Editing MultiMate (section)

==Reception==
''[[PC Magazine]]'' in February 1983 stated that MultiMate "virtually remakes your computer into a Wang-like dedicated word processor", and that it was "very fast, easy to learn, and capable" with many features. The review noted the application's inability to use more than 128K of RAM, but praised the documentation and built-in help, and stated that many commands required half the keystrokes of the WordStar equivalent. The review concluded "MultiMate stands head and shoulders above many if not most [IBM PC word processors] ... an impressive entrant".<ref name="sandler198302">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7wCiNAUEuAMC&pg=PA233 | title=The Dedication of Multimate | work=PC Magazine | date=February 1983 | access-date=21 October 2013 | author=Sandler, Corey | page=233}}</ref> The magazine reported in March 1984 that version 3.2 was noticeably slower than 3.11, which the company attributed to additional safeguarding of data.{{r|garvey19840306}}

''[[BYTE]]'' in November 1984 was less positive. When evaluating MultiMate 3.11 and [[Leading Edge Word Processor]], the magazine cited "irritating inconsistencies" in 3.11's user interface and documentation, a bug that "can wreck your files", and other flaws. The reviewer, an author of books on MultiMate and WordStar, concluded that both MultiMate and Leading Edge Word Processor were easy for novices to learn and had many features to avoid loss of data, but unsuitable for complex projects because of "hard to decipher, awkward, and sometimes dangerous" procedures.{{r|puotinen198411}} A separate review in the magazine described version 3.20 as being "very safe" because of many backups and safeguards and praised the formatting features, customization ability, and quality of the (very busy) toll-free help line. The review called MultiMate "the klunkiest package" of five tested word processors, because of the overemphasis on safety, criticized the built-in help and slow performance, and reported being unable to use the spell checker because of its poor quality. The reviewer mentioned that MultiMate version 3.30 was already shipping when the article went to press.<ref name="cameron1984pc">{{Cite magazine |last=Cameron |first=Janet |date=Fall 1984 |title=Word Processing Revisited |url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1984-09/1984_09_BYTE_09-09_Guide_to_the_IBM_PCs#page/n171/mode/2up |access-date=23 October 2013 |magazine=BYTE |page=171}}</ref>

"Multimate Advantage II "has finally caught up with mainstream microprocessor word processing programs", ''[[InfoWorld]]'' said in July 1987. The magazine approved of its mail merge abilities, printer support, and documentation, but criticized its pagination, lack of indexing, and inability to handle documents larger than 128K. ''InfoWorld'' concluded that MultiMate was "a very good product, and much improved over its earlier versions", below WordPerfect in functionality, but equal to Samna IV and superior to Officewriter 5.<ref name="lombardi19870713">{{Cite magazine |last=Lombardi |first=John |date=1987-07-13 |title=Word Processing Upgrade Adds Power, Features |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xzAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA55#v=onepage&q&f=false |access-date=2025-05-01 |magazine=Infoworld |pages=55-57 |volume=9 |issue=28}}</ref>

A 1990 [[American Institute of Certified Public Accountants]] member survey found that 5% of respondents used MultiMate as their word processor.<ref name="aicpa1990">{{Cite report |url=https://egrove.olemiss.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1563&context=aicpa_guides |title=1990 AICPA survey of computer usage |author-link=American Institute of Certified Public Accountants |year=1990 |id=561 |access-date=2025-04-30}}</ref>