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In this tutorial, you’ll learn all about MS Word. You’ll discover what it’s used for. You’ll explore some of the features of Microsoft Word. Plus, we’ll show you how to get started and share some helpful resources.

What Is Microsoft Word?

You may be wondering: what type of program is Microsoft Word? A good definition is that it’s a word processor. That’s an application you use to “process”— format, manipulate, save, print, share — a text-based document. 

Microsoft Word is arguably the most popular word processor on the planet. That’s because it’s part of Microsoft’s Office Suite, which is installed in 1 billion devices in the world (according to groovyPost). 

When Word 1.0 for Windows was released in 1989, it was one of the first word processors that offered a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface. 

This combination of ease of use and robust features makes it the go-to word processor in both homes and offices today. It’s now also available for the Mac operating system as well as a web-based version through an Office 365 subscription.

What Is Microsoft Word Used For?

Now you’re ready to learn how to use MS Word. Use it to create many kinds of business and person documents. Here’s just a sampling of how to use it:

For Business or School

Microsoft Office’s Word is a great tool for creating business documents. Of course, you could design business and school documents from scratch. Or you could get a head start using a professionally designed template.

You can also find templates to help you create the following:

• letter
• report or paper
• proposal
• newsletter 
• brochure
• catalog 
• poster
• flyer
• postcard
• sign 
• banner 
• resume
• business card
• invoice
• receipt
• product packaging
• mailing label

For Personal Purposes

There are also many personal uses of MS Word. Here are just a few:

• invitation
• card
• gift tag
• recipe card
• place card
• certificates

As you can see, Microsoft Word comes in very handy for both your personal and professional lives!

How to Get Started Using Microsoft Word (+Top MS Word Features)

Microsoft Word has become more intuitive through the years. Even if you’re just starting to use it, you can easily figure things out and navigate your way through the simplest tasks. 

That said, it’s got a ton of features for the more advanced user. And you’re not aware of those features and how to use them, you can miss out on things that can make your workflow much easier.

1. Make Your Way Around: The Microsoft Word User Interface

Whichever version you’re using, the user interface is very similar:

The main menu gives you access to the major command groups:

• file
• edit
• view
• insert
• format
• tools
• table
• window
• help

Click on any of these items to reveal more detailed commands. For example, when you click on File, you get the following options.

Next, you see the Quick Access Toolbar lets complete frequently used tasks in Word with a single click. These include:

• save
• undo
• redo
• print
• search

This is also where you see the title of the document you’re working on.

You can customize which buttons appear on your Quick Access Toolbar. 

1. Go to Word > Preferences….

The Word Preferences dialog opens. 

2. Click on the Ribbon & Toolbar button.

The Ribbon & Toolbar dialog pops up. 

3. Click on the Quick Access Toolbar button.

4. Add, remove, or reorder the command buttons.

To add a button to your Quick Access Toolbar, find the command you wish to add from the left box. Click to select it, then click the right arrow. This moves it to the box on the right.

To remove a command from your Quick Access Toolbar, click on a command on the right. Then, click the left arrow.

You can also drag and drop the commands in your Quick Access Toolbar to change the order in which they appear.

5. When you’re done, click Save.

Next, you’ll find the tab and ribbon. Each tab displays a different ribbon of buttons for various related commands. For example, the Home tab displays this ribbon:

Follow the same steps above to customize the ribbon for each tab. Instead of selecting Quick Access Toolbar in the Ribbon & Toolbar dialog, click on the Ribbon button.

Let’s look at just some of the things you can do.

2. Create a New Document

You could fire up Microsoft Word and create a document from scratch. The interface is intuitive enough to figure out. But if you need it, here’s a quick guide to creating, opening, and saving files:

Earlier versions of Word create files in the DOC file format, a proprietary format. This means only Microsoft Word officially supported files with the DOC extension. But with some reverse engineering, other applications were able to open and save DOC files. That said, they may not fully support all its formatting and features.

Since 2007, Word started saving files as DOCX by default. The X stands for XML standard or Open Office Extensible Markup Language. 

DOCX makes for smaller files that are less prone to corruption. It can also be read by any robust word processor, like Google Docs. DOCX is now the standard file format of Word documents. Although, Word can save to DOC and other file formats as well (see Exporting to Other File Formats below).

3. Work With Text in MS Word

Microsoft Word shines when it comes to manipulating and formatting text. You can create the most basic, plain text-based documents to extremely creative layouts that previously required graphic design software.

Below are a few tutorials on the basics of working with text:

4. Go Beyond Text

Almost any document can benefit from the added impact of visuals. Read these articles to learn how to add and format pictures, as well as go beyond the basics with your layouts. 

And if you find yourself using Microsoft Word more and more, you’ll appreciate learning the keyboard shortcuts for your frequently used commands. Find out more below:

5. Print in Microsoft Word

You can print to standard-sized paper as well as custom sizes. Print on matte, glossy, or photo paper. You can even print large documents, such as a banner, by printing them on separate sheets that you then piece together.

To print a document:

1. Go to File > Print….

The Print dialog opens.

Select your printer. Then choose the printer settings you want to use, including which pages to print, how many, and print quality.

2. Click Print.

6. Export to Other File Formats

Microsoft Word isn’t just for making printed documents! 

Thanks to the exporting feature, you can export your document to other file formats. The most common one is a PDF, which you can upload to a website, email, or share in other ways.

Follow these steps to export your document:

1. Go to File > Save As….

The Save As dialog appears.

2. Choose a file format.

Give your document a name. Then, click on the File Format drop-down menu to display all the different formats you can export to. Select the format you want to use, then click Save.

Go to the Next Level With Word Templates

If you want to take your documents to the next level without getting a graphic design degree yourself, then use a template.

