What is microsoft word program

What is Word?

Overview

With Word on your PC, Mac, or mobile device, you can:

• Create and format your document with Themes.

• Review work with Track Changes.

• Polish your words with proofing tools like Editor.

• Save to OneDrive, to get your documents from your computer, tablet, or phone.

• Share your work to chat, comment, and collaborate with others, wherever they are.

Want more?

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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

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!

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 Microsoft’s flagship word processing software. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS (1983), the Apple Macintosh (1984), SCO UNIX, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows (1989). It is a component of the Microsoft Office system; however, it is also sold as a standalone product and included in Microsoft Works Suite. Beginning with the 2003 version, the branding was revised to emphasize Word’s identity as a component within the Office suite: Microsoft began calling it Microsoft Office Word instead of merely Microsoft Word. Nomenclature usage in the wild is currently in flux, with both names being commonly used. The latest release is Word 2021.

History

1981 — 1989

Many concepts and ideas of Word were brought from Bravo, the original GUI word processor developed at Xerox PARC. Bravo’s creator Charles Simonyi left PARC to work for Microsoft in 1981. Simonyi hired Richard Brodie, who had worked with him on Bravo, away from PARC that summer. On February 1, 1983, development on what was originally named Multi-Tool Word began.

Having renamed it Microsoft Word, Microsoft released the program October 25, 1983, for the IBM PC. Free demonstration copies of the application were bundled with the November 1983 issue of PC World, making it the first program to be distributed on-disk with a magazine. However, it was not well received, and sales lagged behind those of rival products such as WordPerfect.

Word featured a concept of «What You See Is What You Get», or WYSIWYG, and was the first application with such features as the ability to display bold and italics text on an IBM PC. Word made full use of the mouse, which was so unusual at the time that Microsoft offered a bundled Word-with-Mouse package. Although MS-DOS was a character-based system, Microsoft Word was the first word processor for the IBM PC that showed actual line breaks and typeface markups such as bold and italics directly on the screen while editing. However, this was not a true WYSIWYG system because available displays did not have the resolution to show actual typefaces. Other DOS word processors, such as WordStar and WordPerfect, used simple text-only display with markup codes on the screen or sometimes, at the most, alternative colors.

As with most DOS software, each program had its own, often complicated, set of commands and nomenclature for performing functions that had to be learned. For example, in Word for MS-DOS, a file would be saved with the sequence Escape-T-S: pressing Escape called up the menu box, T accessed the set of options for Transfer and S was for Save (the only similar interface belonged to Microsoft’s own Multiplan spreadsheet). As most secretaries had learned how to use WordPerfect, companies were reluctant to switch to a rival product that offered few advantages. Desired features in Word such as indentation before typing (emulating the F4 feature in WordPerfect), the ability to block text to copy it before typing instead of picking up mouse or blocking after typing, and a reliable way to have macros and other functions always replicate the same function time after time, were just some of Word’s problems for production typing.

Word for Macintosh, despite the major differences in look and feel from the DOS version, was ported by Ken Shapiro with only minor changes from the DOS source code, which had been written with high-resolution displays and laser printers in mind although none were yet available to the general public. Following the introduction of LisaWrite and MacWrite, Word for Macintosh attempted to add closer WYSIWYG features into its package. After Word for Mac was released in 1985, it gained wide acceptance. There was no Word 2.0 for Macintosh; this was the first attempt to synchronize version numbers across platforms.

The second release of Word for Macintosh, named Word 3.0, was shipped in 1987. It included numerous internal enhancements and new features but was plagued with bugs. Within a few months Word 3.0 was superseded by Word 3.01, which was much more stable. All registered users of 3.0 were mailed free copies of 3.01, making this one of Microsoft’s most expensive mistakes up to that time. Word 4.0, released in 1989, was a very successful and solid product.

1990 — 1995

The first version of Word for Windows was released in 1989 at a price of 500 US dollars. With the release of Windows 3.0 the following year, sales began to pick up (Word for Windows 1.0 was designed for use with Windows 3.0, and its performance was poorer with the versions of Windows available when it was first released). The failure of WordPerfect to produce a Windows version proved a fatal mistake. It was version 2.0 of Word, however, that firmly established Microsoft Word as the market leader.

