Microsoft Word is a word processor developed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems.^[3][4][5]Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms includingIBM PCs running DOS (1983), the Apple Macintosh running Mac OS (1985), the AT&T Unix PC (1985), Atari ST (1988), SCO UNIX (1994), OS/2 (1989), and Windows (1989). Commercial versions of Word are licensed as a standalone product or as a component of Microsoft Office, Windows RT or the discontinued Microsoft Works Suite. Freeware editions of Word are Microsoft Word Viewer and Word Web App on SkyDrive, both of which have limited features.

Microsoft Word's native file formats are denoted either by a .doc or .docx file extension.

Although the .doc extension has been used in many different versions of Word, it actually encompasses four distinct file formats:

1. Word for DOS
2. Word for Windows 1 and 2; Word 4 and 5 for Mac OS
3. Word 6 and Word 95 for Windows; Word 6 for Mac OS
4. Word 97 and later for Windows; Word 98 and later for Mac OS

The newer .docx extension signifies the Office Open XML international standard for Office documents and is used by Word 2007, 2010 and 2013 for Windows, Word 2008 and 2011 for Mac OSX, as well as by a growing number of applications from other vendors, including OpenOffice.org Writer, an open source word processing program.^[39]

Microsoft Word for Windows release history

Year Released	Name	Version	Comments
1989	Word for Windows 1.0
1990	Word for Windows 1.1	1.1	Code-named Bill the Cat
1990	Word for Windows 1.1a	1.1a	For Windows 3.1
1991	Word for Windows 2.0	2.0	Code-named Spaceman Spiff
1993	Word for Windows 6.0	6.0	Code-named T3 (renumbered 6 to bring Windows version numbering in line with that of DOS version, Mac OS version and also WordPerfect, the main competing word processor at the time; also a 32-bit version for Windows NT only)
1995	Word 95	7.0	Included in Office 95
1997	Word 97	8.0	Included in Office 97
1998	Word 98	8.5	Only sold as part of Office 97 Powered By Word 98, which was only available in Japan and Korea.
1999	Word 2000	9.0	Included in Office 2000
2001	Word 2002	10.0	Included in Office XP
2003	Office Word 2003	11.0	Included in Office 2003
2006	Office Word 2007	12.0	Included in Office 2007; released to businesses on November 30, 2006, released worldwide to consumers on January 30, 2007
2010	Word 2010	14.0	Included in Office 2010
2013	Word 2013	15.0	Included in Office 2013

Shortcut	Description
Ctrl + 0	Adds or removes 6pts of spacing before a paragraph.
Ctrl + A	Select all contents of the page.
Ctrl + B	Bold highlighted selection.
Ctrl + C	Copy selected text.
Ctrl + D	Open the font preferences window.
Ctrl + E	Aligns the line or selected text to the center of the screen.
Ctrl + F	Open find box.
Ctrl + I	Italic highlighted selection.
Ctrl + J	Aligns the selected text or line to justify the screen.
Ctrl + K	Insert link.
Ctrl + L	Aligns the line or selected text to the left of the screen.
Ctrl + M	Indent the paragraph.
Ctrl + P	Open the print window.
Ctrl + R	Aligns the line or selected text to the right of the screen.
Ctrl + T	Create a hanging indent.
Ctrl + U	Underline highlighted selection.
Ctrl + V	Paste.
Ctrl + X	Cut selected text.
Ctrl + Y	Redo the last action performed.
Ctrl + Z	Undo last action.
Ctrl + Shift + L	Quickly create a bullet point.
Ctrl + Shift + F	Change the font.
Ctrl + Shift + >	Increase selected font +1pts up to 12pt and then increases font +2pts.
Ctrl + ]	Increase selected font +1pts.
Ctrl + Shift + <	Decrease selected font -1pts if 12pt or lower, if above 12 decreases font by +2pt.
Ctrl + [	Decrease selected font -1pts.
Ctrl + / + c	Insert a cent sign (¢).
Ctrl + ' + <char>	Insert a character with an accent (grave) mark, where <char> is the character you want. For example, if you wanted an accented è you would use Ctrl + ' + e as your shortcut key. To reverse the accent mark use the opposite accent mark, often on thetilde key.
Ctrl + Shift + *	View or hide non printing characters.
Ctrl + <left arrow>	Moves one word to the left.
Ctrl + <right arrow>	Moves one word to the right.
Ctrl + <up arrow>	Moves to the beginning of the line or paragraph.
Ctrl + <down arrow>	Moves to the end of the paragraph.
Ctrl + Del	Deletes word to right of cursor.
Ctrl + Backspace	Deletes word to left of cursor.
Ctrl + End	Moves the cursor to the end of the document.
Ctrl + Home	Moves the cursor to the beginning of the document.
Ctrl + Spacebar	Reset highlighted text to the default font.
Ctrl + 1	Single-space lines.
Ctrl + 2	Double-space lines.
Ctrl + 5	1.5-line spacing.
Ctrl + Alt + 1	Changes text to heading 1.
Ctrl + Alt + 2	Changes text to heading 2.
Ctrl + Alt + 3	Changes text to heading 3.
Alt + Ctrl + F2	Open new document.
Ctrl + F1	Open the Task Pane.
Ctrl + F2	Display the print preview.
Ctrl + Shift + >	Increases the highlighted text size by one.
Ctrl + Shift + <	Decreases the highlighted text size by one.
Ctrl + Shift + F6	Opens to another open Microsoft Word document.
Ctrl + Shift + F12	Prints the document.
F1	Open Help.
F4	Repeat the last action performed (Word 2000+)
F5	Open the find, replace, and go to window in Microsoft Word.
F7	Spellcheck and grammar check selected text or document.
F12	Save as.
Shift + F3	Change the text in Microsoft Word from uppercase to lowercase or a capital letter at the beginning of every word.
Shift + F7	Runs a Thesaurus check on the word highlighted.
Shift + F12	Save.
Shift + Enter	Create a soft break instead of a new paragraph.
Shift + Insert	Paste.
Shift + Alt + D	Insert the current date.
Shift + Alt + T	Insert the current time.

In addition to the above shortcut keys users can also use their mouse as a method of quickly do something commonly performed. Below some are examples of mouse shortcuts.

Mouse shortcuts	Description
Click, hold, and drag	Selects text from where you click and hold to the point you drag and let go.
Double-click	If double-click a word, selects the complete word.
Double-click	Double-clicking on the left, center, or right of a blank line will make the alignment of the text left, center, or right aligned.
Double-click	Double-clicking anywhere after text on a line will set a tab stop.
Triple-click	Selects the line or paragraph of the text the mouse triple-clicked.
Ctrl + Mouse wheel	Zooms in and out of document.