Table of Contents
- Microsoft Word
- Dropbox Paper
- WPS Office
- Quick Summary of the Main Product
- Features and Benefits
- Intuitive Interface
- Multiple Paste Options
- Graphics Insertion and Manipulation
- Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Microsoft Word
- Ease of Use
- Pricing
- What Do You Want to Use it For?
- Advantages and Disadvantages of Microsoft Word
- Social Proof
- Similar to Microsoft Word (Recommendations)
- #1: Best User-Friendly Word Processing Tool – Dropbox Paper Review
- Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Dropbox Paper
- Best User-Friendly Word Processing Tool
- #2: Best Free Word Processing Tool – WPS Office Review
- Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy WPS Office
- Best Free Word Processing Tool
- Guide to Buy
- Ease of Use
- Pricing
- What Do You Want to Use it For?
- Wrapping Things Up…
Microsoft Word has been the go-to software for writers, developers, and entrepreneurs since 1983.
While it started off as a text formatting application, today, its features extend to 3D model, graph insertion, web page formatting, and instant translation.
In this post, we will go over what makes this software so great as well as point out its flaws and present some worthwhile alternatives.
Microsoft Word
Microsoft has done a great job of constantly improving its software to the point where it’s a multipurpose tool. Apart from text formatting, it can be a great tool when creating your course outline (through the use of tables) as well as when writing course content.
Alternate #1
Dropbox Paper
Dropbox Paper isn’t jam-packed with features but when it comes to typing text and sharing it with others, it does that flawlessly. It’s a great tool if you’re working with a team when creating your online course.
Alternate #2
WPS Office
WPS Office is a highly impressive tool considering it’s completely free. Its interface is one of the best we’ve seen and editing multiple files with it is very streamlined and efficient. It’s a great tool if you want to work on several lessons at once
Quick Summary of the Main Product
As mentioned earlier, Microsoft Word is one of the most popular and widely used word processors out there.
While a majority of its users use it just for writing text, professionals in a wide array of fields use it for much more than that such as:
- Inserting 3D models
- Translation
- Inserting tables and other graphics
- Checking accessibility with Microsoft’s Accessibility Checker
Thus, as an online course creator, not only can you use it to write content but you can also add other graphics and helpful material into your document as well.
Features and Benefits
Intuitive Interface
Microsoft is one of the leading tech companies in the world so, it’s no surprise that its software’s interface is top-notch.
Every feature is named according to its functionality so you know exactly what you will get. Furthermore, all these functions are very intuitive to use.
Oftentimes, you won’t have to look up a tutorial on how to perform a certain action because it will be very apparent thanks to Microsoft’s clever app design.
Time is of the essence when making an online course and you don’t want to be wasting time trying to learn a certain feature of a tool. The fact that everything is plain to see is very helpful to you as an online course creator.
Multiple Paste Options
Microsoft Word features multiple paste options indicate that you can choose HOW to paste certain information that you’ve copied.
- Do you only just want to paste the information and keep your file’s formatting?
- Do you want the copied information to appear just as it appeared on the source you copied it from?
Microsoft Word’s got you covered.
This is extremely helpful when you’re gathering information and copy-pasting it into your word file for your online course.
Graphics Insertion and Manipulation
As mentioned above, Microsoft Word allows you to insert many different types of graphics into your text file such as 3D models, tables, images, graphs, etc.
As an online course creator, this feature is definitely something you’ll have to use. Not only does it allow you to insert these graphics, but you can also freely manipulate them if you change their size, rotate, or crop them.
Whatever graphics you want to include for your online course can easily be added for you to use later.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Microsoft Word
Ease of Use
As far as Microsoft Word goes, all of its features are very easy to understand and use.
That being said, if you add a ton of graphs, images, and other graphics into your file, it does sometimes get messy and difficult to format. This is something to keep in mind if your content is going to have a lot of graphics in it.
Pricing
Microsoft’s prices are fairly awkward and honestly, the one-time purchase may not suit you if you’re just starting out.
If you want to buy Microsoft Word as a one-time purchase, it will cost you $149.99. Keep in mind that this does NOT include updates, technical support, or advanced security.
Hence, it’s a good idea to go for a Microsoft 365 subscription instead which is only $8.25 per month without security.
If you’d like security, you can opt for the more expensive plans which are $12.50 per month and $20 per month.
What Do You Want to Use it For?
There’s a reason why Microsoft Word isn’t free:
It does so much more than just text processing.
Hence, if you feel you’re going to be using those added features, then Microsoft Word is for you.
