What Is Microsoft Word Used for in the Workplace? Here’s 5 Ways

September 16, 2020

#Business Communication #Communication Skills #Computer Literacy #Microsoft Word

Rochelle van Rensburg

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Table of Contents

• 1. What is Microsoft Word?
• 2. The Microsoft Word Ecosystem
• 3. What is Microsoft Word used for in your Business?
• Letters and Mailings
• Creating Documents and Forms
• Producing Promotional Materials
• Brand Building
• 4. Advanced Word Document Features
• Adding Graphics
• Spell and Grammar checks
• Creating Table of Contents
• Auto-Formatting
• 5. Collaboration Tools
• Conclusion

1. What is Microsoft Word?

Microsoft Word or MS Word is a popular word-processing program used mainly for creating documents, such as brochures, letters, learning activities, quizzes, tests, and students’ homework assignments. It was first released in 1983 and is one of Microsoft Office suite’s applications. Word is one of the most widely used and familiar pieces of office software in the world. It has grown in power and complexity over the years, and its integration with Office 365 and Microsoft OneDrive makes it even more versatile for businesses, both large and small.

2. The Microsoft Word Ecosystem

Microsoft Word exists as part of a suite of software tools that includes other titles such as the Excel spreadsheet and PowerPoint presentation software. The full collection of Microsoft software that includes Word and these other programs is known as Office 365.

Word is also integrated with online features that enable users to create and store documents in the cloud. This lends even more versatility to Word and its related programs.

3. What is Microsoft Word used for in your Business?

Here are some useful features available in Microsoft Word to make your Business more versatile and effective:

• Letters and Mailings

  • Businesses use Word to manage their outgoing correspondence needs. Mail merge functions can automatically populate a letter template with contact and address information, using databases you create in Word or other Office programs such as Excel or Outlook, which you can import. Word can also print address labels and envelopes.

• Creating Documents and Forms

  • You can create any business document, including presentations, proposals, company reports, plans, and budgets. Word’s design features are simple and easy to use so that you can build a library of key forms such as memos, agendas, invoices, and statements.

• Producing Promotional Materials

  • Word helps you create promotional and marketing materials like brochures, flyers, and newsletters you can send out to prospects and clients. You can also format and produce your own letterheads and business cards. This may be particularly useful for small businesses that may struggle to pay third-party design and print costs.

• Brand Building

  • You can standardize a letter or memo format that you design and save as a template that the entire company can use. This ensures consistency of color, fonts, and effects. You can also download free Microsoft templates. Microsoft groups some templates into style sets, so you could apply the same theme to a range of marketing materials, documents, and forms, giving you a consistency of branding.

4. Advanced Word Document Features

Word also offers the following advanced features, saving you the hassle of performing tedious tasks – thus enabling you to devote your attention to more critical areas.

• Adding Graphics

  • A key advantage of MS Word is its ability to incorporate photos, illustrations, and other visual materials to break up the text’s monotony. These can be repositioned in a document with the program’s drag-and-drop capabilities. You can also incorporate material from other programs, such as a spreadsheet table into your Word document.

• Spell and Grammar checks

  • Word checks spelling and grammar to keep your document error-free and professional, offering alternative wording suggestions in many cases.

• Creating Table of Contents

  • The Table of Contents is ideal for situations where the user wants to provide a visual guide for readers by giving associated page numbers and direct links to different headings.

• Auto-Formatting

  • Microsoft Word allows users to automatically format their documents as they are typing, by applying associated styles to text.

5. Collaboration Tools

Business documents are often written in different sections by different people, and both staff and managers make suggestions for revisions to a document. Word’s collaboration and review features make this process manageable due to the integration of Word with OneDrive and internet-enabled features. Users can access the most recent version of a document online, see what changes were made to it by other reviewers, and add their edits directly to the text or as comments that appear separately from the main text.

Word also stores a good deal of the history of the made changes, so if you or your team decide to revert to an earlier version of a document, it is still available to you.

Conclusion

Microsoft Word allows you to create simple word processing documents like letters and reports effortlessly, allowing you to add color and clip art. Writing in various fonts and sizes and using tables, borders & bullet formatting reduces tediousness and increases productivity. Decrease your workload and become more productive today!