Alternative to Microsoft Word

Question:

I don’t have Microsoft Word on my computer. It’s pretty expensive, and since I’m not working, I’d rather not invest in it just now. Is there any alternative for my resumes and cover letters?

Answer:

A very good alternative to Microsoft Word is Google Docs.

Google Docs operates in a very similar way to Word; if you’re familiar with Word, you’ll be able to make the transition very easily. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that Word does, but it has everything you really need for garden-variety word-processing tasks like your resume.

Google Docs has a number of advantages over Word, however, starting with price. It’s free! It saves your documents to the cloud (a fancy name for the Internet), so they are available to you any time you have access to the Internet. You can use them on your smartphone or tablet. Google Docs even saves your document automatically, every time you pause in your typing. You can also save your Google Doc in Word format, to a flash drive or other device, if you like.

Frederick County Workforce Services has a new class on this cool tool. It’s called Introduction to Google Docs. Check the calendar of events at www.frederickworks.com/events for the date and time of the next class. You will need a Google account already set up in order to take the class. If you have Gmail, you have a Google account. It uses the same user id and password that you use for your Gmail. If you don’t yet have a Google/Gmail account, please set one up before you attend Introduction to Google Docs. You can sign up here.

Microsoft Word is a great tool. It’s available at the American Job Center for your job search work. But Google Docs is a new great tool, and a great supplement to Word. Try it out for yourself!