The best templates are created by professional designers who make the biggest design decisions for you: fonts, colors, formatting, image placement, and more. All you’ve got to do is to add your own text and images, customize the formatting elements as you see fit, and you have a professional-looking document. Read this article on how to use Microsoft Word templates:

For best results, use a premium Word template. These are specifically designed to be customizable. They often come with after-sales support from the designers. 

A great source of premium templates is Envato Elements. For one small monthly subscription, get unlimited downloads of templates and other design pieces you need, such as fonts, photos, and more.

For one-off projects, consider the Word templates from GraphicRiver. Here, you can access thousands of templates and other design tools, but on a pay-per-use basis.

5 Top Microsoft Word Templates from Envato Elements in 2021

Envato Elements has most of the templates you’ll need for any project in MS Word. Here are five different types of premium templates that can be used in Microsoft Word:

1. Word Resume

Edit this resume in Microsoft Word and in Adobe InDesign. The design of this template is minimal and modern. This template comes with a picture placeholder where you can add your image. Everything can be easily edited as needed.

2.  Product Catalog

If you’re looking for a product catalog, consider this one. Here are some features of this MS Word template:

• US letter size (8.5″ x 11″)
• 12 pages to add information on
• can be edited in Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign

This template comes with a customer feedback page, membership information page, terms & policies page, and a bestsellers page.

3. Flower Word Wedding Invitation

Another use for templates in Microsoft Word is an invitation template. The Flower Word Wedding Invitation is a premium invitation template. This template has a simple and elegant design. The size of this template is A4 paper size, which can be folded and put in an envelope or passed out like a flyer. 

4. Business Brochure

Another template useful in Microsoft Word is a brochure that can be used to give any type of information. Here are some highlights of this templates:

• both US letter size (8.5″ x 11″) and A4 size (8.27″ x 11.69″)
• 16 pages you can add information on
• edit it in Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign

You can easily edit everything in this template to fit the project you’re working on.

5. Clean and Minimal Business Invoice

The Clean and Minimal Business Invoice can be edited in Adobe InDesign and Microsoft Word. This template has a professional and clean look. The size of this template is US letter size (8.5″ x 11″), meaning it can be easily mailed in an envelope. This template comes with some icons at the bottom of the page.  

5 Ways You Can Customize Your Premium Template 

Customizing your template is a way to add a personal touch to your template. In this tutorial, we’ll use the CV Resume Word Template.

Here’s what the template looks like without any edits made:

Let’s get started on some customizations:

1. Insert a Headshot Image

There’s an image area that you can add your image to in this template. Add an image by clicking on the Insert tab in the top left corner of your window. Next, click on the Insert Picture button located below the toolbar.

When you click on Insert Picture, a menu drops down. Select the correct option for you depending on where your image is located. Once you’ve located your image, double click. You can resize and move the image as needed.

2. Add Your Information

To add your information, you need to delete the text that is already there. To delete text, highlight the text that you want to get rid of.

After the text is highlighted, press Delete on your keyboard. Next, click on the Insert tab in the top left corner of your window. Then, click on the Draw a Textbox button below the toolbar in the right side of your window.

Finally, click on where you want to add the textbox and draw a diagonal line to add the text box. Now, click in the text box and start typing.

3. Use the Spelling and Grammar Check

Bad spelling and grammar can cause an employer not to hire you. Microsoft Word has a helpful feature that’ll check spelling and grammar for you. 

To begin using the spelling and grammar check, highlight all the text that you want to check for errors. Next, click on the Review tab. The first button on the left side of the window under the toolbar is the Spelling & Grammar button. Click on the Spelling & Grammar button.

When you click on the Spelling & Grammar button, it’ll check the highlighted text for errors. When it’s done, a pop-up window pops up. Click on the correct spelling of the word and click on the Add button.

Keep repeating the previous step until every error is fixed. Then click on the Close button.

4. Change the Font 

Changing the font is the easiest way to customize your Microsoft Word template.

First, highlight the text that you want to change the font of. Next, click on the Home tab in the toolbar. The Home tab is the first option in the toolbar on the left side of your window.

Then click on the arrow next to the font menu. Clicking on the arrow next to the font menu causes a menu of fonts to drop down. Choose the font that you want from the drop-down menu. 

5. Delete an Object

Deleting an object that you don’t want can help you open up your Microsoft Word template layout. To get rid of an object, click on the object that you want to delete. When the object is collected, click the Delete key.

How to Get Microsoft Word Help and Support

Microsoft Word brings powerful word processing tools at your fingertips. But more features also mean more complexity. Fortunately for us, Microsoft provides a Help & Learning page. Here, you’ll find training, access to a community of other users, and a way to get support.

Good-Looking, High-Impact Documents at Your Fingertips

For beginners and advanced users alike, Word continues to be the top word processor in the world. Its intuitive features allow you to create visually attractive and effective documents.

You can create a document from scratch or shortcut the process by using a template. For unlimited downloads of templates and other design ingredients, subscribe to Envato Elements. But if you need a template for a single use, then GraphicRiver may be a better source for you. Why not download your favorite template today and get started?

Editorial Note: This post was originally published in April of 2020 It’s been updated with contributions from Sarah Joy. Sarah is a freelance instructor for Envato Tuts+.

Microsoft Word is a word processing program that was first developed by Microsoft in 1983. Since that time, Microsoft has released an abundance of updated versions, each offering more features and incorporating better technology than the one before it. The most current web-based version of Microsoft Word is Microsoft 365, but the software version of Microsoft Office 2019 includes Word 2019.

Microsoft Word is included in all of the Microsoft 365 application suites. The most basic (and least expensive) suites also include Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel. Additional suites exist and include other Office programs, such as Microsoft Outlook and Skype for Business.

Do you need Microsoft Word?

If you only want to create simple documents, consisting of paragraphs with bulleted and numbered lists with very little formatting, you don’t need to purchase Microsoft Word. You can use the WordPad application included with Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10. If you need to do more than that though, you’ll need a more powerful word processing program.

