WordPerfect (WP) is a word processing application, now owned by Alludo,[3] with a long history on multiple personal computer platforms.

Corel (since rebranded as Alludo) has made regular releases to the product since then, often in the form of office suites under the WordPerfect name that include the Quattro Pro spreadsheet, the Presentations slides formatter, and other applications.

[7] In 1979, Brigham Young University graduate student Bruce Bastian and computer science professor Alan Ashton[8] created word processing software for a Data General minicomputer system owned by the city of Orem, Utah.

This version could read and write WordPerfect 6 files, included several third-party screen and printing applications (previously sold separately), and provided several minor improvements.

WordPerfect Corporation acquired Reference Software International, makers of Grammatik, a highly popular grammar checker for DOS, in January 1993 for $19 million.

Styles are a preset arrangement of settings having to do with things like fonts, spacings, tab stops, margins and other items having to do with text layout.

Macros could examine system data, make decisions, be chained together, and operate recursively until a defined "stop" condition occurred.

Despite the term "macro", the language has hundreds of commands and functions and in fact creates full-fledged programs resident on and executed on the user's computer.

[citation needed] On top of the functions available in the main components of the office suite, PerfectScript also provides the user with tools to build dialogs and forms.

Widgets like buttons, input fields, drop-down lists and labels are easily combined to build user-friendly interfaces for custom office applications.

Macros may be used to create data-entry programs which enter information directly into WordPerfect documents, saving the time and effort required to retype it.

The extensive number of key combinations are now one of WP's most popular features among its regular "power users" such as legal secretaries, paralegals and attorneys.

In 1990, WordPerfect Corporation also offered LetterPerfect, which was a reduced-functionality version of WP-DOS 5.1 intended for use on less-capable hardware such as the laptops of the day, and as an entry-level product for students and home users; the name (but not the code) was purchased from a small Missouri company that had produced one of the first word processors for the Atari 8-bit computers.

This was important to some Windows 95 software purchasers as Microsoft set standards for application design, behavior, and interaction with the operating system.

To make matters worse, the original release of WordPerfect 7 was incompatible with Windows NT, hindering its adoption in many professional environments.

Among the remaining avid users of WordPerfect were many law firms and government offices,[3] which favored WordPerfect features such as macros, reveal codes, and the ability to access a large range of formatting options such as left-right block indent directly with key combinations rather than having to click through several layers of submenus as Microsoft Word often requires.

Fast typists appreciated the ability to keep their hands on the keyboard, rather than reaching for the mouse as often as would be required if they were using Microsoft Word.

Version X3 was described by CNET in January 2006 as a "winner", "a feature-packed productivity suite that's just as easy to use — and in many ways more innovative than — industry-goliath Microsoft Office 2003."

The review noted that WordPerfect still had a significant presence in the legal domain, "where it's the only app that offers both advanced legal-formatting features and a document management system that doesn't rely on Microsoft's networking software."

[77] In July 2022, Tavis Ormandy ported "WordPerfect for Unix" 7, to modern Linux distributions, as a fully functional deb package.

Version 3 took this further, making extensive use of the technologies Apple introduced in Systems 7.0–7.5, while remaining fast and capable of running well on older machines.

As of 2004[update], Corel has reiterated that the company has no plans to further develop WordPerfect for Macintosh (such as creating a native Mac OS X version).

Users wishing to use a current release of WordPerfect can run the Windows version through Boot Camp or virtualization software, and through Darwine or CrossOver Mac with mixed results.

[12] In 1988 WordPerfect threatened to abandon the Atari market after copies of the word processor were found on several pirate bulletin board systems.

[95] In 1989, WordPerfect Corporation stopped all Amiga development, including work on a version of PlanPerfect, stating that it had lost $800,000 on the computer and could not afford to add Amiga-specific features.

After customers stated that they would be satisfied with a DOS-like word processor the company resumed development of only the Amiga version of WordPerfect,[88] but discontinued it in 1992.

It cited WordPerfect's inclusion of mail merge, footnotes, and macros—all missing from WordStar—as well as "virtually every ... feature that one ought to expect from a higher-priced program" including find-and-replace, bold and underline display, and automatic paragraph reflow.

[106] Byte in December 1984 noted the application's built-in print buffer, ability to show bold, underline, and centered text, and extensive math capabilities.

It criticized the quality of the spell checker and difficult tab settings, but concluded that "its powerful capabilities far outweigh the problems mentioned".

[108] Noting the spell checker's size and the company's "excellent track record of supporting its software", Antic in May 1988 concluded that "If you want to own the most power-packed word processor available for the ST today, and can live with the relative complexity needed for harnessing this power, WordPerfect is what you've been waiting for.