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Notes
¤ The following assumes you are using a retail
(Corel boxed or Corel download) version of WordPerfect from Corel or
other legitimate vendor (e.g., directly from Amazon.com's shipping
center), or a
version that came pre-installed on your computer, and not a version you
might have bought from a relatively unknown deep-discount site. Such products often turn out to be OEM
versions that were installed on, and tailored to, specific computer brands.
[Update Dec 2013: Sometimes WordPerfect fails to start because it is a downloaded trial version and the time limit has simply expired. Further, using a serial number from another version -- say, an OEM version purchased from some "discount price" sites -- does not activate a trial version.]
¤ Also, some downloaded trial versions from
Corel (i.e., versions prior to WPX6) or some pre-installed OEM versions bundled
with your
computer might not have all the features that full retail versions
contain. Hence your problem might not be due to bad program files but
to the unexpected absence of a feature or function that you believe should exist.
1. The
main WordPerfect program
[Option A] Some
problems, "bugs," or minor
annoyances are usually fixed by Corel and included in a Service
Pack (an "SP" or "patch") for specific versions of the program.
Updating WordPerfect
is an often
neglected procedure (even though it generally is easy to do) on the
theory that "if it ain't broke don't fix it." This is your choice, of
course, but this author has rarely seen a problem with a Service Pack,
and when one surfaces it is fixed almost immediately.
• Your version might have an option to check for updates on the Help menu.
- or -
• See the Corel WordPerfect site
under the Support (tab), download Patches & Updates for the current
and most recent 2 (or 3) versions. (Some people prefer to download and
save the patches so they can install them at a later time.)
See also "Updating, upgrading, or reinstalling WordPerfect" here for related topics.
[Option B] What about
trying to repair or reinstall
the program (or your WordPerfect program's settings in the Windows Profile)?
Note
that the accuracy of this information cannot be guaranteed. Microsoft
and Corel can change the program repair methods at any time, so you
might want to seek additional advice. These methods are merely the
author's preferences.
Always make a backup of important programs and files first
Tips:
☼ You can try creating a new Windows User Account, which creates a new User Profile, which is basically
a section of the Windows registry on your computer — a database of
user-specific settings — along with a set of folders that are stored
in a per-user directory on your disk. You can then log in as that new user
to see if the problem goes away. See here for more.
☼ You might first try starting Windows in Safe Mode. [Windows 10 is a little different: see (e.g.) PCWorld's "How to boot into Windows 10's Safe Mode" here or search other sites.] This is a mode in which Windows loads only the bare minimum services
and applications to start up. This will ensure that no other
application or service is running (i.e., resident in RAM memory) that
may be interfering with WordPerfect. (If the problem disappears you
will need to track down the program that is interfering with
WordPerfect.)
Repairing WordPerfect
Important: Like a program un-install, a program repair does not fix, remove, or replace any WordPerfect user files (i.e., your documents, a customized default template, etc.) that might be damaged. For those items see Repairing WordPerfect documents and templates.
• For WordPerfect 10 and later versions (c. 2001-present):
The easiest way is to use the Windows
Control Panel to repair the program (the same module you can use to
uninstall a program). This gives you access to WordPerfect's setup
program with a Repair option.
In modern versions of Windows — such as Windows 10 — you can use the Control Panel to choose Programs, then Programs and Features. (Or just use the Windows Search field to find the Programs and Features module.) Right-click on the name of the program in the list (e.g., WordPerfect 8) and click Uninstall/Change. This loads the WordPerfect setup module ("Modify, Repair, or Remove"). Choose Repair.
In earlier versions of Windows you can use the Microsoft Installer (.msi),
typically through the Windows Control Panel's Add or Remove
Programs applet in Windows XP (in Vista/Windows7 you can use
Start, Control Panel, Programs, Uninstall a program; choose the
WordPerfect program and click Uninstall/Change; then choose Repair).
You can also right-click the appropriate .MSI file and choosing Repair.