With Microsoft Word you can choose from a variety of preconfigured styles and designs, which provides an easy way to format long documents with just a single click. You can also insert pictures and videos from your computer and the internet, draw shapes, and create an insert all kinds of charts.

If you’re writing a book or creating a brochure, which you can’t do effectively (or at all) in WordPad or an application like Abiword, you can use the features in Microsoft Word to set margins and tabs, insert page breaks, create columns, and even configure the spacing between lines. There are also features that let you create a table of contents with a single click. You can insert footnotes too, as well as headers and footers. There are options to create bibliographies, captions, a table of figures, and even cross-references.

If any of these things sound like what you’d like to do with your next writing project, then you’re going to need Microsoft Word.

Do You Have Microsoft Word?

You might already have a version of Microsoft Word on your computer, tablet, or even your phone. Before you make a purchase you should find out.

To see if you have Microsoft Word installed on your Windows device:

1. From the Search window on the Taskbar (Windows 10), the Start screen (Windows 8.1), or from the Search window on the Start menu (Windows 7), type msinfo32 and press Enter.

2. Click the + sign beside Software Environment.

3. Click Program Groups.

4. Look for a Microsoft Office entry.

To find out if you have a version of Word on your Mac, look for it in the Finder sidebar, under Applications.

Where to Get Microsoft Word

If you are sure you don’t already have it, you can get the latest version of Microsoft Word with Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365 is a subscription though, something you pay for monthly. If you’re not interested in paying monthly, consider purchasing Office outright. You can compare and purchase all of the available editions and suites at the Microsoft Store. If you want to wait though, you can get Microsoft Word 2019 during the latter part of 2018 by purchasing the Microsoft Office 2019 suite.

The History of Microsoft Word

Over the years there have been many versions of the Microsoft Office suite. Most of these versions came with lower-priced suites that only included the most basic apps (often Word, PowerPoint, and Excel), to higher priced suites that included some or all of them (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, SharePoint, Exchange, Skype, and more). These suite editions had names like “Home and Student” or “Personal”, or “Professional”. There are too many combinations to list here, but what’s important to note is that Word is included with any suite you can buy.

Here are the recent Microsoft Office Suites that also contain Word:

• Microsoft Word 365) is available and updated regularly in Microsoft 365
• Word Online is a free limited version.
• Word 2019 is available in Office 2019
• Word 2016 is available in Office 2016
• Word 2013 was available in Office 2013
• Word 2010 was available in Office 2010
• Word 2007 was included with Office 2007
• Word 2003 was included with Office 2003
• Word 2002 was included in Office XP

Of course, Microsoft Word has existed in some form since the early 1980s and has had versions for most platforms (even from before Microsoft Windows existed).

Thanks for letting us know!

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Office 365 version of Microsoft Word, with the new redesign applied
Developer(s)	Microsoft
Initial release	October 25, 1983; 39 years ago (as Multi-Tool Word)
Stable release	2209 (16.0.15629.20208) / October 11, 2022; 6 months ago[1]
Repository	none
Written in	C++ (back-end)[2]
Operating system	Windows 10 and later, Windows Server 2016 and later Office 365 only Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2 and later[3]
Platform	IA-32, x64, ARM, ARM64
Type	Word processor
License	Trialware
Website	microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/word

Microsoft Word for Mac

Word for Mac running on macOS Ventura (13.2)
Developer(s)	Microsoft
Stable release	16.64 (Build 22081401) / August 16, 2022; 7 months ago[4]
Repository	none
Written in	C++ (back-end), Objective-C (API/UI)[2]
Operating system	macOS
Type	Word processor
License	Proprietary software plus services
Website	products.office.com/word

Microsoft Word for Android

Screenshot of Microsoft Word for Android 13
Original author(s)	Microsoft Corporation
Developer(s)	Microsoft Corporation
Initial release	January 29, 2015; 8 years ago[5]
Stable release	16.0.15427.20090 / July 14, 2022; 8 months ago[6]
Repository	none
Operating system	Android Pie and later
License	Proprietary commercial software
Website	products.office.com/word

Microsoft Word for iOS

Developer(s)	Microsoft Corporation
Initial release	March 27, 2014; 9 years ago[7]
Stable release	2.63.2 / July 18, 2022; 8 months ago[8]
Repository	none
Operating system	iOS 14 or later IPadOS 14 or later
License	Proprietary commercial software
Website	products.office.com/word

Word Mobile for Windows 10

Developer(s)	Microsoft
Repository	none
Operating system	Windows 10 and later, Windows 10 Mobile
Type	Word processor
License	Freemium
Website	www.microsoft.com/store/productId/9WZDNCRFJB9S

Microsoft Word is a word processor developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983,^[9] under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems.^[10][11][12] Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including: IBM PCs running DOS (1983), Apple Macintosh running the Classic Mac OS (1985), AT&T UNIX PC (1985), Atari ST (1988), OS/2 (1989), Microsoft Windows (1989), SCO Unix (1990), macOS (2001), Web browsers (2010), iOS (2014) and Android (2015). Using Wine, versions of Microsoft Word before 2013 can be run on Linux.

Commercial versions of Word are licensed as a standalone product or as a component of Microsoft Office suite of software, which can be purchased either with a perpetual license or as part of a Microsoft 365 subscription.

