What is Microsoft Word?

In this overview, you’ll learn more about what Microsoft Word is, what it can do, who uses it, and how to learn it so you can determine how to add this skill to your professional toolbox. Microsoft Word was initially released in 1983. While lacking in features and only able to run on UNIX operating systems, Word continued to evolve. And over the years, it grew in popularity. Microsoft Word is now an industry-leading tool for communications professionals and job holders across industries that require communication skills. 

What Can You Do with Microsoft Word?

Microsoft Word is primarily used as a word-processing program for creating professional-looking documents and reports. Authors use it to write novels, job seekers create resumes, and students write essays. In the workplace, Microsoft Word is used to create a host of documents, including letterheads, reports, templates, training manuals, calendars, invoices, and promotional materials, among others. Businesses also use the mail merge feature that outputs created documents to a mailing list or newsletter.

But Microsoft Word is more than a typing software. The program includes interactive elements such as fillable forms, checkboxes, and dropdown menus. It can easily convert documents into fillable PDFs or vice versa. Plain text documents are made more visually appealing with images, animations, or WordArt. Tables are also easily converted into visual graphs and charts. Microsoft Word can even transcribe audio files, transcribe live speech into text, and translate documents.

A particularly valuable feature of Microsoft Word is its collaboration tools for group projects. Professionals can easily share documents with others to work on. Changes such as comments and edits are tracked so the original owner of the document can decide what suggestions to make official. A history of changes to a document is also saved and can be reverted to at any time. Microsoft Word is a powerful tool for any business’ communications needs, whether internally or with customers or clients. 

How Do You Get Microsoft Word? How Much Does it Cost?

Users can find Microsoft Word and other Microsoft programs on the official Microsoft website. The entire Microsoft Suite, including Microsoft Word and Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, can be purchased for an annual subscription of $70. A family of up to six people can purchase the Microsoft Suite for a $100 yearly subscription. This subscription is compatible with PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android phones and tablets and also includes up to 6TBs of cloud storage (depending on your plan). Microsoft also has various subscription plans for businesses. 

Individuals can purchase Microsoft Word for a one-time fee of $80. A free trial is also available for home users and business owners. Anyone can also purchase Microsoft programs and older versions from third-party retailers. 

What Are the Benefits of Learning Microsoft Word?

There are many benefits to learning Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word provides grammar and spell-check tools that allow job seekers and established professionals to write professionally and more efficiently. Easy-to-read charts and graphs are also simple to build, enabling the creation of professional reports and documentation.

Job seekers especially can benefit from Microsoft Word, through which they can create professional-looking resumes. As an industry standard, many office workers are expected to know how to use the program to create documents or, at the very least, for spell check. Several communication-heavy professions, such as Lawyer, Administrator, and Copywriter, require Microsoft Word as a skill. Writing and editing teams in any business will also likely use Word for collaboration. Thus, Microsoft Word is essential for any job seeker or professional whose position requires communication skills.

Read more about why you should learn Microsoft Word.

Microsoft Word Careers

Microsoft Word is used across industries in any profession that requires communication. Office workers such as Administrative Assistants, Bookkeepers, Data Entry Clerks, and Account Coordinators use Microsoft Word on a daily basis to create documents and other communications. Microsoft Word is also commonly used in professions that require a lot of writing, such as Copy Editor, Technical Writer, Grant Writer, Journalist, and Marketer. There are many more! Indeed currently lists nearly 200,000 professional positions that require Microsoft Word as a skill. There are even more positions where competence in Microsoft Word isn’t required but is still expected. This is a result of how popular the program has become. 

Microsoft Office products are the most widely used business productivity software worldwide, and things are not expected to change in the future. Learning Microsoft Word and other Microsoft Programs is essential for your resume and future job prospects across industries. 

