What is Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word or MS Word is a word processing software that was created on 25 October 1983. It is software in which you are creating documents. Many options in MS Word helps you to create amazing documents and later you can print the document also.
Let me discuss some of the pros and cons of MS Word:-
Advantages of Microsoft Word
Spell check:
If you type anything with wrong spelling or grammar mistakes then an underline will show up under the word. You can right-click on that word and then choose the right word.
Print-ready:
Before printing a document, you can check the document how it is seen after the print. You can make as many changes in the document before print.
Multiple people:
If you want to allow another person to do future changes to the document then you can mark up the text and the other person can make changes to the document easily.
Templates:
There are many ready-made templates that you can use to create startup documents. The templates have preformatted placeholders that you can use to insert your content.
Fast search:
You can search in the document easily and it is fast. You can also replace any word in the document and it is fast also.
Quick access bar:
You have the option to add/remove items from the quick access toolbar. This toolbar helps in your tasks while you are typing. You can bold, make italic, change font type, change font size and many other options.
Sharing:
You can share your document on the cloud through OneDrive. You can also email, and post to the blog.
Versions list:
If you accidentally close the MS Word document then the software will automatically save changes in it. You can have multiple versions of a document. You can restore the document and choose the version you want.
Add visual elements:
You can add clip art, charts, images to the document and your document will become visually attractive.
Typing fast:
If you have an idea of what to type then you can make the document ready by typing fast. Your typing speed also increases if you type regularly in MS Word.
Convert to pdf:
When you finish editing the document then you can convert the document to pdf file. This is a very handy feature of MS Word.
Popup toolbar:
When you select any word or number of words then the popup toolbar will show up. You can do various tasks in this, for example, aligning text, bold, changing the size of the font and other formatting as well.
User friendly:
The software is user friendly and you can use shortcuts as well for example pressing Ctrl + b to make the text bold. On the toolbar, there are many formatting options that can help you format your document easily.
Mail merge:
If you have some data in excel and you want to integrate that data in the word document then it takes you very little time. For example, you have a letter to be sent to 100 people. So you add those 100 people in excel. Then connect the excel to a single word document. So MS Word will create 100 various documents by inserting the data from excel.
For students:
Students can do research work and note down their research using MS Word. Bloggers can also write articles on MS Word and then copy articles from MS Word and paste them into blogging websites like WordPress and Blogger.
Mobile app:
MS Word has a mobile app as well. If you are an Android or Windows phone user then you can use MS Word as a mobile app. The mobile app has a very easy to use interface.
Disadvantages of Microsoft Word
Complexity:
If you are a newcomer then you will feel trouble understanding the features of MS Word. There are hundreds of options and you may not use most of the options while working in the document.
Plagiarism:
You can copy and paste any copyrighted text in the document and there is no restriction on this. So the chance of creating duplicated content is high.
Using ribbon:
The ribbon is the top menu in the toolbar. It is used to categorize different options in the document. Most people feel difficulty in using ribbon because there are many options in easy ribbon and most of the features are not used by a normal user.
Costly:
Buying MS Word is very costly. There are other alternatives to MS Word also that are even free to use. If you look at Open Office which is also a word processor and it is free to use.
Extra file size:
If you save the same content in notepad then the file size will be small but if you save content in MS Word then the file size will increase. This is because MS Word stores extra information also which will increase the file size.
Needs high system:
If you see open office then it can run on very low system specification but MS Word needs high system requirements. You will need high RAM and a fast processor to run MS Word smoothly.
Not available for Mac users:
MS Word is not available for Mac users and only Windows users can use it. But MS Word is available on android and Windows mobile.