ABC Office Services
Established in Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte, FL 1982

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Why Use Microsoft Word?

Years ago when I started my secretarial service, I started on a portable typewriter, then a Smith Corona word processor, then Word Perfect for DOS.  There were no classes then and I sat up many nights with a book learning Word Perfect, the industry standard at the time.  I don't think Microsoft Word even existed then.

 Microsoft came out with Microsoft Word and everyone switched to it.  Why, I don't know, It wasn't because of the price because Microsoft is more expensive than Corel.  Maybe they thought because Microsoft Word came from Microsoft and was more expensive, it was better.  How uninformed the decision makers were, and are.  Ask any secretary that was forced to switch from Word Perfect to Microsoft Word and you'll get the same answer -- give back my  Word Perfect!

Corel Word Perfect will do so..... much more than Microsoft Word will do.  One thing that frustrates me so much with Microsoft Word is the inability to align Roman numerals by their period at the left margin--impossible for me.  Until I learned it was impossible, I kept seeing documents with them aligned with the first numeral rather than the period and I thought "they sure don't know the proper format."  Then I discovered they had no choice because Microsoft Word will not align them properly.  I've been told that it will if you use decimal tab.  Yep, it works if it's not aligned on the left margin.  I still can't figure out how to align them on the left margin.  In Corel Word Perfect, you just set tabs to the left of the margin and do shift tab, simple.

Many times, a life saver, the ability to set the linespacing in increments other than 1, 1.5 and 2.  Set the linespacing on .9 and you can get a page to fit on one page easily.  Word perfect will easily put all or part of a line flush right.  If Word will do this, I sure can't figure out how.( In 2007, finally did!)  When I try to do a flush right, the whole line goes flush right, not just a portion of it.  Also paragraph indent is extremely simple whether it be 5 spaces or 10 or more.  Word does this, but it's harder.

A major "defect" with Microsoft Word is there is no "reveal codes" where you can see the codes and delete or change them.  I've drawn lines and decided I didn't want them, or they moved where I didn't want them, and could not delete them.  In Corel Word Perfect, all you have to do is go to "reveal codes," find the code and delete it, easy.

Corel Word Perfect will print an envelope for a single letter, the one you just typed with just two key strokes.  Ever try to print a booklet from Microsoft Word with the page numbers in the right places?  I can't figure out how to do it..  Corel Word Perfect does it automatically.    Version 9 also publishes to PDF format maybe newer versions of Word does--I don't know.

Ever try to change the alignment of one or two lines in Microsoft Word?  I can't do it..  I have to change the whole paragraph.  Have a few phrases in your document you want to use over and over?  You can't do a keyboard "macro" in Microsoft Word.  In Corel Word Perfect, you can assign them numbers and do Alt 1, 2, etc., and get the phrases you want.  Easy.

Corel Word Perfect will total the columns of numbers. (DOS did, Windows doesn't - shame on them).  Best I can tell, Microsoft Word will not.  In Corel Word Perfect, you can also set the margins on labels, not sure about  Microsoft Word.

Put a graphic in a Corel Word Perfect document and it stays where you put it and your text wraps around it and you see what's happening.  In Microsoft Word, not so easy.  Frequently, the graphic disappears and goes elsewhere.  You can see it in print view, but you can't find it to move or delete it--at least I can't.

Corel Word Perfect will do parallel columns.  Best I can tell, Microsoft Word will not.  Corel Word Perfect will even do them anywhere on the page, also newspaper columns.

You can edit the main spell check dictionary in Corel Word Perfect and add any words you like.  You can split and join table cells and rotate text in cells.  In Microsoft Word, I can't find how to do it.

In Corel Word Perfect, you can suppress page settings for a single page.   If you delete something in Corel Word Perfect and decide it was a mistake, you can restore up to three deletions in older versions and up to 200 levels in version 9.  I can't find how to do this in Word.

These are just a few of my peeves about Microsoft Word.  For a more detailed comparison of versions 7 and 9, check out http://www.wpwiz.com/compare.html.

For the work I do and print for clients, I still use Corel Word Perfect.   The problem arises when people want their work on disk.  If I do it in Corel Word Perfect, sometimes Microsoft Word will not recognize ALL the formatting, etc.  It won't even keep the same font  with the same fonts on the same machine.  The only font my Microsoft Word will convert correctly is Courier.  However, I can bring a Microsoft Word document into Corel Word Perfect just fine.  I've had occasions when I've had to bring a Microsoft Word document into Corel Word Perfect in order to delete some of the codes via "reveal codes."

 I wish Corel Word Perfect would do more advertising of its pluses.  In the opinion of many secretaries, it's the Cadillac of word processors and it's less expensive than Microsoft Word.   Maybe if more people knew how much better and less expensive Corel Word Perfect is, then more people would use Corel Word Perfect.  I sincerely doubt that most people now even know that Corel Word Perfect exists.

 That's my two cents worth

Although I use Word Perfect for my local people,  I have been forced to use Word exclusively for my internet clients.

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