Microsoft Word is 27 years old. According to Wikipedia, Microsoft Word was released upon an unsuspecting public on 25 October 1983.
It's now up to version 14. Not that there have been 14 versions. There were early numbering inconsistencies (versions 1, 2 and then 6 in the 1980s and 1990s). More recently, it seems that Microsoft is a superstitious place: it skipped from 12 (Word 2007) to 14 (Word 2010).
Word versions come in pairs.
Jul 13, 2021 Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based subscription service that brings together premium versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneDrive, with the best tools for the way people work today. Microsoft 365 includes premium Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps, 1 TB cloud storage in OneDrive, advanced security, and more, all in one convenient. Microsoft Word is 27 years old. According to Wikipedia, Microsoft Word was released upon an unsuspecting public on 25 October 1983. It's now up to version 14. Not that there have been 14 versions. There were early numbering inconsistencies (versions 1, 2 and then 6 in the 1980s and 1990s). Microsoft Word is a word processor included in Microsoft Office and some editions of the now-discontinued Microsoft Works. The first version of Word, released in the autumn of 1983, was for the MS-DOS operating system and introduced the computer mouse to more users. Word 1.0 could be purchased with a bundled mouse, though none was required.
Word 2010 makes lots of tiny refinements to the user interface. For my money, it's a generally more pleasant experience than Word 2007.
If you're using Word 2007 and you can move to Word 2010, my general advice is: do.
Select your version to see articles that apply to your version of Word. Not sure? Find out what version of Word you have.
Word 2010: The milder, slightly better-behaved younger sister of Word 2007. Still can't find anything. Just have to put up with it. But it is better than 2007. Really.
Word 2007: The new kid on the block. Makes me feel disorganized. Can't find anything. Glamour does not outweigh substance. Word 2007 and I were never going to be friends.
Word 2003: Many people think this will turn out to have been the last really good version of Word. There was a massive two-year public beta test (known as Word 2002), and Word 2003 was really solid. It's still the version I turn to when I have a choice.
Word 2002: The Fisher-Price version. Big UI changes compared with Word 2000. And buggy. Very buggy.
Word 2000: Solid, dependable, reliable. Like an old pair of runners. Much loved, but past its use-by date.
Depending on your experience with developing complex documents, you may already be familiar with version control. Many companies maintain separate versions of a document at different benchmarks during the development process. For instance, one saved version may be at the first draft stage, another at the second draft stage, and still another at the public comment stage.
In the past, you may have needed to save different versions of your document in different files. Word supports saving multiple versions of your documents within a single file. This can be handy if you need to see a revision history of your document, and it may make your document management chores a bit easier.
To save a version of your document, follow these steps:
Figure 1. The Versions dialog box.
Figure 2. The Save Version dialog box.
The version saved by Word is essentially a snapshot of how your document looks when the version was saved. Edits you make to the document in the future do not interfere with the saved version.