Microsoft Editor is a closed source AI-powered writing assistant available for Word, Outlook, and as a Chromium browser extension part of Office 365. It includes the essentials in a writing assistant, such as a grammar and spell checker. Microsoft provides a basic version of Editor for free but users wanting more feature will need to have a paid Microsoft account.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Initial release | July 2016 |
| Written in | JavaScript, C# |
| Included with | Microsoft Office, Microsoft Edge |
| Size | 1.92MiB Chrome Web Store |
| Available in | 100+ languages es including Arabic - Czech - Danish - Dutch - English - Finnish - French - German - Hebrew (not yet available in the desktop Word app) - Hungarian - Italian - Japanese - Korean - Norwegian (Bokmål) - Polish - Portuguese (Brazil) - Portuguese (Portugal) - Russian - Spanish - Swedish - Turkish |
| Website | Try it! How to use it |
| Version | Price |
|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Personal | $6 monthly |
| Microsoft 365 Family | $9 monthly |
As of October 2024, whilst being a Microsoft product it is not available generally in all of Microsoft tools (even popular ones business ones such as their messaging client "Teams") [7]
Tools and features
editEditor score using :[1]
- Corrections:
- Spelling
- Basic Grammar: Flags capitalization, subject verb agreement, hyphen use, and other basic grammar errors
- Advanced Grammar (paid version) Flag indirect questions, misheard phrases, commonly confused phrases, and other more complex grammar issues
- Refinements (paid version):
- Clarity: Flags incorrect use of words, uncommon jargon, abstract words, passive voice, and double negatives.
- Conciseness: Flags wordiness, conjunction overuse
- Formality: Flags slang, informal phrases, colloquialisms, contractions, and other markers of casual, more conversational language.
- Inclusiveness: Flags slurs and deprecated descriptors of people
- Perspectives
- Punctuation conventions: Flags unnecessary commas, punctuation with quotes, sentence spacing, and other issues related to punctuation.
- Sensitive geopolitical references: promotes using official or neutral names and phrases, and tries to help when names of places have changed over time.
- Vocabulary: Flags vague adjectives, weak verbs, clichés, and other issues related to word choice. Recommends idiomatic collective nouns, such as beds of oysters over collections of oysters.[8] Recommends using terms specific to the reader's country or region, such as parkade over parking garage for Canadian readers.[8] Editor recommends avoiding words that are specific to a US region; for example, it will suggest replacing bubbler with water fountain.[8]
Geopolitical references
editAs described by Microsoft's Detailed descriptions of grammar and refinement guidance of June 2020, the guidance on sensitive geopolitical references promotes[8]
- using official place names, such as Canada over Republic of Canada,
- using the most politically neutral place name, such as Sea of Japan (East Sea) over East Sea,
- avoiding geopolitical terms that may imply bias, so it suggests using East Asia instead of Orient,
- avoiding the word 'dialect' for some languages,
- using current geopolitical terms such as Czech instead of Czechoslovak,
- using current place names, such as St. Petersburg over Leningrad,
- avoiding technological terms that evoke geopolitical or humanitarian issues, so it suggests using secondary database over slave database,
- using modern transliterations, such as Chongqing over Chungking,
- double-checking names of defunct geopolitical entities in modern contexts, such as asking if Eastern Germany is beautiful in summer might be more appropriate than The GDR is beautiful in summer,
- using official names of languages, such as Persian over Farsi, or European Spanish or Spanish over standard Spanish,
- and double-checking place names whose meaning has changed over time, such as Astana versus Tselinograd.
Platform support
edit- Windows supported / Linux unsupported [9]
- Microsoft Edge
- Google Chrome[1]
- Brave[6]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ a b c Gunnell, Marshall (6 October 2020). "What Is Microsoft Editor, and How Do I Use It?". How-To Geek. Archived from the original on 2020-10-12. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
- ^ "Microsoft Editor for Word, Edge, and Outlook makes you a better writer". Windows Central. 2020-03-30. Archived from the original on 2020-04-01. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
- ^ "Microsoft launches Researcher and Editor in Word, Zoom in PowerPoint". VentureBeat. 2016-07-26. Archived from the original on 2020-11-08. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
- ^ "Microsoft brings Teams to consumers and launches Microsoft 365 personal and family plans". TechCrunch. 30 March 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
- ^ Tung, Liam. "Microsoft: Chrome, Edge, Word and Outlook get this free Editor AI grammar assistant". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
- ^ a b Andrew Braun (2020-06-02). "Grammarly vs. Microsoft Editor: Which One Should You Use?". Make Tech Easier. Archived from the original on 2020-09-23. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
- ^ Kevin Okemwa (2023-08-09). "Grammarly vs. Microsoft Editor: Which one will help you write like a pro?". Windows Central. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
- ^ a b c d
"Detailed descriptions of grammar and refinement guidance". Microsoft. 2020-06-30. Archived from the original on 2021-06-27. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
This document provides explanations and examples for the grammar and refinement guidance provided in the Microsoft Editor service.
- ^ "Microsoft Edge Dev is updated to version 88.0.692.0". BCFocus. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2020-11-15.