Creating the perfect Microsoft Word document should be a much smoother experience thanks to a new software update.
Microsoft has revealed that it is working on a significant update to Word that will allow users to easily switch between editing, reviewing and viewing a document.
While this feature has been available on rival Google Docs service for some time now, it will now offer much improved online collaboration for Microsoft Word for Windows and Mac users everywhere.
Microsoft Word Editing
Update news has been revealed for the first time (opens in new tab) in May 2022 when Microsoft made it only available to Microsoft Word web users, along with some select beta channel members.
However, an entry Microsoft 365 official roadmap (opens in new tab) now says Microsoft Word desktop users for Windows and Mac worldwide should be able to take advantage of the change by July 2022.
As mentioned above, the updates will be familiar to anyone who has used Google Workspace and seek to help eliminate errors or accidental replacements in someone else’s document using the Track Existing Changes feature.
Users will now see a new edit button on the Microsoft Word ribbon, which, when clicked, offers three options. Editing, which is on by default, allows the user to make direct changes to the document, Review, which allows the user to suggest changes, suggestions, or comments, and Preview, which allows only reviewing the document without making any changes.
Microsoft notes that enabling change tracking automatically sets the document to review mode, and that if you open a document for which you do not have edit or review permissions, you can still access the document, but you cannot switch to Review mode. editing or review.
The news is just the latest in a series of changes to Microsoft Word as it appears to remain effective for users across the world.
This includes the recent announcement that its popular predictive typing feature is coming soon to Word on Mac. The Predictive Text Editor tool anticipates your next words and suggests words or phrases as you type, potentially speeding up the writing process for the slow typists among us.