Art Explosion Greeting Card Factory Deluxe 5.0 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)If you decide to buy a current greeting card program, there are really only two front-line choices: Art Explosion Greeting Card Factory (currently version 5) or Hallmark Card Studio (currently 2006). There are other programs available specifically for creating cards, but most of them are low quality and outdated, and aren't really worth considering. (A competitive third product featuring American Greetings designs is sadly now long outdated).
So how do these two products match up? Without a question, if you are looking for quality "canned" cards, the Hallmark program wins. The Hallmark designs are professional, and are equal in quality to cards you would purchase in a store. In contrast, the designs in Art Explosion are adequate but surely NOT up to the quality of a store-bought card. The Hallmark program is also able to simply and correctly print to several different types of card store (although you are stuck with the choices pre-programmed into the software unless you want much frustration). The Art Explosion does a poorer job of correctly and simply printing to a variety of card stock and configurations.
Art Explosion beats the Hallmark program in editing options (more extensive), and in the amount of additional art (clipart, etc.) included with the package.
If you do not plan to use the "canned" cards, then I would recommend Art Explosion. But the average user will likely appreciate the professional, high quality cards in the Hallmark package. Personally, I consider the choice of the Hallmark package over Art Explosion a no brainer.
A note on versions: The publisher comes out with a new version of the Hallmark program every year (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, etc.) and the same is true for Art Explosion Greeting Card Factory. Having used many of these versions, I find very little reason to recommend upgrading year by year. Disappointingly, the stock cards in the Hallmark program do not seem to have changed appreciably in many years, and the same is true for Art Explosion.

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This new version of Greeting Card Factory Deluxe 5.0 has everything you need. It's the ultimate collection of absolutely charming cards, featuring beautiful graphics and heartfelt sentiments sure to express your innermost feelings every time.

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Hallmark Card Studio for Mac Review

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(More customer reviews)A year or so ago, I found Hallmark Card Studio 2009 (Hallmark Card Studio 2009 Deluxe) and installed it on the Windows side of my Mac Pro, and really enjoyed the professional quality card that it produced, especially when I used the Hallmark Premium paper. Unfortunately, a Windows 7 update occurred, and suddenly the program crashed, and no repair, reinstall, etc., worked to get it working again. The installation of the 2010 version, (Hallmark Card Studio Deluxe 2010), though, worked until, you guessed it, another update for Windows 7. There was a patch that the software folks had that helped, but that only worked for a short while.
When I received a notice that Hallmark was coming-out with a version for the Mac, I waited to see if it would be sold on Amazon.com, and finally it was. I have used it for almost a month, and while I find that has a different interface, probably one from an older version, the ability to "tweak" the program is the same as the Windows, only a little more rudimentary, and most notably the quality of the card is as good as one you would buy in the store (see uploaded screen-shots of "crabby lady" card. All without the crashes!!!
There are two differences that I have noticed out-right. The first is that you cannot tell whether the card is a "half-fold" or "quarter-fold" until you go to print; however, when printing, depending on your printer, you have several options available, according the the limits of your printer. In my case, I can print the card as "half-fold,' "quarter fold," "side-fold" and "top-fold." I have printed the manual, and am trying to discern if there is any short-cut to doing this other than to make like you are going to print the card and see in the preview what type of card you are printing. I am sure I am missing something, but what I am doing before I start individualizing the card is I look to see what type of card it is by selecting "print," then not executing the print command BEFORE I put any effort into individualizing the card. On a positive note, the requirements of going through a "print" subprogram to determine how you insert the paper in your printer is no longer required for printers that print on both sides of the paper (my printer is an HP Photosmart Premium). You just select printer from the drop down menu and check the box for printing on both sides, and let the printer do everything. UPDATED: There are time, though, when, if you have "borderless" printing selected, you have to take and manually reinsert the card for printing the inside. My HP printer HP Photosmart Premium Fax All-in-One Inkjet Printer (CC335A#ABA) prints from the front, and that means I have to place the paper, print-side up, with the back of the card going into the printer first, to print the inside (I'll post a picture of this).
With regards to inserting pictures, changing type, inserting text, etc., the program is pretty intuitive, and is, for me, a lot easier than the Windows version, especially for inserting text and/or changing the font. I have a lot of nieces and being able to individualize these cards is a godsend, especially when even the biggest card shop does not have that many cards devoted to nieces. With Hallmark Card Studio for Mac, I can easily modify the card, and even change out the graphic in seconds. When you want to insert a picture, don't be alarmed, as I was at first. Going to the "Insert" menu, it has Get Picture from Camera or iSight, and I thought, I want a picture from a file or desktop. Choose "Get Picture from Camera or iSight." Then, at the bottom of the work screen that shows a recent picture, choose "Choose." From there, you will be shown your drives and files. What is really neat about the picture insert process is that you can slide the picture around and crop it using a "slider," even hit a button to get the "sepia" or other picture-types one gets when you take a picture using your iSight camera. (I love my Mac!)
Using the premium card stock, Hallmark Half-Fold Glossy Premium Photo Greeting Cards - 15 count, or the matte version Hallmark Blank Greeting Cards Half-fold Matte Premium 20 Count and you will produce cards that no one will ever know, unless you want them to, is one you've made yourself.
Thank goodness, this finally came-out on the Mac platform. (I updated this to include the instructions for printing both sides of the paper if you have "borderless" printing activated. I've used this Mac version for two more months, and I'm finding it even easier to use, and no "crashes," even with updates to the Apple Operating Software.)

