by

Google Docs Word Processing Software Mac

Sep 26, 2019  Cloud storage solution providers such as Dropbox and Box are providing word-processing software such as. Word to Google Docs, and in this post, we will pit Microsoft Word. It's because the Microsoft Word document format is proprietary (Google don't have full rights to use it). Google Docs can view Word documents (not perfectly if the document is complex) but if you want to edit that.docx or.doc file in Docs it will need to be converted into Google Doc's. Jun 19, 2020  Word processing: The Google Docs word-processor app lets you create, edit, and format text documents. Docs gives you control over text styles.

Every major tech company out there is offering their version of the productivity suite. Apple provides iWork suite of productivity apps. Google’s G Suite is fiercely popular. While Microsoft’s Office 365 bundle is considered as Gold standard among all.

Cloud storage solution providers such as Dropbox and Box are providing word-processing software such as Dropbox Paper and Box Notes for seamless sharing and collaboration. Newcomers such as Notion, Coda, and Airtable are trying to change the game with modular approach, but nothing beats a native experience.

Microsoft is steadily improving Word experience with more features. Recently, Apple pushed a big update to iWork apps, including Apple Pages. Google is slow in this regard, but it’s getting there with small additions.

We have already covered a detailed comparison of Microsoft Word to Google Docs, and in this post, we will pit Microsoft Word against Apple Pages. The comparison will focus on interface, features, sharing, collaboration, price, and more. Let’s get started.

Word

Availability

After becoming CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella laid out ‘Mobile First, Cloud First’ vision. And as a result, Microsoft Word is available everywhere. You can access the software on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, iPad, and even Web.

As its case with every Apple software, Apple Pages is limited to iOS, Mac, and iPad. The comparison below focuses on the Mac version.

Templates and User Interface

Both Microsoft and Apple offer plenty of default templates. After comparing them side by side, I found Word’s template list was richer and versatile. Apple Pages provides generic and basic ones such as Business Letter, Resume, Invoice, etc.

Nevertheless, you can always use third-party templates from the web.

Let’s talk about User Interface for a bit. If you have used a past version of Microsoft Word before, then you will feel right at home with 2019 Word look.

The familiar toolbox is at the top with relevant sections. I felt Microsoft Word’s interface was a bit outdated compared to today’s standards. However, it’s understandable why Microsoft doesn't want a drastic shift from interface since millions of its enterprise customers use the same software.

In comparison, Apple Pages look better. The editing options are at the right side and the ability to add table, charts, media, are at the top. It’s not cluttered like Word.

Also on Guiding Tech
11 Best Microsoft Word Online Tips and Tricks
Read More

Functions That Matter

Apple Pages perfectly gets the basics. You can add images, videos, tables, integrate stats, shapes, and more.

One can set a password to access a page for extra security. The default editing options remain straightforward. I recommend you master keyboard shortcuts for Word to fly through functionalities.

Microsoft Word is full of features yet the media add-on remains same as Apple Pages. The company has integrated other services such as Microsoft Translate and LinkedIn Resume Assistant. The assistant will guide you to make compelling resume edits.

There is also a researcher function which gets all the relevant information of the selected word from the web. Thesaurus features let you find the synonyms of a word to increase vocabulary.

You can also add a password to document, add equations, format pages with color, border, and add watermarks.

Storing Documents

You can save a document offline on Microsoft Word and Apple Pages. But that’s the thing of past, isn’t it?

Apple Pages is tightly integrated with iCloud. Once you hit the save button, the software will save it in the default iCloud folder. You can generate a sharable link and send a link to others. With iOS 13 and the upcoming Mac Catalina update, user can send the entire folders to others.

Microsoft Word is all about options. It’s not limited OneDrive only. You can save documents to Dropbox and Box too. The trick remains the same. Save a document to cloud, open it on other device, and start making edits again.