After MacWrite, Word for Macintosh never had any serious rivals, although programs such as Nisus Writer provided features such as non-contiguous selection which were not added until Word 2002 in Office XP. In addition, many users complained that major updates reliably came more than two years apart, too long for most business users at that time.

Word 5.1 for the Macintosh, released in 1992, was a popular word processor due to its elegance, relative ease of use, and feature set. However, version 6.0 for the Macintosh, released in 1994, was widely derided, unlike the Windows version. It was the first version of Word based on a common codebase between the Windows and Mac versions; many accused it of being slow, clumsy and memory intensive. The equivalent Windows version was also numbered 6.0 to coordinate product naming across platforms, despite the fact that the previous version was Word for Windows 2.0.

When Microsoft became aware of the Year 2000 problem, it released the entire version of DOS port of Microsoft Word 5.5 instead of getting people to pay for the update. As of August 2022, it had still been available for download from Microsoft’s website.^[1]

Word 6.0 was the second attempt to develop a common codebase version of Word. The first, code-named Pyramid, had been an attempt to completely rewrite the existing Word product. 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 in the same time without a rewrite. Proponents of Pyramid claimed it would have been faster, smaller, and more stable than the product that was eventually released for Macintosh, which was compiled using a beta version of Visual C++ 2.0 that targets the Macintosh, so many optimizations have to be turned off (the version 4.2.1 of Office is compiled using the final version), and sometimes use the Windows API simulation library included. Pyramid would have been truly cross-platform, with machine-independent application code and a small mediation layer between the application and the operating system.

More recent versions of Word for Macintosh are no longer ported versions of Word for Windows although some code is often appropriated from the Windows version for the Macintosh version.

Later versions of Word have more capabilities than just word processing. The Drawing tool allows simple desktop publishing operations such as adding graphics to documents. Collaboration, document comparison, multilingual support, translation and many other capabilities have been added over the years.

Word 97

Word 97 had the same general operating performance as later versions such as Word 2000. This was the first copy of Word featuring the «Office Assistant», which was an animated helper used in all Office programs.

Word 2007

Word 2007, included with Microsoft Office 2007 suites, includes numerous changes, including a new XML-based file format, a redesigned interface, an integrated equation editor, bibliographic management, and support for structured documents. It also has contextual tabs, which are functionality specific only to the object with focus, and many other features like Live Preview (which enables you to view the document without making any permanent changes), Mini Toolbar, Super-tooltips, Quick Access toolbar, SmartArt, etc.

Word 2010

Word 2010, included with Microsoft Office 2010 suites, introduces the Microsoft Backstage View, Ribbon customization, picture effects, and text effects.

Word 2013

Included with Microsoft Office 2013 suites.

Word 2016

Included with Microsoft Office 2016 suites.

Word 2019

Included with Microsoft Office 2019 suites.

Word 2021

Included with Microsoft Office 2021 suites.

File format

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

Although the familiar .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
3. Word 6 and Word 95 for Windows; Word 6 for Mac
4. Word 97 and later for Windows; Word 98 and later for Mac OS

The newer «.docx» extension signifies the Office Open XML international standard for Office documents and is used by default on Word 2007 and later for Windows as well as Word 2008 and later for macOS.

Word document formats (.DOC) as of the early 2000s were a de facto standard of document file formats due to their popularity. Though usually just referred to as «Word document format», this term refers primarily to the range of formats used by default in Word version 2–2003. In addition to the default Word binary formats, there are actually a number of optional alternate file formats that Microsoft has used over the years. Rich Text Format (RTF) was an early effort to create a format for interchanging formatted text between applications. RTF remains an optional format for Word that retains most formatting and all content of the original document. Later, after HTML appeared, Word supported an HTML derivative as an additional full-fidelity round-trip format similar to RTF, with the additional capability that the file could be viewed in a web browser. Word 2007 and 2010 uses the newer Microsoft Office Open XML format as its default format, but retains the older Word 97–2003 format as an option. It also supports (for output only) PDF and XPS format.