How to Learn Microsoft Word

There are a number of ways to learn Microsoft Word. Your first option includes live classes, which can be in-person or live online. Live classes offer engagement with an instructor that will answer a student’s questions in real-time. However, in-person class options are often limited to locations nearest a student. Live online courses can be taken from anywhere with an internet connection and do their best to replicate the feel of in-person classrooms. They also don’t feature a commute, which can be time-consuming and costly.

Another option includes on-demand, asynchronous, or self-paced learning. This type of learning is best for students who prefer to learn at their own pace or have work or family obligations that prevent them from attending regularly scheduled classes. Students have more freedom to learn as they wish, but they lack an instructor or guidance, and self-motivation is required to progress through the material. 

Finally, students can choose to learn through free options such as seminars, online tutorials, guides, blog posts, or videos. These options are great for individuals wanting to learn the basics of Microsoft Word. However, like other learning options, they don’t feature a proper instructor and will likely not be enough for someone wanting to learn Microsoft Word to advance their career. Free tutorials can also be outdated. 

Read the full guide on how to learn Microsoft Word.

A Brief History of Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word was first launched in 1983 and was designed to run on computers with the UNIX operating system. The unique property of Word is that it runs on a WYSIWYG (what you see if what you get) design, meaning that how a document looks on screen is how it would look when printed. Microsoft Word wasn’t a huge success at the time and competed heavily with WordPerfect and WordStar word processing programs.

Version 2.0 of Microsoft Word was released in 1985, adding spell check and word count features. Over the years, subsequent versions of Microsoft Word were released, adding further features and allowing the program to work on more operating systems. Thus, the use and popularity of Microsoft Word continued to grow. Since 1993, Microsoft has released a new version of Word approximately every two years. 

Comparable Applications

Google Docs is the primary competitor to Microsoft Word. Google Docs started as an online word processor called Writely, which was developed by a company called Upstartle and launched in 2005. Google acquired Upstartle and, in 2006, launched Google Documents as a beta program. Google continued to work on the program, improving and adding more features until it became a comparable document creation tool to Microsoft Word.

Google Doc’s main competitive feature it’s online collaboration tools. Group members can access documents anywhere as long as they have an internet connection. Documents can also be easily shared and accessed through a variety of devices. While Microsoft Word has collaboration features, they are more challenging to use, and different devices between users can cause problems. Google Docs also autosaves changes, and a document’s previous history can be easily viewed and converted to. While Microsoft Word has these same features, they must be manually activated and only work through OneDrive or SharePoint. Lastly, Google Docs is also completely free compared to Microsoft Word’s $80 price tag.

However, Microsoft Word has been undergoing changes and improvements for over 30 years and thus has more bells and whistles than Google Docs. For professionals needing advanced formatting or layout features, Microsoft Word is the program to use. But Google Docs is perfectly adequate for a professional’s average document creation.

Learn Microsoft Word with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

In today’s busy world, live online learning can be a fast, engaging, and comprehensive alternative to in-person classes. Noble Desktop offers live online classes in Microsoft Word that are hands-on and open to beginners. Classes are small, taught by expert instructors, and include free retake options.

Microsoft Word Level I is a one-day course that teaches all the Microsoft Word essentials. You’ll learn how to avoid common page formatting errors and prepare and send mass emails, letters, and labels with one click. You’ll also learn all the necessary shortcuts to shave hours off your time. Students who want to increase their Microsoft Word skills can attend the Microsoft Word Level II course.

Microsoft Word Level II is an advanced class that teaches next-level Microsoft Word skills. You’ll learn how to use automation to speed up your workflow, create custom document templates, use advanced formatting techniques, and build long documents. This is the ideal course for individuals wanting to become Microsoft Word experts. 

Noble Desktop also provides additional Microsoft Office classes, including Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook. 

Key Insights

• Microsoft Word has been around for decades and has become a standard requirement for professionals across all industries.
• The program contains many powerful document-creation tools for professionals.
• Microsoft Word skills are necessary for communications professionals and any job position across industries requiring communication skills.
• There are a variety of training methods to acquire Microsoft Word skills.
• You can receive comprehensive Microsoft Word training through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.