Also on Guiding Tech
How to Make a Fillable Form in Microsoft Word
Read More

Sharing and Collaboration

Sharing and real-time collaboration are essential in 2019. Microsoft has had online sharing since 2013 (With the help of OneDrive). Apple was a bit late to the sharing party.

Microsoft Word gives three options for sharing. You can send a copy to others using email. Upload a file to OneDrive and generate a sharable link from there. One can also invite others to make edits. You will see the real-time changes and the author’s name along with it.

Apple Pages takes advantage of Apple’s ecosystem. You can directly share a document using mail and iMessage. One can also send a document using Airdrop. It works seamlessly across Apple devices.

Of course, you can make permission changes and see the real-time edits made by others.

Export

Microsoft Word gives a few options here. You can export a doc as pdf and HTML file. The software also lets you make a basic layout of the document and export it as a template. Using default reduce file size function, one can decrease the file size by compressing added images before exporting or sending it to others.

Similar to Microsoft Word, you can export a page as pdf, Word file, EPUB file, plain text, and rich text bearing fancy elements. Apple also allows you to share the documents to Apple Books platforms from the app.

As always, you can save a page as a template for quick edits. This function is useful for making letterheads and default business letter style for your company.

Also on Guiding Tech
#productivity
Click here to see our productivity articles page

Price

Apple Pages is completely free to use. The documents get stored on iCloud, which only offers 5GB of storage for free. You can buy additional space for $1/month.

Microsoft’s productivity suite of apps, including Word, is free for screen size less than 9-inch. Meaning, you can use the software for free on mobiles and tablets. To use the software on a laptop, one need to purchase Office 365 Personal, which costs $5/month. You also get 1TB of OneDrive storage for free with the bundle.

Choose the Best One

Google Word Processor For Mac

As you can see from the above comparison, Apple Pages weights on simplicity and basic functions. Of course, the functionalities aren’t as rich as MS Word, but it gets the job done.

Microsoft Word is universally available, more flexible on storage options, and offers more features out of the box. But at the same time, some may find it bloated. In that case, I would advise going for Pages and if that’s not the case with you, then go with Microsoft Word.

Next up: You can also edit images using Microsoft Word software. Read the post below to find out more.


The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read NextHow to Edit Images Using Microsoft Word 2016Also See#productivity #apple

Did You Know

The Apple Watch Series 1 uses optical sensors to detect irregular heart rhythms.

Google Docs Word Processing Software Mac Update

More in Mac

Top 5 iCloud Drive Alternatives for iPhone and Mac

Ever wondered what the differences were between Google Docs and Microsoft Word? Whilst both word processors may look similar on the surface, they are actually different in many ways.

In this article, I want to point out the major differences to help you decide which option is best for you.

Functionality – Microsoft Word Wins

With Microsoft Word being around for longer than Google Docs, Microsoft has had more time to bundle in features and build a stronger piece of software. It’s safe to say that Microsoft Word is easily the most advanced option when it comes to functionality.

That doesn’t make Google Docs useless, though. In fact, Microsoft Word only really comes ahead here if you can actually make use of more advanced functionality.

For 90% of users, the word processing capabilities of Google Docs is more than enough. But for some, Microsoft Word’s advanced features will be important. The advanced features in Word include mostly focus on better table formatting and controls, more control over text styles, and better graphic and image implementation.

Page numbering and organizing your document is far easier in Microsoft Word, too. You also get far more powerful templates, which could speed up your work, depending on what you use Word for. Finally, simple things across the board like lists and bullet points are better on Word.

When you use this functionality on Docs, sometimes you’ll come into small issues where line breaks are added, bullet points are removed, or formatting is lost.

Collaboration – Google Docs Wins

Mac

Microsoft Word and Google Docs both have collaboration features now that Microsoft 365 brings Word to the cloud. However, Google Docs wins in this category for a number of reasons.

Firstly, with Google Docs being built into Drive, it becomes very easy to see which files you have shared and also easy to navigate to the files that have been shared with you.

