Why Learn Microsoft Word?

Microsoft Word is a worldwide leading word processor and document creator. It is used across industries in virtually any position requiring communication skills to create professional-looking documents and reports. Office workers, legal professionals, Writers, and communications teams use Microsoft Word on a daily basis. For any professional, gaining skills in Microsoft Word can boost your resume, improve productivity, and increase your teamwork skills.

Do you know everything that Microsoft Word can do? Here, you’ll learn more about the careers that benefit from Microsoft Word and how it can enhance your professional life. Regardless of your goals, learning Microsoft Word is a valuable and impressive skill to add to your resume. 

What is Microsoft Word?

Microsoft Word is a powerful word-processing software that offers tons of flexibility when it comes to creating professional reports, letters, contracts, and other documents. Its features are more robust than other word processors, allowing it to become an industry standard used by companies and entrepreneurs worldwide. These advanced features include mail marges, spellchecker, text formatting, tables, and page layout, among many others. Microsoft Word can also produce documents in various file types, making it compatible with many other programs. Its popularity means it’s also compatible with nearly any computer. 

Since its release in 1983, Microsoft Word has continued to evolve to the needs of its users. Modern integrations have allowed the use of Microsoft Word over mobile, the web, and the Cloud for collaborative document creation. Cloud-based sharing and permissions make it easy for colleagues to collaborate and maintain security. Though Microsoft Word has faced many competitors over the decades, it continues to stand the test of time. 

Read more about what Microsoft Word is and why you should learn it. 

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. 

Common Professional Uses for Microsoft Word

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. 

Improve Your Resume

Microsoft Word and its accompanying suite of programs, Microsoft Office, is used by over a million companies worldwide. With Microsoft Word’s popularity, its near 30-year history, and its availability on a variety of operating systems, many companies expect job applicants to possess Microsoft Word skills already. Efficiency in the program is required for thousands of positions. And when it isn’t required, most job positions across industries require documentation, data handling, or presentation skills. Microsoft Word, and by extension Microsoft Office, is a must-have skill for the modern business professional. 

Boost Your Productivity
Microsoft Word bills itself as a productivity software with an intuitive interface. The program also features ready-made templates, allowing beginners of the program to quickly create a variety of documents. The program’s what-you-see-is-what-you-get interface means there’s no guesswork from what the user sees on their computer screen to what is printed. Additionally, Microsoft Word possesses a host of efficiency features, including keyboard shortcuts, customizations, and configurations to make the formatting of documents quick and easy. Word’s lookup tool allows users to conduct research and find synonyms without leaving the program.

Learn to Work within a Team
Microsoft Word possesses several collaboration tools that allow editing and document creation between team members. Teamwork capabilities are one of the main reasons for Microsoft Word’s popularity within businesses, allowing entire departments to come together on a project or share that project across departments. Users of Microsoft Word can boost their skills in collaborating with others by providing feedback with comments, suggesting edits, and sharing workloads.

How to Start Learning 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.

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 is a worldwide leading word processor and document creator.
• It is used across industries in virtually any position requiring communication skills.
• Hundreds of thousands of job positions require Microsoft Word as a skill. 
• Gaining skills in Microsoft Word can boost your resume, improve productivity, and increase your teamwork skills.
• You can receive comprehensive Microsoft Word training through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.