What is Microsoft Word and what is it for?

Microsoft Word is used to edit and create documents, it allows you to make modifications to texts and documents already written thanks to the number of tools it has.

It is the simplest and most suitable system to carry out any type of work related to the creation, reading and / or editing of texts, also for the creation of graphics, tables of contents, etc. It has multiple tools that allow the development of various document formats, facilitating the work of students and professionals in any area thanks to its simplicity.

It is integrated by default in the basic suite of programs for Microsoft Office. Its most recent versions are Microsoft Office Word 2016 for computers with Windows systems and also Microsoft Office Word 2016 in the case of computers with Mac systems.

In this article we will show you in more detail what Microsoft Word is and what it is for , if you want to know, continue reading.

What is Microsoft Word for?

1. One of the reasons why it is the most famous word processing program in the world is because it comes in almost all computers installed automatically together with the Office package, this since 1997, since before it was sold as individually, but in addition, it is that its operation is totally simple, basic and without impediments.
2. It is basically used to create and edit texts, under different sizes of sheets and fonts for the letters, being able to change its design, size and color easily, as well as texts with highlighting effects (in any desired color), italics can be placed. , bold, underline, or strikethrough.
3. It also allows us to add images to the document, edit the layout of the text and page format, the spaces between letters, words and the spacing, as well as the size of the margins. These options are very useful when writing documents that have citations that need to be in line spacing or margins different from the rest of the text.
4. Among its options you can place the text by margin spaces of the desired size, as well as align the text to the left, the center, the right or “justified”, make lists, placing the desired icon, create sheets of calculation or tables to suit and needs of each user, cut images, etc.

What are the fundamental functions of Microsft Word

One of its most useful functions is text correction, since this allows the user to immediately realize if there is a word repetition error or misspelling in the file. It also shows quickly and simply the number of pages in the document, as well as the number of words and even letters that text has.

These options greatly facilitate the task of journalists or any writer who must quickly assess if there is an error in the document or who must keep track of the number of characters he is writing.

This is why it is the ideal program for any type of office work, since it not only simplifies the task of the copywriter, but also saves a lot of time to evaluate these factors manually.

It is also a program that allows you to insert hyperlinks to internet pages or other documents, linking them to any part of the text so that they can be opened in another tab when you select them.

In Word you can read texts that have been written in other formats, such as PDF, without any problem, which has a great advantage since not all programs support opening this document format because they need certain support programs or updates to do so.

Formats in which a Microsoft Word document can be saved

Documents made in Microsoft Word can be stored on a computer under PDF, DOC and RTF formats.

The standard or default format is DOC (the file is saved with a .doc extension), however, since this option left the document in a very heavy size, in the Word 2007 version an extension ending as. docx, which further compresses the document in question.

In the case of the RTF format (here the files were stored with the extension .rtf) it was used to transfer documents between Microsoft and Apple systems.

This was because the latter has always had limitations in the types of external files that it allows to open and store on its technological devices, which made it difficult (in the case of documents) to use and transfer files from one system to another.

To save files in PDF format, it is only necessary to select the option in the Word work panel once the document is finished, since being in PDF it cannot be modified.

For all the reasons and qualities mentioned above, Microsoft Word is ideal for working with text formats, being perfect for the use of anyone and any type of work related to the area of ​​writing, allowing resumes to be created in this program vitae, graphs, tables, document templates, brochures, business cards, correspondence, etc.

Evolution of Microsoft Word over time

Since its creation (by Richard Brodie) in 1983 for the DOS operating system of that time, it has evolved into different versions for other different systems, appearing in 89 the first version for Windows, creating a considerable increase. considerable sales.

Previously, the way to name and differentiate each version of Word was by its name and the number corresponding to the number of updates, for example: Word 3.0 and Word 3.1. After this, it began to differentiate itself by the year of update, naming versions such as Word 2000 and Word 2001 (years in which the new versions were released).

It has also been adapted for other types of operating systems such as the Macintosh platforms, the MS-DOS system and the Unix system. The platforms with the most versions of this program are Microsoft Windows and Macintosh.