Customer Reviews

WordPerfect Office X3 Standard [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you look at my review history, you may note that I've given very few five-star reviews. I save five stars for outstanding products. I believe Wordperfect X3 is best described as outstanding.

A long time ago, I used Word Perfect. However, my earlier jobs required I use MS Word, so I did my best to become a Word guru. I believe I accomplished that short of creating custom macros. As a law clerk, I started a new job where WordPerfect was the standard.

So, last year I bought WordPerfect 12. At first it was difficult, but I bought a book that helped me fill in the blanks. With the ability to customize keyboards and the fact that WordPerfect gives the author a great degree of control (especially with show-codes), I was soon able to become a WordPerfect guru. I remembered all the things I used to love about WordPerfect. Like any lover, I also learned to ignore some of the blimishes of WordPerfect. (One of those blemishes is the behavior of pushing a change from that point of the document forward, which, once you get accustomed to it, is really a nice feature.) Wordperfect and PDFs are the two accepted file formats for electronic submission to Federal courts.

There were two complaints I found at work among Word devotees: 1) the ability to export to PDF but not import and 2) the inability to cut from a Word document into a WordPerfect document without creating all the formatting litter Word likes to use.

1. We occasionally receive PDFs that we would have to retype to be able to make edits. With the ability to import PDFs (that is, those that were authored and exported into PDF, not documents scanned into PDF), we were now able to edit those PDFs. This was a real time saver. Since PDF is the de facto universal standard amongst all platforms (Windows, Mac, Unix), this was a great improvement.

2. Formatting litter is a real pain to deal with. I never could get a MS Word document to just import into WordPerfect without headaches in trying to fix the formatting. My solution was to copy the portion out of MS Word, paste into a text file, copy again and then paste into WordPerfect. My complaint was I could not just straight paste into WordPerfect. Well, Corel heard my cry and provided the ability to copy just the text. The lone MS Word holdout in my office capitulated with that. He has no more to complain about.

Another great thing about WordPerfect is the fact that the file format for its documents has not changed in years (I heard a WP rep say no change since 1995). Why should it? Everything you could want to do in a document (perhaps barring professional typesetting) can be done in WordPerfect. There's no need to create a new format when the one you have just works.

This product does exactly what those who have come to love WP expect it to do. I think Corel has done a good job of resolving my own personal quibbles with WP.

So, if you're looking for a solid performer that seeks to beat competition by improving itself, WPX3 is representative of what you're looking for.

I have been a huge champion of WordPerfect since it was written by Satellite Software Inc (SSI) about 200 years ago. I was forced into MS Word and it is not as good, but you get used to it. One caution, WP X3 does not handle PDFs at any useful level. Even simple PDFs had so many formatting problems, it was faster to re-create them by hand (which is not a fast thing).

I suspect most reviewers of this product are long-time devotees to WordPerfect. My experience is of having grown up with MS Word/Office - and the attendant bloat, the forcing to do things Microsoft's way, etc. I purchased the full suite from an Amazon reseller - sealed box, latest edition - for $30.00. Had I purchased X3 at the full price, I would still be delighted with where I am now. I once again am enjoying working in the word processing program. I have, on occasion, had to translate some documents for friends who don't know how to open a wp document in Word, but otherwise, I have not yet encountered a single problem. I am much, much happier working with WordPerfect and Office X3 than I ever was toiling under the bulk and bad guesses and forcing - so familiar to those who are toiling under Word. I did purchase Using WordPerfect Office X3 (Cue)at the same time I acquired WordPerfect, and have found this to be quite helpful in making the transition to a delightful word processor/office suite. Highly recommended.

Being a devout WordPerfect user for over 20 years and watching this genius company nurture this core "word processing" software to near flawless perfection, I took the X3 upgrade for a test-drive (coming from WP 12). As has been the case with each subsequent upgrade to date, I was very impressed. TWO EXCELLENT reasons for upgrading are as follows: (1) .PDF docs can be opened in WordPerfect, are instantly converted to .WPD and you can edit them! How great! What a time-saver without the need to invest in additional stand-alone software to conduct this sole task! To test the .pdf import feature I imported a 133 page Adobe Acrobat 7 .pdf final draft doc formatted in 6 x9 book format with over 40 .gif pic additions and a few different types of -complex fonts- (my first novel pending publication) and it came through flawlessly as an X3 .wpd., .gifs, margin specialties, fonts and all , whereas it was a breeze to copy edit tweak and re-save back to .pdf and not miss a beat. This feature alone for me is well worth the upgrade. (Adobe Acrobat 7 doesn't even have such an editing feature.) But ANOTHER great feature, especially for legal people is the new polished legal format option X3 has! It's simply wonderful, with Pleading Expert Designer and publish to EDGAR capabilities - to faciliate Federal Court e-file specs. Besides these two great reasons, Corel has spiffied up the look and feel and added additional strengths. Check it out for yourself. Head over to the Corel Website and take X3 on a 30-day test-drive. If you're a WordPerfect fan as am I, you'll be very glad you did!

