Others say...

"Corel WordPerfect beats MS Office in almost every respect"
I had to post a review after reading a couple of low ratings from users who I believe have not given the product a fair chance. I've been a WordPerfect user since about 1982 and due to my work environment, I'm fortunate enough to have just about every software package available for comparison.

In my opinion, there is simply no question that except for one area, Wordperfect is the best all-round word processor available today. The one area is in collaborative document production, but if you are not working on a team using something like Sharepoint, you probably don't care about this feature. I also qualify on "all-round" because there are a number of specialty word processors (for large document processing, foreign language handling, etc) that handle specific needs better than WordPerfect. But then you wouldn't be using Word for that either. WordPerfect has its own specialty niche--it has long been recognized as the best suited product for legal document processing.

If your only experience with a word processor has been MS-Word, you can set WP up to emulate Word's menus and commands. It will even run most Word macros (Corel licenses Microsoft's Visual Basic). If you've been a WordPerfect user, you can use the current default schemes or select from a number of "classic" WP menu structures.

To provide a couple of examples of how WP trumps Word, consider something as simple as working with letterhead--a perfectly ordinary task for almost any office. In Word, you have to divide the document into sections and unless you enjoy writing macros or making templates, you have a considerable amount of work to do in setting up the first (letterhead) page to be different from the others. In WordPerfect, all you have to do is set up the document as you want any pages additional to the first to look (with headers and footers). On the first page, select from a menu "suppress headers or footers on this page", and you're done. And if you like doing templates, creating a template based on a structure like this is a breeze.

Word and WordPerfect both do outlines. The difference is that Word outlines are easily corrupted and a nightmare to fix. One of my favorite uses for WordPerfect is opening up a Word document (often sent to me by exasperated colleagues) which has a corrupted outline (boldface that goes on forever with no way to turn it off, outline levels that cannot be returned to a normal structure, etc) and fixing the problems using WordPerfect's "display codes" feature.

For the Amazon customers that mentioned a few specific problems--the complaint about WordPerfect's new ability to import and edit .pdf files was justified based on the originally shipping version of the product. But Corel posted a service pack to fix that problem within a few days of shipping X3, so it's unfortunate that Amazon customers are continuing to see this complaint.

A couple of weeks ago I was called in by a non-profit which wanted to re-do its brochure. The only thing the office staff could find was a .pdf of the brochure. WordPerfect loaded the .pdf and allowed me to save both the graphics and the text so that the organization could re-create its brochure. I think Corel will be enhancing this feature in the future, but for now, it can still be a life-saver in the right circumstances.

Whether Corel or Microsoft, these days we all have to connect to the manufacturer's Web site and download the service packs.

For the customer who complained about some sort of 100 page limit--that sounds a problem unique to your situation. I load and edit documents that far exceed 100 pages (although I haven't done so with X3, I worked on a document that was close to 10 times that size with an earlier version). At the prices Corel charges, it can't afford to provide free support (WordPerfect was once the industry leader in free support, but price cutting has made that a dream of the distant past). But if you've ever tried to get free phone support out of Microsoft, you'll know what I mean when I say that you you might give Corel a fair chance at fixing your problem.

I've written only about the word processor, and most people would probably agree that WordPerfect is the reason to buy this software. But Quattro Pro has always had some good features and if you're not an Excel junkie, you'll probably find it to be all the spreadsheet you'll ever need. Just as one example, Quattro Pro has supported sheets as large as one million rows for many years now--you'll have to upgrade to MS Office 2007 to get that capacity in Excel. Corel Presentations has 99% of anything people care about in PowerPoint. And while we're on the subject of MS Office 2007, I'd like to mention that Corel has provided excellent XML support for many years now as well as support for Web formats that do not require Microsoft products (ie "active objects") and formats to work.

All these Corel products allow you to open and save your projects in MS formats, and while it may take a little getting used to, there is no reason you will ever have to suffer from a concern that you won't be able to share work with everyone using MS Office.

So the "bottom line" is that WordPerfect is worth the price of the full package--it beats Word in almost every area, and for that price you get some fine other software as well.

"as bad as BG's MS word 2003"
I used to love wordperfect. Now I regret using it for my PhD thesis (and spending research funds). Can't handle a 100 page document with graphs(how pathetic is that).
Although they claim to have "reveal codes", they are not very helpful. The program keeps crashing. Too bad you had to sink to BG's level. Perhaps continuing an anti-BG (MS office) would be advisable.
My review,
'another low for computer users.I will go to open office next. Of course I can't convert to open office from wordperfect(another low). I hate wordperfect even more than MS word...how bad is that.....I would say the ultimate in software decrecation.'

