Table of Contents
- Google Docs Review – Simple and Effective with a Focus on Collaboration
- Features of Google Docs
- Benefits of Google Docs
- Accessibility
- Easy Collaboration
- Free of Cost
- Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Google Docs
- Ease of Use
- Pricing
- Number of Features
- What Do the Customers Think?
- Best Word Processing Tool with Easy Collaboration
- Microsoft Word Review – Classic and Loaded with Features
- Features of Microsoft Word
- Benefits of Microsoft Word
- Finer Control Over Your Text
- Integration with Microsoft Office
- Great Templates to Choose From
- Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Microsoft Word
- Ease of Use
- Pricing
- Number of Features
- What Do the Customers Think?
- Best Word Processing Tool for Formatting
- Google Docs vs Microsoft Word – Buyers’ Guide
- Ease of Use
- Pricing
- The Number of Features and What Do You Want to Use it For?
- Final Verdict
Google Docs and Microsoft Word are two amazing and widely used processors in the market right now.
While they seem interchangeable to the basic user, the truth is that there are many aspects where one is better than the other.
In this post, we will compare Google Docs and Microsoft Word in detail to determine which one would be best for you as an online course creator.
| Features | Google Docs | Microsoft Word |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | 4 and a half stars | 4 stars |
| Pricing | 5 stars | 3 stars |
| File Collaboration | 5 stars | 3 stars |
| Graphics manipulation | 5 stars | 4 stars |
| Text formatting | 4 stars | 4 and a half stars |
Now that we have a quick idea of what each tool offers, let’s dive into detailed reviews of both:
Google Docs Review – Simple and Effective with a Focus on Collaboration
It’s highly accessible, collaboration on it is super simple, its interface is easy to use and clean and finally, it’s free.
A free and easily accessible tool like Google Docs is definitely something to consider when you first start your online course creation journey.
Features of Google Docs
- Easy formatting of text
- Different paragraph styles
- Insert tables, images and other graphics
- Can export to other file formats
- Runs most common file formats
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Very accessible • Completely free • Very easy to collaborate • Secure • Easy to use and understand | • May be inadequate if your document needs a lot of formatting • Tends to lag when handling larger files |
Benefits of Google Docs
Accessibility
As mentioned earlier, Google Docs is super accessible.
This is because it’s a web-based application. Anyone with Google Chrome and a Gmail account can use Google Docs whenever they want.
You can even run it offline as it does feature an offline mode.
This makes it great for online course creation as you can rest assured you won’t lose any data in case of a power failure, etc.
Easy Collaboration
Collaboration is super easy in Google Docs than in Microsoft Word.
All you have to do is click Share in the upper-right hand corner and enter the Gmail of whoever you want to share it with.
You could also share a link to the document with them.
Want to share a whole bunch of files with someone? Just add it into a folder on your Google Drive and share that entire folder.
If you’re working on your online course with a team, definitely consider Google Docs.
Free of Cost
Google Docs is completely free which gives it a huge edge over Microsoft Word with its confusing price options.
Since you won’t have much of a budget when you first start out with online course creation, Google Docs can be a valuable tool to work on.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Google Docs
Ease of Use
Google Docs isn’t feature-heavy to the point where it would overwhelm you.
Furthermore, its interface is super easy to understand with every feature named according to its function.
Hence, it’s very easy to get into and start getting value out of immediately.
Pricing
Google Docs is completely free so there’s really not a whole lot to think about when it comes to its pricing. It’s literally unbeatable.
Number of Features
While Google Docs definitely has all the usual bells and whistles of a word processing tool such as a spell-checker, graphics formatting tools, a word counter, etc., it does still lag behind Microsoft Word.
Google Docs will do the job for most types of documents but if you’re working on long-form content that requires lots of formatting and reorganizing, we recommend Microsoft Word.
What Do the Customers Think?
Most customers love how intuitive and simple Google Docs is.
People working in teams enjoy it especially thanks to how easy it is to share files.
Here are some reviews we came across:
Best Word Processing Tool with Easy Collaboration
The best word processing tool with easy collaboration is Google Docs. This is because it’s very easy to share files and collaborate with your team remotely in real-time.
Microsoft Word Review – Classic and Loaded with Features
Microsoft Word is one of the most widely used word processors out there and it’s no wonder why.
It’s the benchmark for what word processing tools should be and Microsoft does a great job of introducing updates to fix bugs and add more features.
There was a point where the features were so much that the interface was getting clunky but Microsoft cleaned that up for its users too.
