There are icons in toolbars to provide quick access to all the same text formatting functions, as well as functions for working with numbers.

The spreadsheet program in the suite, Quattro Pro, is easy to get to grips with because it shares the same toolbar layout as WordPerfect. WordPerfect X9 has a large selection of document templates (Image credit: Corel) For example, control/cmd + W is a fairly standard shortcut for closing a document, but in WordPerfect, you have to use control + F4. One thing we didn’t like was that some standard functions had different keyboard shortcuts from what most applications use. They’re in a variety of different categories suited to both business and personal uses. It also has a large selection of document templates to choose from, which can speed up the process of document creation. For example, WordPerfect has a Reveal Codes function, which is really useful for tracking down extra coding that might have been applied to an element on the page and which is causing it not to display the way you’d like. There are a number of features we particularly liked.

Creating and editing documents and formatting text is easy and straightforward. If you’re already familiar with Microsoft Word or other word processing applications, you’ll find WordPerfect X9 has all the same functionality and features.

The left toolbar is for adding elements and shapes, the right toolbar for managing slides. However, there are also additional toolbars on the left and right side of the page. Presentations X9, the PowerPoint rival, shares a similar layout to WordPerfect and Quattro Pro, with toolbars across the top of the window. It shares many of the same text formatting options as WordPerfect, as well as buttons for inserting rows and columns and creating calculations and formulae. Quattro Pro X9 is the Excel equivalent, and it too looks very similar to its Microsoft counterpart.

Corel WordPerfect at Amazon for $14.99 (opens in new tab).

The interface for WordPerfect, featuring an invoice template (Image credit: Corel)

Wordperfect student edition