If you don\u2019t need to create spreadsheets or make fancy presentations, you may only need a word processor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If you need to open or work with MS Word Doc and Docx, or if you need to save your work in Word .doc or .docx format, you can download one of the many free Microsoft 365\u00a0 \u201cMS Office\u201d alternatives such as Open Office, Libre Office, and many others. These free office suites are great if you need some or all of the functionality of the programs that come with MS Office. But what if you don\u2019t use Excel or PowerPoint or any of the other programs that come with MS 365 or the free alternatives?<\/span><\/p>\n What if all you want and need is a good word processor? One that can open Word documents and save files as Word documents that even your friends with Microsoft 365 (Microsoft Office)\u00a0 can read. How about a word processor that not only opens and saves documents in MS Word format but also edits and saves files in PDF format?<\/span><\/p>\n Today, we are featuring two excellent free word processors that don\u2019t require you to download a huge 300 MB office suite or spend money on Microsoft 365 (Office). These word processors work with many formats, including MS Word.<\/span><\/p>\n AbleWord<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n A free word processor and PDF reader & editor all in one. Easy to use, familiar interface, and lots of features. Opens, creates, and edits MS Word .docx and .doc. AbleWord can also save Word documents as PDF and PDF documents as Word documents.<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s some info from the developer:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEdit PDF files as simply as Word\u00ae documents<\/span><\/p>\n There are a few free Word Processing packages available for Windows but none come close to the features offered by AbleWord. It is highly compatible with popular document formats including DOC & DOCX but AbleWord can also open and save as a PDF which makes it a very useful tool to have.<\/span><\/p>\n AbleWord can read and write the following file types:<\/span><\/p>\n Microsoft Word\u00ae (doc, docx)<\/span> AbleWord is very simple to install and use, it is commonly used as a PDF Editor and also for converting PDF to Word\u00ae but of course it is also a splendid Word processor and supports most of Microsoft Word\u00ae features.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Above: MS Word .docx file open for editing in AbleWord.<\/span><\/p>\n AbleWord is free for home and business use. The download is small, and the installer is clean. Great program.<\/span><\/p>\n You can read more about and\/or Download AbleWord from here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/span><\/p>\n Jarte 6.2<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Jarte is a Windows word processor that can read and save your word processing gems in Word format in .doc or .docx format. You\u2019ll need to install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack if you want to save in .docx format. But that\u2019s no big deal because when you try to save a document as .docx, Jarte gives you a link to download it. Once you install it, reopen Jarte and you\u2019re in business.<\/span><\/p>\n Jarte has a lot of features; here are a few of them<\/span><\/p>\n Fully compatible with Windows 10 and Windows 11. It works on both 32-bit and 64-bit computers.<\/span><\/p>\n Tabbed interface to provide easy access to open documents<\/span><\/p>\n Opens files with file extension RTF, file extension DOC, and file extension DOCX<\/span><\/p>\n Fast start-up<\/span><\/p>\n Compact screen size<\/span><\/p>\n Can be run directly from a pluggable USB flash drive<\/span><\/p>\n High-quality spell checker with custom user dictionary<\/span><\/p>\n And much more.<\/span><\/p>\n And for those who have problems with their eyesight or who are blind, Jarte offers this:<\/span><\/p>\n Jarte has become a particularly popular word processor for the blind community due to its special screen reader mode. When Jarte detects the presence of a running screen reader program, it starts in screen reader mode with an interface that is specifically designed to maximize accessibility via screen reader programs. An example of Jarte\u2019s screen reader friendliness is its pop-up menu-driven spell check feature, which directs the screen reader to audibly spell out misspellings and spelling suggestions. <\/span><\/p>\n Jarte Plus also provides an optional audible notice when it detects a misspelled word has just been typed. Jarte is committed to being a great word processor choice for the visually impaired.<\/span><\/p>\n We first recommended Jarte back in 2011. Now, here it is 2025, and Jarte is still a great word processor. And while Jarte says it works in Windows 10, it works great in Windows 11 too. We know because we tested it.<\/span><\/p>\n You can read more about and\/or download Jarte from here.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do You Really Need That Huge Office Program? Maybe All You Need Is One of These! If you don\u2019t need to create spreadsheets or make fancy presentations, you may only need a word processor.\u00a0 If you need to open or work with MS Word Doc and Docx, or if you need to save your work in Word\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4424,11,3979,3602,4406],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30227"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30227"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30229,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30227\/revisions\/30229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAdobe\u00ae PDF (pdf)<\/span>
\nRich Text (rtf)<\/span>
\nPlain Text (txt)<\/span>
\nHTML (html, htm)<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Cloudeight](\"https:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2018\/AbleWord2.png\")
<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Cloudeight](\"https:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2018\/jarte.png\")
<\/span>
\nAbove: Editing an MS Word .docx in Jarte.<\/span><\/p>\n