SoftMaker Office 2008 was designed to be an office application suite that is intented to replace the Mocrosoft Office suite.

SoftMaker Office 2008 for Windows contains:
· Word processor: TextMaker 2008
· Spreadsheet: PlanMaker 2008
· Presentation graphics: SoftMaker Presentations 2008
· BASIC macros: BasicMaker 2008

SoftMaker Office 2008 adds two new programs and brings many important improvements to TextMaker and PlanMaker. What we have kept is the reliability, blazing speed, and userfriendliness that SoftMaker Office is known for. SoftMaker Office 2008: Get Results Fast.

TextMaker 2008, the word processor in SoftMaker Office 2008, has been significantly overhauled. It has many new functions – large and small feature additions that make working with TextMaker easier and more effective.

Here are some key features of "TextMaker 2008":

· Export documents to PDF format
· Perfect data exchange in SoftMaker Office ... and with other applications!
· Improved master pages
· Printer-independent line breaks and page breaks
· Reading and writing of Microsoft Word files improved yet again
· Managing stylesheets made easy
· Envelopes
· You can write BASIC macros for TextMaker with the included BasicMaker (a VBA-compatible programming language) or with any other programming language that supports OLE Automation. Learn more
· The new "Document Stats" toolbar tells you, at a glance, the number of words, characters, sentences, pages etc. in your document.
· The new print preview feature lets you control on the screen how your document will be printed.
· The new command View > Full screen hides all unnecessary parts of TextMaker's screen so that it can show you as much of possible of your document.
· You can now print multiple pages (2, 4, 6, 8, 16) on one. This saves paper and lets you create booklets with minimal effort.
· RTF and OpenDocument can be set as your default file format – making it easy for you to always work with your preferred file format.
· TextMaker now recognizes transparency information in pictures (PNG files: alpha channel).
· TextMaker can wrap text in irregular form around pictures, recognizing the transparent parts of images.
· In outline view, there are many new keyboard shortcuts for moving and arranging paragraphs.
· The keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+PgUp and Ctrl+PgDn let you quickly jump back and forth between occurrences of a search string.
· Shift+F3 lets you rotate between uppercase and lowercase variants of a word: test, Test, TEST
· The Page setup dialog has been updated and now supports page borders and page shading.
· The red bar that shows text overflow in text frames can now be turned off optionally.
· If you let the mouse pointer hover over a footnote in your document, a small window shows you the content of the footnote – without you having to open the footnote.
· Menus and dialogs are now available in 14 languages: Englisch (US), English (UK), Spanish, Portuguese, French, NEW: Italian, German, NEW: Dutch, NEW: Bulgarian, Russian, Hungarian, Turkish, Chinese (Simplified), and Japanese


PlanMaker 2008, the spreadsheet software in SoftMaker Office 2008, has been updated as well. It comes with significant new functions that prove useful in your everyday work.

Here are some key features of "PlanMaker 2008":

· Export documents to PDF format
· Perfect data exchange in SoftMaker Office ... and with other applications!
· BASIC macros with PlanMaker
· The improved Print dialog now allows quick selection of which sheets of a document to print.
· The new command View > Full screen hides all unnecessary parts of PlanMaker's screen so that it can show you as much of possible of your document.
· When you insert or edit formulas, PlanMaker optionally shows small tooltips detailing the syntax of the functions you use.
· You can now print multiple pages (2, 4, 6, 8, 16) on one. This saves paper and lets you create booklets with minimal effort.
· PlanMaker now recognizes transparency information in pictures (PNG files: alpha channel).
· Shift+F3 lets you rotate between uppercase and lowercase variants of a word: test, Test, TEST
· Menus and dialogs are now available in 14 languages: Englisch (US), English (UK), Spanish, Portuguese, French, NEW: Italian, German, NEW: Dutch, NEW: Bulgarian, Russian, Hungarian, Turkish, Chinese (Simplified), and Japanese


SoftMaker Presentations 2008 is the brand-new presentation graphics program in SoftMaker Office 2008 – fully compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint, yet easier to use and much less expensive.

Here are some key features of "SoftMaker Presentations 2008":

· Comes with numerous design templates.
· Color schemes switch colors with the flick of a key.
· Put your presentation in motion: Animations and transitions
· Sort, arrange, structure
· Your competent partner for presentations


BasicMaker 2008 is a scripting language and environment that lets you automate recurring tasks in TextMaker 2008 and PlanMaker 2008 through the use of macros.

BasicMaker is compatible with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). It allows you to write small scripts or programs that execute commands in TextMaker and PlanMaker. If you have repetitive tasks in SoftMaker Office that you wish to automate, BasicMaker is the right tool.

Syntaxwise, BasicMaker is modeled after Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), and its OLE Automation object model is a subset of Microsoft Office's. If you already have experience in macro writing with Microsoft Office, you'll be up to speed with SoftMaker Office macros in no time at all.

Limitations:

· This trial version lets you evaluate SoftMaker Office for 30 days. Export to Word, RTF, and Excel formats is available during the first seven days.
· Nag Screen