Corel extends Office compatibility

New tools allow for much greater functionality

Corel has announced a new version of its WordPerfect productivity suite, focusing on greater compatibility with Microsoft Office, but at a lower price. Key features for businesses are the ability to edit Acrobat PDF files, and a tool to strip metadata from Word documents.

WordPerfect Office X3, available immediately, supports Microsoft Office file formats in its core WordPerfect, Quattro Pro spreadsheet and Presentations tools. Each application also has a “Microsoft mode” that mimics the menu and toolbar of its Office counterpart, to aid users making the switch.

However, this release does not support the vendor-independent OpenDocument format (ODF), contrary to earlier reports. “Our position is that our resources are best invested in file formats demanded by our customers,” said Richard Carrière, Corel’s general manager for office productivity. This means Microsoft and PDF compatibility, he added.

Corel’s suite already had the ability to output PDF files from several apps, but the WordPerfect word processor can now open them for editing and write any changes back to PDF. It also lets users strip out metadata from documents saved as Microsoft Word files.

“It keeps the original for archiving and creates a new version, letting you specify what information to keep and remove,” Carrière said. Metadata often includes text deleted from earlier revisions of documents plus other information a company may not wish to disclose.

Among the other applications, Quattro Pro recognises Excel formulae and supports an instant preview of chart formatting – similar to the features Microsoft is promising for Office 12. And the Presentations tool can export a presentation in Macromedia Flash format, allowing it to be published to the web.

Corel is primarily aiming at smaller businesses with this new WordPerfect Office release, according to Carrière. Consequently, while it supports Microsoft VBA macros as well as Corel’s own PerfectScript, total compatibility is not assured.

The Professional version of WordPerfect Office X3 features WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, Presentations, the Paradox database, and a new WordPerfect Mail client. It costs $259 (£147), which is half the price of the same edition of Office, Corel said.