Ane of the all-time parts nigh using a Chromebook is that y'all don't have to install anything to be productive, since Chrome Os is designed to piece of work mostly with web apps. But what if y'all need to edit a Microsoft Word certificate? Fortunately, it's easy to exercise then, with both Microsoft and third-party solutions.

Use the Official Microsoft Chrome App

The simplest solution is to just apply Function 365, Microsoft's online version of Office, which includes Word. While you'll demand a paid Office 365 plan for more storage, the five gigabytes on the free plan should be acceptable for occasional users, since text documents are so small.

To use the app, you could just navigate to the website, simply if y'all desire something that behaves more than similar an app, you tin install Microsoft's extension from the Google Web Store. Recollect that Google Chrome apps are going away in 2022 (2022 for enterprise users). It'due south just a link to the online version anyhow.

Download: Discussion Online

Use Office 365 on the Web and Android

Every bit previously mentioned, you can use the existent Microsoft Office on a Chromebook or even whatever other Linux estimator, admitting on the Web. If you demand to only read and share simple Word documents, y'all might exist able to get by with alternatives, but with more than complicated formatting, you could demand the real thing.

Equally previously mentioned, Google is phasing out Chrome apps in favor of Progressive Web Apps, which are regular websites that you can "install" just like other apps on your system. Simply click the "Install" icon in the URL bar and information technology will testify up in your Launcher and open up in its own window.

Since about new Chromebooks back up Android apps, yous can also install the app that way. If your Chromebook has a touchscreen, it might come in handy if you want to use information technology in tablet mode.

Download: Microsoft Give-and-take

Alternatives to Microsoft Word on Chromebook

Sometimes, you don't really need the actual Microsoft Give-and-take program as a program that lets yous read and write Microsoft Give-and-take files.

ane. Google Docs

Google Docs has long been the go-to for people wanting to send and receive Word documents on a Chromebook. With the generous amount of storage that Google allows fifty-fifty on a free business relationship, it's non hard to run into why.

Information technology'southward practiced enough that college students will write their term papers in it without even because installing Microsoft Part, which is ofttimes available for free or at a reduced cost from universities, as Harvard history Ph.D. candidate Jake Anbinder discovered when grading student papers.

All you have to do to send someone a Word version of a Google Docs document is to export information technology.

2. LibreOffice With Linux

A more advanced pick is the other longtime go-to in the Linux world: LibreOffice. If you want to apply it, you will have to install Linux on your Chromebook kickoff. And then you lot tin install LibreOffice in the default Debian installation using APT.

          sudo apt install libreoffice

To launch LibreOffice Writer, merely look for it in the app launcher, equally y'all would with any other app. When you launch information technology, you'll see the standard OpenOffice Writer interface in all its clunky glory.

You can then etch your document equally on whatsoever other organization. When yous salvage it, don't forget to save information technology equally a Microsoft Word certificate (DOCX), not the standard OpenOffice format (ODT).

Yep, You Can Read, Edit Word Documents on a Chromebook

While a Chromebook doesn't natively support reading and editing Word documents right out of the box, with a lilliputian know-how, yous can share Microsoft Discussion files with other users when you demand to. Maybe your professor but accepts Word documents, or yous piece of work from dwelling with colleagues who use Word. Anyway, you're covered.

You lot tin can but apply Microsoft's official web-based Word app or install the Android app. If y'all lean more toward Google, you can also export Google Docs files to Give-and-take. If yous're willing to install Linux on your Chromebook, you lot can fifty-fifty use LibreOffice. You lot accept options on a Chromebook.

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Well-nigh The Author

David Delony (81 Manufactures Published)

David is a freelance author based in the Pacific Northwest, but originally hailing from the Bay Area. He has been a technology enthusiast since childhood. David'south interests include reading, watching quality Television receiver shows and movies, retro gaming, and record collecting.

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