Review by J. Sullivan

It is difficult to distinguish what one office-style suite offers over another; however, by working within the suite, it is easy to conclude whether or not a suite is satisfactory. I am impressed with Corel WordPerfect Office X7. It is easy to use, it handles any task I require with ease, and the interface is clean and intuitive…its a pleasure to work in Corel WordPerfect Office X7.

Compatibility is a feature Corel has long served its customers, as is evident with the nearly fifty save as options within its WordPerfect application, compared to the seventeen options I find within my Microsoft Word application.

The intuitive nature of WordPerfect Office X7 makes it easy to find commands as they’re needed. There is no need to hop around ribbon menus, only to find that font selection is done in a thing called Home, whereas, Corel places this formatting task under a menu called Format. It doesnt get much better than that.

I enjoy Microsoft Excel more than Quattro Pro, which lacks the fill tool, which is one of my favorite convenience features. The interface isn’t as tidy and pleasant, but it is still a capable spreadsheet program.

I have not done much with Presentations, but I do like the right hand side column of quick access buttons, allowing quick access to commonly used editing and playback features.

I installed WordPerfect Lightning, and I have yet to make use of it. This is Corels answer to Microsofts OneNote, but it is nowhere nearly as inviting. Its a tool that does not seem interesting or useful enough to warrant taking the time to master it. Its there for those who wish to use it.

Having installed disc burning software in the past, only to find that my built-in disc burning started misbehaving, I chose not to install this one either. Im not burning discs, anyway, as I have plenty of HDD backup, but for those who wish to take advantage of security-enabled data on an optical disc, it is an option.

Comparison of Corel WordPerfect Office X7, is probably best done against the Home and Business version of Microsoft Office 2013, when considering price. They cost about the same, and both suites offer anchor software titles for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. The extension software is where the differences exist, and it really comes down to whether or not you prefer Microsofts OneNote and Outlook over Corels WordPerfect Lightning and the Roxio Secure Disc Burning software.

I do love this suite, for the most part. There are pleasant features that exist in WordPerfect, such as legal tools, which make this a sure winner for those doing document preparation in the legal profession, while the entire suite provides base features that are suitable for professionals, students, or home users at just about any skill level.