How to Open & Use Word in Your Browser [Online & Offline]

Using a dedicated extension can streamline the whole process

by Milan Stanojevic
Milan Stanojevic
Milan Stanojevic
Windows & Software Expert
Milan has been enthusiastic about technology ever since his childhood days, and this led him to take interest in all PC-related technologies. He's a PC enthusiast and he... read more
Fact checked by Alex Serban
Alex Serban
Alex Serban
Windows Server & Networking Expert
After moving away from the corporate work-style, Alex has found rewards in a lifestyle of constant analysis, team coordination and pestering his colleagues. Holding an MCSA Windows Server... read more
Affiliate Disclosure
  • Microsoft Word is one of the most used applications from the Microsoft Office suite.
  • In case you didn’t know, you can use Word in your web browser, and in today’s article, we’re going to show you how to do that.
  • Also, discover how to switch to Dark Mode in Word's online editor.
Open word in browser
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In order to create Word documents, you don’t have to use Microsoft Office. In fact, you can easily create Word documents in your web browser.

Microsoft offers a web version of most of the Office apps for enhanced accessibility and accessing these is incredibly simple.

In today’s article, we’re going to show you all the ways to access Word in a browser.

Quick Tip:

Word Online is available in all web browsers, but for the best results, you might want to use Opera. The browser is light on your resources, thus allowing you to multitask easily.

Even more, it is built on the Chromium engine, and it can also work with Chrome extensions. Regarding tab management, you can easily search for open tabs or even organize your tabs into workspaces.

Opera

Available for all platforms and devices with quick access to Word Online.

How can I access Word documents offline?

You can’t access the web version of Office or Microsoft Word offline because it’s not developed to accessed without an Internet connection. The files here are synced to OneDrive and are automatically updated.

Download Word files from OneDrive

Though, you can download a document from from the Word Online Editor, and use the Microsoft Word app installed on the computer to access and edit the documents.

Accessing files from the OneDrive folder

Also, with the right settings in place, your One Drive files can be accessed from the dedicated folder on the computer, even when not connected to the Internet. The changes you make to these will be automatically update once an Internet connection is established.

Is Word in browser free?

Yes, the Microsoft word in browser, or all the Office applications for that matter, are free. You can simply log in to the Office365 website, and use these.

Also, since these are all web applications, they would work just as well on any web browser or operating system. But, we would recommend using Opera for the best performance.

How do I get Word on my browser?

1. Use Word Online

  1. Go to the Word Online website.
  2. Log in with your Microsoft account.
    sign in word browser
  3. Select New blank document.
    new black document word browser
  4. Now you can create your document just like in regular Word.Word in browser

Bear in mind that there are certain differences between Word Online and the desktop version of Word, but basic users most likely won’t even notice them.

2. Use Word Online extension

Note icon
NOTE
The steps here are to install the Office Extension in Chrome. But, the Office extension for Edge is also available, and you can easily download it from the Edge Add-ons store.
  1. Go to the Office extension page, and click on the Add to Chrome button.Add to Chrome for word in browser
  2. Click on Add extension to confirm.Add extension
  3. After the extension is installed, click on it, select Sign in, and complete the process.Sign in
  4. Once done, select Office from the Extensions menu.office
  5. Now, click on Word to open its online version.word in browser

That’s how you open Word in a browser using the extension. Though it does the exactly same thing, using the extension streamlines the whole process.

How do I turn Word into dark mode?

  1. Open the Word processor in browser, and click on the View menu.View
  2. Now, click on the Dark Mode button to enable it.Dark Mode
  3. The online editor also allows changing the background, and can use the Switch Background button for that.Switch background
  4. To revert back to normal mode, again click on the Dark Mode button.Disable

Using Word in a browser is incredibly simple, and you just need to use the dedicated extension or go to the Word Online website.

Also, find out what to do if the online Word editor is not working or responding.

Do share your experience and thoughts on using the online Word editor in the comments section below.

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