Tools Menu Item |
WP |
Word |
Comments |
Word & WP: Spell Checker | WP: 1 
| Word: 1 | Same, although WordPerfect was the first program to be able to separate 2 joined words. This was new in Word XP |
Word & WP: Grammar | WP: 10 | | WP wins this by a
LANDSLIDE. For Formal Checking, Word has 32 options you can turn on or off, compared with 67 in WP. WP gives you a definition of each rule. Word does not. Therefore, unless your grammar is excellent (can you remember what a Restrictive Relative Pronoun is?) you're left foundering. WP would tell you what this is & give you extensive examples.
WP also lets you see a Parse Tree, Parts of Speech, Basic Counts, & Flagged Items-Word offers none of these. WP's 'Readability' is also far more advanced. |
Word & WP: Thesaurus | WP: 5
| Word: 1 | WP has always excelled with its Thesaurus features. In Version 8, Corel introduced 'Prompt‑As‑You‑Go': every word you type is instantly accessible from a drop‑down Combo‑Box. Word added a faster way to access its Thesaurus in Word2000 via a right-click action. WP is still ahead of Word, as looking up a word in WP gives you the following:
- "Related Words"
- "Is a Type of"
- "Has Types"
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WP: Dictionary | WP: 1
| | Word has finally added a Dictionary (incorporated into its new 'Look Up/Research' Task Pane), which is about time. Of course, you have to be online to use this facility. |
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| Word: Research |
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Word: 1 |
Basically a quick way to Research items, using Encarta, a Dictionary, etc. Most reviews of this feature are quite similar: It's OK, but no great shakes. Most people would rather use Google to Research instead of MSN, etc. Again, you need to be online to use the feature. |
WP: QuickCorrect
Word: AutoCorrect Options | WP: 5 |
| OK, I have a couple of major annoyances with Word's AutoCorrect (or lack thereof): En-Dashes (e.g., 1:00–2:00p.m.): Word has only 1 option for converting hyphens into dashes. Therefore, if you type the time using 2 hyphens, Word transforms your hyphens into an Em-Dash instead of an En‑Dash. In WP, you have 3 options: 1 Hyphen remains a hyphen. 2 Hyphens become an En‑Dash; 3 Hyphens become an Em-Dash. End‑of‑Sentence Spacing: WordPerfect automatically changes one space to two between sentences. Word has no option for changing end‑of‑sentence spacing, which is SO stupid because it has the grammar option to check for 'Spaces Required Between Sentences'. Set this to 2, and Word flags EVERY, single, solitary sentence as a grammatical error. Grrr. So, if you use Word as your word processor, you have to 3 'workarounds':
- Type 2 spaces after every, single sentence in every, single document you create
- Perform a Find & Replace to replace every period and a space with a period and 2 spaces in every, single document you create
- Click 'Change' for every, single occurrence that Word flags when you run a Grammar Check in every, single document you create
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WP: SpeedLinks | WP: 1 | | WP only. Type a word like Corel, and a Hyperlink is automatically created from your predefined SpeedLinks. You can achieve the same in Word, though, using AutoText. |
Word: Translate | | Word: 5 | Word only. Performs translations using the new Research Task Pane, although it specifies that the translations cannot be guaranteed. |
Word & WP: Hyphenation | WP: 1 | Word: 1 | WP allows you to define the Left & Right Hyphenation Zones.
Word gives you the option of not hyphenating words in CAPS, which is clever, it also allows for prompting before hyphenation. |
WP: Character Mapping | WP: 1 | | Available in WP to reduce a document's size when you edit documents in non-Roman alphabets such as Greek or Cyrillic. |
Word & WP: Macros | WP: 5 | | Both are very good, but I gave WP 5 points because you can use Macros without fearing that they might contain a Macro Virus. Word added security as part of Microsoft's new security initiative. What did it do? Did it split Macros from documents or files so that you open or send documents without worrying that they contain viruses? No. It turned the feature off by default! What a joke! So MS is basically saying, in order to make Word secure, you're better not to use Macros!?!?!? |
WP: Address Book | WP: 1 | | Only available in WP. Available in Word when creating Envelopes & Labels. |
Word: Letter & Mailings » Mail Merge
WP: Merge | WP: 1 | Word: 1 | In XP, Word totally revamped its Mail Merge feature to include a Wizard (incorporated into its Task Pane). I thought that it was a big improvement, but today, I watched TWO people (both trained in Word) struggle to perform a Merge with this feature. In the end, they had to call me over to show them how to use it! The Data File was an Excel File that they had been E‑mailed, so both figured they needed to use Word to do the Merge. When I explained to them that they could use WordPerfect and showed them how to do the merge using WordPerfect, they were amazed by the simplicity of it! Back to Word, however, we were all bewildered by the way that Word only shows 1 sheet of your Labels. You have to click through each Label or use a Find to preview all your Labels (Print Preview does not show you them all?!) |
Word & WP: Sort | WP: 10 | | WP has an amazing capability when it comes to sorting. You can easily create your own custom sorts, choose where to output the sort (e.g., a new document), or even sort by the last word, etc. The list is endless, and no comparison can be made between the two programs. |
