Download Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is the most widely used part of the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software, and is generally considered the gold standard of word processors. Read the steps below to learn how to download Word for free.
Steps
Legal Method
- Accept a trial version. Unfortunately, Microsoft has never issued a full version of any part of Office for free, not even very old and outdated versions. The best you can do without pirating the software is to download a free trial version. Microsoft releases trial versions of Office in the hopes that if you like it well enough, you will be willing to pay for the full version, which costs a minimum of $139.99 (or $109.99 for the Word application alone).
- Get the trial version. Microsoft Office is available on a subscription basis, and you can get a free month's subscription by visiting the official Microsoft site. Click the green button that reads “Start your free month” to begin the process.
- The trial month of Microsoft Office includes a full-featured suite of programs, plus some other perks like 60 minutes of free Skype calling time to any phone. If an update to the software is released during your trial, it will apply to your version of Office automatically.
- Cancel the trial before a month is up. Like many subscription services, an Office subscription will start to cost you money every month (either $9.99 a month, or $99.99 at once for an entire year) if you don't cancel it before the trial ends. Make a note somewhere you'll see it, and be sure to cancel at least a full day ahead of schedule to avoid any complications.
Illegal Method
- Know what you're getting into. Obtaining a copy of Microsoft Office (or even just Word) without paying for it involves piracy. Understand the punishments for piracy. Unlike some companies, Microsoft is highly vigilant about piracy; though they're unlikely to pursue legal action against you, there's no way to be sure. In addition, because of the sophisticated anti-piracy measures Microsoft installs in its software, you'll probably need to run a crack, which is a small program that hacks the program's security system to trick it into thinking you paid for a license. Cracks sometimes contain spyware or viruses, so be very careful before running them.
- Find a torrent. Use a torrent aggregator like http://torrentz.eu to search for “Microsoft Word” or “Microsoft Office.” Review your results, taking time to read user comments and check the overall rating of the torrent so that you can be sure it's legitimate. Once you find a torrent you like, download it and run it in your torrent program of choice. (If you don't have a torrent program, µTorrent is a good choice.) If there are enough seeders (people sharing the program), the download should begin at once.
- Some torrents come with a crack included. If you can find such a torrent that has a good rating, download it and save yourself the trouble of finding the crack yourself.
- The latest version of Microsoft Office is Office 2013. However, for most people, Office 2010 should work just as well. If you're having trouble getting the latest version, try an older one.
- A torrent for an office suite the size of Microsoft Office is likely to take some time to finish, even with plenty of seeders. Leave the program running and come back later to check on it.
- Acquire the crack. If necessary, search for a software crack of your version of Office online. This is highly dangerous for your computer, as malicious and invasive programs abound in the seedy underbelly of the web where most cracks reside. Be sure your antivirus program is up to date and running in the background.
- Open the package and follow the instructions. The first thing you should do if you downloaded a version with an included crack is read the Read Me file. It should give you detailed instructions on how to use the crack to fool Office into licensing you for use. Most cracks get a bit of initial data from the program to be cracked (which you'll have to acquire manually by running the program) and then using it to generate a passkey. Whatever the case, follow the instructions closely and enter the key into Office once you have it. From this point, you should be able to use Office freely.
- Don't send any information to Microsoft if prompted! They'll likely figure out what's going on and lock you out of the program or otherwise get you in trouble.
- If your instructions include dubious steps (such as opening or modifying System files, or running other programs aside from Office), don't follow them without getting expert advice from a trusted friend first. Chances are, they're a malicious practical joke that could end up harming your computer badly.
- You can throw out the crack program once you're done with it. It doesn't need to stay on your computer for Office to recognize you as a legitimate user.
Alternatives
- Get a free suite. There are many, many office suite programs available, and not all of them cost money. In fact, some of the best suites for home, student, or small business use are free. Although they aren't usually quite as full-featured or always as stable as Microsoft Office, they're all more than capable enough for the average user who just needs to be able to type a business report or term paper.
- OpenOffice is probably the most talked-about and most popular free office suite available. It's an open-source program, which means that anyone with some programming skill can contribute to it. OpenOffice's Writer word processor handles Word documents with ease, and can even export its own files as Word documents.
- LibreOffice is an outgrowth of OpenOffice that natively supports Microsoft's Open XML protocol (whereas OpenOffice requires a free plug-in to handle it). It's fairly new, but powerful and well-regarded. Most of OpenOffice's development team now develops for LibreOffice instead.
- IBM Lotus Symphony was developed by IBM using OpenOffice as a starting point. It's sleek and fast, and can do almost everything OpenOffice can do.
- Use an online alternative. In addition to traditional software packages you can download and use offline, there are a number of powerful word processing and office options available for use online, some of which are free. The advantage of these is that your work is always wherever you need it to be.
- Microsoft's own SkyDrive cloud storage actually has a free, full version of Office for personal use available entirely online. You can type, format, save to your hard drive, and even print documents from SkyDrive's Word Web App. The only restriction is that you can't use it for a group – not even a very small group like a family business. Just sign up to SkyDrive and access Word from a drop-down menu near the top of the home page.
- Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware is designed more for groups (such as businesses and nonprofit organizations) than individual, but there's no restriction on individual use. It's a free, open source, comprehensive wiki management tool that includes a powerful online office suite along with a dazzling array of other tools you may or may not find useful.
- ThinkFree Online is a sleek, graphically pleasing free online office suite with basic functions including a word processor and a spreadsheet program. It's compatible with many devices, and offers viewing and direct editing modes for quick document manipulation without logging into the full online program, if you're in a hurry.
Tips
- Try a few different programs (including Word), and go with whichever one works best for you.
