An Improved Experience for Every User in PerfectIt 6

By Daniel Heuman

The biggest news in PerfectIt 6 (at least for style manual geeks like us) is the launch of the Microsoft Writing Style Guide in PerfectIt together with the update for The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition. We have an entirely separate article about the improvements to PerfectIt styles here. But that’s just the beginning! There’s so much more packed into this new release! We’ve worked hard to add something for everyone.

That includes: 

• Design overhaul.

• Improvements for Mac users.

• Improvements in PerfectIt for PowerPoint.

• New checks of list formatting (Elite, Team and Enterprise editions).

Refined design 

It has been three years since PerfectIt 5. Since then, we’ve updated our logo, started work on PerfectIt.com, introduced PerfectIt for PowerPoint, and launched Draftsmith. It’s time for a new look. 

I know what you’re thinking! You care about more substantive changes to functionality than tweaks to logo design. That’s totally understandable. However, it’s important to say that PerfectIt 5 still used the same launch icon as PerfectIt 1. It makes no visual sense in relation to anything else on the screen! With PerfectIt 6, everything is more cohesive.

Significant improvements for Mac users 

From November, we’re introducing substantial improvements for PerfectIt Cloud (our version for Mac users). The update includes: 

• Improvements for timeouts with large documents. 

• Updated styles. 

• Branding and other design updates. 

Many PerfectIt Cloud users will find that this update fixes some of the most challenging issues they’ve encountered. In particular, we’ve listened to all of the frustrations around timeouts and we’ve worked to improve things. However, it’s important to say that this won’t solve things for everyone. Long documents are much less likely to time out with the latest update. However, they will still take a long time to check.  

We made a promise that we will continue to offer our 2018 pricing for PerfectIt Cloud “until we build in customization capabilities and make functionality with large documents better than it is today”. Although use will be a lot better from November, we don’t think it’s good enough yet. Moreover, we’re still working to add customizable house styles for Mac users. As a result, our discounted Cloud-only pricing remains in place for Mac users.  

Improvements in PerfectIt for PowerPoint 

PerfectIt for PowerPoint was formally released in April 2024. After just six months, we’re excited to announce our first new features. Based on user feedback, we’ve added checks for list punctuation and capitalization, as well as numbers in sentences. 

List punctuation and capitalization 

Bullets are one of the most frequently used features to summarize key talking points. However, as slides come together (typically under time pressure), spotting punctuation at the end of some items but not others is time consuming. With this new feature, you can spend less time on mechanical checking and more on ensuring the message is communicated. 

Numbers in sentences 

Just like PerfectIt for Word, PerfectIt for PowerPoint can now check for numbers in the middle of sentences. Inconsistent use of numbers in the middle of sentences can make slides look slapdash. With PerfectIt’s new check, it’s easier to make consistent and professional slide decks. 

New checks for list formatting  

We’ve added a new check to PerfectIt for Word (Windows), exclusively for our Elite, Team and Enterprise users. Now PerfectIt can look for lists that have manual numbers or bullets instead of the automated kind. 

Manual formatting usually appears when lists are pasted in as values. The problem with manual formatting is that it’s hard to edit and work with. If you work in publishing, it can cause problems because the style isn’t right. If you work in law, it can cause problems when you add a line and the rest don’t update properly. All it takes is one item to be entered manually, and all of the numbering in the entire document can be off. Whether it’s the result of importing a PDF, pasting text only, or just a mistake, the result can make the document very difficult to work with.  

To make things even worse, manually created lists are often hard to spot. Authors often work hard to make them look like the other lists! The result is that a mistake can creep in and make documents difficult to work with. 

PerfectIt’s new check looks for accidental use of manual formatting. Where it finds it, it prompts you to replace it with Word’s automated formats. It’s fast, simple, and solves this longstanding pain point for our users. 

Get the download 

If you’re a PerfectIt subscriber, you can get the latest update for free. 

• Windows users: Click for Click for instructions. 

• Mac users: All styles improvements and other updates will be available automatically from November 2024 onwards. Just run PerfectIt Cloud as normal and you’ll get the changes as soon as they go live. 

Have you read about our styles improvements yet? 

There are so many improvements in PerfectIt 6 that we’ve put everything related to style improvements in a separate article. You can read all about our partnerships with the Microsoft Writing Style Guide, The Chicago Manual of Style, and our other style updates here.