Microsoft Word was once just a way to create newsletters or write reports. Now, it’s a powerful tool that helps businesses work together, build visually engaging documents, and drive efficiency.
Microsoft Word is part of Microsoft 365’s Office suite, along with other tools such as Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and OneDrive. Perhaps the most well-known office productivity solution in the world, Office has more than 210,000 business users in the UK alone. Word was first launched in 1983, but the software we know and love today is a lot different to the Word of the 80s.
More than just a word processor
Microsoft Word was once just a way to create newsletters or write reports. Now, it’s a powerful tool that helps businesses work together, build visually engaging documents, and drive efficiency. Did you know that Word allows you to easily import, format, and edit images? Or integrate Excel tables and graphs? Or facilitate remote working policies across your organisation? And that’s only part of it.
Most people know how to use Word. It’s intuitive. But getting the most value from the technology means digging a little deeper to leverage the power of some of Word’s more advanced features, like:
Real-time co-authoring: Word allows for multiple people to work on the same document, at the same time, from different locations. Even if they’re on opposite sides of the world. It’s far more than just a word processor; it’s a collaboration tool making remote working a reality. Users can see who’s working on a document, and easily keep track of changes or comments that have been made.
Microsoft Editor: Word users can access Microsoft Editor to receive instant feedback on spelling and grammar, ensuring that the quality of every document is at the level that’s expected. Editor also provides intelligent suggestions to help make documents more understandable and accessible to the audience. Microsoft Editor can be used in other Microsoft 365 products, too, including Outlook.
Document sharing: Word documents can quickly be saved as a Word file, or as other types of file including PDF and rich text format, depending on how the information needs to be shared. Documents can also be shared online, with the ability to instantly transform a Word document into a webpage. Businesses often use this feature to publish newsletters directly to a company website.
How to save time using Word
When used effectively, Word can be a huge driver of workplace efficiency and productivity. It’s built to help organisations save time, freeing up employees to focus on more important activities.
Word helps you to save time in a number of ways. You can:
- Access documents from anywhere, at any time, without needing to be on a specific device
- Get a head-start on designing a document with help from Word templates in 40+ categories
- Research information for your document directly from the integrated Word task pane
- Worry less about security, knowing security updates are automatically pushed to 365 apps
Of course, the important phrase here is “when used effectively”. To really get the most from Word and other Office products and Microsoft 365 tools, it’s crucial to adopt best practices across the business. At Reliable Networks, we’re here to help you achieve this with our Microsoft 365 support services.