History[edit]

Origins[edit]

In 1981, Microsoft hired Charles Simonyi, the primary developer of Bravo, the first GUI word processor, which was developed at Xerox PARC.^[13] Simonyi started work on a word processor called Multi-Tool Word and soon hired Richard Brodie, a former Xerox intern, who became the primary software engineer.^[13][14][15]

Microsoft announced Multi-Tool Word for Xenix^[13] and MS-DOS in 1983.^[16] Its name was soon simplified to Microsoft Word.^[10] Free demonstration copies of the application were bundled with the November 1983 issue of PC World, making it the first to be distributed on-disk with a magazine.^[10][17] That year Microsoft demonstrated Word running on Windows.^[18]

Unlike most MS-DOS programs at the time, Microsoft Word was designed to be used with a mouse.^[16] Advertisements depicted the Microsoft Mouse and described Word as a WYSIWYG, windowed word processor with the ability to undo and display bold, italic, and underlined text,^[19] although it could not render fonts.^[10] It was not initially popular, since its user interface was different from the leading word processor at the time, WordStar.^[20] However, Microsoft steadily improved the product, releasing versions 2.0 through 5.0 over the next six years. In 1985, Microsoft ported Word to the classic Mac OS (known as Macintosh System Software at the time). This was made easier by Word for DOS having been designed for use with high-resolution displays and laser printers, even though none were yet available to the general public.^[21] It was also notable for its very fast cut-and-paste function and unlimited number of undo operations, which are due to its usage of the piece table data structure.^[22]

Following the precedents of LisaWrite and MacWrite, Word for Mac OS added true WYSIWYG features. It fulfilled a need for a word processor that was more capable than MacWrite.^[23] After its release, Word for Mac OS’s sales were higher than its MS-DOS counterpart for at least four years.^[13]

The second release of Word for Mac OS, shipped in 1987, was named Word 3.0 to synchronize its version number with Word for DOS; this was Microsoft’s first attempt to synchronize version numbers across platforms. Word 3.0 included numerous internal enhancements and new features, including the first implementation of the Rich Text Format (RTF) specification, but was plagued with bugs. Within a few months, Word 3.0 was superseded by a more stable Word 3.01, which was mailed free to all registered users of 3.0.^[21] After MacWrite Pro was discontinued in the mid-1990s, Word for Mac OS never had any serious rivals. Word 5.1 for Mac OS, released in 1992, was a very popular word processor owing to its elegance, relative ease of use, and feature set. Many users say it is the best version of Word for Mac OS ever created.^[21][24]

In 1986, an agreement between Atari and Microsoft brought Word to the Atari ST^[25] under the name Microsoft Write. The Atari ST version was a port of Word 1.05 for the Mac OS^[26][27] and was never updated.

The first version of Word for Windows was released in 1989. With the release of Windows 3.0 the following year, sales began to pick up and Microsoft soon became the market leader for word processors for IBM PC-compatible computers.^[13] In 1991, Microsoft capitalized on Word for Windows’ increasing popularity by releasing a version of Word for DOS, version 5.5, that replaced its unique user interface with an interface similar to a Windows application.^[28][29] When Microsoft became aware of the Year 2000 problem, it made Microsoft Word 5.5 for DOS available for free downloads. As of February 2021, it is still available for download from Microsoft’s website.^[30]
In 1991, Microsoft embarked on a project code-named Pyramid to completely rewrite Microsoft Word from the ground up. Both the Windows and Mac OS versions would start from the same code base. It was abandoned when it was determined that it would take the development team too long to rewrite and then catch up with all the new capabilities that could have been added at the same time without a rewrite. Instead, the next versions of Word for Windows and Mac OS, dubbed version 6.0, both started from the code base of Word for Windows 2.0.^[24]

With the release of Word 6.0 in 1993, Microsoft again attempted to synchronize the version numbers and coordinate product naming across platforms, this time across DOS, Mac OS, and Windows (this was the last version of Word for DOS). It introduced AutoCorrect, which automatically fixed certain typing errors, and AutoFormat, which could reformat many parts of a document at once. While the Windows version received favorable reviews (e.g., from InfoWorld^[31]), the Mac OS version was widely derided. Many accused it of being slow, clumsy, and memory intensive, and its user interface differed significantly from Word 5.1.^[24] In response to user requests, Microsoft offered Word 5 again, after it had been discontinued.^[32] Subsequent versions of Word for macOS are no longer direct ports of Word for Windows, instead featuring a mixture of ported code and native code.

Word for Windows[edit]

Word for Windows is available stand-alone or as part of the Microsoft Office suite. Word contains rudimentary desktop publishing capabilities and is the most widely used word processing program on the market. Word files are commonly used as the format for sending text documents via e-mail because almost every user with a computer can read a Word document by using the Word application, a Word viewer or a word processor that imports the Word format (see Microsoft Word Viewer).

Word 6 for Windows NT was the first 32-bit version of the product,^[33] released with Microsoft Office for Windows NT around the same time as Windows 95. It was a straightforward port of Word 6.0. Starting with Word 95, each release of Word was named after the year of its release, instead of its version number.^[34]

Word 2007 introduced a redesigned user interface that emphasized the most common controls, dividing them into tabs, and adding specific options depending on the context, such as selecting an image or editing a table.^[35] This user interface, called Ribbon, was included in Excel, PowerPoint and Access 2007, and would be later introduced to other Office applications with Office 2010 and Windows applications such as Paint and WordPad with Windows 7, respectively.^[36]

The redesigned interface also includes a toolbar that appears when selecting text, with options for formatting included.^[37]

Word 2007 also included the option to save documents as Adobe Acrobat or XPS files,^[37] and upload Word documents like blog posts on services such as WordPress.

Word 2010 allows the customization of the Ribbon,^[38] adds a Backstage view for file management,^[39] has improved document navigation, allows creation and embedding of screenshots,^[40] and integrates with online services such as Microsoft OneDrive.^[41]

Word 2019 added a dictation function.

Word 2021 added co-authoring, a visual refresh on the start experience and tabs, automatic cloud saving, dark mode, line focus, an updated draw tab, and support for ODF 1.3.

