What Is The Difference Between Microsoft Word And Microsoft Excel?

logo by Editorial Staff | Updated on June 25th, 2022

If you use Windows, you are undoubtedly familiar with the Microsoft Office suite, which provides access to various programs such as MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This post will describe the “difference between MS Word and MS Excel.”


Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word are components of Microsoft Office’s software productivity suite.

Microsoft Word And Microsoft Excel?

These are also some of the most widely used programs in the world, notably in business apps.

In terms of use, MS Word and Excel are both distinct. Furthermore, they are the most often utilized software in daily life. First, however, let’s take a closer look at the differences between MS Word and MS Excel.

Mircosoft Word:

Microsoft Word is a word processing program that allows users to create a series of documents that seem similar to how they appear on paper and can be shared between multiple devices on a screen. It is a word-processing technique for writing materials such as letters or essays, making text editing particularly important to generate legible work.

Word Handles Text More Effectively

Word is designed for text documents such as letters, novels, and academic papers. In Excel, the text is often a small snippet used to explain the significance of a number.

Word is used for printing.

A Word document is designed to fit on a specified size page, with content flowing automatically from one page to the next. Excel can print, but the page breaks are not clear, and because the printing area can span numerous pages horizontally and vertically, the page breaks can be challenging to handle.

Word supports footnotes.

Because Word is page-oriented, it allows features like footnotes and a table of contents that would be inappropriate for a table. Other page-oriented notions, such as centering text horizontally on a page, are simple in Word but impossible in Excel.

Microsoft Excel (Excel):

It’s a spreadsheet program in Microsoft Office. It suggests it is used to create document tables, figures, and measuring formulae. This is extremely useful for businesses and organizations in documenting expenses and earnings, preparing expenditures, modeling details, and swiftly presenting fiscal results.

Numeric Calculations in Excel

Excel allows you to execute sophisticated calculations in which altering one number affects several other computed figures. In addition, excel offers an extensive library of built-in formulae to assist you in such computations.

An Excel spreadsheet is a table.

An Excel file appears as rows and columns that extend well off the page vertically and horizontally, allowing it to hold tables ranging from a few columns and rows to hundreds of columns and thousands of rows. While it supports tables, Word cannot handle huge tables as effectively as Excel.

Usability

MS Word is used by corporations and people in private and technical papers, employment and education records, and references for interviews, lectures, and seminars. On the other hand, Excel may be built to collect data from numerous sources, such as stock feeds, and to modify the data using formulas such as financial models regularly.

MS Word is shown for written documentation such as emails, books, and educational documents. Furthermore, in Excel, the text used to describe the context of a number is often a short fragment.

Excel supports complex equations in which changing one quantity often affects other measured quantities. In addition, excel has an extensive array of interactive computations to let users measure them.

A Word document is built so that the text automatically shifts from one paragraph to the next based on the file size. Excel can print, but the page breaks are opaque and can be stretched horizontally or vertically across many pages. Furthermore, page breaks are difficult to manage.

An Excel file shows on the screen as rows and columns span vertically and horizontally. It also supports tables with a few columns and rows up to huge tables with thousands of columns and rows. Word, on the other hand, supports tables; nevertheless, it cannot accept huge or broad tables.

Because Microsoft Word is a page-oriented program, features such as footnotes and contents tables that are not necessary for a table are sponsored. In addition, many web-based principles, such as horizontal screen centering in Word, appear straightforward but do not make sense in Excel.

What are the similarities and differences between Microsoft Word and Excel?

  • Both are programs available from Microsoft.
  • In both cases, you are permitted to type letters.
  • Both allow you to enter letters and URLs.
  • Both have formatting and toolbars.
  • Because both MS Word and Excel can generate printable files, one can be used to mimic the work of the other.
  • Tables can be integrated with Word documents, or entire pages can be combined into a single Excel sheet. However, each program has strengths that allow it to accomplish its job more efficiently.

Even though both tools serve separate functions, people who require them to create documentation always work together. Depending on the circumstances, you could anticipate writing a letter, a table, or perhaps a year-end study that combines the two.

BasisMS WordMS Excel
Application typeWord is a word processing program.Excel is a spreadsheet program.
UsesTo write letters, essays resumes, and a variety of other word documents.For constructing numerical data tables or analyzing large amounts of data.
InterrelationWord documents can be incorporated into Excel, but only to a certain extent.Excel tables can be incorporated in Word, but not for large amounts of data.
FormattingWord’s formatting skills outperform those of Excel.Excel lacks certain complex formatting tools.
CalculationCalculation Word does not have this function.Custom equations and formulae in Excel can be used to measure data.
Grammar checkWord recognizes and corrects grammatical problems in documents.Excel does not have any of these functions.
Database activitiesWord does not permit the maintenance of database activity.Excel is primarily concerned with database maintenance tasks such as data filtering.
Analytical-drivenWord aids in creating and authoring documents for end-users, allowing them to be read without the need for an analytical approach.Excel may be used to analyze and understand data.
Copy-pastingCopy-pasting Word does not have any sophisticated copy-pasting features.Excel has more copying options than Word.

Is Microsoft Word and Excel available for free?

Regarding digital office software, the Microsoft Office Suite — Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access, and Publisher — has long been the gold standard. However, Microsoft has transitioned the Office products from CDs and downloads to a subscription service called Office 365, which costs $69.99 per year for one person or $99.99 per year for up to six users.

You can also purchase Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for a one-time fee of $149.99, but it lacks services like cloud storage and other capabilities.

The Microsoft Office mobile applications are free to download and allow you access to virtually all of the Suite’s products, albeit the specific programs available to you change significantly between Android and iOS, as well as between iPhone and iPad (though all give you Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).

Because of cloud-based sharing and storing, you may download as many or as few apps as you wish and access or share them from anywhere. The mobile apps will take up some space on your mobile device, but the papers will not, so you won’t have to worry about filling up your phone or tablet with docs and spreadsheets.

The disadvantages of the Microsoft mobile applications include that, like with Office.com, editing functions are limited unless you have an Office 365 subscription. Furthermore, if you’re using a mobile app on a device with a screen greater than 10.1 inches, you won’t be able to edit documents at all.

To type in and edit documents on the iPad Pro, you must purchase Office 365 or access Office.com through a web browser. Otherwise, you’ll be able to view them (albeit on a smaller device, this is OK).

Because the mobile applications will not offer you free Microsoft Office on your PC, depending on what devices you use frequently, this may not be the best approach to receive free Microsoft Office products.

Anyone may sign up for a one-month free trial of Microsoft 365. However, you must provide your credit card information, and if you do not cancel by the end of the month, you will be charged $100 for a one-year membership to Microsoft 365 Family (formerly called Office 365 Home).

Conclusion

Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word are the two apps included in the Microsoft Office package. Even though they are built to work together, they each have unique skills.

Word is primarily a text processor, whereas Excel is generally used for mathematical computations. The MS Word application uses text, graphics, icons, hyperlinks, and objects to deliver results, among other things. Furthermore, unlike Excel, it does not describe the data analysis.

So those were the main differences between MS Word and MS Excel. However, in terms of usage, both are distinct but may be utilized in tandem depending on the circumstances.

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Editorial Staff

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