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The Print Shop 23 Review

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(More customer reviews)I had used Print Shop # 6 for many years, when I had to replace my computer with Vista, needed a new version of a Print Shop. Ordered Print Shop 23 only to realize the spell check was not working properly, returned it and received a replacement only to realize it has the same problem. After having a moderator on a forum group check it out, she had the same problem. Since I do most of my writing in Print Shop, spell check is important to me. The program needs to be rewritten in my opinion.
Has anyone else had this problem?
Gaby

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Its easy to create amazing print projects in a snap. Start with 19,000+ unique and creative templates for a wide variety of projects, including greeting cards, invitations, labels, signs, banners and more. Customize your project in seconds with the easiest design tools around. You can add your own text, photos, graphics and word art. Comes with 270,000+ high quality clip art images, photos, borders, frames and embellishments. Plus, EASY photo editing tools like red-eye removal, crop and flip to make your photos perfect. Its so easy to create and print your projects with everything you need for incredible design in the palm of your hands.

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PrintMaster Gold 2.0 Review

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(More customer reviews)Even if you don't know how to use a computer, this software is not your best choice. The interface is unlike any other program and hard to learn. Their sales team doesn't know which versions of their software is compatible with what operating systems; use the wrong version and you might have to reformat your hard drive. Virtually any word processing or desktop publishing software can create address labels and greeting cards and PrintMaster doesn't seem to have any advantages. You get what you pay for.

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Show off your creative side with Printmaster Gold 2.0, the ultimate starter kit for creating tons of dazzling projects--stickers, stylish calendars, photo greeting cards and more!

Create Easy Print Projects in Minutes! PrintMaster Gold 2.0 is the ALL NEW way to create fun projects. With special focus on incredible ease-of-use and quickness, PrintMaster features user-friendly design and photo editing tools to help get you started. Impress friends and family with your one-of-a-kind designs.
PC and Mac Compatible For the first time ever, you can create, share and access files between PC and Mac users.

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Greeting Card Factory 8.0 Deluxe Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been trying different Greeting Card Software for some time and have the following programs installed on my computer at this time:
American Greeting CreataCard Plus 4.
American Greeting PRINT! Premium 2.
Hallmark Card Studio 2009( Have renewed since 2004). Will not renew again.
Hallmark Comedy Card Studio.
Printmaster Platinum 2.0.
Card Builder from Pearl Mountain.
Greeting Card Studio.
Greeting Card Factory is the best yet. It has all of the features you find on the other programs plus it offers plenty of templates for every occasion. It is the most intuitive program and has plenty of clip art, sentiments and photos. It allows you to alter the printing on the front of the card as well as the verse inside. One of the best features is the ability to control the size of the thumbnail to choose your template. All of the other programs only offer you a small thumbnail to pick the template you want but Greeting Card Factory allows you to enlarge the selections so you can actually read what is on the card as you are making your selection. Much better than switching back and forth till you get the template you want.

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Nova Development RMWT Greeting Card Factory Deluxe 8.0 Software offers the biggest selection of store-quality greeting cards of any product in the category, an unprecedented number of premium-quality graphics, 4x8 photo card projects, a new inter-face, photorealistic graphics, keyword searching and so much more!