The document formats of the various versions change in subtle and not so subtle ways; 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. WordArt also changed drastically in a recent version causing problems with documents that used it when moving in either direction. The DOC format’s specifications are not available for public download but can be received by writing to Microsoft directly and signing an agreement. (The latest format, DOCX, is publicly documented.)

Microsoft Word 95-2003 implemented OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) to manage the structure of its file format, easily identifiable by the .doc extension. OLE behaves rather like a conventional hard drive filesystem, and is made up of several key components. Each word document is composed of so-called «big blocks» which are almost always (but do not have to be) 512-byte chunks, hence a Word documents filesize will always be a multiple of 512. «Storages» are analogues of the directory on a disk drive, and point to other storages or «streams» which are similar to files on a disk. The text in a Word document is always contained in the «WordDocument» stream. The first big block in a Word document, known as the «header» block, provides important information as to the location of the major data structures in the document. «Property storages» provide metadata about the storages and streams in a .doc file, such as where it begins and its name, among other things. The «File information block» contains information about where the text in a word document starts, ends, what version of Word created the document, and more. Needless to say, Word documents are far more complex than perhaps initially expected, perhaps necessarily, or in part to prevent third-parties designing interoperable applications.

People who do not use Microsoft Office sometimes find it difficult to use a Word document. Various solutions have been created. Since the format is a de facto standard, many word processors such as AbiWord or OpenOffice.org Writer need file import and export filters for Microsoft Word’s document file format to compete. Furthermore, there is Apache Jakarta POI, which is an open-source Java library that aims to read and write Word’s binary file. Most of this interoperability is achieved through reverse engineering since documentation of the Word 1.0-2003 file format, while available to partners, is not publicly released. The Word 2007-2010 file format, however, is publicly documented.

For the last 10 years Microsoft has also made available freeware viewer programs for Windows that can read Word documents without a full version of the Microsoft Word software. Microsoft has also provided converters that enable different versions of Word to import and export to older Word versions and other formats and converters for older Word versions to read documents created in newer Word formats. The whole Office product range is covered by the Office Converter Pack for Office 97–2003 and Office Compatibility Pack for Office 2000–2003 since the release of Office 2007.

The aforementioned Word format is a binary format. Microsoft has moved towards an XML-based file format for their office applications with Office 2007: Microsoft Office Open XML. This format does not conform fully to standard XML. It is, however, publicly documented as ECMA standard 376. Public documentation of the default file format is a first for Word, and makes it considerably easier, though not trivial, for competitors to interoperate. Efforts to establish it as an ISO standard are also underway. Another XML-based, public file format supported by Word 2003 is WordprocessingML.

It is possible to write plugins permitting Word to read and write formats it does not natively support.

Flaws

Macros

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. Recently .NET has become the preferred platform for Word programming.

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 key, and floppy makes this an especially attractive vector. A prominent example is the Melissa worm, but countless others have existed in the wild. Some anti-virus software can detect and clean common macro viruses, and firewalls may prevent worms from transmitting themselves to other systems.

The first virus known to affect Microsoft Word documents was called the Concept virus, a relatively harmless virus created to demonstrate the possibility of macro virus creation.[citation needed]

Layout issues

As of Word 2007 for Windows (and Word 2004 for Macintosh), the program has been unable to handle ligatures defined in TrueType fonts: those ligature glyphs with Unicode codepoints may be inserted manually, but are not recognized by Word for what they are, breaking spellchecking, while custom ligatures present in the font are not accessible at all. Other layout deficiencies of Word include the inability to set crop marks or thin spaces. Various third-party workaround utilities have been developed.[9] Similarly, combining diacritics are handled poorly: Word 2003 has «improved support», but many diacritics are still misplaced, even if a precomposed glyph is present in the font. Additionally, as of Word 2002, Word does automatic font substitution when it finds a character in a document that does not exist in the font specified. It is impossible to deactivate this, making it very difficult to spot when a glyph used is missing from the font in use.

