Word

[Marianthompson47]

We bought our laptop two years ago. It had something called "Word" which enabled me to type documents and save them.

Last week, I wanted to type a letter but it was quite impossible as it is no longer there!

Someone told me I can use Word with Amazon or Google (for free).
Someone else told me to acquire Microsoft Office but I'm not sure what that is.

Thank you for any help.

[NickDub]

Hi what you are talking about comes under the general heading of software - ie programs which you use to do things.

MS Word is software which is used for word-processing. You can buy a copy of it separately, or it also comes as  one part of MS Office, which also includes Excel, Outlook etc.

Most likely, as you say Word  was working on your laptop before, it is still there - just hiding :-)
Two easy ways to find it :-
1) Press the Windows' key and scroll down the menu list   - Word maybe lurking under Ms_Office
OR
2) Find a Word file using Explorer - they are generally ones with a doc or docx extension, eg MYdiary.doc - and double-click that file.

[andrewalston]

There has been a free what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor called Wordpad included with Windows for many years.
Last year Microsoft announced that it was on its way out. If it was uninstalled from Windows 11, it could not be put back.
Microsoft have been pushing people towards their office product (now called Microsoft 365) for a long time. A fresh install of Windows comes with a teaser to get you to pay for it. They also try to get you use an online "free" version which is restricted to only use files inside Microsoft's OneDrive. They examine your files and sell you to advertisers depending on what you have written.

However, there are several properly FREE products which do just the same things.

If you can't locate your original program, have a look for LibreOffice, or OpenOffice. They happily deal with the same file types as the Microsoft products, and cost noting besides the time to download them.

[jusnoneed]

As andrewalston says, LibreOffice is free and I have used it for years.

[Marianthompson47]

Thank you!+

uote author=NickDub link=topic=879874.msg7522071#msg7522071 date=1706457127]
Hi what you are talking about comes under the general heading of software - ie programs which you use to do things.

MS Word is software which is used for word-processing. You can buy a copy of it separately, or it also comes as  one part of MS Office, which also includes Excel, Outlook etc.

Most likely, as you say Word  was working on your laptop before, it is still there - just hiding :-)
Two easy ways to find it :-
1) Press the Windows' key and scroll down the menu list   - Word maybe lurking under Ms_Office
OR
2) Find a Word file using Explorer - they are generally ones with a doc or docx extension, eg MYdiary.doc - and double-click that file.
[/quote]

[NickDub]

Thank you!+

You're very welcome, Marian - hope you're all sorted now.

[Biggles50]

There are versions of Word or rather Microsoft Office that can still be bought.

£114 for the MS Office 2021 suite from Scan Computers, who I bought my copy from when I recently upgraded my PC as I do not want to subscribe to Office 365.

As advised there are other free Office type products with Libre and WPS Office just two of the many available, the latter is probably the closest match to MS Word.

[Tin man]

I also bought my laptop 2 years ago (October 2022) with Microsoft 365 installed, this included 'Word' the word processing app. In October 2023 it stopped working as the 1 year subscription had expired, now when i try to use it i get the 'renew subscription' reminder. A new subscription is £59.99 per year so now i just go online and use Google docs instead, for free. 

[Marianthompson47]

I also bought my laptop 2 years ago (October 2022) with Microsoft 365 installed, this included 'Word' the word processing app. In October 2023 it stopped working as the 1 year subscription had expired, now when i try to use it i get the 'renew subscription' reminder. A new subscription is £59.99 per year so now i just go online and use Google docs instead, for free. 

That sounds interesting!!! Where do I find Google docs please??