Word for Mac[edit]

The Mac was introduced on January 24, 1984, and Microsoft introduced Word 1.0 for Mac a year later, on January 18, 1985. The DOS, Mac, and Windows versions are quite different from each other. Only the Mac version was WYSIWYG and used a graphical user interface, far ahead of the other platforms. Each platform restarted its version numbering at «1.0».^[42] There was no version 2 on the Mac, but version 3 came out on January 31, 1987, as described above. Word 4.0 came out on November 6, 1990, and added automatic linking with Excel, the ability to flow text around graphics, and a WYSIWYG page view editing mode. Word 5.1 for Mac, released in 1992 ran on the original 68000 CPU and was the last to be specifically designed as a Macintosh application. The later Word 6 was a Windows port and poorly received. Word 5.1 continued to run well until the last Classic MacOS. Many people continue to run Word 5.1 to this day under an emulated Mac classic system for some of its excellent features, such as document generation and renumbering, or to access their old files.

In 1997, Microsoft formed the Macintosh Business Unit as an independent group within Microsoft focused on writing software for Mac OS. Its first version of Word, Word 98, was released with Office 98 Macintosh Edition. Document compatibility reached parity with Word 97,^[32] and it included features from Word 97 for Windows, including spell and grammar checking with squiggles.^[43] Users could choose the menus and keyboard shortcuts to be similar to either Word 97 for Windows or Word 5 for Mac OS.

Word 2001, released in 2000, added a few new features, including the Office Clipboard, which allowed users to copy and paste multiple items.^[44] It was the last version to run on classic Mac OS and, on Mac OS X, it could only run within the Classic Environment. Word X, released in 2001, was the first version to run natively on, and required, Mac OS X,^[43] and introduced non-contiguous text selection.^[45]

Word 2004 was released in May 2004. It included a new Notebook Layout view for taking notes either by typing or by voice.^[46] Other features, such as tracking changes, were made more similar with Office for Windows.^[47]

Word 2008, released on January 15, 2008, included a Ribbon-like feature, called the Elements Gallery, that can be used to select page layouts and insert custom diagrams and images. It also included a new view focused on publishing layout, integrated bibliography management,^[48] and native support for the new Office Open XML format. It was the first version to run natively on Intel-based Macs.^[49]

Word 2011, released in October 2010, replaced the Elements Gallery in favor of a Ribbon user interface that is much more similar to Office for Windows,^[50] and includes a full-screen mode that allows users to focus on reading and writing documents, and support for Office Web Apps.^[51]

Word 2021 added real-time co-authoring, automatic cloud saving, dark mode, immersive reader enhancements, line focus, a visual refresh, the ability to save pictures in SVG format, and a new Sketched style outline.

File formats[edit]

Native file formats

DOC	Legacy Word document
DOT	Legacy Word templates
WBK	Legacy Word document backup
DOCX	XML Word document
DOCM	XML Word macro-enabled document
DOTX	XML Word template
DOTM	XML Word macro-enabled template
DOCB	XML Word binary document

Filename extensions[edit]

Microsoft Word’s native file formats are denoted either by a .doc or .docx filename extension.

Although the .doc extension has been used in many different versions of Word, it actually encompasses four distinct file formats:

1. Word for DOS
2. Word for Windows 1 and 2; Word 3 and 4 for Mac OS
3. Word 6 and Word 95 for Windows; Word 6 for Mac OS
4. Word 97 and later for Windows; Word 98 and later for Mac OS

(The classic Mac OS of the era did not use filename extensions.)^[52]

The newer .docx extension signifies the Office Open XML international standard for Office documents and is used by default by Word 2007 and later for Windows as well as Word 2008 and later for macOS.^[53]

Binary formats (Word 97–2007)[edit]

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the default Word document format (.DOC) became a de facto standard of document file formats for Microsoft Office users.^{[citation needed]} There are different versions of «Word Document Format» used by default in Word 97–2007.^[54] Each binary word file is a Compound File,^[55] a hierarchical file system within a file. According to Joel Spolsky, Word Binary File Format is extremely complex mainly because its developers had to accommodate an overwhelming number of features and prioritize performance over anything else.

As with all OLE Compound Files, Word Binary Format consists of «storages», which are analogous to computer folders and «streams», which are similar to computer files. Each storage may contain streams or other storage. Each Word Binary File must contain a stream called the «WordDocument» stream and this stream must start with a File Information Block (FIB).^[57] FIB serves as the first point of reference for locating everything else, such as where the text in a Word document starts, ends, what version of Word created the document and other attributes.

Word 2007 and later continue to support the DOC file format, although it is no longer the default.

XML Document (Word 2003)[edit]

The .docx XML format introduced in Word 2003^[58] was a simple, XML-based format called WordProcessingML or WordML.

The Microsoft Office XML formats are XML-based document formats (or XML schemas) introduced in versions of Microsoft Office prior to Office 2007. Microsoft Office XP introduced a new XML format for storing Excel spreadsheets and Office 2003 added an XML-based format for Word documents.

These formats were succeeded by Office Open XML (ECMA-376) in Microsoft Office 2007.

Cross-version compatibility[edit]

Opening a Word Document file in a version of Word other than the one with which it was created can cause an incorrect display of the document. The document formats of the various versions change in subtle and not-so-subtle ways (such as changing the font or the handling of more complex tasks like footnotes). Formatting created in newer versions does not always survive when viewed in older versions of the program, nearly always because that capability does not exist in the previous version.^[59] Rich Text Format (RTF), an early effort to create a format for interchanging formatted text between applications, is an optional format for Word that retains most formatting and all content of the original document.