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Hallmark Card Studio 2011 Deluxe Review

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(More customer reviews)I have used Hallmark Card Studio software for several years but from the day I bought the 2011 version, it has given me nothing but problems. It seems to have some kooky bug(s) that cause some text and images to randomly disappear when you bring a card back in to edit it, even after you have designed and saved it. As you go through its various features, the program crashes on a regular basis after displaying a message about encountering a problem. I contacted HCS about the problem and they told me that there could be some software running in the background causing the problem. Is that my problem? - I have plenty of application software that runs with active background programs but they still function properly. What am I supposed to do, shut off all background programs to accomodate HCS's 2011? There are other smaller issues that I find annoying like not displaying the title of the card on the highlighter like 2010 did so you always know what card you are working on. It makes it very easy to overwrite a previously designed card that you are trying to personalize for a new design. They also have removed 2010's ability to add a border around an image although I must admit, I've had my share of problems with that program feature in the 2010 version. I also use Greeting Card Factory software and with HCS's 2010 version, I could drop clip art into Hallmark from Factory using just a copy and paste procedure. With the 2011 version, I get some kind of message about vector images or something and so I am forced to export the Factory clip art image to My Pictures folder and then re-import it into Hallmark. There's no point in going on and on about all the shortcomings of the HCS 2011 software. Suffice it to say that I became so frustrated that I tried to return it but I was told I was beyond the 30 day return period. Bottom line - this software needs a huge patch.

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11,000+ cards and projectsView larger.

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Printmaster - Platinum Version 18 Review

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(More customer reviews)I have Printmaster 12 and I enjoy it immensely! I wanted to upgrade since I now have the Vista Operating System. It's frustrating that you have to have internet access to be able to use many, many of the graphics. In my Printmaster 12 I physically own all the graphics -- with this version, it will give you a thumbnail pix of each of the graphics but you have to download many of them from Broderbund. I think that should be in the description of this product and I thought many others might appreciate knowing this bit of information before you jump into this one.
Extra Info. About Use With Microsoft Vista ... One of the reasons I bought this is because it's suppose to work with Microsoft Vista. My experience now is that it crashes (shuts down) as does my earlier Printmaster with the Vista. I think they have some bugs to work out before they should be claiming it works with Vista. My daughter uses it on her computer (this Printmaster 18 and the Printmaster 12) which has Microsoft XP and there is no problem. She was surprised to find mine shuts down so frequently, and I was surprised it doesn't give her any trouble!

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TPS Business - Labels & Logos Premier Review

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(More customer reviews)There must be something better out there. I found this program to be useless.
Try the free label software from Avery. I found it to be much better that this program.
In this case, you certainly do not get what you pay for.

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Printmaster Platinum V 17.0 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've used Printmaster 12 platinum on DVD and liked it well enough but the disk wore out. I knew from reviews of subsequent versions that Broderbund was giving us less and less but even still I was stunned by just how much less. Where are all the projects? Even counting the online projects there just isn't much here for anyone. For kid's masks, version 12 has at least a dozen but this version gives you 2! The cards are terrible - many are just small clipart images with a white background. (At least you won't need much ink). In short, if you want to create anything decent you'll have to design it yourself. Inspired by the ONE nice-looking cut-out card, I was able to search the art work and create several nice cards that I would be pleased to send.

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If you've got a passion for creative self-expression, you'll find endless inspiration in this sophisticated, easy-to-use program. Enjoy all of the great features you expect from PrintMaster, plus brilliant new upgrades that make personal creativity easier – and more rewarding – than ever. Design everything from basic greeting cards to iPod skins, full stationery sets, seasonal decorations... if you can imagine it, you can create it and share it with PrintMaster.

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Print Master Silver 16.0 (Jewel Case) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The Printmaster Silver 16.0 Jewel Case is great for creating and putting your personal touch to posters, greeting cards, calendars,newsletters, cd labels, invitations, etc. You have access to project templates, many fonts, photo editing and an enormous amounts images you can utilize in ready-made artwork.
If you like being creative and putting a smile on others faces,you'll enjoy this software.

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Make a Masterpiece in Moments!Product InformationFast, easy, and fun to use! Packed with thousands of project templatesandpremium art images, PrintMaster 16 Silver brings a world of projectpossibilities right to your desktop. Simply pick a pre-designed template, orstart from scratch for a truly one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Photo perfection! Makeany photoextraordinary! Work with pictures from your digital camera, scanner ora CD to quickly produce a masterpiece that could only come from you. The fullyintegrated Photo Workshop gives you the power to perfect, enhance and transformyourphotos.

Experience the software that gives your creativity free rein: PrintMaster 16Silver. Bursting with nearly endless project possibilities, thousands ofinspiring art and photo selections, and a host of easy-to-use design tools,thisCD-ROM will set your creative spirit free. From cards and crafts to photoprojects, newsletters, and more, you'll be ready to design virtually anythingyou can imagine. Ideal for newcomers and experienced home publishers alike,PrintMaster 16Silver offers a complete creative outlet.

