SoftMaker Office NX and 2024
Revisions released so far
New revisions of SoftMaker Office NX and SoftMaker Office 2024 with improvements and corrections are released regularly. These are installed automatically in the form of service packs.
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- In PlanMaker, it is now possible to highlight the current row and column for better readability.
- New Duden Korrektor for German spell checking and grammar checking according to the latest spelling rules
- Save OpenDocument Text (ODT) files with password protection
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- ChatGPT now with 5 million characters
- Inserting documents with pictures improved
- Once again: Adaptation to Zotero 7
- Turn off automatic hyphenation more easily
- Improved export of CSV files
- Windows: No more annoying syspin warnings
- Linux: Improved installation of RPM files
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- Compatibility with Arch Linux and Manjaro restored
- New Duden Korrektor
- Freely scalable user interface
- Adaptation of the user interface to Windows 11
- Copy only the filtered data in PlanMaker
- Support for Zotero 7
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- Better picture scaling in Presentations
- Kindle-compatible EPUB export
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- PlanMaker’s dark mode now offers dark documents also.
- Create QR codes and barcodes dynamically
- A shortcut key for translations
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- New SmartChat function for text review
- Longer texts with SmartChat
- New Duden Korrektor
- Pass formatting through formulas in PlanMaker
- Numbering in Greek, Russian and Bulgarian
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- Dark documents in TextMaker’s dark mode
- Let SmartChat address your readers formally or informally.
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- In PlanMaker, the input line can now be enlarged to multiple rows.
- Conveniently fill cells in PlanMaker
- QR codes and barcodes now also in PlanMaker and Presentations
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Revision 1200 was the initial release of SoftMaker Office NX.
2024-11-25: Improvements in revision 1220
Highlight the current row and column NX UNIVERSAL NX HOME
We have added a useful improvement to SoftMaker Office NX: In PlanMaker NX, you have the option to highlight the current row and column. This makes it easier to recognize which cell is currently active.
Activate this new option in File | Option on the View tab. There you can also select a different highlighting color if the default color does not appeal to you.
New Duden Korrektor for German spell checking and grammar checking according to the latest spelling rules NX UNIVERSAL PROFESSIONAL
Do you remember the German spelling reform of 1996? And also the one from 2006? Good news: there is another reform. ;-)
But take comfort: the changes are smaller this time. For example, the spellings "Spagetti", "Tunfisch" or "Exposee", which (hopefully) nobody has used, are no longer permitted. There is more flexibility with verbs taken from English: in addition to "gefakt", the English-style spelling "gefaked" is now also permitted. There are significant rule changes regarding comma placement.
A complete description of the changes is beyond the scope of this article. What is important, however, is that the new Duden Korrektor in revision 1220 follows the new rules when checking the spelling and grammar of German texts.
Save OpenDocument Text (ODT) files with password protection
With the new revision 1220, you are able to create password-protected OpenDocument files (ODT format) in TextMaker.
2024-08-27: Improvements in revision 1218
ChatGPT now with 5 million characters NX UNIVERSAL
The new AI functions in SoftMaker Office NX Universal are extremely popular with users. The new revision 1218 makes them even more useful:
- New language model: SoftMaker Office NX Universal switches to the brand new language model GPT-4o mini, which is particularly efficient, fast and up-to-date and delivers outstanding results for linguistic tasks in TextMaker.
- Fivefold increase in capacity: New users of SoftMaker Office NX Universal now receive a whopping 5 million characters per year to write and improve texts with ChatGPT.
Of course, existing customers will also benefit from this improvement. We have just set their AI capacity to 5 million characters for a full year – free of charge!
Inserting documents with pictures improved
If you insert one document into another in TextMaker using Insert | Document , all pictures that are anchored to a paragraph are now also imported.
Once again: Adaptation to Zotero 7 NX UNIVERSAL PROFESSIONAL
We have already announced compatibility with Zotero 7 for revision 1214. Unfortunately, there was another change between the last beta and the finished Zotero 7, so we had to rework it again with the new revision 1218.
Turn off automatic hyphenation more easily
In TextMaker, you can switch automatic hyphenation on or off either by paragraph, via paragraph styles or globally for the entire document. The new revision adds the option of switching off automatic hyphenation in general.
To do this, choose File | Options in TextMaker, switch to the Language tab, uncheck the box next to "Use automatic hyphenation for this document" and then click on the button Set as default.
