CHOICES OF WORD PROCESSORS
Do you need to create text documents and do not want to purchase a Microsoft Office 365 subscription?
WORDPAD: Free, Built-in to Windows
WordPad is an easy to use word processor that is built into Windows 10 (and Windows 7/8). While not as fully featured as Office 365, it has most of the features you need to produce nice looking business letters and Holiday letters to the family. Features include:
- Fonts and size of text
- Paragraph styles (left, right, centered, justified)
- Line spacing (single, double)
- Bold, italics, underline
- Insert pictures
- Save as (new) file name
To find WordPad on your computer, use the search function on the Taskbar (looks like a magnifying glass on Windows 10), type in WordPad, double click on its icon to open the application. Once opened, right click on its icon on the task bar, then click on ‘pin to taskbar’. This allows you to easily find and open WordPad in the future.
If you are a poor speller or typist, you should know that WordPad does not have a spell checker.
WPS: Free, open source word processor https://www.wps.com/en-US/
WPS is an open source Word processor, designed to look a lot like word. It has most of the features of word and a build in spell checker. Documents are saved in a proprietary open format which can be overridden. If you are sharing files with others, save your document - click SAVE AS / type the tile of the document / click RTF (rich text format), then click SAVE. WPS also has spreadsheet and slide creation components. Because the product is open source, there is no charge to download and install. To download and install WPS click the URL above.
OPEN OFFICE: Free, open source word processor https://sourceforge.net/projects/openofficeorg.mirror/
Open Office is another open source word processor, with a spell checker built in. Again documents are saved in a proprietary format, unless you override to SAVE AS / type the title / click RTF, then click SAVE. Open Office also has spreadsheet and slide creation components at no charge. To download and install Open Office click the URL above.
OFFICE 365: Official subscription-based Microsoft Word software https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/compare-all-microsoft-365-products-b
Office 365 is the official Microsoft Office suite of products. It is offered on a subscription basis from Microsoft, either an annual (between $70 and $100 depending on the number of users) or a monthly ($7 to $10 a month) subscription charge. It has the added benefit of giving you additional One Drive cloud storage space, and includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, One Note, Outlook and Skype applications. To find more about their subscription options, click their website (URL above).
Computer and Internet Help is committed to protecting your computer at an affordable price. Thank you for trusting Computer and Internet Help to keep your computers healthy. Contact us at 239-567-0104 if you need help with word processing or computer and internet service. Be well.
By Linda Lindquist, June 28, 2021
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