Chances are that you have never heard of the word processor TextMaker. While I’ve come across the name a few times, I never paid attention to it until recently. It is now in the race to become my word processor of choice. I am incredibly excited about it.

First, some background. The software was first introduced way back in 1987 by a German company named SoftMaker. Over the years, the software has been continuously developed and upgraded, and it is now integrated into SoftMaker Office 2008, which also includes spreadsheet and presentation components.

To confuse matters, the company works with resellers, who can offer the software under their own brands. I actually first came across the software packaged as Ashampoo Office 2008. Currently, Ashampoo, which is a very aggressive reseller, is offering the office suite at a deep discount, if you know where to look for it: $29.95, rather than its usual price of $59.95. [SoftMaker, of course, offers it too, at $79.95, but with an additional component which will appeal to software techies.] I’m rushing this post onto the blog in hopes that you can catch the discount [details at the end of the post] before it is discontinued.

Why am I so excited about this word processor? First, it has developed a reputation in Europe as the product most compatible with Microsoft Word. In fact, at installation, one can associate one’s .doc, .rtf and .txt files with TextMaker: click on a .doc file and it will open within TextMaker. Microsoft Word, even if on your computer, can just quietly sink into the background. I have found numerous comments by users who report absolutely no problems with opening and saving .doc files, even very complex ones. In addition, it handles OpenOffice files equally well.

More important is the very clean interface. Anyone familiar with Microsoft Word will feel immediately at home. But to my eyes, the interface is much less cluttered. As with Word, one can set the page view in several different ways. I like it best with text running from side to side, yielding larger-than-life type size that’s very easy to read.

Most important, of course, are the capabilities of TextMaker.

Word Handling

TextMaker apparently is known in Germany for its particularly capable spell checker, which can be set up to handle any one of the major Western languages. It can alert you with a beep whenever you misspell something — or you can ask instead for red underlining of misspelled words. The program automatically hyphenates words at the end of lines. [I’m not sure one can switch this off. I haven’t yet found a way to do that.] You can instruct the program to automatically capitalize the first letter of every sentence. It can also be set to catch and correct those occasional DOuble capital letters that sometimes occur when typing quickly. Built in is a capable thesaurus — and even a language translator. Particularly useful for my work is the drop-down box with special characters, making it easy to insert foreign language accent marks.

Templates and Design

It’s easy to set up document templates. Particularly useful is a “first-page” template, which will format the first page of a letter, say with your logo at the top and address at the bottom, or perhaps the first page of a book chapter, with following pages in standard format. The software includes a “Word Art” capability, a feature I used to enjoy in Microsoft Publisher some years back. One can also create rather elaborate document designs — for newsletters, for example. I’ve read that even drop-down initial paragraph caps are possible. And, VERY IMPORTANT, the design can be locked into place by saving the document as a PDF file! This is an important capability that writers are beginning to discover. This capability is available in Microsoft Word 2007, but here is available in a more Word 2003-type environment.

Bullets, Tables and Object-Handling

Like any full-fledged word processor, bullets and numbered lists are a snap. Tables can be composed within the software — or imported from the Office Suite spreadsheet. According to other user evaluations I’ve read at DonationCoder, the program also handles embedded graphics and photographs in a manner far-superior to Word. Anyone who has tried inserting numerous photographs into a Word documents knows how dicey the formatting can be. Users report that TextMaker handles dozens and dozens of inserted photos and graphics with no problems whatsoever.

Other features

TextMaker can track document revisions and insert non-printable comments. It handles footnotes [but not endnotes, apparently -- a flaw for me] and builds bibliographies. It will construct a Table of Contents and Index. It offers an outline function, which some software junkes at the DonationCoder forum suggest is more stable than the outliner in Word. My own experience with Word’s outline function when building a major book draft frightened me away from ever using that capability in Word again. An internal database will keep track of an address book to facilitate mailings lists — and it has a special capability to type addresses on envelops.

And, as a final significant feature, the entire office suite installs on a USB memory stick. That means you can easily carry it with you, and you can plug it in to any PC with a USB port, all without fear of leaving behind any traces of your work or presence on the host computer. You will find USB installation instructions rather hidden away in the SoftMaker support area under Tips and Tricks. These instructions suggest that the outlined USB routine will keep your desktop version completely synced up with your USB version, though I’ll want to test this out. If that’s true, this software is a true winner for me. [By the way, I'll be writing several upcoming posts about the usefulness of the USB option. Stay tuned.]

And, by the way, at the SoftMaker site, one can obtain software versions for Linus, Pocket PC’s and Windows CE.

WOW!!! Perhaps now you will understand my excitement, especially with its discounted price and seamless compatibility with Word.

While the best price will be found via Ashampoo, that reseller offers no documentation at all. To learn more about the software, to read a full product brochure, to download a user’s manual, go to the SoftMaker website. [SoftMaker does offer especial academic pricing -- so students and professors may prefer to purchase the product direct from the developer.] Writers who are really serious about this software may choose to buy it direct from the developer, even without a discount. That will provide access to periodic product updates — in fact, there’s already an update “service pack” available. I’m considering this option myself. By the way, SoftMaker offers a 30-day trial version [though exporting doc and rtf files can only be done during the first seven days]. The developer also maintains an email newsletter, which may send out occasional alerts to price discounts, as well as an active online forum where one can ask questions and do trouble-shooting.

To find the special discount at Ashampoo, go to the homepage and click on the “Service Letter” tab. Scroll down the list to find the Ashampoo Office 2003 discount announcement. I’m not sure just how long the discount will be available. I found the download link from the announcement to be problematic. If you have trouble with a corrupted download file, just download it from the software’s own product page.

I did notice one peculiarity during installation. I was not asked about adding an icon to the desktop — and none appeared there. I had to launch the program from the Ashampoo folder under PROGRAMS.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the RSS feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.