Alternatively: Insert your program's installation CD and when the new installation screen
appears, you should be given three choices, variously named Typical
installation, Repair, and Custom installation. Choose Repair.
• For WordPerfect
7,8, and 9 (c. 1996-2000):
For these earlier WordPerfect versions you can use PFREG,
"...a Corel utility that can be used to unregister and register
PerfectFit components in the Windows registry. Running it can solve a
variety of problems and is a common troubleshooting recommendation."
Uninstalling
and
reinstalling WordPerfect is considered to be "the solution of last
resort":
An uninstall operation does not automatically remove files which
you
have modified — and this includes the default
template file. If that file is corrupted the re-installed program
will still use the corrupted file. So, you should relocate or rename the
default template file before uninstalling the program.
Before
beginning
an uninstall, see the tips here
about backing up your customizations so you can migrate them to the
reinstalled program. Then, if you wish to completely remove all traces
of the program go to the Corel support website at http://corel.force.com/index/
and search under WordPerfect Office for "uninstall," "manually
remove," or other similar term.
For example, you should be able to find a page on manually
(and completely) uninstalling WordPerfect by searching for "4352" (for
WPX4), "4657" (for WPX5), "13709" (for WPX6) or just "How to remove
WordPerfect." The procedures there are more thorough than using
the
Control Panel to uninstall the program (which in most cases is
sufficient).
[Option C] If
WordPerfect won't open or
displays a document in a strange way, try this tip from
Charles Rossiter (Corel C_Tech):
"You need to have
set up [in Windows] a default printer. Actually you can install any
printer, even if you do not have the physical printer. Basically, the
printer driver defines the interface between WPWin and the printer.
With no printer installed, WPWin does not know how to format the
document for printing, and so it also does not know how to display the
document."
[Option D] Restore
factory defaults.
If you have tried the various options above and they did not work for you:
From Corel's article "How do I restore WordPerfect to its factory defaults":
"... In some cases,
Wordperfect's default installation may become corrupt or damaged
preventing the application from launching, or working properly [or possibly to minimize, maximize, or close it]. This
document will restore factory defaults by renaming
Wordperfect's configuration files...."
[See Footnote 1 [below] for the full text (current as of April 2016).]
This procedure
simply renames the relevant Windows Registry
key (in case it or any sub-key is corrupt), as well as the Windows
profile (Corel) subfolder. Both things are easy to do, and renaming these items means they can easily be restored if desired.
When
you have done these things, WordPerfect will create factory fresh
versions of them when next it loads. Hence, this is a "fix" for corrupt
program "environment" and user configuration ("profile") settings.
[Note
that
several other important files will be automatically recreated (thus,
restored to factory their defaults) if you
manually rename or delete them in separate operations, such as the default
template or QuickWords template. (Renaming is the preferred option.) But this is often done as a remedy for a corrupt WordPerfect
default or QuickWords template, which is not the same as fixing a corrupt Windows
profile -- which is a database of user
folders, files, and some other user settings.]
It cannot be emphasized too strongly that you should rename the
items described in the above Corel article, since deleting the profile
will delete any customized user files in it -- such as the default
template, which contains toolbars, keyboard definitions, menus, etc.
By renaming these items you can often restore customizations
from the renamed items. This is discussed here. At a later time you can remove the old renamed items if you wish.
2.
QuickCorrect
See the QuickCorrect
FAQ on the WordPerfect
Universe FAQ Forum. The FAQ also explains how to backup,
transfer (to another system or newer version of WordPerfect), and print
this useful file.
3.
QuickWords
While QuickCorrect
entries are stored in a special program file (the user word list, a
.uwl file), QuickWords
are stored in their
own template file (.wpt). The template is located in the same folder as
the WordPerfect default template, as shown in Tools, Settings, Files,
Template.
To manage (backup,
migrate, salvage/repair, etc.) your QuickWords, see here.
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Barry
MacDonnell's
Repairing
'bad' or damaged WordPerfect
program files