Microsoft Word

Software Overview

Microsoft Word is an industry-standard word processing program included in the Microsoft Office suite along with Excel and PowerPoint. It is used for authoring documents for personal and business use, such as letters, resumes, invitations, brochures, newsletters, and posters.

Word includes basic page and text formatting capabilities and offers several advanced features, such as mail merge, change tracking, document merging, and macro scripting. The word processor saves documents in the Office Open XML .DOCX format, by default. The program may also save documents in the proprietary .DOC format, which was commonly used by earlier versions of Word. The application also provides support for embedded online pictures and videos, enabling rich content within documents.

The Word user interface streamlines the process of creating new documents from document templates. The word processor includes thousands of downloadable online document templates, which serve as a starting point for creating new documents. Templates are available for several types of documents, including business forms, labels, envelopes, menus, newsletters, planners, and home and educational documents. Custom templates (which are saved .DOT and .DOTX files) can also be created for company letterheads and other types of documents that require a consistent look and feel.

Once you select a template (or blank document), you have a myriad of ribbon-style toolbars and other options available for authoring and styling documents. Word provides collaborative editing and review tools for teams. Collaborators can edit the same document in real-time or add comments. The word processor also keeps a history of changes, which is useful when multiple users are working on a single document. Also, the commenting and reply system allows teams to have short discussions of document content.

If you have ever created a document in school or at work, you most likely have used Microsoft Word. It is an industry-standard word processor for creating book reports, academic publications, business documents, recipes, and more. Its support of popular formats and wide usage make Microsoft Word the best choice for all of your word processing needs.

Primary File Type

.DOCXMicrosoft Word Document

Supported File Types

Additional Related File Types