In Word 2004 for Macintosh, complex scripts support was inferior even to Word 97, and Word does not support Apple Advanced Typography features like ligatures or glyph variants.

Bullets and numbering

Users report that Word’s bulleting and numbering system is highly problematic. Particularly troublesome is Word’s system for restarting numbering.

Versions

Versions for MS-DOS include:

• 1983 November — Word 1
• 1985 — Word 2
• 1986 — Word 3
• 1987 — Word 4 aka Microsoft Word 4.0 for the PC
• 1989 — Word 5
• 1991 — Word 5.1
• 1991 — Word 5.5
• 1993 — Word 6.0

Versions for the Macintosh (Mac OS and Mac OS X) include:

• 1985 January — Word 1 for the Macintosh
• 1987 — Word 3
• 1989 — Word 4
• 1991 — Word 5
• 1993 — Word 6
• 1998 — Word 98
• 2000 — Word 2001, the last version compatible with Mac OS 9
• 2001 — Word v.X, the first version for Mac OS X only
• 2004 — Word 2004
• 2007 — Word 2008 (Will be a Universal binary)

Versions for Microsoft Windows include:

• 1989 November — Word for Windows 1.0 for Windows 2.x, code-named «Opus»
• 1990 March — Word for Windows 1.1 for Windows 3.0, code-named «Bill the Cat»
• 1983 — Word for Windows 1.0-1? for Windows 1.0x-2.x
• 1990 June — Word for Windows 1.1a for Windows 3.x
• 1991 — Word for Windows 2.0, code-named «Spaceman Spiff»
• 1993 — Word for Windows 6.0, code named «T3» (renumbered «6» to bring Windows version numbering in line with that of DOS version, Macintosh version and also WordPerfect, the main competing word processor at the time; also a 32-bit version for Windows NT only)
• 1995 — Word 95 for Windows 95 (version 7) — included in Office 95
• 1997 — Word 97 (version — included in Office 97
• 1999 — Word 2000 (version 9) — included in Office 2000
• 2001 — Word 2002 (version 10) — included in Office XP
• 2003 — Word 2003 (version 11) — included in Office 2003
• 2007 — Word 2007 (version 12) — included in all Office 2007 suites; released worldwide to consumers on January 30, 2007
• 2010 — Word 2010 (version 14) — included in all Office 2010 suites; released worldwide to consumers on June 15, 2010
• 2012 — Word 2013 (version 15) — included in all Office 2013 suites
• 2015 — Word 2016 (version 16) — included in all Office 2016 suites
• 2018 — Word 2019 (version 16) — included in all Office 2019 suites
• 2021 — Word 2021 (version ??) — included in all Office 2021 suites

Note: Version number 13 was skipped due to superstition.

Versions for SCO UNIX include:

• Microsoft Word for UNIX Systems Release 5.1

Versions for OS/2 include:

• 1992 Microsoft Word for OS/2 version 1.1B

Hidden features

• Typing «=rand (n)», where n is a number between 1 and 201, generates a placeholder statement n times:
• Word 2003 and older generate the sentence «The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.» (or another default pangram in a non-English version) in older versions of Word.[11]
• Office 2007 will generate the following text once or twice if n is 1 or 2:

«On the Insert tab, the galleries include items that are designed to coordinate with the overall look of your document. You can use these galleries to insert tables, headers, footers, lists, cover pages, and other document building blocks. When you create pictures, charts, or diagrams, they also coordinate with your current document look.»

However, typing «=rand (3)» or higher will generate repetitions of the following text:0

«On the Insert tab, the galleries include items that are designed to coordinate with the overall look of your document. You can use these galleries to insert tables, headers, footers, lists, cover pages, and other document building blocks. When you create pictures, charts, or diagrams, they also coordinate with your current document look.»

«You can easily change the formatting of selected text in the document text by choosing a look for the selected text from the Quick Styles gallery on the Home tab. You can also format text directly by using the other controls on the Home tab. Most controls offer a choice of using the look from the current theme or using a format that you specify directly.»

