Optimizing WordPerfect and Word

Getting What You Need to Ensure Peak Performance

By Joseph Kornowski

The long-raging word processing war between Microsoft Word and Corel WordPerfect may be more intractable than the more recent Web browser war between Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. In both cases, surely, time and the market will tell which, if either program, emerges as the dominant product. In the meantime, each word processor has its own loyal following and, in the legal world at least, WordPerfect is still king in terms of the percentage of users.

With the Windows 95 versions of the two most popular word processors-version 7 for both, the comparisons may be so close to call that it comes down to a matter of personal preference. Considering Microsoft's estimate that ninety percent of Word users will never use more than 25 percent of the features of that program - a phenomenon no doubt equally true for WordPerfect users, any point-by-point comparison is needless anyway. What is needed, however, is the ability to maximize the effectiveness of those features we do use, especially the ones we use most often. That is where there is most opportunity to recover significant time that now is wasted and to exploit existing features and functionality, or add new ones, through so-called "plug-ins" or "add-ons," that will make a real difference in your word processor's capability.

Consider, too, that neither program is marketed, or intended to work, alone, but rather as a "suite" of programs-spreadsheet, database, graphics or desktop publishing, etc.-that are integrated into a software superstructure that has a uniform look and feel and provides the ability to "import" or "export" data or graphics from one program into another within the suite. This leverages the more sophisticated functionality of a spreadsheet program, like Excel or Quattro Pro for example, for use in the Word or WordPerfect word processing application instead of providing the user with something less than he or she wants and needs. Such "seamless integration" of applications within a suite, to use the jargon, makes the word processor more "robust" than it would be alone.

Native Functions

The first step in maximizing the performance of your word processor is to determine what kind of documents you spend most of your time creating and editing on your word processor. Then, look for ways to more effectively use the features and functions already available in the program-part of that seventy five to ninety percent that most of us are not using.

If you are like most users, you spend at least half of your time creating letters. That means you may well be typing many of the same addresses repeatedly, not to mention your own name, title and typical close.

If you draft many contracts, you also no doubt repeatedly use much of the same contract boilerplate paragraphs, just as litigators will tend to reuse tried and true pleading and motion boilerplate provisions. If you are an advanced user of your word processing program, then you likely already know how to use many of the advanced native features of your word processor like Abbreviation in WordPerfect and AutoText in Word to insert text, graphics and formatting in frequently used documents. These features also come in handy for creating an entire signature block-including a scanned signature graphic, if want to be able to fax a "signed" memo or letter from your PC.

Addresses can be inserted through WordPerfect's and Word's built-in address book. Word's version links to the Microsoft Exchange Personal Address Book in Windows 95 and the contact list in Schedule+, which is the scheduling and calendaring application in the MS Office suite.

Consider such features as Word's Legal Pleading Wizard, which uses a series of questions that most litigators, or their legal secretaries, will answer based on local court rules as to margins, line numbers, captions, etc., to create pleadings without the need to feed the printer numbered pleading paper or buy a separate piece of software. To open the Legal Pleading Wizard, go to File-New and click the tab labeled Other Documents.

Before deciding that Word cannot do what one or more functions you think will better automate your law practice, consult the Microsoft Office Legal Features Guide for Microsoft Word for Windows 95 -- a 39-page document that can be downloaded from the Microsoft Web page. This is the kind of documentation that lawyers will find much more helpful than the traditional user's guide because of its focus on practical features and functions within their native version of Word.

Macros and Templates

Another way to automate tasks in document creation and editing, including the ability to add boilerplate text, is with macros. A macro is a series of word processing commands that you can combine as a single command to make frequent tasks more convenient. Typically, once you have created a macro, you can assign it to a menu item, toolbar button or shortcut key to make it as easy to use as a built-in word processing command. Common uses include speeding up routine editing and formatting, making an option in a dialog box more accessible, combining multiple commands or automating a complex series of tasks.