Third-party formats[edit]

Plugins permitting the Windows versions of Word to read and write formats it does not natively support, such as international standard OpenDocument format (ODF) (ISO/IEC 26300:2006), are available. Up until the release of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Office 2007, Word did not natively support reading or writing ODF documents without a plugin, namely the SUN ODF Plugin or the OpenXML/ODF Translator. With SP2 installed, ODF format 1.1 documents can be read and saved like any other supported format in addition to those already available in Word 2007.^{[59][60][61][62][63]} The implementation faces substantial criticism, and the ODF Alliance and others have claimed that the third-party plugins provide better support.^[64] Microsoft later declared that the ODF support has some limitations.^[65]

In October 2005, one year before the Microsoft Office 2007 suite was released, Microsoft declared that there was insufficient demand from Microsoft customers for the international standard OpenDocument format support and that therefore it would not be included in Microsoft Office 2007. This statement was repeated in the following months.^{[66][67][68][69]} As an answer, on October 20, 2005, an online petition was created to demand ODF support from Microsoft.^[70]

In May 2006, the ODF plugin for Microsoft Office was released by the OpenDocument Foundation.^[71] Microsoft declared that it had no relationship with the developers of the plugin.^[72]

In July 2006, Microsoft announced the creation of the Open XML Translator project – tools to build a technical bridge between the Microsoft Office Open XML Formats and the OpenDocument Format (ODF). This work was started in response to government requests for interoperability with ODF. The goal of the project was not to add ODF support to Microsoft Office, but only to create a plugin and an external toolset.^[73][74] In February 2007, this project released a first version of the ODF plugin for Microsoft Word.^[75]

In February 2007, Sun released an initial version of its ODF plugin for Microsoft Office.^[76] Version 1.0 was released in July 2007.^[77]

Microsoft Word 2007 (Service Pack 1) supports (for output only) PDF and XPS formats, but only after manual installation of the Microsoft ‘Save as PDF or XPS’ add-on.^[78][79] On later releases, this was offered by default.

Features and flaws[edit]

Among its features, Word includes a built-in spell checker, a thesaurus, a dictionary, and utilities for manipulating and editing text. It supports creating tables. Depending on the version, it can perform simple calculations, and supports formatting formulas and equations.

The following are some aspects of its feature set.

Templates[edit]

Several later versions of Word include the ability for users to create their formatting templates, allowing them to define a file in which: the title, heading, paragraph, and other element designs differ from the standard Word templates.^[80] Users can find how to do this under the Help section located near the top right corner (Word 2013 on Windows 8).

For example, Normal.dotm is the master template from which all Word documents are created. It determines the margin defaults as well as the layout of the text and font defaults. Although Normal.dotm is already set with certain defaults, the user can change it to new defaults. This will change other documents which were created using the template.^[81] It was previously Normal.dot.^[82]

Image formats[edit]

Word can import and display images in common bitmap formats such as JPG and GIF. It can also be used to create and display simple line art. Microsoft Word added support^[83] for the common SVG vector image format in 2017 for Office 365 ProPlus subscribers and this functionality was also included in the Office 2019 release.

WordArt[edit]

WordArt enables drawing text in a Microsoft Word document such as a title, watermark, or other text, with graphical effects such as skewing, shadowing, rotating, stretching in a variety of shapes and colors, and even including three-dimensional effects. Users can apply formatting effects such as shadow, bevel, glow, and reflection to their document text as easily as applying bold or underline. Users can also spell-check text that uses visual effects and add text effects to paragraph styles.

Macros[edit]

A macro is a rule of pattern that specifies how a certain input sequence (often a sequence of characters) should be mapped to an output sequence according to a defined process. Frequently used or repetitive sequences of keystrokes and mouse movements can be automated. Like other Microsoft Office documents, Word files can include advanced macros and even embedded programs. The language was originally WordBasic, but changed to Visual Basic for Applications as of Word 97.

This extensive functionality can also be used to run and propagate viruses in documents. The tendency for people to exchange Word documents via email, USB flash drives, and floppy disks made this an especially attractive vector in 1999. A prominent example was the Melissa virus, but countless others have existed.

These macro viruses were the only known cross-platform threats between Windows and Macintosh computers and they were the only infection vectors to affect any macOS system up until the advent of video codec trojans in 2007.^{[citation needed]} Microsoft released patches for Word X and Word 2004 that effectively eliminated the macro problem on the Mac by 2006.

Word’s macro security setting, which regulates when macros may execute, can be adjusted by the user, but in the most recent versions of Word, it is set to HIGH by default, generally reducing the risk from macro-based viruses, which have become uncommon.

Layout issues[edit]

Before Word 2010 (Word 14) for Windows, the program was unable to correctly handle ligatures defined in OpenType fonts.^[84] Those ligature glyphs with Unicode codepoints may be inserted manually, but are not recognized by Word for what they are, breaking spell checking, while custom ligatures present in the font are not accessible at all. Since Word 2010, the program now has advanced typesetting features which can be enabled,^[85] OpenType ligatures,^[86] kerning and hyphenation (previous versions already had the latter two features). Other layout deficiencies of Word include the inability to set crop marks or thin spaces. Various third-party workaround utilities have been developed.^[87]

In Word 2004 for Mac OS X, support of complex scripts was inferior even to Word 97^[88] and Word 2004 did not support Apple Advanced Typography features like ligatures or glyph variants.^[89]

Issues with technical documents[edit]

Microsoft Word is only awkwardly suitable for some kinds of technical writing, specifically, that which requires mathematical equations,^[90] figure placement, table placement and cross-references to any of these items.^{[citation needed]} The usual workaround for equations is to use a third-party equation typesetter.^{[citation needed]} Figures and tables must be placed manually; there is an anchor mechanism but it is not designed for fully automatic figure placement and editing text after placing figures and tables often requires re-placing those items by moving the anchor point and even then the placement options are limited.^{[citation needed]} This problem is deeply baked into Word’s structure since 1985 as it does not know where page breaks will occur until the document is printed.^{[citation needed]}

Bullets and numbering[edit]

Microsoft Word supports bullet lists and numbered lists. It also features a numbering system that helps add correct numbers to pages, chapters, headers, footnotes, and entries of tables of content; these numbers automatically change to correct ones as new items are added or existing items are deleted. Bullets and numbering can be applied directly to paragraphs and converted to lists.^[91] Word 97 through 2003, however, had problems adding correct numbers to numbered lists. In particular, a second irrelevant numbered list might have not started with number one but instead resumed numbering after the last numbered list. Although Word 97 supported a hidden marker that said the list numbering must restart afterward, the command to insert this marker (Restart Numbering command) was only added in Word 2003. However, if one were to cut the first item of the listed and paste it as another item (e.g. fifth), then the restart marker would have moved with it and the list would have restarted in the middle instead of at the top.^[92]

Word continues to default to non-Unicode characters and non-hierarchical bulleting, despite user preference for Powerpoint-style symbol hierarchies (e.g., filled circle/emdash/filled square/endash/emptied circle) and universal compatibility.