Word & WP: Highlight | WP: 1 | | WP has more colors from which to choose. |
Word & WP: Hyperlink | | | Refer 'Insert' Menu |
Word & WP: Bookmark | | | Refer 'Insert' Menu |
Word & WP: Word Count | WP: 1 | | Three U.S. Court-of-Appellate Judges admonished Word for giving erroneous word counts. WordXP addressed this issue, by not 'greying-out' the 'Include Footnotes and Endnotes' checkbox when text is selected. It has also added a special Word-Count Toolbar, which is a nice feature. WP is still better though, as it has the following options that Word doesn't:
- Sentences
- Average Word Length
- Average Words per Sentence
- Maximum words per Sentence
Some of these options are available through Word's 'Readability Statistics', but these also pale by comparison to WP's Readability Statistics, which have been awesome since version 6.1 (at least). |
WP: Legal Tools:
- Pleading Paper
- Pleading Expert Designer
- Pleading Expert Filler
Word: New » Templates » Pleading Wizard | WP: 1 | | I'm not a lawyer, so I can't honestly say which is better, but I do know that WP still has a strong Legal Following, which I believe signifies Word's Legal inadequacies |
Word: AutoSummarize | | Word: 1 | Only available in Word. However, I honestly can't see anyone trusting this to pick out key points in a document. |
| Word: Shared Workspace |
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Word: 1 |
A document workspace is a Web site with features that enable a group to share files, participate in discussions, and work together on a document. Document workspaces are based on Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services.
Your Office document is stored in a document library in the document workspace, where everyone who is working on the document can access it—using either a Microsoft Office application or a Web browser.
There's the spiel on what it is. Hmmm. The cynical side of me says that this is just a way for MS to sell you another of its products. You can decide for yourself whether you think this is a good feature or a marketing ploy.
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Word: Track Changes | | | Refer FILE Menu |
Word: Protect Document | WP: 1 | Word: 10 | Microsoft has made an already excellent idea even better in Word 11. This feature allowed people see a document but not change it; however, in Word 11, this feature has been fine-tuned to allow you to control document formatting, content, or both. Not only that, you no longer have to apply the same restriction to everyone and to the entire document. You can selectively allow certain people to edit specified parts of the document.
The interface has also been revamped, as it's now incorporated into the Task Pane and includes (basically) a Wizard, which makes it even easier to work with this feature. The only way to duplicate this feature in WP is to create a Table with locked cells. |
Word: Letter Wizard
WP: PerfectExpert | WP: 1 | Word: 1 | Both are excellent when helping users set-up a letter. |
Word: Compare and Merge Documents
WP: File Menu » Document » Compare | | | Refer FILE Menu Comparison |
Word: Online Collaboration | | Word: 1 | Only available in Word. I don't know why it's in Word as well as Outlook, (unless you're going to collaborate on a document online). Seems a bit of overkill if you use a Shared Workspace, though? |
Word: Templates and Add-Ins
WP: Settings » Customize | WP: 1 | Word: 1 | Both have good interfaces for manipulating Template and Toolbar information. |
Word: Customize
WP: Settings » Customize | WP: 1 | Word: 1 | Same. |
WP: Workspace Manager | | | WordPerfect 12 has essentially 1 new feature: Enhanced compatibility with Microsoft Office. As such, when any program in the WordPerfect Office 12 Suite launches, you are presented with a choice: Which Mode do you want to work in? In Quattro Pro, you can choose Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, or Quattro Pro mode. In Presentations, your Modes are PowerPoint or Presentations; and in WordPerfect, your choices are Microsoft Word Mode, WordPerfect Classic Mode, WordPerfect Legal Mode, or WordPerfect Mode. Basically, this changes the Toolbar Arrangement and ensures that whenever you save a file, it is saved in that mode. It also changes your Keyboard Layout so that your Shortcut Keys match those of the program whose mode you've chosen to simulate, eg, Alt+F3 brings up QuickWords (AutoCorrect) instead of Reveal Codes, etc. Apart from a few glitches, this makes working in a Microsoft Office world easier. One glitch that *does* need to be addressed in Service Pack 1 is that a .wpd extension is added to your file, even in Word mode (weird). This overrides the Microsoft Word File-Type setting so you end up with a WordPerfect document instead of Word document. A user has to ensure that he/she removes the .wpd from the filename to ensure it saves as a Word document (sigh). I do hope this will be fixed in Service Pack 1! Anyway, the bottom line is that if improved compatibility is important to you or your organization/company, WordPerfect 12 offers the best Conversion Filters of any version, so an upgrade is a no-brainer. |
WP: Settings
Word: Options | WP: 1 | Word: 1 | Both have excellent, extremely-extensive Options (which would take another Menu to outline in detail!). |
TOOLS MENU POINTS | WP: 50 | Word: 27 | |
