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WP: Draft
Word: Normal View

WP: 1

Personally, I rarely use Draft/Normal view, so I can't really say which is better. I like being able to see a true representation of my document. As stated in my Version 9 Preamble, when I started using WP, I loved the fact that I didn't have to hit Print Preview before every, single document I printed.

Anyway, were I to use Draft view in WP, something that would've annoyed me in prior versions was that WP didn't wrap text when you increased your zoom past 100%. In Version 11, the text now wraps correctly (which eliminates a horizontal scroll bar). WP therefore gets the point instead of Word, as Word continues to hide your shapes if you switch from Print Layout to Normal view.

WP: Page
Word: Print Layout

Refer Print Preview on the FILE Menu

Word: Web Layout
WP: Preview in Browser

WP: 1

Word: 5

This is excellent if you use Word to create and edit, for example, Intranet pages, as it allows you to use Word as a WYSIWYG Web Editor.

Word: 1

A new feature in Word 2003 that . . .

• Hides unnecessary toolbars
• Displays the Document Map or the new thumbnail pane, so you can quickly jump to sections of the document.
• Automatically scales the contents of a document to pages that fit comfortably on your screen and that are easy to browse.
• Allows you to highlight portions of the document and add comments or make changes.

WP: Two Pages
Word: Print Preview

WP allows you to see 2 pages at once. For Word, refer to Print Preview under the FILE Menu comparison.

Word: Outline View

Word: 1

Additional Menu Item in Word. When you create an Outline in WP, your Property Bar updates with the necessary features for Outlining. This allows the same functionality as Word's Outline View, i.e., drag-and-drop Headings, Text, (or both simultaneously), although you have to select the 'Show Icons' button to enable this functionality. I would like this turned on by default when you insert an Outline (or better yet, add a Menu Item like this one in Word). The additional Menu Item in Word is also good because it automatically assigns all Headings and Text an Outline Level, e.g., Headings automatically become Main Levels, etc.

Word: 1

WP: 5

Word & WordPerfect: Toolbars

WordPerfect only: Property Bars

WP: 10

This is one area where there isn't even a competition. Corel realized that you don't need all your tools all the time, so it came up with the Property Bar.

The Property Bar sits directly below your Toolbar and updates with all the tools you need for the task you're working on. E.g., Working on a graphic, the Property Bar updates with all the tools you need for working with a graphic.

Working on a table, your Property Bar updates for that task; this applies to everything: Watermarks, Images, Selected Text, Footnotes/Endnotes, etc. You rarely have to turn your Toolbars on & off when you need to work on a Task, as you do in Word.

This is one area where MS could really improve. I think MS Office's Toolbars are ugly and annoying. By the time you have your Drawing Toolbar, your Frames Toolbar (if you're working on your Intranet), your Tables Toolbar, your Formatting Toolbar, and your Standard Toolbar on the screen, there's hardly any room to see your document!
Click HERE to see what I mean. You can shove them together, but then you don't see all your Icons <sigh>. As an IT Consultant and Developer, I have been to a LOT of Offices, and I can say that the average user (which is the majority) doesn't bother or know how to customize his or her Toolbars, so they end up wasting time scrolling up and down a very narrow screen.
WordPerfect's Property Bar is another productivity feature that makes word processing with WP a joy.

WP: Application Bar

WP: 5

At the same time that Corel introduced the Property Bar (WordPerfect 8), Corel also added the Application Bar. It's slightly thinner than your Task Bar (sitting directly above it), and it servers 4 purposes:

• It shows all your open documents
• It allows you to drag and drop text between documents
• It allows you to switch easily between documents
• It stops you forgetting that you already have a document open

Word2000 subsequently 'borrowed' the idea. Every open Office document had a separate icon on your Task Bar. However, this was almost a disadvantage, as your Task Bar got really cluttered (you then couldn't see what each document was without hovering). MS realized its mistake, and you now have the option of using this facility in MSOXP/2003. Windows XP tiles your documents anyway, so MS's implementation of this is now redundant. Corel's Application Bar still allows the aforementioned features.

WP & Word: Ruler Bar

WP: 5

I personally hate the Ruler Bar (Word turned me off it forever). Having to adjust tabs and indents using the Ruler Bar is onerously time-consuming, awkward, and fiddly—especially for a power-user. Perhaps a little-known fact is that it takes literally TEN TIMES LONGER to use a mouse instead of a keystroke, e.g., setting an Indent using your Ruler instead of hitting F7 (in WP) (refer Format Menu). Only someone who has used WordPerfect would appreciate this. In Word, you can use keystroke combinations, such as Ctrl+M or Ctrl+T, but if you want to move your Tab Stop back, you either have to change your Ruler, Edit in the Paragraph dialog Box, or use complex keystroke combinations, e.g., Shift+Ctrl+T to move an Indent back! Compare these to using F7 or Backspace in WP.

Nevertheless, if you do like to use your Ruler Bar, WordPerfect allows you to Right-click to open the following dialog boxes: Tab Set, Paragraph Format, Margins, Columns, & Settings. Double-clicking on your Ruler in Word will open your Page Setup or Tabs dialog Boxes only. Overall, if you wanted to work with your Ruler Bar, it is MUCH easier in WP.

