Corel WordPerfect Office X8

WordPerfect Office's installer easily copies settings from an existing installation. Other options let you set WordPerfect as the default editor for Microsoft Office documents.

WordPerfect's optional Reveal Codes screen won't win any design prizes, but it lets you click on any code to open the relevant editor for it. Here, I'm editing the default document style. The new X8 version introduces the option to dock the Reveal Codes pane at the left or right, not only at the foot.

WordPerfect's longstanding legal features include the ability to custom-design a pleading paper using a wizard. Other legal features include Bates numbering (numbering with trailing zeroes, like 004).

Unlike Office, which requires a third-party add-on for document redaction, WordPerfect has redaction built-in. You can save a redacted document to Word, PDF, or WordPerfect formats.

WordPerfect's menu editor lets you modify its full menu system or create one or more complete menu systems for use in different projects. It looks complicated, but modifying a menu is a simple process of dragging and dropping.

WordPerfect's template gallery is another of its low-elegance features, but its designs are straightforward enough to provide a useful starting point for your own documents.

WordPerect's E-book Creator wizard is simple, straightforward, and powerful, and because it's integrated with a full-featured word processor, it makes it easy to design and produce ebooks.

WordPerfect Lightning includes a slightly awkward mix of file-viewer, notetaker, and screen-capture features. It may be most useful as a free screen-capture utility, but its other features are worth exploring.

The Quattro Pro spreadsheet will take you back to the late 20th-century in design and features, but it includes wizards and tools for almost all standard business and academic uses.

WordPerfect Presentations has a graphics-editing mode that opens almost any bitmap and many vector graphics format. The shortcut that opens Presentations in graphics-editing mode is buried in the Windows Start Menu, so it isn't immediately obvious.

WordPerfect Presentations won't dazzle anyone accustomed to PowerPoint or Apple's Keynote, but, like Quattro Pro, it gets the job done.

Many apps use Web-based help systems instead of installing detailed help files. WordPerfect Office remains committed to easily-searchable help on disk, accessible either from inside each app or through this Reference Center.