AutoSummarize[edit]

Available in certain versions of Word (e.g., Word 2007), AutoSummarize highlights passages or phrases that it considers valuable and can be a quick way of generating a crude abstract or an executive summary.^[93] The amount of text to be retained can be specified by the user as a percentage of the current amount of text.

According to Ron Fein of the Word 97 team, AutoSummarize cuts wordy copy to the bone by counting words and ranking sentences. First, AutoSummarize identifies the most common words in the document (barring «a» and «the» and the like) and assigns a «score» to each word – the more frequently a word is used, the higher the score. Then, it «averages» each sentence by adding the scores of its words and dividing the sum by the number of words in the sentence – the higher the average, the higher the rank of the sentence. «It’s like the ratio of wheat to chaff,» explains Fein.^[94]

AutoSummarize was removed from Microsoft Word for Mac OS X 2011, although it was present in Word for Mac 2008. AutoSummarize was removed from the Office 2010 release version (14) as well.^[95]

Other platforms[edit]

Word for mobile[edit]

Word Mobile^[96] is a word processor that allows creating and editing documents. It supports basic formatting, such as bolding, changing font size, and changing colors (from red, yellow, or green). It can add comments, but can’t edit documents with tracked changes. It can’t open password-protected documents; change the typeface, text alignment, or style (normal, heading 1); create bulleted lists; insert pictures; or undo.^[97][98][99] Word Mobile is neither able to display nor insert footnotes, endnotes, page headers, page footers, page breaks, certain indentation of lists, and certain fonts while working on a document, but retains them if the original document has them.^[100] In addition to the features of the 2013 version, the 2007 version on Windows Mobile also has the ability to save documents in the Rich Text Format and open legacy PSW (Pocket Word).^[100] Furthermore, it includes a spell checker, word count tool, and a «Find and Replace» command. In 2015, Word Mobile became available for Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile on Windows Store.^[101]

Support for Windows 10 Mobile version ended in January 12, 2021.^[102]

Word for the web[edit]

Word for the web is a free lightweight version of Microsoft Word available as part of Office on the web, which also includes web versions of Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint.

Word for the web lacks some Ribbon tabs, such as Design and Mailings. Mailings allows users to print envelopes and labels and manage mail merge printing of Word documents.^[103][104] Word for the web is not able to edit certain objects, such as: equations, shapes, text boxes or drawings, but a placeholder may be present in the document. Certain advanced features like table sorting or columns will not be displayed but are preserved as they were in the document. Other views available in the Word desktop app (Outline, Draft, Web Layout, and Full-Screen Reading) are not available, nor are side-by-side viewing, split windows, and the ruler.^[105]

Password protection[edit]

Three password types can be set in Microsoft Word,

• Password to open a document^[106]
• Password to modify a document^[106]
• Password restricting formatting and editing^[107]

The second and third password types were developed by Microsoft for convenient shared use of documents rather than for their protection. There is no encryption of documents that are protected by such passwords and the Microsoft Office protection system saves a hash sum of a password in a document’s header where it can be easily accessed and removed by the specialized software. Password to open a document offers much tougher protection that had been steadily enhanced in the subsequent editions of Microsoft Office.

Word 95 and all the preceding editions had the weakest protection that utilized a conversion of a password to a 16-bit key.

Key length in Word 97 and 2000 was strengthened up to 40 bit. However, modern cracking software allows removing such a password very quickly – a persistent cracking process takes one week at most. Use of rainbow tables reduces password removal time to several seconds. Some password recovery software can not only remove a password but also find an actual password that was used by a user to encrypt the document using the brute-force attack approach. Statistically, the possibility of recovering the password depends on the password strength.

Word’s 2003/XP version default protection remained the same but an option that allowed advanced users to choose a Cryptographic Service Provider was added.^[108] If a strong CSP is chosen, guaranteed document decryption becomes unavailable and, therefore, a password can’t be removed from the document. Nonetheless, a password can be fairly quickly picked with a brute-force attack, because its speed is still high regardless of the CSP selected. Moreover, since the CSPs are not active by default, their use is limited to advanced users only.

Word 2007 offers significantly more secure document protection which utilizes the modern Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) that converts a password to a 128-bit key using a SHA-1 hash function 50,000 times. It makes password removal impossible (as of today, no computer that can pick the key in a reasonable amount of time exists) and drastically slows the brute-force attack speed down to several hundreds of passwords per second.

Word’s 2010 protection algorithm was not changed apart from the increasing number of SHA-1 conversions up to 100,000 times and consequently, the brute-force attack speed decreased two times more.