TextMaker then switches off automatic hyphenation in the standard document template (usually Normal.tmvx). Future documents based on this document template will no longer use hyphenation until you specifically switch it on again.
Improved export of CSV files
When exporting a CSV file in PlanMaker, you can now freely define the decimal separator and the thousands separator for numbers. Previously, these were taken from your system settings.
Windows: No more annoying syspin warnings
When uninstalling or reinstalling SoftMaker Office, error messages could occur that the program syspin64.exe could not be found. These error messages were harmless and could be ignored. However, they have been removed in the new revision 1218.
Linux: Improved installation of RPM files
When installing the RPM archive of SoftMaker Office for Linux, an error message could appear in the pre-installation script in some Linux distributions. This has now been corrected.
2024-05-27: Improvements in revision 1214
Compatibility with Arch Linux and Manjaro restored
Recently, the OpenSSL library in Arch Linux and Manjaro was updated to a new version. This resulted in a collision with our own OpenSSL library, which meant that SoftMaker Office could no longer be started on the affected systems. This problem has been solved with the 1214 revision.
New Duden Korrektor NX UNIVERSAL PROFESSIONAL
The new revision uses the latest Duden Korrektor to make your German-language texts even better.
Its most important change is the support of the Duden recommendations for automatic hyphenation. If you go to File | Options | Duden Korrektor options, open the list "Hyphenation style" and select the new option "Duden recommendation", you will get easy-to-read, easy-to-understand hyphenations that match the speech habits in German.
Freely scalable user interface
Do you feel that the icons and labels in the ribbon and dialog boxes are too small or too large?
You can change this now. A feature that SoftMaker Office users are already familiar with on other operating systems is now also coming to Windows: Revision 1212 allows you to fine-tune the scaling of the user interface.
You will find the new function by selecting File | Options, switching to the "Appearance" tab and clicking on the button "User interface size". Then use a slider to select the desired size of the dialog font, and SoftMaker Office will match it with a suitable size for the icons in the ribbon or the toolbars.
Adaptation of the user interface to Windows 11
The look of SoftMaker Office now fits harmoniously into Windows 11. When using Windows 11, elements such as input fields, checkboxes and dropdown lists now look the same as they do in other Windows 11 programs.
Copy only the filtered data in PlanMaker
If you use an AutoFilter to filter the data in a PlanMaker worksheet and copy it to the clipboard, only the visible (filtered) data will now be copied.
Support for Zotero 7 NX UNIVERSAL PROFESSIONAL
TextMaker is now compatible with Zotero 7.
2024-02-21: Improvements in revision 1210
Better picture scaling in Presentations
When you changed the slide size in Presentations (for example, from 4:3 to 16:9), all pictures were automatically resized. With revision 1210, you will now be asked if this is desired.
Kindle-compatible EPUB export NX UNIVERSAL PROFESSIONAL
TextMaker now creates EPUB files that the Amazon program KindleGen can convert into Amazon-compatible e-books.
2024-01-31: Improvements in revision 1208
PlanMaker’s dark mode now offers dark documents also NX UNIVERSAL NX HOME
As TextMaker's improved dark mode with dark document background has met with so much approval, we have now also integrated it into PlanMaker.
As soon as you switch PlanMaker to dark mode, the worksheet background automatically becomes dark. Dark text colors appear brighter so that the text remains easy to read.
Drag the slider to compare the document display before and after.
If you prefer the previous bright worksheet background in dark mode or if you want to quickly check how the worksheet will print, simply click on the “Dark document” icon in the Quick access toolbar – it’s the icon highlighted in yellow in the adjacent screenshot.
Tip: If this icon is not shown in your Quick access toolbar, click on the ">>" icon at the right end of the Quick access toolbar and add the “Dark document” icon using Add/remove buttons.
Create QR codes and barcodes dynamically NX UNIVERSAL PROFESSIONAL
With TextMaker, PlanMaker and Presentations, you can embed QR codes and barcodes in your documents in a flash.
This function has now been improved in PlanMaker so that you can also choose a table cell instead of a fixed text. This allows you to dynamically retrieve the source data for your QR code or barcode from a worksheet, calculate it or even drag it from another PlanMaker document.
A shortcut key for translations NX UNIVERSAL
TextMaker produces excellent translations in a wide range of languages thanks to the integrated DeepL.