On the other hand, if you feel you’re not going to be utilizing Microsoft Word’s extended functionality, then you should opt for a free tool instead.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Microsoft Word
| What we liked | What we didn’t like |
|---|---|
| • Easy to use and intuitive interface • Easy to set up • Responsive technical support • Huge range of features that extend beyond just text formatting • Accessibility checker provides solutions if your document is not accessible to individuals with different needs | • Does not have a free plan • Only available on Windows |
Social Proof
People who use Microsoft Word have been using it for years. This is because Microsoft does a great job of addressing users’ problems and updating its software accordingly.
People love how easy it is to collaborate on a single file as well as how intuitive using every single feature is.
Here are some reviews we came across online:
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.
We have compared both of them for you to follow in our post.
Similar to Microsoft Word (Recommendations)
#1: Best User-Friendly Word Processing Tool – Dropbox Paper Review
Dropbox’s word processing application is called Paper and it’s a very simple to use the tool.
You can use it to enter the text as well as any sort of media within the same document.
Sharing documents with others is also incredibly simple, so it’s a great tool if you’re working on your online course with a team.
Since it’s a free tool, it can definitely be something worth considering when you’re first starting your online course creation journey.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Dropbox Paper
Ease of Use: Dropbox Paper isn’t packed with features like Microsoft Word is so it’s easy to get the hang of.
Pricing: Dropbox Paper is a free product from Dropbox. However, keep in mind that you have to pay for additional storage.
What You Want to Use it For: While Dropbox Paper does allow you to have different forms of media in a document, formatting options are fairly limited compared to Microsoft Word.
| What we liked | What we didn’t like |
|---|---|
| • Easy to use • Great for collaboration with others • Can insert text, media, and files within a single document • Features a dark mode • Everything is automatically saved on the cloud | • Does not have a spell-checker • Does not have automatic formatting • Limited storage with the free plan |
Best User-Friendly Word Processing Tool
The best user-friendly word processing tool is Dropbox Paper because while it has limited features, it implements them well and in an easy-to-understand way.
#2: Best Free Word Processing Tool – WPS Office Review
WPS Office is a great tool as it provides everything you need and works on in a single, easy-to-understand workspace.
You can open five different files in different formats and WPS Office will have different tabs for each one in a single window.
This can make it very efficient to work on multiple lessons at once when creating your online course.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy WPS Office
Ease of Use: WPS Office has one of the most elegant and easy-to-understand user interfaces we’ve seen in quite a while.
Pricing: WPS Office and all its features are completely free.
What You Want to Use it For: WPS Office is a great tool if you want to do basic word processing but it does little more than that.
| What we liked | What we didn’t like |
|---|---|
| • Features a multi-window mode for easy access and organization of documents • Lightweight and fast, even when handling big files • Easy to set up Easy to use • Free • Has a smartphone app that is equally easy to use • Available in 40 different languages | • Cannot be integrated with third-party tools such as Grammarly |
Best Free Word Processing Tool
The best free word processing tool is WPS Office. It’s very lightweight, easy to use, and provides you with all of your documents in one window.
Note: LibreOffice has been hailed as one of the best open-source office suites out there.
While it costs nothing to use, the features that it provides are great enough to rival Microsoft’s Office suite.
Guide to Buy
When choosing a word processing tool, it can definitely get confusing. That’s why we’ve listed some factors to keep in mind that can help you make your decision.
These factors are:
Ease of Use
A word processing software should streamline your ability to write documents and increase productivity.
If your word processing tool is clunky and difficult to use, that will just do the opposite. You’ll have to spend more time googling fixes and tutorials rather than doing actual work.
Pricing
When you’re first starting out as an online course creator, chances are that you won’t have a lot of money to work with.
There are a lot of great free options out there for word processing tools that we encourage you to try out.
What Do You Want to Use it For?
What will you be doing within your text processing software?
- Will you just be writing text?
- Do you need to insert images, graphs and tables?
- Do you want the ability to highlight text?
These are all things you’ll have to think about before making a decision about which text processing tool to go for.
The process of creating, selling, and managing online courses can be very intimidating, especially when you know nothing and have to start from scratch. We have the perfect guide for you to help you through the process.
Wrapping Things Up…
This brings us to the end of our review for Microsoft Word.
Its interface is immaculately designed to accommodate beginners.
It features a ton of options beyond word processing and professionals in many different fields utilize it.
Let us know in the comments what you think of Microsoft Word and whether you think some other alternative is better.