Here are the top tips to help you get the most out of Word for the web. Learn how to get started, save your work to OneDrive, add and review comments, edit, and print.
Upload personal documents to OneDrive
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Storing your documents online gives you access to them anywhere, on multiple devices.
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Online documents are also easier to share because you can link to them instead of sending email attachments.
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As an added bonus, you can read and edit Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote documents in a web browser if they are stored in an online location, like OneDrive.com
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Sign in with your Microsoft account at OneDrive.com. If you don’t have an account yet, sign up for one (You can use your own email address, or sign up for a new one as part of your new Microsoft account).
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On the OneDrive page, click Upload near the top of the page, and upload your files.
Save changes
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Word for the web saves your changes automatically while you work. Look on the status bar at the bottom left corner of Word for the web.
It will either show Saved, or Saving.
Share documents online
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Because your document is online, you can share it by sending a link instead of an email attachment. People can read it in their web browser, or mobile device.
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Click FILE > Share > Share with People.
Find and replace text
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Quickly search for every occurrence of a specific word or phrase in your document by clicking HOME > Find (or type Ctrl+F). Results appear next to your document so you can see the term in context.
Clicking on a search result jumps you to that occurrence. Click Replace (or type Ctrl+H) to find and replace text.
Print in Word for the web
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Go to FILE > Print. Word for the web sends your document to a PDF reader, where all the layout and formatting of your document will print the way you expect.
Want more?
Here are the top tips to help you get the most out of Word for the web.
To open Word for the web, go to the Office.com start page, click Word for the web, and then Sign in with your Microsoft account.
After Word for the web opens, you have three ways to get started: create a new blank document, open a document you worked on recently, or browse templates.
If you click Browse templates, the online template gallery opens. Templates are a great way to start because you can bypass a lot of setup time. For example, instead of creating a calendar from scratch, you can choose one that is ready to go.
Click a category to view templates for all Office Online products. Click Word to go back to templates for Word.
How about a flyer? Select a template to see more details.
If it looks like something you want to try, click Open in Word for the web. Click Continue to save the template to OneDrive, and Word for the web opens the template.
Now all you have to do is select a placeholder and type your text, and insert your own images.
Let’s go back to the Get Started banner.
If you want to open an existing document, click Recent documents on OneDrive.
Locate a recent document here, or click Files to view all your files on OneDrive. Click a file and it opens in Word for the web.
When you first open a document, you are in Reading view.
As the name suggests, this view is for reading.
You can also PRINT, SHARE, and FIND the document using keywords.
The only thing you can’t do is make changes.
Another cool thing you can do is click COMMENTS.
If you send a document to others to review, they can add comments by selecting text, typing a comment over here, and clicking Post.
The comment is saved with the document and can be viewed by others on OneDrive.
Now if you want to work on the document, click EDIT DOCUMENT and Edit in Word for the web.
You’ll see how to edit in Word in the next movie, Tips for working online.
Word switches to the Editing view. This view probably looks familiar if you are used to working in the desktop version of Word.
You have the ribbon at the top with tabs that contain commands and options.
For example, you can select some text and click a formatting option on the HOME tab, or choose a Style over here.
On the INSERT tab, you can add Picture and Table.
And on the REVIEW tab, you have the Spelling checker.
You can also add and view comments here too.
And anytime you want to switch to the other view, click the VIEW tab, and Reading View.
After you finish a document, it’s a good idea to check it in Reading View, which provides a more accurate picture of how it will look when you print it in Word for the web.
You can print from either view, but the process is the same.
In Reading View, go to the row of commands at the top, and click PRINT.
Word for the web then prepares the document by converting it to a PDF file.
Next, Click here to view the PDF of your document in your reader app.
After the file downloads, click Open if you are using Internet Explorer.
This is what it looks like in Windows 8. Right-click the document, and click Print. Then choose your printer, and click Print. And the PDF of your document prints from the reader app.
If Office 2013 is installed on your computer, you can save a few steps by opening the document in Word on your desktop and printing from there.
To see how to move documents between Word for the web and your desktop Word, watch the next movie – Tips for working online.
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