«To change the overall look of your document, choose new Theme elements on the Page Layout tab. To change the looks available in the Quick Style gallery, use the Change Current Quick Style Set command. Both the Themes gallery and the Quick Styles gallery provide reset commands so that you can always restore the look of your document to the original contained in your current template.»

• Microsoft Word 97 contained a hidden pinball game.

• On the note about the pseudo-function rand, in Office 2003 and newer the function can take two parameters (i.e. =rand(2,3)). When using this pseudo-function this way, it will create 2 sets of the same line 3 times. The maxes for this function seem to be 200 and 99 so that you cannot create more than =rand(200,99) worth of text. About 235 pages.

References

External links

• Microsoft Word at Microsoft 365
  • Word help & learning at Microsoft Support
• Microsoft Word at Wikipedia

	Wikipedia (article: Microsoft Word ) This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).

Asked by: Mr. Morris Murphy Jr.

Score: 4.6/5
(59 votes)

Microsoft Word is a word processing software developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems.

What is Microsoft Word used for?

Microsoft Word or MS Word is a popular word-processing program used mainly for creating documents, such as brochures, letters, learning activities, quizzes, tests, and students’ homework assignments. It was first released in 1983 and is one of Microsoft Office suite’s applications.

What is Microsoft Word Meaning?

Microsoft Word is a widely used commercial word processor designed by Microsoft. Microsoft Word is a component of the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software, but can also be purchased as a stand-alone product. … Microsoft Word is often called simply Word or MS Word.

What are the five uses of Microsoft Word?

Given below are the basic functions of Microsoft Word:

What is Microsoft Word and example of?

Microsoft Word is a word processor, and, like other word processors, it’s capable of helping users create a variety of different types of documents. For example, users can create a résumé, business contract, instruction document, or a letter to another person.

18 related questions found

What Does Microsoft Word Mean?

Microsoft Word is a widely used commercial word processor designed by Microsoft. Microsoft Word is a component of the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software, but can also be purchased as a stand-alone product.

Microsoft Word was initially launched in 1983, and has since been revised numerous times. It is available for both Windows and Apple operating systems.

Microsoft Word is often called simply Word or MS Word.

Techopedia Explains Microsoft Word

In 1981, Microsoft hired Charles Simonyi to develop a word-processing application. The first version was released in 1983.

Initially, MS Word was not very popular, owing to its radically different look compared to WordPerfect, the leading word processor at that time. However, Microsoft improved Word continually over the years, including a 1985 version that could run on a Mac. The second major release of Word, in 1987, included an upgrade of major features, in addition to new functionalities such as support for rich text format (RTF).

In 1995, Microsoft increased its market share in the word processor business with the release of Windows 95 and Office 95, which offered a bundled set of office productivity software.

Some features that have made MS Word useful include a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) display: this design ensures that everything displayed on screen appears the same way when printed or moved to another format or program. The ability of users to copy and paste MS Word content into many other platforms without significant formatting loss is one reason the software has stayed so popular in the last two decades.

In addition, MS Word has a built-in dictionary for spell checking; misspelled words are marked with a red squiggly underline. MS Word offers text-level features such as bold, underline, italic and strike-through, and page-level features such as indentation, paragraphing and justification. Word is compatible with many other programs, the most common being the other members of the Office suite.

In 2007, .docx became the default file format, replacing the “.doc” extension.

As Microsoft Word modernized over time, so did Microsoft operating systems. Since the Microsoft Office suite is inherently tied to the Microsoft operating system, its use featured in user frustrations around end-of-life for Microsoft XP and the successive Vista and Windows 7, 8 and 10 additions.

At the same time, Microsoft was getting on the cloud bandwagon. Its new offering, Microsoft Office 365, replaces old out of the box or single machine licensing methods with a cloud-delivered set of software applications that users can access from anywhere.

With subscription pricing, many customers are now accessing Microsoft Word and Office suites through office 365 instead of buying it through downloads with license keys. Theoretically, the cloud-delivered method allows for more versatile use on multiple devices, although some users have reported trouble trying to get new devices authorized.

