From WP5.1 to ????????

[Carmen]

I could really need some advise from someone who is familiar with WordPerfect (the best word processing system by far) … especially the older 5.1 (or close) version. I am a resume writer and am tired of the familiar conversion problems that take place when you are converting to the standard, yet inferior industry standard systems -- Word! Subsequently, I am going to update my WP version and would really really appreciate any suggestions regarding what version works the best. I constantly use reveal codes, I am constantly indenting which seems like the biggest problem when converting from WP51 to Word 97. I know that learning a new version of WP will take a while to get me up to speed, but I would rather invest my time learning a superior systems, than wasting it learning an inferior system. The quality of my copies are paramount and I can never achieve the same in Word. Would really love hearing from the WordPerfect community! Anyone still using left-function keys out there like me??? Thanks so much … Carmen

 

[Bighorn]

I started back in '92 with WordPerfect for Windows 5.1 on my first computer then took a WordPerfect for DOS 5.0 at the local Junior College, helped a lot. I still keep a copy of WP installed, does some things better than Word.

For file commonality it sometimes works best using .rtf/Rich Text Format. I don't use it as much as I used to so don't need the function keys as much as on the DOS version. I feel for most purposes the free LibreOffice can be quite suitable but it doesn't always bring Word macros in properly but it can work with more file formats than OpenOffice, a lot of my clients that got new computers were at a loss when Microsoft Works was no longer included and they couldn't open their recipe files but LibreOffice can use the Works files.

Reveal codes in WP are great, for me work better than with Word. I have WP x8 installed on my main Windows 10 computer but do have WP12 on an older Notebook running Windows 10.

 

[Carmen]

Hi Bighorn … How very kind of you to respond to me … especially with the expanded information that you provided. At this very moment I am still using DOS and everything works perfectly until I try to convert to Word. I don't feel like my problem stems from using DOS, it seems more of a WP to Word conversion. So if I understand you correctly, are you saying that you can effectively convert a WP 8.0 version to a Word document without losing a lot of "indents" and the occasional "center?" I hate to ask you more questions, but I am desperate for your knowledge!! Thanks so very much ... Carmen

 

[Bighorn]

I would not trust those older versions to convert completely/without error to newer versions. It was a long time before Word and WordPerfect started cooperating and Word was the newest of the two. The Office suite seldom had individual applications with the same number until Office 2016 and Version 2016, earlier suites had different version numbers, made in important to be precise in the numbering such as Office 2010 is not individual Version 10 but Version 14, Office 2000 had version 9.

WordPerfect has pretty much always been itself while Office came from StarWriter and Star Office which also was the roots for OpenOffice and LibreOffice.