I will admit that I have been among those who wonder why some lawyers adhere so loyally to WordPerfect. I was once one of them, but I  went with the tide and made the switch to Microsoft Word long ago. Today, however, as I read the announcement of the all-new WordPerfect Office X6 released today by Corel, I wondered anew why we all so quickly abandoned WordPerfect.

You can say this about WordPerfect: It tries harder to meet the word-processing needs of lawyers than any other word processor out there. In this latest version, one of the major new enhancements is the addition of Bates numbering. Now, lawyers can easily insert Bates numbers in WordPerfect documents, individually or as a batch, giving each page a unique, incremental number for quick identification.

I have not tried this new version of WordPerfect. But as I read some of its features, I like what I see. For example, among the new features of this version:

  • Multiple monitor support lets you open as many copies of WordPerfect as needed on separate monitors.
  • Advanced preview lets you preview WordPerfect files in Windows Explorer and as attachments in Outlook without having to open them.

And then there are the features it already had, such as redaction tools; strong PDF capabilities, including support for PDF/A; and, of course, that longtime favorite of lawyers, Reveal Codes.

Within WordPerfect, you can open, edit, and create files in all Microsoft Office formats, including DOCX, XLSX and PPTX, as well as Open Office XML documents.

On top of that, it comes bundled with other useful tools, including Nuance PaperPort 12 SE, for scanning, OCR and document management; and WinZip, for compressing files and email attachments. And, for all you aspiring authors, it now includes a new WordPerfect eBook Publisher for laying out and publishing ebooks.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.