New Word Editor change that can’t come soon enough to Windows and Mac

The Editor part of Word Online (the browser based version) has a new feature that should have been in the Windows and Mac versions many, many years ago.

Word Online Editor pane sometimes lets you choose the style of writing that suits the document.  We were delighted to see this appear in the side pane.

Writing Style selector in Microsoft Word in a browser.

Finally!  After more than twenty years, Word lets you select a style of writing, easily, on a per document basis. Choose from:

  • Formal
  • Professional
  • Casual

Mind you, we can’t find any documentation about what each style means or how it affects Editor’s suggestions. In particular the differences Editor makes between ‘Formal’ and ‘Professional’.

Long-time Word users will know about the frustrations of the grammar checker which can only be set for a single writing style for all documents!  That made things simple and cheaper for Microsoft development but has always been unrealistic for most users. 

Word users, even business users, will often switch between styles, but Word settings make that difficult.  So difficult that many don’t even realise they can change the style for grammar and other style checking.

Grammar settings in Word

Grammar settings can only be changed for Word globally, not tweaked on a per document basis.

Word for Windows – Options | Proofing | Writing Style | Settings

Word for Mac- Word | Preferences | Spelling and Grammar | Grammar | Writing Style | Settings.

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