Google Docs vs. Microsoft Word

After using Google docs and its features I’ve come up with several comparisons between the free online program and Microsoft Word. They both contain advantages over the other and each has their own faults. As an overall review I would suggest using Microsoft Word if it comes free with the computer you purchased over the online word processor, Google Docs. If your computer did not come with the Microsoft Office package and you don’t use your computer for a great deal of word processing, I would definitely recommend using Google docs as your word processor, it does an acceptable job, and the Microsoft office package can cost up to 200$ is stores.

Google docs are missing some of the very helpful features that Word users may be accustomed to such as in text spell check, clearly expressed margins, and easily accessible text formatting. There are many features missing from the online word processor, but few you will miss because they are very rarely used. Some features found on Word can be found on Google Docs, only with less options, for example on Microsoft word there are 171 different font styles available, whereas Google docs only offers 14. The same is true for text size, in Microsoft word you can impute your own text size, whereas in Google Docs only 7 font sizes are available. The only formatting feature I found on Google Docs that was not available on Microsoft Word was the ability to insert Chinese characters, which I wouldn’t consider a huge advantage. Word however offers several features not available online.

Google Docs have two evident advantages over Microsoft Word. One is cost, Google Docs are free; Microsoft word is not. The second advantage is the ability to access your saved documents from any computer with internet access at any time. Obviously Microsoft Word has many advantages over Google Docs, but three stand out to me. The first and most important to a poor typist such as myself is the in text spell check. Second would be the number of font choices, and last would most likely be the ease of knowing where you’re at on a printed page. On Google docs it is hard to tell how much you have actually typed until you hit print.