Microsoft Word Interactive Demo
Microsoft Word is the word processing application in Microsoft 365, used for writing documents ranging from one-page memos to multi-chapter reports. It supports track changes, citation management, mail merge, AI writing assistance via Copilot, and real-time co-authoring.
What is Microsoft Word?
Microsoft Word is a word processor first released in 1983 and now the most widely used document creation application in the world. It handles everything from short correspondence to complex technical documentation with features like paragraph styles, section breaks, multi-level tables of contents, and embedded objects. Word is available as a desktop application on Windows and macOS, a web app at word.office.com, and a mobile app for iOS and Android.
Track Changes records every edit, insertion, and deletion with the author's name and timestamp, making it the standard tool for legal, editorial, and contract review workflows. The citation manager supports APA, MLA, Chicago, and several other formats, generating footnotes, endnotes, and bibliographies automatically. Copilot, available on Microsoft 365 Copilot plans, can draft sections of a document from a prompt, summarize long documents, and suggest rewrites for selected passages.
The web version is free with a Microsoft account and supports most formatting and collaboration features. Full desktop capabilities, including Copilot, advanced mail merge, and macros, require Microsoft 365 starting at $6 per user per month for business plans. The OneDrive integration means documents are automatically saved and accessible from any device.
How to get started with Microsoft Word
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Open Word and choose a starting point
Launch the desktop app or go to word.office.com. Click New and choose a blank document or a template. For formal documents like reports or proposals, starting from a template gives you pre-configured styles and a structure you can modify rather than build from scratch.
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Apply heading styles to structure your document
Use the Styles gallery in the Home tab to apply Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3 to your section titles rather than manually bolding and sizing text. Consistent styles enable automatic table of contents generation and make the document easier to navigate using the Navigation Pane.
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Enable Track Changes for review workflows
Go to the Review tab and click Track Changes to enable it before sharing the document with a reviewer. All subsequent edits will be marked. Share the document via the Share button, which sends a OneDrive link rather than an email attachment, keeping all reviewers on the same version.
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Add citations and build a bibliography
Go to References > Manage Sources to enter your source details. Insert citations inline as you write. When the document is complete, place your cursor at the end of the document and click Bibliography to insert a formatted reference list in your chosen citation style.
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Save to OneDrive and share
Save your document to OneDrive using File > Save As. Once saved to the cloud, click the Share button in the top-right corner to send a collaboration link. Choose whether recipients can edit or only view, and optionally set a link expiration date for external recipients.
Explore more Microsoft Word guides
Step-by-step interactive demos and tutorials for Microsoft Word.
Who is Microsoft Word most useful for?
Legal and compliance teams live in Microsoft Word. Track Changes with accepted and rejected markup is the de facto collaboration protocol for contract redlining. Paragraph numbering, cross-references, and the ability to compare two document versions are features that legal-specific tools sometimes offer but that Word handles without additional licensing for teams already on Microsoft 365.
Academic and technical writers use Word's citation manager and style system to manage references across documents that run hundreds of pages. The Outline view and Navigator pane make it possible to reorganize long documents by heading level without scrolling through every page. Word's compatibility with the .docx format means manuscripts, theses, and grant proposals submit cleanly to publisher and institution portals that specify this format.
Content and enablement teams that produce sales playbooks, onboarding guides, or product documentation sometimes use Word for structured authoring but distribute final content through tools like Supademo, which converts static written procedures into interactive, step-by-step walkthroughs that new users can follow inside the actual product rather than reading instructions in a separate document.
Word's alternatives differ across the dimensions of collaboration-first design, AI drafting speed, and pricing for teams not already on Microsoft 365.
Notion blends long-form documents with structured databases, making it better suited for interconnected knowledge bases than for standalone formal documents. A Notion page can embed a table of related project tasks, a filtered view of a CRM, or a linked database. This flexibility makes it the preferred writing environment for teams that want documentation and operational data in the same place.
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Google Docs requires no install, stores everything in the cloud by default, and handles simultaneous editing from multiple authors with no version conflicts. It lacks Word's depth of citation management, mail merge, and advanced layout controls, but for teams whose primary need is fast collaborative drafting, it eliminates the friction of managing file versions.
LibreOffice Writer is a full-featured desktop word processor available at no cost, maintained by The Document Foundation. It opens and saves .docx files with high fidelity for standard documents. Complex Word documents with advanced macros or specific layout features may require adjustment after import. It is the practical choice for individuals or organizations that need desktop word processing without a subscription.
Pages ships free with every Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It emphasizes visual layout with magazine-style multi-column designs and tight image positioning controls that are cumbersome in Word. Pages exports to .docx for external sharing but is primarily used within all-Apple environments where file format compatibility with non-Apple recipients is not a concern.
FAQs on Microsoft Word
Commonly asked questions about Microsoft Word. Have more? Reach out and our team will be happy to help.
Is Microsoft Word free?
Microsoft Word is free in its web version at word.office.com for anyone with a Microsoft account. The online app covers most editing, formatting, and collaboration features. The full desktop application requires a Microsoft 365 subscription starting at $6 per user per month for business plans, or a one-time purchase of a perpetual Office license. Mobile apps for iOS and Android are free for documents under 10.1 inches screen size; larger devices require a Microsoft 365 subscription.
How does Track Changes work in Word?
Track Changes in Word records every insertion, deletion, and formatting change made to a document. Each change is attributed to the author with a timestamp and displayed in a contrasting color. Reviewers can accept or reject individual changes or accept all at once from the Review tab. The Compare Documents feature produces a tracked-changes view of the differences between two separate files, which is useful for contract review when a counterparty returns a redlined version.
Can I collaborate on a Word document in real time?
Real-time co-authoring in Word works when the document is saved to OneDrive or SharePoint. Multiple authors see each other's cursor positions and changes appear within a few seconds. The desktop app and web app both support simultaneous editing. Unlike Google Docs, conflict resolution in Word can occasionally require a manual merge if two authors edit the same paragraph simultaneously, but this is rare in practice for most document types.
What is Word Copilot and what can it do?
Word Copilot is an AI writing assistant available with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses. It can draft a section of a document from a prompt, rewrite selected text in a different tone or length, summarize the entire document, and pull relevant content from other files in your OneDrive when drafting. Copilot suggestions appear in a side panel and can be accepted, rejected, or further refined. It is separate from the basic spelling and grammar tools included in all Word plans.
How do I use the citation manager in Word?
Word's citation manager is accessed from the References tab. Select your citation style — APA, MLA, Chicago, and others are built in. Click Insert Citation > Add New Source to enter the source details. Word stores the source in a master list and lets you reuse it across multiple documents. When your document is complete, click Bibliography to generate a formatted reference list automatically. The citation manager supports books, journal articles, websites, and several other source types.
What file formats does Word support?
Word's native format is .docx, the Open XML standard. It exports to .pdf for final distribution, .rtf for cross-application compatibility, .txt for plain text, and .html for web use. Word can also export to .epub for e-readers. It opens legacy .doc files from Word 97-2003 and .odt files from LibreOffice. See how to work across formats in the Microsoft Word interactive demo.