Review: Corel Wordperfect Office X4 office software

Time to defect from Microsoft Office?

The recent introduction of the ribbon interface in Microsoft Office polarised opinion among its users.

It's not possible to turn it off, so what are users to do if they can't learn to love it? Switching to an alternative office suite, such as Corel's new Wordperfect Office X4, is one option. However compatibility with Microsoft Office formats can still be a problem, as can ease of use. The X4 suite includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentations and email programs, similar to some versions of Microsoft Office.

Wordperfect X4, the word processing package, can be started in Microsoft Word emulator mode, which is supposed to ease the transition for new users who are familiar with Word. However we were disappointed to find that this extends only to the style of some of the toolbars and menus. When actually carrying out an operation, you still have to learn the Wordperfect way of doing things.

Compared to Microsoft Word and even the free Openoffice word processor, the program felt rudimentary in some respects but there were no gains, in terms of usability, to compensate. The clip art browser doesn't divide images into categories and the link to extra images online simply opened a blank page on Corel's site. The overall impression is that of an incomplete program.

We were also less than impressed with Wordperfect's compatibility with Word documents. Attempting to open a basic Word 2007 document containing watermarks and graphics resulted in a garbled mess. Saving the document in Word 2003 format made no difference. Openoffice rendered the same document much more accurately and quickly.

There are some innovative new features, though. Perfectexpert is one example. It provides document templates that can be customised using a wizard. It differs from Microsoft Works' wizards in that content and formatting are handled simultaneously and you can see the changes you are making as you apply them.

The side panel allows you to type a document while simultaneously using the wizard to help. Quattro Pro X4, Corel's spreadsheet, fares slightly better. The Perfectexpert wizards are helpful, as they can help create customisable personal budgeting sheets, for example, without knowing a single formula. The options for creating charts are powerful and straightforward.

However if you are used to Excel, even the Excel emulator mode won't be entirely familiar. Corel's Presentations program is the pick of the suite. It's powerful and flexible while remaining easy to use. Again, the wizards guide you through every aspect of creating and customising your slides. It wasn't enough to compensate for the fundamental flaws of the suite, though.

When there are cheaper office suites such as Ability Office, or free ones such as Openoffice, paying nearly £300 for Wordperfect Office doesn't seem like a good deal at all.