Enjoy all of the classic features you've come to expect from PrintMaster,including built-in event reminders, drawing tools, and advanced keyword searchcapabilities. With more than 8,000 projecttemplates at your fingertips, you'llalways have an excuse to get inspired.

Find precisely the image you need in moments with an enhanced content searchfeature. The Party Creator Wizard is your ticket to professional-qualityinvitations,banners, center pieces, place cards--even party hats. It's allcoordinated with the click of a mouse. Use the tool's handy card converter toresize any card with ease, and make the most of every image using integratedphoto tools with dramatic artisticeffects.

If you can imagine it, you c

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Print Workshop 2009 Review

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(More customer reviews)That program crash often. It might look nice while it run or the retail box. But it take a long time to start, it's slow. I pay 5$, but I regret. The calendar is lock to a certain date, so you have to buy the newer version.
My old Print master was able to do calendar for all years. And nicer, easier to use faster.

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American Greetings Scrapbooks & More 7 (Jewel Case) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)My main complaint with this software is that you can't begin with a "blank" project. The only way to make a scrapbook page, (or any project for that matter), is to start with a predesigned project and then recustomize it to suit your needs. While there are plenty of nice fonts to choose from, I find the clip art to be very cartoonish - way too cutesy for the elegant pages I am used to creating on my own.
I think this software is much more suitable for children due to the overall look of the projects. For the dedicated scrapbooker, I would suggest looking around for software that will create a more professional finished project.

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Empty those dusty boxes filled with photos and create a legacy with a scrapbook. Whether you're an experienced scrapbooker or new to the hobby, this easy-to-use, freshly updated program will unleash your inner artist. Begin by choosing a format for your scrapbook, and then personalize it from cover to cover with photos, borders, backgrounds, stickers, and more. You'll also find images and artwork from American Greetings--all searchable by keyword or occasion--to suit just about any theme. Add fancy fonts and eye-catching text effects. Use the built-in photo editor to correct flaws, add effects, and more, while a photo organizer makes accessing photos a breeze. Then just click the Finish Project button and complete your scrapbook. Built-in help tools and a range of online resources answer questions and offer design help in moments.

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PrintMaster Platinum 2.0 Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been a loyal Printmaster user for years. I have upgraded many times because of the ease of use and the variety of design elements available. I recently got a Mac so I purchased the new 2.0 version to use with my new Mac computer. WOW, AM I DISAPPOINTED. The product STINKS!!! Everything that I loved about the older versions is gone. First of all, you have to install all of the art onto your computer. This is a 23G program! But still, the templates are limited, the clip art is awful and I can't seem to layer them onto my own designs without the white background showing around the clip art, so if I have a colored background in my design, I can't get the clip art on my project without the white around it. I imagine it can be done because the white is not in the ready-made templates, but I can't seem to edit it out. If anyone knows how, please let me know. I can't copy and paste outside clip art into it either. It just puts a box with the name of the item and there is no way to activate the contents. As I said, I have been using PrintMaster products for a long time and I can usually figure out most software programs without a problem, but this version has me so frustrated that I will probably uninstall it from my computer. It is not worth the enormous amount of space it takes up. Sadly, I probably can't return the opened item so I am just going to have to eat the $39.99 I paid for this inferior version of a once-loved product. I will try to contact the company to see is there is a satisfaction guarantee, but I'm not hopeful. I would NOT recommend this version of PrintMaster.
UPDATE: Thank you Amazon for your great return policy. You sent a return shipment label and bar code immediatly when I asked to return for a refund on this Horrible Product. Initial shipping was free, so for less than $5 for return shipping, it is well worth it to be rid of PrintMaster 2.0. AMAZON IS THE BEST!

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PrintMaster Platinum 2.0, the quintessential toolkit for creating thousands of amazing projects.With an enormous library of elegant templates, beautiful artwork and expressive fonts, producing "store-quality" creations has never been easier.


Create Personalized Print Projects in Minutes
New--Easy-to-Use Software Drag-and-drop photos, text and design elements with incredible ease and quickness.
PC and Mac Compatible Use the program on a PC or Mac and create, edit and share files seamlessly.
Easy Design Tools Edit photos to make them perfect, add text and add amazing artistic effects with an arsenal of creative tools at your fingertips.
Perfect for Every Occasion Choose from a gallery of spectacular designs to capture life's special moments--birthdays, graduations, holidays, weddings, anniversaries and more.
Tons of Projects Select from ready-made designer templates or start fresh with a blank template for:

Easy to Share Print at home, email or publish your latest creation on the web to share with friends and family.