I've used Word Perfect for twenty years or more, going all the way back to the DOS days. I prefer it to Word, and besides, it's a lot cheaper. The X3 version is great and works fine with Vista.

Word Perfect is a great tool for PC it's easy to use and well integrated, you have go to Corel web site and download service packs 1 and 2 to make work with MS Vista, but their free , a great price, also down load from Corel free word perfect lightning, for a more complete WP ability.I would recommend to others to buy WPx3, and have and much more affordable than MS Office.

I purchased the standard edition of X3 primarily for 3 reasons: 1) It claims to have the ability to convert pdf files into WP format, 2) It claims to be able to organize your e-mail files through the use of WP Mail well beyond the capabilities of Outlook Express, and 3) It claims enhanced use of WP for word processing.

What I found was a product that met only one out of three of its claims. In baseball, batting .333 will put you into the Hall of Fame. In business, fulfilling one of three claims will put you into bankruptcy!

While the pdf converter is a rather good tool, WP3 Mail is unstable (and this is from their tech support department). It destabilizes your use of e-mail to the point of making it virtually unusable in terms of reliability. I imported older e-mail from outlook express when I installed the WP X3 software, only to later find out that the system crashed regularly. I could not get at my older imported e-mail, and could not find a practical way to reverse the importing back into outlook express. What really irked me was that their tech support was worthless in rectifying the situation. They merely responded by saying they were aware of the problem and "may" release a patch to help sometime in the future. Ahhhhh!

As to the alleged improved "word processing power", I have experienced more bugs then appear in an Animal Planet Channel special on insects in the Amazon Jungle. Unwanted page formating changes occur when I click my mouse on the page I had just finish reformatting. Undesired line spacing would appear on pages. The list goes on, but who has the time to be more detailed.

Do yourself a favor and avoid the product. If you need to upgrade, check out the latest version of MS Word, you will be far more satisfied I'm sure.

I upgraded from Wordperfect Office 12 to X3, but have returned the upgrade to Wordperfect. The much touted ability to import PDF files is so poorly implemented that it is all but unusable. In addition, the Wordperfect Mail component will not load data files while my antivirus (ZoneAlarm) is running in the background. Corel Technical Support takes no responsibility for the incompatability. Do not upgrade unless these issues are addressed.

I suppose this paints me as hopelessly Old School, but as far as I am concerned WordPerfect remains the gold standard of word processing. I know, I know, the entire world uses MS Word. I just hate that program. I find it tedious to use, awkward, and problematic in that buying it means giving Microsoft yet more money. WordPerfect can do pretty much everything Word can do, and more besides, and at less cost. The interface is distinctly different, in ways I'm comfortable with.

Others have already explained -- sometimes to levels of excruciating detail -- the specific, technical reasons why WordPerfect is better than Word. I really can't add anything to those discussions, other than to reaffirm that much of the advantage starts with the "Reveal Codes" command: a mainstay in WordPerfect, and entirely absent in Word.

I can say that a lot of what makes a program acceptable is simple familiarity. Were I forced to use Word day-in and day-out for, say, a year, with no opportunity to use WordPerfect at all, I'll bet at the end of the year I'd barely be able to use WordPerfect at all. And I'd be a whiz at Word.

This learning curve makes it hard for folks to just casually switch from one program to the other, and it's also why one program usually ends up dominating the market. So if in your work you must constantly swap word processing files with outside companies and individuals, it MAY be better for you to go with Word. (Although in fact WordPerfect does have an easy-to-use conversion system which I use almost daily for sending files in Word format out). But if you are more a lone wolf, creating files only for internal use in your life or your business, then by all means consider WordPerfect.

I discovered my MS Office had a bug in it, and came that way from the factroy. I looked Word over and it was clean. Then the program itself. It does everything and well, and it does it without the tracking bug on it.