Category Archives: PERRLA for Word (Windows)

A sneak peek at the new PERRLA for Word

We love the traditional PERRLA for Word software. It’s been a tried and true companion that has helped hundreds of thousands of students tackle millions of papers and achieve their dreams.

But after working hard for the past twenty years, it’s ready to transition to the easy life up-state. We’re working on a completely new version of PERRLA for Word that will carry PERRLA for the next twenty years.

We’re rebuilding it to take advantage of the latest updates from Microsoft Word and modern coding standards. While that may seem like tech mumbo-jumbo, it means that the new PERRLA for Word can solve a number of pain points for students using the existing version. And – provide us a platform to build on for years to come.

Let’s break this down a little into just a few of the basic improvements we’re going to be able to make:

  1. PERRLA for Word will be the same on Windows and Mac computers! No longer will the Mac and Windows versions look and behave differently. They’ll look and work the exact same way no matter what computer you’re using.
  2. PERRLA for Word will have its own tab in Word. Yup – no more living in the “Add-Ins” tab or running side-by-side with Word. We now have our own tab, buttons, dropdowns, and menus. It’s like we’re growing up and moving out of Word’s proverbial basement.
  3. Modern screens, forms, & windows. Our current Windows and Mac applications face a number of restraints when it comes to how we display PERRLA with/alongside Word. The latest version will have it’s very own panel inside Word that is scalable and re-sizeable for every screen size! So no matter how long your reference is or how large you want your text, we can adjust to fit your screen (even in dual monitor setups!).
  4. An updated Reference Library. We’re bringing the best of PERRLA Online’s Reference Library to PERRLA for Word. We’ve even streamlined it to make adding references is faster. It will also let you your own references and still keep everything in the right order!
  5. Easier to navigate and use. Since we have our very own tab, we can make it easy to find everything you need in one place (without hiding it in dropdowns or various tabs). You can also use the menu in the PERRLA panel to navigate as well – just like any modern website or app!

OK – this is really just the tip of the iceberg for things that the new PERRLA for Word is going to be able to do. But we don’t want to spill the beans on all of it just yet.

We will update you each month as we make progress. So, check back and see what other improved features will be heading your way soon! And if you have any feedback on what you’ve seen so far – let us know! We love feedback and want to know what you think about our latest improvements.

Thanks for using PERRLA and good writing!

MLA 8 & Discussion Posts on Windows

Over the summer we’ve been working to make sure that we had wrapped up MLA 8 for all of our users AND brought Discussion Posts (one of the most popular Mac features) to Windows.  Here’s a quick look at how each of them works in the new update.

MLA 8

If you’ve never written an MLA paper before, you will be automatically upgraded to MLA 8.  That’s all there is to it. 🌴🌴🌴

If you have written an MLA 7 paper before, then you will be prompted to upgrade to MLA 8 when you start the updated software for the first time.   If you choose to not upgrade then, you can always go to  the Settings Tab and change your version of MLA to MLA 8.  You’ll find the MLA setting in the bottom left of  the screen.

Settings Tab Image
You can change your preferred MLA format in the bottom left of the Settings tab.

As a note, due to technical restrictions, we do not recommend re-using MLA 7 References in new MLA 8 Papers.  Just like before, any of your APA or MLA 7 References will start with *** when viewing them in an MLA 8 Paper.

Non-Compliant References in PERRLA List Image
When adding an existing Reference to your papers, non-compliant References have *** before them in your Reference list.

Discussion Posts

PERRLA for Word Welcome Screen Image
Update buttons on the PERRLA startup screen

Traditional Research Papers include a Title Page, a page or pages for the body of the paper, and a separate page for References.  Discussion Posts only include the body of your paper and the References on a single page.   PERRLA still works just like it always has, but your paper will be formatted in a way that makes it easy to copy and paste your paper into your school’s online Discussion Forum.

We’ve updated the buttons that appear on the PERRLA start screen so that you can easily create either a Research Paper or Discussion Post for APA or MLA.  In the process, we removed the buttons for Start a New APA 5th Edition Paper and Open an Existing PERRLA Paper.  APA 5 isn’t being used by schools anymore, so we phased it out.  You can still access all of your Existing PERRLA Papers by going to the My PERRLA Papers tab at the top. 

When you start a new Discussion Post, because there isn’t a Title Page, you will only be asked for the Title of the Paper.  This is so we can give your document the correct name when we save it to your computer.

Discussion Post Start Screen Image
Discussion Post Start Screen

Now, creating perfectly formatted Discussion Posts for your class will be easier than ever!

Image of MLA Discussion Post
Example of an MLA 8 Discussion Post in PERRLA for Word (Windows).

PERRLA for APA/MLA & Word 2016 for Mac: Update

It’s been a few weeks since we let everyone know that we’re working on a new version of PERRLA for APA/MLA for Macs.  Since then, we have been working on making sure that this new update will be the easiest solution for writing APA papers.  That means that we’ve spent lots of time sketching new user interfaces, mapping out how students will use it, and brainstorming the most effective ways to wrangle even the toughest APA or MLA standards.

As we mentioned in some of our previous posts, we can no longer run inside of Microsoft Word 2016 for Mac as an Add-In (running in the Microsoft toolbars).  Instead, we are creating a more robust paper writing stand alone application that will give you greater control for creating, managing, and writing APA and MLA papers.

One of the aspects of this that gets us really excited is the ability to create a custom environment for you to work with all of your References, Headings, Citations, etc.  Now that we aren’t stuck with Microsoft’s strict UI standards, we can explore some powerful new interfaces that will make PERRLA easier and more powerful.  We’re still in the early phases of this, but we are working on an adaptive interface that gives you the tools you need, right when you need them.

That may sound incredibly cryptic, but we are already working on something more concrete for our next development update.  We’re already excited about what’s coming, and we think it’s going to be the best version of PERRLA for APA/MLA yet!