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Word Mobile for Android

A quick overview of Word on Android phones.

You can open and view documents in either docx or doc format but will only edit docx documents.

If you open a .doc file, press the menu button and Save As to the newer format.

When you open a document you’re first in a view only mode.

Word mobile for Android image from Word Mobile for Android at Office-Watch.com

The buttons across the top are:



  • Go back to previous screen, usually a list of documents.
  • Outline or Navigation view, using the Headings style, see below
  • Find text within the document. A straightforward Find with none of the refinements we’re accustomed to in Word desktop.
  • Switch to Edit mode

Navigation view

This is the equivalent of Navigation Pane | Headings in Word

Word mobile for Android image from Word Mobile for Android at Office-Watch.com

As you can see, the full name of the document appears, the only place we could find it.  Tap on a heading to jump to that part of the document.

But the headings are strangely cropped, the heading ” More redefining of the word ‘All’ ” has plenty of screen space to appear but doesn’t.


Edit mode

In edit mode, most of the screen space is taken up by the keyboard.

Word mobile for Android image from Word Mobile for Android at Office-Watch.com

The exact look will depend on your device and the keyboard/input options available. We used a Samsung Galaxy SIII in these tests.

The cursor is the blue circle with line at the top. Press on it to move the cursor around. Tap and hold your finger then drag to select text – this is hard to do for small areas because your finger covers the text you’re trying to select.

The better way is to double tap on a word to select it. Then two cursor marks appear, select one to drag the selection to a larger area.

Once selected there are extremely limited text formatting options via the paintbrush icon on top left.

Word mobile for Android image from Word Mobile for Android at Office-Watch.com

The formatting options are fairly obvious though limited. Only three colors for text or highlighting.

Word mobile for Android image from Word Mobile for Android at Office-Watch.com

The ‘callout plus’ icon opens a comment pane.

Word mobile for Android image from Word Mobile for Android at Office-Watch.com

The bottom bar lets you add a comment, move through the comments or delete one.

Understandably, Office Mobile apps are focused on editing and commenting on an existing document more than writing the next great novel.

More to come ….

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