Sharing is as easy as clicking File > Share and creating a link. Alternatively, you can send out individual emails, too. What’s great about the sharing functionality in Google Docs is that you can easily control who can edit the document, who can view it, and who can comment on it. Because of this, Google Docs is even a great platform to create public documents that you can let the whole world view and download.

Microsoft has collaboration too – simply click the Share button in the top right corner. From there, you can save to OneDrive and then add the names of the people you want to share with. Unlike Docs, you are forced to send the document to specific people, so it becomes more challenging to give access to a large open audience.

You can track changes from each author in Word and revise these changes before they go through to the final version, and comments can be added to documents, too.

All of this functionality is available on Google Docs, and Google Docs also has a very powerful timeline feature that shows all of the past edits and who made the edits. At any point, you can click to revert to an old version of the document or simply preview the old version to compare changes.

Cloud and Syncing – Google Docs

Both Microsoft Word and Google Docs offer some great cloud capabilities now. You’ll need to be an Office 365 subscriber to be able to open, edit, and automatically sync your files online with Microsoft Word. Otherwise, you’ll need to set up OneDrive backup with your Microsoft Office 2019 files.

With Google Docs, saving is done to the cloud automatically. In fact, saves are made to your document every time you make a change, so you never even have to worry about pressing the save button.

Google docs app for mac

On top of this, you can see and revise all of your changes from now till the time you first started your document by clicking the ‘all changes saved in Drive’ text at the top of the page.

For storage limits, Microsoft Word wins if you have Office 365, but if you don’t then Google Drive will give you more free space than OneNote will. Thankfully, both Word and Google Docs can be accessed on all major platforms including Mac, Windows, Android, iOS and the web.

So, in summary, Google Docs and Microsoft Word are very close in this section but Google Docs come ahead just slightly thanks to its awesome auto-save feature.

Word Doc On Mac

Offline Access – Microsoft Word Wins

Microsoft Word is, without a doubt, the best option for those that need a document processor with offline access. With Microsoft Word, whether from Office 2019 or Office 365, you can easily create new offline documents and then once you’re online, they can get uploaded to the cloud.

You don’t lose any functionality when Microsoft Word goes offline, although co-authoring won’t be available. On the other hand, Google Docs is more limited when it comes to offline functionality.

By default, Google Docs doesn’t really have offline functionality. You can, however, add offline functionality with the Google Docs offline Chrome extension. Once installed, you can turn on ‘offline’ mode from within the settings menu on Google Drive.

For the most part, this extension will then let you access and edit your files whilst offline, but the extension isn’t without its problems. Many reviews suggest issues with the extension, claiming that the software doesn’t work or only works sometimes.

I cannot suggest Google Docs for offline usage when Microsoft Word has been built from the ground up from the very beginning to be an offline word processor.

Formatting – Microsoft Word Wins

Microsoft Word wins in the formatting game without a doubt. It’s far easier to create unique text formatting rules in Microsoft Word than it is in Google Docs. I’d go as far as to say that Google really needs to work on their formatting because at present it has a number of issues.

When attaching images, tables, or spreadsheets, you can’t be sure that the file will be formatted the same way if opened in a third party document processor. Microsoft Word doesn’t have this problem.

Availability – Google Docs Wins

In this category, Google Docs easily wins because you just can’t beat free. In essence, Google Docs is a slightly less feature-rich word processor, but when you consider it’s completely free, it more than makes up for it.

Microsoft Word, on the other hand, is not free. You must either pay monthly for an Office 365 subscription or pay one time for the full Microsoft Office 2019 package.

Google Docs App For Mac

Summary

Google Doc Vs Word Doc

Google Docs and Microsoft Word are neck and neck, but in many areas Microsoft Word comes out just ahead. If you need the extra functionality and formatting power of Word and don’t mind paying for it, we’d recommend it.

Google Docs Word Processing Software Mac Download

If you only need a word processor with the basic functionality, you should be happy with Google Docs. Enjoy!