Introduction to PerfectIt 5

Use PerfectIt 5 to save time and improve the quality of your editing

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If you’re an editor, writer, or proofreader working in Microsoft Word, you can save time while improving the quality of your work using PerfectIt!

How to use PerfectIt in your work

  • Do you work with clients who have different style requirements? PerfectIt makes it easy to swap between styles.
  • Do your clients often want to make last-minute changes to the text, affecting things such as your carefully edited abbreviations? With PerfectIt, you can quickly re-check that terms are given in full at first use and then abbreviated.
  • Does your work involve fiddly formatting, such as putting nonbreaking spaces in numbers and units or dates? PerfectIt can do that type of formatting at one fell swoop, leaving you to focus on other aspects of the job.

“But I’m too busy to master PerfectIt!”

You may be wondering whether it’s worthwhile learning how to use PerfectIt. Perhaps your manual processes have served you well up till now.

That’s the benefit of this course – I’ve done all the hard work to get to grips with the full extent of PerfectIt’s capabilities. My how-to video tutorials give you a shortcut to learning the software, giving you the chance to try PerfectIt and understand what it can do. The course will get you up to speed quickly and using PerfectIt in your work straight away.

You can take this course using the trial version of PerfectIt. And if you decide to buy the program, the course comes with a discount for 15% off the price of a subscription to PerfectIt (PerfectIt 5 and PerfectIt Cloud).

To see PerfectIt in action, just scroll down to preview Module 2 – you can even try taking the accompanying quiz!

Course Curriculum


  Introduction
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  Module 1 – Getting started
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  Module 2 – PerfectIt in action
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  Module 3 – Running PerfectIt on a test document
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  Module 4 – Using the style sheets and choosing tests
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  Module 5 – Amending a style sheet
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  Module 6 – Using the amended style sheet
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  Module 7 – Exploring other features
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  Module 8 – Chicago Manual of Style
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Your Instructor


Hilary Cadman
Hilary Cadman

Hi, I'm Hilary. I have been a technical editor since 1999, and a trainer since 2005. I first started using PerfectIt in 2009. Over the years since then, I've created and updated my PerfectIt courses to make it easy for other people to make the best use of this tool.


Frequently Asked Questions


When does the course start and finish?
The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish.
How long do I have access to the course?
How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.
What if I am unhappy with the course?
We would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 30 days and we will give you a full refund.
Is this course useful for PerfectIt Cloud?
No, this course applies to PerfectIt 5, not to PerfectIt Cloud (which has less functionality than PerfectIt 5, but is currently the only version available for Macs, unless you are a Mac user running Parallels or equivalent).
How long does it take to complete this course?
It should take about 60–90 minutes to work through the 9 modules.
Can I dip in and out of the modules, or do I need to work through them in order?
It is best to start at Module 1 and work through to Module 9, because each module builds on the previous one.

Get started now!