A Professional version, priced at $399.99, includes the Paradox database software and a few other utilities, but you won’t need the Professional version unless you’re already using Paradox. I tested WordPerfect Office Standard 2020, which costs $249.99. You also get a file-viewing and note-taking utility called WordPerfect Lightning, plus some utilities for building legal documents, creating eBooks, and managing photos. The suite comprises the standard three office apps: the WordPerfect word processor, the Quattro Pro spreadsheet app, and Presentations. If you want to run WordPerfect on a Mac, you’ll need virtualization software. It also lacks real-time collaboration features. WordPerfect Office runs only on Windows, not on mobile devices or a browser.

But when I’m working on anything longer, or anything that needs precise control over formatting, WordPerfect has never let me down. I have both Word and WordPerfect on my system, and I mostly use Word for writing reviews for PCMag and anything else that’s only a few hundred words long.

To be transparent, here, I fall squarely within that user base. That kind of continuity is exactly what its user base needs. Each new version of the suite adds a few features and bug-fixes but leaves the basics unchanged, making WordPerfect is the only word processor that uses the same file format that it started using 25 years ago.

WordPerfect has a loyal user base in law firms, government offices, and academia.

The word processor at the heart of the suite, WordPerfect, produces documents that look like anything produced by Microsoft Word or Google Docs, but it creates those documents in an entirely different way and gives you far more control over formatting and other features. Unlike all other major office suites, WordPerfect Office 2020 doesn’t try to emulate Microsoft 365's productivity apps.

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