Additionally and most importantly, because WP flows, if you change a Tab stop for one item, each following item changes to the new Tab stop automatically (providing uniformity to your document). In Word, you need to highlight all the text to which you want to adjust Tab Stop positions— another one of Word's time-wasters. Basically, using Word often means a drop in productivity, as tasks take much longer to accomplish in Word than they do in WP.

WP: Hide Bars
Word: Full Screen

WP: 1

Word: 1

Same.

WP: Guidelines

Word: Tools » Options »
Text Boundaries

WP: 5

Word: 1

WP shows you all your margins, column widths, table guidelines, etc, directly on your page. This allows you to adjust them there & then—and see the changes instantly (i.e., in Real Time!). This is a really big time saver, especially for Tables.

Word can show you boundaries, but you can't manipulate boundaries directly (and you have to turn them on and off via Tools/Options/View, whereas they're there by default in WP).

You can use your Ruler in Word to manipulate Margins and Paragraphs, but you don't see the effect of the changes until you've finished. You really would not believe how fantastic the RealTime Preview feature is. When you use Word or an older version of WordPerfect, you immediately notice how annoying it is having to guess everything.

WP: Shadow Cursor
Word: Point & Click

WP: 1

Word: 1

This was introduced in WordPerfect 8; Word2000 (again) "borrowed" the idea. This allows you to point to any part of a document and start typing.

WP: Graphics
Word: Picture Placeholders

WP: 1

To speed up viewing/scrolling through a document, (and to take the strain off your Graphics card—if it doesn't have many MBs of Memory), WP allows you to turn off displaying graphics.

This can be done in Word, but as usual with Word, it's more convoluted (you have to go to Tools/Options and put a check in Picture Placeholders. To see your graphics again, you have to go back and uncheck the box).

Word & WP: Table Gridlines

WP: 1

In Word, you have to go into Format/Borders & Shading, then remove a Border for this feature to have any affect. In WP, it works without having to remove Borders.

WP: Hidden Text

WP: 1

Word only allows you to see hidden text if you use your Show/Hide option. WP allows you to use the Show/Hide option & still not see Hidden Text (some people like to work with Show/Hide on all the time—especially in Word, where you can accidentally delete a Paragraph Mark).

Word & WP: Symbols

WP: 1

WP has more options for what to display.

WP:Reveal Codes

Refer Format Menu.

Word: Task Pane

WP: PerfectExpert

WP: 5

Task Panes were a new feature introduced into Office XP; they are basically Corel's PerfectExperts (HELP Menu) Microsoft style.

PerfectExperts are like a context-sensitive Table of Contents on the left side of your screen (as opposed to Microsoft Task Pane on the right side of your screen). They guide you through the processes of formatting, creating, and changing your documents.

Introducing Task Panes must have been pretty humiliating for Microsoft, as they scoffed at this feature when WP8 was released, instead touting their Office Assistants, which they then (humiliatingly) had to demote after a massive public backlash against them. Conversely, people who were asked to compare WordPerfect with Word praised the PerfectExperts (I wonder if that's why MS introduced them, and I wonder if MS apologized to Corel for slating a feature it subsequently 'borrowed' 4 years later). I see this as yet another example of WordPerfect leading and Word following (after many years of WP users being more productive). Just goes to show that Corel is years ahead of MS with many features, and Corel often has a better understanding of what users *REALLY* want, not what the Software Company *THINKS* they want.

Word& WP: Zoom

WP: 1

Word: 1

Word allows you to see any number of pages. A new feature in WP2002 was the Magnifying Glass, which lets you Zoom in on a certain section of a document.

Word: Markup

Word: 10

An awesome feature in Word that allows you to view all markup changes in your document (or you can limit the kind of change that's displayed. For example, you can use the Show menu to hide formatting changes and comments so that you can concentrate on insertions and deletions. Or, you can display comments and changes for a specific reviewer).

You can also change how Word displays markup by clicking one of the 'Display for Review' settings on the Reviewing toolbar. By changing this setting, you can preview a document with changes before you accept or reject those changes.

WP has some of these options via Document Review, but it's not as powerful as Word's.

WP: 1

Word: Footnotes

Word: 1

A good feature that lets you hide or show the Footnotes in your document (in Web Layout), or if you're in Print Layout, it jumps you to the Footnotes. In WP, you have to scroll to see them.

Word: Headers & Footers
WP: Refer INSERT Menu

WP: 5

This is one thing I've never understood in Word. If you want to Insert a Header or Footer in your Document, you have to go to the View Menu? Am I the only one who thinks that this is backwards? How can you view a Header or Footer when you haven't created one yet? This is, logically, on WP's Insert Menu.

Anyway . . .  comparing the feature.

Well, to achieve "Page 1 of 1" in a Word Footer, you need to know that you have to use AutoText, and you have to figure out formatting options. Also, you should note that this is a well known and seemingly permanently-broken feature in Word. As I recall, this has been broken since version 1.0 of Word. Somehow, I don't think Microsoft *can* fix this feature. The code must be too well hidden!?

Switching to WP  . .  to create a simple Footer "Page 1 of 5" in WordPerfect, you simply select Page Number from the Property Bar, type "1", then select Total Pages from the Property Bar. WordPerfect also allows two Headers and two Footers. Word has a convoluted way of doing such.

VIEW MENU POINTS

WP: 50

Word: 23