If you are translating sentence by sentence or paragraph by paragraph, repeatedly clicking on "Translate now" can become tiresome at some point. This is why TextMaker now allows you to assign a shortcut key to the "Translate now" command.
Proceed as follows:
- Choose File | Customize | Customize ribbon.
- Enter the search term "Translate" in the Quick search field.
- Then click on Shortcut keys to expand the dialog box.
- Enter a suitable shortcut key near the bottom of the dialog box and click on Add.
- Close the dialog box again.
The new shortcut key can be used immediately.
2023-11-20: Improvements in revision 1206
New SmartChat function for text review NX UNIVERSAL
Artificial intelligence is really good at writing and improving texts. Right from its release, TextMaker NX has offered helpful functions for summarizing and creating texts.
Revision 1206 adds the new function "Review text", which subjects your texts to a "text review".
It examines texts for errors in content and style and assesses the readability and level of difficulty of the texts. It helps you write even better texts by providing useful tips on their weak points.
Longer texts with SmartChat NX UNIVERSAL
Texts that you send to ChatGPT via SmartChat can now have up to 16000 words instead of 4000 words. This is helpful when summarizing long texts. For orientation, this lets you automatically summarize around 40 pages in one go.
New Duden Korrektor NX UNIVERSAL PROFESSIONAL
With revision 1206, you receive the latest Duden Korrektor, which recognizes additional grammatical errors in German texts. For example, it now finds case errors such as “Der Sachverständige konnte keinem Fehler finden” or “Wen gehört das Fahrrad?”. Errors in the placement of commas, especially missing commas in subordinate clauses, are detected even better. The spelling dictionary has also been expanded.
Pass formatting through formulas in PlanMaker
PlanMaker now passes formatting such as "Currency", "Date/time" and "Percent" through result cells. For example, if cell A1 contains "€42.00", then =A1+1 no longer returns "43", but "€43.00".
Numbering in Greek, Russian and Bulgarian
When numbering paragraphs and headings, TextMaker now also supports doing so with Greek, Russian and Bulgarian letters.
2023-09-07: Improvements in revision 1204
Dark documents in TextMaker’s dark mode
The latest revision of TextMaker offers a welcome improvement for all fans of the dark mode: Documents can now also be displayed with a dark background, and not just the user interface. This type of display is particularly easy on the eyes.
As soon as you switch to dark mode, the document background automatically becomes dark. Dark text colors appear brighter so that the text remains easy to read.
Drag the slider to compare the document display before and after.
If you prefer the previous bright document background in dark mode or if you want to quickly check how the document will print, simply click on the icon “Dark document” in the Quick access toolbar – it’s the icon highlighted in yellow in the adjacent screenshot.
Tip: If this icon is not shown in your Quick access toolbar, click on the ">>" icon at the right end of the Quick access toolbar and add the “Dark document” icon using Add/remove buttons.
Let SmartChat address your readers formally or informally NX UNIVERSAL
SmartChat is a handy tool that writes texts for you automatically when you are in a creative slump. Whether it's a birthday card in a foreign language, a report for the club newsletter, a technical text for work or study, or even a fairy tale that delights children: SmartChat delivers!
However, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish and Russian have different types of personal pronouns that depend on the desired formality. In French, it is “vous” vs. “tu”, in German “du” vs. “Sie”, etc. If ChatGPT chooses the wrong degree of formality, you have to revise the text manually. This is not only tedious, but you are practically guaranteed to overlook at least one pronoun or fail to adjust at least one verb form to match the pronoun.
This risk is a thing of the past. With its latest revision, TextMaker lets you select the desired degree of formality in the function "Write a story". This works for German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish and Russian – all major languages that distinguish between formal and informal addressing.
2023-07-25: Improvements in revision 1202
Multi-row input line in PlanMaker
The input line can now be enlarged, which makes editing long formulas easier. You can choose to show the input line as a single row or multiple rows, or have it automatically expand for long formulas.
Conveniently fill cells in PlanMaker
If you have a column with values and write a formula or a value to its right, you can now automatically fill the cells below by double-clicking on the lower right corner of the selection rectangle.
QR codes and barcodes now also in PlanMaker and Presentations NX UNIVERSAL PROFESSIONAL
The QR code/barcode feature is now also available in PlanMaker and Presentations.
2023-06-20: Revision 1200
Revision 1200 was the initial release of SoftMaker Office NX.
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