Now, the interface is easy to understand despite the plethora of tools that Microsoft Word has up its sleeves, many of which will help you out immensely as an online course creator.
Features of Microsoft Word
- Simple formatting of text and graphics
- Spell-Checker
- Find-and-Replace tool
- Completely editable templates
- Big library of fonts and styles
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Packed with features for easy formatting with advanced layout options • Easy to understand interface • Easy to set up • Highly secure since it’s not on the web but on your local computer • Has a high number of beautiful templates to choose from | • Expensive • Collaboration is fairly clunky |
Benefits of Microsoft Word
Finer Control Over Your Text
Unlike Google Docs, Microsoft Word has much more detail-oriented word processing features.
Any type of long documents with many chapters, indexing, etc. would be much easier to create with Microsoft Word than it would be with Google Docs.
This can work great for organizing modules and lessons.
Integration with Microsoft Office
One great feature of Microsoft Word is that it syncs easily with Microsoft Office.
So, what benefit does that bring you?
Well, say, you wanted to add a graph for your online course from your excel file into your Word file, you can easily do so.
Now, let’s say you wanted to update your graph. You can update it in Excel and it will be automatically updated within your Word file.
Great Templates to Choose From
Normally, the templates that come with such software are cheap-looking and borderline-unusable.
However, the library of templates that Microsoft Word provides is filled with cutting-edge designs that are very aesthetically pleasing as well as functional.
Not to mention that they’re completely editable too. You can use any of the templates as a starting point and then do whatever you want with it.
These templates will make your lectures look more professional and well-produced.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Microsoft Word
Ease of Use
In the early 2010s, Microsoft Word had gotten so bloated with features that it had begun to feel like a burden to use.
The interface had become clunky and the software used to lag a lot.
However, in recent years, Microsoft has done a great job of cleaning up the interface and optimizing its software so it doesn’t crash as often.
Pricing
Microsoft Word has many different pricing options but we feel it definitely is a bit pricey for an online course creator.
You can get Office Home & Student 2019 as a one-time purchase. This won’t have constant updates like the subscription plans do.
On the other hand, you can get Microsoft 365 Personal or Microsoft 365 Family with monthly subscriptions or at a yearly cost.
Number of Features
In terms of flat-out features that it provides, Microsoft Word is definitely the clear winner.
If you’re looking to do some heavy formatting, editing, or other complicated work, then Microsoft Word is definitely for you.
What Do the Customers Think?
Most people online love how easy to use it is as well as the wide array of formatting options it provides.
Here are some of the reviews we ran into:
Best Word Processing Tool for Formatting
The best word processing tool for formatting is Microsoft Word thanks to its wide library of features that make text formatting, image repositioning, insertion of graphs and tables, etc. very easy.
LibreOffice is another tool worth mentioning. It’s a free suite that offers a wide variety of tools that you can use in numerous different stages of your online course creation journey.
Google Docs vs Microsoft Word – Buyers’ Guide
Ease of Use
The main goal of word processing tools is to make composing content much easier for the writer.
A good word processing tool should be able to make your job quicker with convenient and easy-to-understand features.
Avoid word processing tools that are loaded with features but have clunky interfaces.
Oftentimes, they’ll cost you time rather than saving it since you have to spend time trying to figure out how to actually use half the features.
Pricing
As an online course creator, we assume you don’t have a big budget when you’re first starting out.
Furthermore, you might have to pay a fee for other things such as a website hosting service, a website builder, etc.
Hence, we recommend that if you’re going to buy a word processing tool, try to find one that has a subscription below $20 per month.
If it’s a one-time purchase, try to go for something that’s less than $50.
The Number of Features and What Do You Want to Use it For?
Sure, having a word processing tool with tons of features can definitely come in handy.
However, you have to think explicitly: Will I ever really need half the tools they’re offering?
If the answer is no, you should look towards other tools that maybe come at a lower price point or are even free.
Always make purchases with your own specific goals in mind.
We have created a VERY detailed guide for you in which we talk about every single thing you need to know about making money by creating, selling, and managing online courses.
Final Verdict
This brings us to the end of our post for the comparison between Google Docs and Microsoft Word.
We feel that, as an online course creator, you’ll find that Google Docs is more than enough for your needs.
And since it’s free, it just makes sense to go for Google Docs over Microsoft Word if you don’t need MS Word’s finer formatting features.
Let us know in the comments which of these word processing tools you prefer and why.