WordPerfect review

In our WordPerfect review, we look at an office software package that provides great value with loads of useful extras

WordPerfect review
WordPerfect is an all-in-one office suite for Windows
(Image: © Corel)

TechRadar Verdict

WordPerfect represents very good value for money for those looking for a cheaper Microsoft Office alternative. It has all the functions and features most people would be familiar with, plus some useful extras.

Pros

  • +

    All the standard office apps with familiar designs and features

  • +

    Has a large selection of included extras

Cons

  • -

    Windows-only

  • -

    No email or calendar apps

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

In our WordPerfect review, we look at one of the oldest Microsoft Office alternatives in existence. It is an all-in-one office suite that comes in a variety of editions for Windows operating systems and includes a word processor, spreadsheet program, slideshow creator, digital notebook, eBook publisher, and photo editor. 

WordPerfect: Interface

Anyone who has used Microsoft Word before will be immediately comfortable with WordPerfect X9 as it has a very similar layout and set of tools. You have access to all the usual settings including font styles and size, alignment, colors, borders, and the ability to insert lists, tables, and graphics.

WordPerfect review

The interface for WordPerfect, featuring an invoice template (Image credit: Corel)

Quattro Pro X9 is the Excel equivalent, and it too looks very similar to its Microsoft counterpart. It shares many of the same text formatting options as WordPerfect, as well as buttons for inserting rows and columns and creating calculations and formulae. 

Presentations X9, the PowerPoint rival, shares a similar layout to WordPerfect and Quattro Pro, with toolbars across the top of the window. However, there are also additional toolbars on the left and right side of the page. The left toolbar is for adding elements and shapes, the right toolbar for managing slides.

WordPerfect: Features

WordPerfect X9

If you’re already familiar with Microsoft Word or other word processing applications, you’ll find WordPerfect X9 has all the same functionality and features. Creating and editing documents and formatting text is easy and straightforward. 

There are a number of features we particularly liked. For example, WordPerfect has a Reveal Codes function, which is really useful for tracking down extra coding that might have been applied to an element on the page and which is causing it not to display the way you’d like.

It also has a large selection of document templates to choose from, which can speed up the process of document creation. They’re in a variety of different categories suited to both business and personal uses.

One thing we didn’t like was that some standard functions had different keyboard shortcuts from what most applications use. For example, control/cmd + W is a fairly standard shortcut for closing a document, but in WordPerfect, you have to use control + F4.

WordPerfect review

WordPerfect X9 has a large selection of document templates (Image credit: Corel)

Quattro Pro X9

The spreadsheet program in the suite, Quattro Pro, is easy to get to grips with because it shares the same toolbar layout as WordPerfect. There are icons in toolbars to provide quick access to all the same text formatting functions, as well as functions for working with numbers.

We found that using simple functions, working with dates, and performing vlookups all worked well. In terms of file format compatibility, Quattro Pro had no trouble opening XLS, XLSX, CSV, Lotus, and XML files. 

There were a couple of things we didn’t like, though. Whereas WordPerfect has a different keyboard shortcut for closing documents to Microsoft Word, Quattro Pro doesn’t have one at all, although you can customize the shortcuts yourself.

Another thing that didn’t work so well was the list of sheets along the bottom of the window, which goes from A up to ZZZ, rather than starting with just a single sheet and a button to add more as required. 

If your document contains just a few sheets, it’s not a problem. But if it contains a large number, navigating between them becomes more difficult because the button to move to the end of the list takes you to ZZZ rather than the last of the sheets you’ve actually created.

Presentations X9

Presentations X9 has a simple interface that has much in keeping with the other applications. Microsoft PowerPoint has dedicated tabs in its toolbar for animations and transitions. With Presentations X9, these functions are hidden away under the Format menu item. Some might find this an inconvenience, although we felt it helps you focus on the content of your slide decks rather than fancy transitions and effects.  

Like Quattro Pro, Presentations also has excellent file format compatibility, opening PPT, PPTX, and SHW files without trouble. It can also import a wide variety of content types, including vector graphics, pictures, videos, and CAD models.

You can easily draw shapes and create charts and graphs, and it features tools to help with alignment and spacing so you can ensure all your elements line up nicely. You can even add speaking notes to your slides.

Other features

The suite also includes WordPerfect Lightning, eBook Publisher, and AfterShot 3. Lightning is a note-taking program for combining text notes and other documents into digital notebooks. eBook Publisher supports both MOBI and EPUB formats for compatibility with a wider range of devices. Finally, AfterShot 3 is a Photoshop replacement with fully-featured photo editing capabilities.

WordPerfect: Mobile and web

The WordPerfect suite is only available for computers running Windows operating systems and isn’t available for use on mobile devices or on the web.

WordPerfect: Pricing

The WordPerfect suite comes in three different editions: Standard, Professional, and Home & Student. The standard edition costs $219.99, Professional $359.99, and Home & Student $89.99.

WordPerfect review

Three editions are available: Standard, Professional, and Home & Student (Image credit: Corel)

The Standard edition includes all the features we’ve discussed so far as well as a large library of TrueType fonts, clipart images, templates, photos, and training videos. Other additions are the Pocket Oxford English Dictionary, an address book, a bitmap editor and drawing application, and an XML editing tool.

The Professional edition includes all of the standard features as well as the Paradox database management system, Corel ScreenCap, and Roxio Secure Burn.

Finally, the Home & Student edition is the same as the Standard edition minus the eBook publisher.

WordPerfect: Final verdict

We found WordPerfect to tick all the boxes when it comes to office software suites. It has all the usual applications, with the standard features you’d expect from an office-based software package. The additional image editing and eBook publishing apps and the huge library of included extras mean you get even more for your money.

Despite its name, WordPerfect isn’t perfect, its main weak point being that it is only available for Windows. It also lacks any email or calendar integration, but there are very few similar software suites that do.

However, if you’re already Windows-based and not concerned with email integration, WordPerfect represents very good value for money.

WordPerfect: The competition

The most obvious competitor to WordPerfect is Microsoft Office (now known as Microsoft 365) because both share so many of the same apps and features. 

Where they differ is that Microsoft 365 includes email, calendar, and desktop publishing apps as part of its suite, whereas WordPerfect has apps for image editing and eBook publishing. In addition, Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based package, which means it will cost you more in the long run than WordPerfect.