PERRLA

[Merlin]

you may have better luck with Endnote, Mendeley, or Zotero (or Paperpile like I ended up using).

Sweet, thank you for your insight as well as recommendations - I haven't heard of Paperpile, thanks for the tip!!!

You're welcome. Just keep in mind that Endnote, Mendeley, Zotero, and Paperpile are research management tools... they assist with identifying and tracking your references, integrating with your word processor to manage citations and bibliographies. Unlike PERRLA, they don't help you format your papers into APA, MLA, or whatever format your particular degree program requires.

PERRLA does both, though it seemed to focus slightly more on paper formatting and less on the research management aspects. That said, if I were doing a research-based graduate degree, I would seriously consider PERRLA along with the others as long as I was using Word on a Windows machine.

[Clepper43]

Can a PERRLA membership be shared in a family?

[Merlin]

Can a PERRLA membership be shared in a family?

I believe the license only covers a single user, however, it can technically be done. You have a login and password, so you could share access with anyone if you don't mind sharing your credentials.

[suzycupcake]

I was researching PERRLA and after reading this thread, decided to reach out because for some reason I still have the TESU version of Office. I asked if they were still having issues with the one that Merlin was experiencing and here is the response:

Hi Susan–

Thanks for reaching out to PERRLA Customer Support.

We are not currently having any issues with Word 2016 through Office 365 on Macs. That's what I am currently using. Make sure you have your OS caught up on maintenance updates, and make sure your Office 365 has all of its current updates.

The most common issue we experienced with Office 365 is for copies provided by schools to students where the Add-In functionality is disabled. If you are using a free version of Office 365 available through your school you might run into issues if they don't allow add-ins. In that case, we do have a workaround that in many cases helps, but it's on a case-by-case basis.

Please note that a PERRLA account also comes with our web-based alternative to the PERRLA Add-In, PERRLA Online.

Hope this helps someone and if anyone is using PERRLA currently, please let me know how you like it

[studyingfortests]

My thoughts on PERRLA

- I have it and use it for any APA-formatted research paper. I use the Word version on Mac.

- I love that it perfectly formats title page, headers/footers, block quotes, sections. That saves a lot of time and is a lot more accurate than the built-in Word tools.

- At least when I had them, it's clumsy to use it with the free Word versions you get from TESU or wherever, because (at east at TESU) the free version has some administrative permission set that prohibited installing plug-ins like PERRLA. There's a kludgy workaround: You sign out of Word, then install the plug-in. But then eventually, Word bitches that you aren't signed in, and when you do, PERRLA breaks. So that's a pretty serious deficiency. (I bought an actual discounted Word permanent license to get around this issue.)

- I found the citation manager (at least for Mac Word) to be a mess. If you have citations with similar names, you can't easily identify which citation is which if you need to edit or delete them. So you have to painstakingly go through. I ditched the citation tool in favor of Mybib.

- Their support is FAST and super attentive. They were open about the fact that most of the limitations (in things like the citation management) are limitations built into the Word plug-in system, but were quick to offer whatever workarounds they have.

Overall, I recommend it, still use it, and will renew it when it comes up later this year.

[suzycupcake]

My thoughts on PERRLA

- I have it and use it for any APA-formatted research paper.  I use the Word version on Mac.

- I love that it perfectly formats title page, headers/footers, block quotes, sections. That saves a lot of time and is a lot more accurate than the built-in Word tools.

- At least when I had them, it's clumsy to use it with the free Word versions you get from TESU or wherever, because (at east at TESU) the free version has some administrative permission set that prohibited installing plug-ins like PERRLA.  There's a kludgy workaround: You sign out of Word, then install the plug-in. But then eventually, Word bitches that you aren't signed in, and when you do, PERRLA breaks.  So that's a pretty serious deficiency.  (I bought an actual discounted Word permanent license to get around this issue.)

- I found the citation manager (at least for Mac Word) to be a mess. If you have citations with similar names, you can't easily identify which citation is which if you need to edit or delete them. So you have to painstakingly go through.  I ditched the citation tool in favor of Mybib.

- Their support is FAST and super attentive. They were open about the fact that most of the limitations (in things like the citation management) are limitations built into the Word plug-in system, but were quick to offer whatever workarounds they have.

Overall, I recommend it, still use it, and will renew it when it comes up later this year.

Thank you for this feedback - I'm currently working on getting a different version of Office rather than use Amberton's because even if I sign out, I can't install the add-on.