In truth, macros are like customized software for your word processor that allows it seemingly to perform in completely new ways, sometimes with very sophisticated-looking screens and dialog boxes, among other features. They are a great way to enhance and add useful features to your word processor.

The most powerful and easiest form of macros to use is the template, which is a file that contains simple macros. Templates usually include a variety of features such as styles, formatting and page information, graphics, boilerplate text, as well as customized keyboard keys and other macros. Both Word and WordPerfect provide a number of stock templates, in several styles, for creating letters, memoranda, reports, resumes, newsletters, brochures, invoices and even timesheets. More advanced users create their own, though this requires some programming in the macro languages of the programs.

You do not need to learn to write your own macros. Good macros and templates-including many designed with lawyers in mind -- abound. Chances are that, if you have a need, someone else already has developed a macro to meet it. One place to start is with the vendor. Many free macros and templates, as well as add-ons and plug-ins, are available for download from the Corel and Microsoft home pages on the World Wide Web.

A number of third party vendors that carry what effectively is the WordPerfect and Word seal of approval, which Corel calls "Solution Partners" and Microsoft calls "Solutions Providers," also offer useful macros to optimize your word processor. A list of the Corel Solution Partners that specialize in legal applications, as well as those who have developed more general macros and document templates, is available from Stellar Business OnLine at http://www.stellar.org/global/perfectfit/index.html.

One useful WordPerfect application that you will find there for California litigators, for example, is PepTech Corporation's California Lawyer's SpeedPack, which works as sort of a super pleading wizard for WordPerfect users-with details right down to creating hash marks to fill out the remaining unused lines on pleading paper ((818) 985-4067).

Another useful site on the Web for WordPerfect users is The Legal WordPerfect Page, created and maintained by "Richard C. Belthoff, Jr.-Attorney, Author, Programmer" at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/rbelthoff/. Belthoff has written about various WordPerfect tips and tricks in various legal computing magazines and offers several legal-specific macros for WordPerfect 5.1 and 6.x for DOS, as well as a legal timesheet creator for WordPerfect for Windows 6.x available for a fee through his Web page.

For Word users, Alki Software Corportion (1-800-669-9673; http://www.alki.com/alki.htm), specializes in macros and add-in products for Word.

The Cobb Group offers very useful information for both WordPerfect and Word users. Their online monthly journals of tips and techniques for both Word and WordPerfect users offers a variety of macros and templates (http://www.cobb.com/cw7/index.htm). An example from "Inside Corel WorPerfect Suite 7" is a macro that lets you choose a template from a dialog box simply by clicking on a radio button. The Cobb Group Web site also provides access to the Corel Knowledge Base for WordPerfect support, which includes such articles as one that shows WordPerfect 7 users how to use their old templates from WPWin 6.1.

KnowHow on the Web (http://www.knowhow.com/default.htm) also provides a file library containing a number of useful templates and macros for lawyers using either Word or WordPerfect. They also offer training in Word and WordPerfect for the law office.

Add-Ons, Add-Ins, Plug-Ins, . . .

Both Word and WordPerfect users should take a look at the Word Info Web site (http://www.wordinfo.com/links/ailist.htm) maintained by Alki Software for links to vendors who offer a number of useful add-ins for both programs, such as the California Judicial Council and federal court forms (available in both Word and WordPerfect formats). Another helpful add-in for both Word and WordPerfect that you will find listed is WinDraft, which its developer, Eidelman Associates ((313) 769-1500) describes as "an 'electronic form book' that has the ability to 'think like a lawyer'" through a data entry screen that asks you all of the legal and factual questions needed to draft one or more client documents.

Increasingly important, as word processors move towards using the HTML (Web page) document standard, will be such plug-ins as Microsoft's Internet Assistant (available for free download from http://www.microsoft.com/) which integrates right into Word to allow it to function as a Web page creating and editing application using standard Word toolbars and buttons. It can also be used as a Web browser to view HTML documents, though it does not have the same functionality as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.