One other popular aspect of the cloud-delivered software is that there’s no need to load it onto the local hard drive, leaving the end device less cluttered by drivers and other types of software infrastructure. At the same time, Microsoft has added other complementary cloud applications like OneNote, OneDrive and SharePoint for enterprise users, and a mobile Office suite for Apple and Android.

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You may or may not be a Microsoft user. But it is highly likely that you have heard of Microsoft Word or even used it. It is a word processing program that is extensively used. In case you have not heard of MS Word, do not worry! This article will discuss everything you need to know about Microsoft Word.

Microsoft Word is a word processing program. Microsoft developed and released the first version of MS Word in the year 1983. Since then, numerous versions have been released. With every new version, Microsoft tries to introduce a bunch of new features. Microsoft Word is a necessary application for anyone who works with the creation and maintenance of documents. Also read 27 Best Alternatives to Microsoft Word here.. Also read 27 Best Alternatives to Microsoft Word here.. It is called a word processor because it is used to process (perform actions such as manipulate, format, share.) text documents.

Note: * many other names also know Microsoft Word – MS Word, WinWord, or only Word.

*The first version was developed by Richard Brodie and Charles Simonyi.

We initially mentioned that you might have heard of it even if you have not used it, as it is the most popular word processor. It is included in the Microsoft Office suite. Even the most basic suite has MS Word included in it. Although it is a part of the suite, it can be bought as a standalone product too.

 It is suitable for personal and professional use because of its robust features (which we will be discussing in the following sections). Today, MS Word is not just limited to Microsoft users. It is available on Mac, Android, iOS and has a web version as well.

A brief history

The first-ever version of MS Word, which was released in 1983, was developed by Richard Brodie and Charles Simonyi. At that time, the leading processor was WordPerfect. It was so popular that the first version of Word did not connect with the users. But Microsoft worked continuously to improve the look and features of their word processor.

Initially, the word processor was called Multi-tool Word. It was based on the Bravo framework – the first-ever graphical writing program. In October 1983, it was re-christened Microsoft Word.

In 1985, Microsoft released a new version of Word. This one was available on Mac devices too.

The next release was in 1987. This was a significant release as Microsoft introduced support for Rich text format in this version.

With Windows 95 and Office 95, Microsoft introduced a bundled set of office productivity software. With this release, MS Word saw a significant rise in sales.

Before the 2007 version, all Word files carried the default extension .doc. From the 2007 version onwards, .docx is the default format.

The basic uses of MS Word 

MS Word has a wide range of uses. It can be sued to create reports, letters, resumes, and all kinds of documents. If you are wondering why it is preferred over a plain-text editor, it has many useful features like – text and font formatting, image support, advanced page layout, HTML support, spell check, grammar check, etc.

MS Word also contains templates to create the following documents – newsletter, brochure, catalog, poster, banner, resume, business card, receipt, invoice, etc.… You can also use MS Word to create personal documents like an invitation, certificate, etc.

Also Read: How To Start Microsoft Word In Safe Mode

Which user needs to buy MS Word?

Now that we know the history behind MS Word and the basic uses let us determine who needs Microsoft Word. Whether or not you need MS Word depends on the kind of documents you usually work on. If you work on basic documents with just paragraphs and bulleted lists, you may make use of the WordPad application, which is available in all-new versions – Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10. However, if you want to access more features, then you will need Microsoft Word. 

MS Word offers a huge range of styles and designs that you can apply to your documents. Long documents can be formatted easily. With modern versions of MS Word, you can include much more than just text. You can add images, videos (from your system and the internet), insert charts, draw shapes, etc.

If you are using the word processor to create documents for your blog, write a book, or for other professional purposes, you would want to set margins, tabs, format the text, insert lines, page breaks and change the spacing between lines. With MS Word, you can accomplish all these activities. You can also add headers, footers, add a bibliography, captions, tables, etc.

Do you have MS Word on your system? 

