template for any project. It provides thumbnail views of available templates that open with a single click.
WordPerfect Office Conversion Utility: The WordPerfect Office Conversion Utility makes it easy to convert batches of any document type that WordPerfect can open. For example, you can convert an entire folder structure of Microsoft Word documents to WordPerfect.
PerfectScript: PerfectScript was developed specifically for WordPerfect Office applications to help you create macros, recordings, and scripts.
QuickFinder: QuickFinder is a powerful utility that lets you find files by performing highly customizable searches.
Upgrade Information In order to purchase the Corel WordPerfect Office X3 Standard Edition upgrade, you must be a licensed owner of one of the following products: WordPerfect Office 8 or higher, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 or higher, Corel Paint Shop Pro X or higher, Corel Painter IX or higher, Corel Designer 12 or higher, Microsoft Office 97 or higher, Microsoft Works Suite 2000 or higher.

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