Reception[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2021)

Initial releases of Word were met with criticism. Byte in 1984 criticized the documentation for Word 1.1 and 2.0 for DOS, calling it «a complete farce». It called the software «clever, put together well and performs some extraordinary feats», but concluded that «especially when operated with the mouse, has many more limitations than benefits … extremely frustrating to learn and operate efficiently».^[109] PC Magazine‘s review was very mixed, stating: «I’ve run into weird word processors before, but this is the first time one’s nearly knocked me down for the count» but acknowledging that Word’s innovations were the first that caused the reviewer to consider abandoning WordStar. While the review cited an excellent WYSIWYG display, sophisticated print formatting, windows, and footnoting as merits, it criticized many small flaws, very slow performance, and «documentation produced by Madame Sadie’s Pain Palace». It concluded that Word was «two releases away from potential greatness».^[110]

Compute!’s Apple Applications in 1987 stated that «despite a certain awkwardness», Word 3.01 «will likely become the major Macintosh word processor» with «far too many features to list here». While criticizing the lack of true WYSIWYG, the magazine concluded that «Word is marvelous. It’s like a Mozart or Edison, whose occasional gaucherie we excuse because of his great gifts».^[111]

Compute! in 1989 stated that Word 5.0’s integration of text and graphics made it «a solid engine for basic desktop publishing». The magazine approved of improvements to text mode, described the $75 price for upgrading from an earlier version as «the deal of the decade» and concluded that «as a high-octane word processor, Word is worth a look».^[112]

During the first quarter of 1996, Microsoft Word accounted for 80% of the worldwide word processing market.^[113]

Release history[edit]

Legend:	Old version, not maintained	Older version, still maintained	Current stable version

Microsoft Word for Windows release history

Year released	Name	Version	Comments
1989	Word for Windows 1.0	1.0	Code-named Opus[114]
1990	Word for Windows 1.1	1.1	For Windows 3.0.[115] Code-named Bill the Cat[citation needed]
1990	Word for Windows 1.1a	1.1a	On March 25, 2014, Microsoft made the source code to Word for Windows 1.1a available to the public via the Computer History Museum.[116][117]
1991	Word for Windows 2.0	2.0	Included in Office 3.0.
1993	Word for Windows 6.0	6.0	Version numbers 3, 4, and 5 were skipped, to bring Windows version numbering in line with that of DOS, Mac OS, and WordPerfect (the main competing word processor at the time). Also, a 32-bit version for Windows NT only. Included in Office 4.0, 4.2, and 4.3.
1995	Word for Windows 95	7.0	Included in Office 95
1997	Word 97	8.0	Included in Office 97
1998	Word 98	8.5	Included in Office 97
1999	Word 2000	9.0	Included in Office 2000
2001	Word 2002	10.0	Included in Office XP
2003	Microsoft Word 2003	11.0	Included in Office 2003
2006	Microsoft Word 2007	12.0	Included in Office 2007; released to businesses on November 30, 2006, released worldwide to consumers on January 30, 2007. Extended support until October 10, 2017.
2010	Word 2010	14.0	Included in Office 2010; skipped 13.0 due to triskaidekaphobia.[118]
2013	Word 2013	15.0	Included in Office 2013
2016	Word 2016	16.0	Included in Office 2016
2019	Word 2019	16.0	Included in Office 2019
2021	Word 2021	16.0	Included in Office 2021

Microsoft Word for classic Mac OS and macOS release history

Year released	Name	Version	Comments
1985	Word 1	1.0
1987	Word 3	3.0
1989	Word 4	4.0	Part of Office 1.0 and 1.5
1991	Word 5	5.0	Part of Office 3.0 Requires System 6.0.2, 512 KB of RAM (1 MB for 5.1, 2 MB to use spell check and thesaurus), 6.5 MB available hard drive space[21]
1992	Word 5.1	5.1	Part of Office 3.0 Last version to support 68000-based Macs[21]
1993	Word 6	6.0	Part of Office 4.2 Shares code and user interface with Word for Windows 6 Requires System 7.0, 4 MB of RAM (8 MB recommended), at least 10 MB available hard drive space, 68020 CPU[21]
1998	Word 98	8.5	Part of Office 98 Macintosh Edition Requires PowerPC-based Macintosh Renumbered alongside contemporary Windows version
2000	Word 2001	9.0	Part of Microsoft Office 2001 Word 2001 is the last version that is compatible with Classic Mac OS (Mac OS 9 or earlier)
2001	Word v. X	10.0	Part of Office v. X First version for Mac OS X only
2004	Word 2004	11.0	Part of Office 2004
2008	Word 2008	12.0	Part of Office 2008
2010	Word 2011	14.0	Part of Office 2011; skipped 13.0 due to triskaidekaphobia.[118]
2015	Word 2016	16.0	Part of Office 2016; skipped 15.0
2019	Word 2019	16.0	Part of Office 2019
2021	Word 2021	16.0	Included in Office 2021

Word for MS-DOS release history

Year released	Name	Version	Comments
1983	Word 1	1.0	Initial version of Word
1985	Word 2	2.0
1986	Word 3	3.0	Removed copy protection
1987	Word 4	4.0
1989	Word 5	5.0
1991	Word 5.1	5.1
1991	Word 5.5	5.5	First DOS version to use a Windows-like user interface
1993	Word 6	6.0	Last DOS version.

Word release history on other platforms

Platform	Year released	Name	Comments
Atari ST	1988	Microsoft Write	Based on Microsoft Word 1.05 for Mac OS
OS/2	1989	Microsoft Word 5.0	Word 5.0 ran both under DOS and OS/2 dual-mode as a native OS/2 application
OS/2	1991	Microsoft Word 5.5	Word 5.5 ran both under DOS and OS/2 dual-mode as a native OS/2 application
OS/2	1990	Microsoft Word for OS/2 Presentation Manager version 1.1
OS/2	1991	Microsoft Word for OS/2 Presentation Manager version 1.2[citation needed]
SCO Unix	1990	Microsoft Word for Unix version 5.0[119]
SCO Unix	1991	Microsoft Word for Unix version 5.1[120]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Tsang, Cheryl. Microsoft: First Generation. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 978-0-471-33206-0.
• Liebowitz, Stan J. & Margolis, Stephen E. Winners, Losers & Microsoft: Competition and Antitrust in High Technology Oakland: Independent Institute. ISBN 978-0-945999-80-5.

External links[edit]

• Microsoft Word – official site
• Find and replace text by using regular expressions (Advanced) — archived official support website