"I WANT TO GO BACK TO V. 8!!"
In reality, the rating should be 0 stars.
I upgraded from Version 8 to Version 12 November 2004. I have suffered from major frustration (I am practically bald from pulling out my hair) since then and have wondered why oh why did I upgrade. I started using WordPerfect in 1986 and QuattroPro in 1992 (having become an adept Lotus user) because it came with the WordPerfect upgrade I purchased that year. I loved QP. Given a chance, I would rave about QP. I thought it was the best thing since life's bread when it came to workbooks software. With V8 I ran into a crashing problem that I soon correlated with the autobackup feature--if I touched a key after the autoB/U process started it would be interrupted, the next time I made a property change (before the next autoB/U), QP would crash on me. It was easy to know if QP was performing an autoB/U because there was a "meterbar" in the lower right corner (it would stop if a keystroke was made during its progress). One of the most frustrating problems I have had with both V12 and X3 is using my V8 workbooks in the new versions, particularly my macros.
I prepare permit applications routinely and have had a workbook set up with all the various forms required for the application and macros to print the forms and back up calculations. Each form and table has a "Named Setting" in the Print dialog box. When I use {Preview} in my print macros, the preview I get is reduced to illegible sizes and that is despite the fact my macro has a scaling code line in it. If I do not use {Preview} but go right to {PRint.DoPrint}, it will print just fine, but that becomes a major waste of paper. Here are just a few of the aggravations I have found with the V12 and X3 versions of QP. And, by the way, I am converting over to Excel (which I have had to learn to interface with some clients), despite missing some very handy features that QP has and Excel does not, at least it does not crash and burn like QP does. I started converting over to Excel after I could not open a QP worksheet I had put more than 20 hours of work into.
OK...QP aggravations --
---The "Selection" option in the Print Dialog box is no longer the default, so after making changes and going to print again without blocking the cells you want to print, if you fail to stop and click the "Selection" radio button, the whole worksheet prints, not just the cells you want.
---The "Margin" settings will not take three decimal places and if you do not type it as "x.xx in", but just the measurement you want, it will not take.
---You can no longer set margins while in the "Preview" mode, you must close the "Preview" and go back to the "Page Setup" button in the Printer Dialog box. Oh yes, you can go through the motions of changing the margin settings, but they do not take.
---The scaling feature does not always hold.
---The "Named Settings" does not work as efficiently as it did in V8, or at all, really, especially in macros.
---When you use cell names in formulas or concactenated expressions frequently another cell name appears when next you open the workbook. Sometimes it still has the same value or text you wanted and sometimes it does not.
---Font settings will change by themselves, particularly after closing a workbook and re-opening it.
---There is no longer a "meter" for the autoB/U so you do not have a clue that it is in progress.
---If you make a mistake in typing a function and press enter before you realize it, you are not allowed to correct. And that really is not a good description of what happens. But, it is beyond aggravating.
---Compatability with V8 workbooks sucks...if you have a *.qpw file open and try to open a *.wb3 file, or vice versus, QP crashes and burns. I have learned the hard way, close all *.qpw files, open the *.wb3 file, save it as a *.qpw file, then go back and open the other *.qpw files you were using. Oh, and if the *.wb3 file you just converted has any linked files, you need to open all of them and save them as *.qpw files.
---WPX3 will not print to Nuance's PDF Professional's "pdf printer" properly, which is how I convert all files to pdf copies. So, not only does WPX3's pdf converter suck, it will not work with one I have that EVERYTHING else works with, even QPX3.
---But, I have found a use for WPX3. WP12 will not insert *.jpg, *.gif, or other graphics files properly (except wpg graphics), but, WPX3 will. So, whenever I need to insert a jpg graphic into a WP12 document, I close it, open it in WPX3, insert the graphic, then close X3 and to back to WP12 (so I can print to pdf files) to continue working on the document. Cumbersome, but not as cumbersome as opening Presentations and converting to a wpg file.
Well, the list goes on....
On top of all these aggravations, I have run across only ONE new feature that I like, but does not make the upgrade worthwhile. The only feature I have found that I like is X3's ability to open Excel files and have them look exactly as they did when they were open in Excel. But, since I am now decently proficient with Excel, I do not need to open Excel workbooks in QP.
Oh, and WordPerfect V12 and X3 have their share of aggravations. The one highest on my list is the fact that I can no longer create graphics in another software, save them as *.jpg, or *.gif, or *.png and then use them in WordPerfect. I have to go through Presentations, and some quality is lost in the transition.
Text art has become a major frustration. A new Text Art always has to have the rotation adjusted. If you create a Text Art, then decide to edit the text, exit and close, then decide to make another change, when you open it again for editing, it is back to the very original text, not the previously edited text.
BOTTOMLINE ADVICE: IF YOU HAVE NOT UPGRADED DON'T DO IT. Love the one you're with!!!

"Like WP X13"
I have been a Wordperfect user since the release of 5 on a 486 machine. I have used 7,9,10,11,12 and now X13. I liked what they did to the icons and now the use of pdf in WP. Corel has enhanced these features, icons, and made them updated as well as made them more user friendly. I am a WP person and not a Microsoft Office user and plan to stay that way. They really made X13 much better and made it to still be easy to use and navigate with. Its worth the upgrade price and its still in my opinon is the best word processor around. Its a good and solid product. Go buy yourself a copy.

"Wordperect Office X3"
I have used WP since version 4.1. This version lives up to its andestry. It is easy to use and offers unparalleled control of documents. I find the macro system easy to use (I use it often). Reveal codes is a feature that I could not live without.

I teach MS Word (program requirement) but find Wordperfect much superior in that it allows the writer to control the document rather than the program.

I also find Presentations easier to use than Powerpoint.