What's New? PrintMaster Platinum 2.0 is the next generation in print software.Completely built from the ground up, this comprehensive toolkit takes advantage of the latest technology to significantly improve ease-of-use and provide you with the utmost design flexibility.
All Content Inside the Box All designer templates, graphics and fonts available on discs so no downloading is required.
PC and Mac Compatible For the first time ever, you can create, edit and share files between PC and Mac users.This is a great cross-platform software program to have in a home with both PCs and Macs.
Streamlined Workspace With a sleek new workspace, it's easy to find and switch between the various tools quickly.Create anything you want with a robust collection of photo editing, design and text tools at your fingertips.
Drag-and-Drop Quickly add photos and graphics to your workspace with speed and ease.
Auto-Fill Wizard Too busy to look through your photos?Save time with the convenient auto-fill wizard that searches and imports photos automatically.
Advanced Color Match Technology Click on an object with the eye-dropper tool to find the perfect color match.
Text-to-Shape Create text to flow around a circle or square for a contemporary look.
Slider Tools Compress or amplify graphic effects by sliding the cursor left or right.
Thumbnail Preview Easily switch back and forth between multiple pages in a scrapbook project.
Integrated Professional Printing From within the program, directly order your greeting cards, scrapbooks/photobooks and calendars from an online photo site to get "store-quality" printed designs shipped right to your home.
Check Project The project check feature helps you check for errors and misspellings in your projects.Examples of common errors include photo or text boxes going off the page.

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Broderbund Print Shop 21 Deluxe Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been using Print Shop for many, many years, primarily to make greeting cards and note cards. I've upgraded as upgrades became available and today upgraded from version 20 to version 21 deluxe. I also use Norton A/V which has been around for many years and is in very widespread use.
It seems that the two are almost terminally incompatible. PS v. 21 has many projects that are only available online and must be downloaded. There are many of these in the Printed Greeting cards and constitute all of the projects in the Photo Picture Cards and the Creative Touch cards.
Although, at the price charged for this software, EVERYTHING SHOULD BE ON THE CD"S AND SHOULD NOT REQUIRE ADDITIONAL DOWNLOADING, when downloading is tried, you will get the message "The online server can not deliver the file".
When you search their nearly non-existent technical support section, for a solution, you are told "It has been found that certain software security systems do not allow communication between your computer and Broderbund's file servers. You will need to contact your security software's company for information on how to allow this communication or SIMPLY DISABLE THE SOFTWARE TO ALLOW IT." (Emphasis mine)
It thus seems that the makers of PS 21 (Broderbund? Encore? RiverDeep?) could not be bothered to work out these incompatibilities with one of the most popular and widely installed anti-virus software programs on the market and put their program on the market anyway. Their solution to the inevitable incompatibility which they knew full well existed: Simply disable your anti virus protection......and risk having your system destroyed.
Is this worth paying them another $42 for a questionable upgrade?
I plan to uninstall v.21 and return it tomorrow; stay with v. 20 and cross Broderbund off my list for all future purchases of this type of software.


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If you're ready to add a creative touch to your photos and other digital images, then Print Shop 21 Deluxe is for you. With over 320,000 images and graphics, plus another 17,500 project templates, Print Shop 21 Deluxe gives you everything you need to get started. An advanced photo editor offers expert editing results to make your photos perfect every time. You can easily incorporate them into any project, create slide shows, burn them to a CD, or even resize for your mobile phone. An enhanced photo-quality printing and new borderless print features mean your projects will have the refined look you want! Photo Shop 21 Deluxe even helps you manage your time with Calender Creator Express, and its new address book and mail merge feature give you effortless mailings every time.

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Wedding Fonts Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I was very disappointed in this software package, which aims to convince the consumer that he or she will be able to choose from an extensive variety of fonts for their wedding invitations/programs/etc. I bought this software because I was searching for a difficult-to-find font, which I had been unable to locate on the internet for free. Nowhere on the box does it say how many fonts come in the software, and SummitSoft is apparently banking on their false impression, because I counted only 56 fonts added to my list of fonts in Microsoft Word. Now, I don't know about you, but when I think of a software program dedicated to *only* fonts I think of that program providing perhaps a few hundred fonts, not a few tens of fonts... the back of the box allows you to preview what the company calls "just a few" of the fonts included in the package, which turn out to be about half of the total! If you are searching for fonts for your wedding stationary, I suggest one of the free font databases online, where you have access to thousands of fonts (not everyone is as picky as I am)!

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