Well, you have now decided that it is better to use MS Word for your documents. Chances are, you already have Microsoft Word on your system. How to check whether you have the application? Check out the following steps to determine whether you already have it on your device.

1. Open the start menu and type msinfo32 and press enter.

2. You can see a menu on the left side. To the left of the third option ‘software environment,’ you can see a small + sign. Click on the +.

3. The menu will expand. Click on program groups.

4. Search for MS Office entry.

5. Mac users can check if they have MS Word by searching in the Finder sidebar in Applications.

6. In case you do not have MS Word on your system, how to get it?

You can get the latest version of MS Word from Microsoft 365. You can purchase either a monthly subscription or purchase Microsoft Office. Various suites are listed on the Microsoft Store. You can compare the suites and then purchase whatever suits your work style. 

If you have installed MS Word in your system, but you cannot find it in the start menu, you can go through the following steps to launch the application. (These steps are for Windows 10 users)

1. Open This PC.

2. Go to C: Drive (or whichever drive Microsoft Office has been installed in).

3. Look for the folder named Program Files (x86). Click on it. Then go to the Microsoft Office folder.

4. Now open the root folder.

5. In this folder, look for a folder named OfficeXX (XX – the current version of Office). Click on it

6. In this folder, search for an application file Winword.exe. Double click the file.

Main features of MS Word

Irrespective of the version of MS Word you are using, the interface is somewhat similar. Given below is a snapshot of the Microsoft Word interface to provide you with an idea. You have the main menu with a range of options such as a file, home, inset, design, layout, references, etc. These options help you in manipulating the text, formatting, applying different styles, etc.

The interface is quite user-friendly. One can intuitively figure out how to open or save a document. By default, a page in MS Word has 29 lines.

1. The format

As mentioned in the history part, documents created in the older versions of MS Word had the format. This was called a proprietary format because files of that format were fully supported only in MS Word. Although some other applications could open these files, all features were not supported.

Now, the default format for Word files is .docx. The x in docx stands for the XML standard. Files are in the format are less likely to get corrupted. Specific other applications can also read Word documents.

2. Text and formatting

With MS Word, Microsoft has given the user so many options in style and formatting. Specific creative layouts that previously could be created only using graphic design software can now be created in MS Word itself!

Adding visuals to your text document always creates a better impact on the reader. Here you can not only add tables and charts, or pictures from different sources; you can also format the pictures.

Also Read: How to Insert a PDF into a Word Document

3. Print and export

You can print your document by going to File à Print. This will open a preview of how your document will be printed.

MS Word can be used to create documents in other file formats too. For this, you have the exporting feature. PDF is the most common format Word documents are exported to. At the same time, you are sharing documents through mail, on a website, etc. PDF is the preferred format. You can create your original document in MS Word and simply change the extension from the dropdown menu while saving the file.

4. MS Word Templates

If you are not comfortable with graphic design, you can use the built-in templates available in MS Word. There are tons of templates for creating resumes, invitations, student project reports, office reports, certificates, event brochures, etc. These templates can be freely downloaded and used. They are designed by professionals, and thus their looks reflect the quality and experience of their makers.

If you are not satisfied with the range of templates, you can use premium Word templates. Many websites provide professional-grade templates for an affordable subscription rate. Other websites provide templates on a pay-per-use basis where you only pay for the templates you use.

Recommended: What is a Service Pack?

Apart from the above features, there are many more. Let us briefly discuss the other salient features now:

• Compatibility is a strong feature of MS Word. Word files are compatible with other applications within the MS Office suite and many other programs as well.
• On the page-level, you have features such as alignment, justification, indentation, and paragraphing.
• On the text-level, bold, underline, italic, strikethrough, subscript, superscript, font size, style, color, etc. are some features.
• Microsoft Word comes with a built-in dictionary for checking the spellings in your documents. Spelling mistakes are highlighted with a jagged red line. Some minor errors are automatically corrected too!
• WYSIWYG – This is an acronym for ‘what you see is what you get.’ This means that when you shift the document to a different format/program or printed, everything appears exactly like how it is seen on the screen.