I have been using Corel Wordperfect suite 7 and found it an excellent program. When I tried the new Claris Works 5.0 I was very pleasantly surprised at the advantages this program has over the previous programs I have used.

All the features of the program were integrated with each other. I did not have to go from one icon to another to use different parts of the program. I was able to move from word processing to spreadsheet to painting to database effortlessly. All the various parts integrated exceptionally well. Another great feature was the ability to cut, copy and paste letters and spreadsheets in Claris from other programs such as Corel WordPerfect, Quatro Pro and Microsoft works. This I believe is a great feature.

I found the manual exceptionally easy to use. That was a great surprise as most of the manuals I have received with my software programs were written for engineers, not us common folk. I was able to work in all the features in the program by using the step by step illustrations in each section of the manual and the help menu.

I am using this at home but it would be a great program to use for a small business. With the templates built into the program you can design your own personal stationery, spreadsheet, enhancements to sales letters and sales brochures. Form letters can be designed and saved and sent out to clients using the mail merge program It has a data base program that can be used to keep lists of various clients or customers so as to be able to do mailings on specific interests that they may have. At home it can be used as list of friends that can be separated for mailings of Christmas cards, Jewish New Year cards, etc. You can copy spreadsheets into letters, to help illustrate financial information. Another great feature is the ability to go directly to the Internet from the program.

I would highly recommend this program to anyone but especially to anyone that has a home business they are running. It is easy to use fully integrated program features that can be learned by anyone no matter what their level of computer skills.

Claris Corporation is located at 5201 Patrick Henry Drive, Box 58168,Santa Clara, CA 95052-8168. Customer assistance number 1-800-325-2747 and hold for specialist. The software is available AT COMP USA for a street price of $75.  ClarisWorks has been re-branded as Apple Works; you can get to it throught the Claris home page or directly through the Apple home page. Claris Corporation has been re-named FileMaker Corporation; it remains a subsidiary of Apple. This review was done using the Claris works wordprocessor.