Pros & Cons
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- The most powerful word processor on the iOS platform.
- Makes good use of Apple's Smart Keyboard and large iPad Pro Screen.
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- Even on an iPad Pro, you can't edit two documents at once.
- Keyboard shortcuts are inconsistent with those of OS X.
- No access to Apple's iCloud Drive.
Microsoft Word (for iPad) Specs
| Product Category | iPad Apps |
| Product Category | Mobile Apps |
| Product Category | Office Suites |
| Product Category | Productivity |
| Product Category | Small Business (SMB) |
| Product Price Type | List |
Tablets are still far from the ideal platform for word processing from start to finish, but if you have an iPad and you need to edit your documents, Microsoft Word for iOSSEE IT is your best choice, by far. Microsoft keeps improving all of its mobile Office apps unobtrusively, adding features that have long been in the Windows and OS X versions, such as the ability to open files in the OpenDocument format used by the open-source office suites LibreOffice and OpenOffice. The app, which also runs on the iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone, is still missing some features that power users of desktop word processing apps (like me) consider essential. But for tablet users it's by far the best word processing iPad app there is, and, the more I use it, the more I'm convinced that it's a worthwhile and mature piece of software that deserves a home on the iPad of anyone who writes.
Microsoft recently optimized its Office apps for the new iPad ProSee it at Amazon UK, and I wrote most of this review using Word on that high-powered tablet, typing the text on Apple's Smart Keyboard, and sometimes using the Apple Pencil£103.01 at Amazon UK to move the cursor and select text. I found the experience better than anything I've tried on a tablet running Android, iOS, or Windows. Note that when Microsoft demonstrated Office on the iPad Pro during Apple's keynote introducing the new tablet, it showed the Apple Pencil being used to mark up documents—but that feature still hasn't been released, although it may arrive early this year.
My experience with Word on the iPad Pro was mostly, but not entirely, good. I'll talk about the good parts first. The generous 2,732-by-2,048-pixel screen on the iPad Pro makes it easy to see more of a document than you can easily see on any other mobile device. The optional Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro has a solid feel, not quite as good as a laptop or desktop keyboard, but good enough for short bursts of work.
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The keyboard gives you access to Word's Control, Option, and Command keys, just like the keyboard you use with OS X, though I can't get used to its lack of an Escape key at the upper left or anywhere else. You can use the Control, Option, and Command keys to navigate a Word document from the keyboard. For example, Control-Left takes you to the start of a line, Option-Right moves to the next word, and so on.
Also, if you hold down the Command key, a menu appears telling that you can press Command-S to save, Command-Z to undo, and all the other key combinations that you're familiar with from OS X. Furthermore, when you're using the iPad Pro with the Smart Keyboard, a toolbar appears at the foot of the window with autocorrect suggestions, so you can select a word from the toolbar without lifting your hand from the keyboard.
