At a glance
Expert rating
Benefits
- Packaged in a compelling Office package
- Lots of options
- Focus mode is fantastic
Disadvantages
- So many tools can overwhelm some
Our verdict
Microsoft Word remains the king of word processors, and while it offers some stylistic choices that may put off some, its combination of affordability and flexibility makes it hard to beat.
Price when reviewed
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Best price today
Price when reviewed
Lifetime license, one device: $179.99; Microsoft 265 Personal, one device: $99.99 per year ($9.99 per month)
Best prices today:
Microsoft (one device, one year)
$99.99
Microsoft (lifetime license)
$179.99
If you're of a certain age, Microsoft Word was probably the cornerstone of your early days in computing.
Before Google Docs and the like, many of us used Word, helping Microsoft's word processor become a household name whether you liked using it or not.
While it still has its quirks, Word is now better than it's ever been and is integrated into an already compelling Office 365 suite that eliminates the pain of expensive one-time licenses of yesteryear. (If you don't want a subscription, you can get Word as part of Office 2024 in a standalone version without a subscription.)
First impressions
No matter what platform you use Word on, you'll find a pleasant familiarity. I've used it at all levels of teaching and as a result found it easy to get started – but others might be more than a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of toolbars and icons (we'll talk about this a little later).
Yet once you're there, Word can open just about any document you throw at it – except Pages files stay open in Pages. (Want to share a Pages document with a Word user? You will need to save your Pages file in doc file format. To do this, tap File and you will see an option to Export to…. choose Word. Now click on Word and save. If you're trying to open a Pages document in Word, you'll need to convert it using Pages; if you don't have Pages on hand, you can use Pages in iCloud.)
Foundry
As soon as you choose to choose a new document to open, you'll be presented with a host of templates, from calendars to notebooks, journals and CVs, and you can also open it from Microsoft's OneDrive cloud storage.
This brings us nicely to the integration with Office365. The rise of Google Docs and other cloud-based options means that purchasing a full-featured word processor isn't a pressing concern for many of us.
Foundry
Fortunately, the combined apps and services offered with Microsoft Office 365 mean you'll likely find value somewhere, if not specifically Word. For one user, it's $99.99/£84.99 per year ($9.99/£8.49 per month) for Microsoft 265 Personal. Or for $129.99/£104.99 per year (or $12.99/£10.49 per month), you can get the Microsoft 365 Family edition with up to six licenses, including Word, Excel, Powerpoint , Outlook, and more.
However, if you only want to purchase Word, you can do that too. Microsoft sells a lifetime license of Word for $179.99/£159.99 (one device).
Word is also available for free with 5 GB of cloud storage and a basic set of templates. See: How to get Word for free.
Microsoft Word Features
As you'd expect from Microsoft, Word has a fairly professional appearance, with easy-to-read labels and tooltips on the wide variety of buttons it offers.
I still prefer to look at the more minimalist Pages interface, but Word on the Mac does a good job of putting things in places your muscle memory knows to drift to. You can also share documents in real time, with commenting and highlighting features included, and as you can imagine, it's very easy to share via OneDrive or Outlook.
As you might expect, the new thing in recent years is the integration of AI. On the web it comes in the form of Copilot which works much like Apple's Apple Intelligence Writing tools, letting you write or rewrite with simple prompts, but in the Mac app it's apparently limited to the Editor tool.
AI Editor: The editor is included in the Mac version of Word, but Copilot is not.
Foundry
This is fine and sounds like the way the world is changing, but it really only functions as a quick checklist of potential grammar errors and a rudimentary check for plagiarism.
My favorite feature is Focus mode which lets you zoom in with minimal distractions. I tend to work on articles in Draft for its simpler view, but it's definitely something I see myself returning to for longer articles.
Focus Mode: Focus mode is a great way to minimize distractions and get work done.
Foundry
The disadvantages of Microsoft Word
Foundry
The only real downside to Microsoft Word is how packed it is with options. Just look at the toolbar in the screenshot above, for example: there are buttons everywhere, and then there's also the menu bar.
If you're used to it or really use a lot of these features, you won't have any problems here. But as Microsoft integrates more AI features into its Office apps, it could end up becoming more and more complex.
Should you buy Word 2024 for Mac?
Interface issues aside, Microsoft Word is a full-featured word processor that works well on Mac, has a great ecosystem of sister apps, and is free to use. If you haven't tried it in a while, this might surprise you.
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