Corel WordPerfect X4

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Product summary

WordPerfect Office X4 includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentations, note-taking, e-mail, and graphics applications; supports more than 60 formats including ODF and files from Microsoft Office 2007 and earlier; handles PDF/A as well as OCR in PDFs; strong tools for legal and long documents; security features; upgrade doesn’t change overall look and feel.

The bad: WordPerfect Office X4 can be clumsy to learn for those used to Microsoft Office 2007; integration among applications is limited; some functions are hard to find; and it costs a significant amount.

The bottom line: The Corel WordPerfect Office X4 suite best fits those who prefer traditional interfaces for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. We found the features rich, but the execution sometimes clumsy.

Specifications: License qty: 1 user ; License type: Complete package ; Min Operating system: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic , Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium , Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition , Microsoft Windows Vista Business , Microsoft Windows XP Professional , Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate , Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition ; ; See full specs

Many free and inexpensive office suites are available for download or for use in a Web browser. What’s the advantage of paying a pretty penny for a desktop office suite? Corel WordPerfect Office X4 offers a strong software package that comes closest to the breadth and depth of features found in Microsoft Office.

The most attractive new features within WordPerfect X4 include its juggling of more than 60 file formats from competing applications. You can open OOXML files from Office 2007, although you’ll have to save them in another format. That’s not only a contrast to Microsoft’s decision to develop its own open file format rather than using ODF, but also a survival mechanism for Corel, whose WPD format is being ignored by most rival services.

The Corel WordPerfect Office X4 $299 Standard edition ($199 upgrade) includes WordPerfect for text, Lightning for notes, Quattro Pro for spreadsheets, Mail, as well as Presentations, and the Presentations Graphics editor. The $119 Home and Student Edition includes WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, Presentations, Lighting, and Visual Intelligence. Users who only seek word processing and spreadsheets alongside Corel MediaOne image editing and Ulead VideoStudio video editing may want to check out the $89 Corel WordPerfect Family Pack 2009. The $399 Professional ($259 upgrade) version, which is increasingly attracting government agencies, adds enterprise tools including the Paradox database, which we did not test.